Like a cross between traditional sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, these brown sugar cut-out cookies are made with butter, darkish brown sugar, and a contact of cozy spices. Excellent for the vacations or anytime you crave sugar cookies with slightly additional taste! Make them any form you want and have enjoyable adorning together with your selection of icing.
Name them a compromise cookie. Possibly you wish to enhance Christmas cookies, however you’ll be able to’t resolve between making sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, and solely have the time/vitality/substances to make only one…
…or possibly you like the festive spiced taste of gingerbread cookies however can’t discover molasses the place you reside…
…or possibly you like sugar cookies, however crave one thing with slightly extra taste…
Meet the answer that’s positive to please everybody: brown sugar cut-out cookies.
(Now, deciding whether or not to prime them with royal icing, simple glaze icing, or cookie adorning buttercream… you’re by yourself for that one!)
Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies Recipe Snapshot
- Texture: These cookies have gentle, thick facilities with barely crisp edges, similar to traditional sugar cookies and Christmas sugar cookies.
- Taste: Buttery and candy with comforting brown sugar and comfy spice flavors. If you happen to choose a plain brown sugar cookie, you’ll be able to omit the spices.
- Ease: If in case you have an electrical mixer and a rolling pin, you’ll be able to positively make these cookies.
- Time: This dough wants to sit back for at the very least 1–2 hours, however the time it takes to make the dough and bake the cookies is fairly brief. The way you resolve to embellish the cookies will account for including roughly time.
Key Components You Want
- Brown Sugar: Like these pecan sugar cookies, utilizing all brown sugar instead of white sugar provides these cookies a deeper, extra advanced taste. I like to recommend darkish brown sugar right here for essentially the most taste, however gentle brown sugar is okay if that’s all you will have.
- Spice: Cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg are the flavour energy gamers right here. If you wish to preserve these cookies as plain brown sugar cookies, you’ll be able to merely pass over the spices.
- All the pieces Good: You additionally want flour, baking powder, butter, an egg, salt, and vanilla extract. Cookie baking fundamentals!
Right here’s the lineup:
How one can Maintain Brown Sugar Moist
I sometimes use Domino model sugar. I’m not sponsored by or working with the model—I similar to the standard of their merchandise for baking! However even shopping for a name-brand brown sugar at the next value level doesn’t assure the sugar shall be (or keep) completely gentle and moist.
To maintain brown sugar gentle, retailer it in an hermetic container in a cool, dry place, like a pantry, drawer, or cabinet. I retailer my flours and sugars in these containers, and have completed so for years.
In case your brown sugar turns into exhausting and crumbly, all just isn’t misplaced! You possibly can soften it up once more by including one thing that absorbs moisture, equivalent to a slice of bread or a marshmallow, to the container and letting it sit in a single day. Simply keep in mind to take away the (now-stale) bread the following day, earlier than it turns moldy.
For a extra everlasting answer, use a terracotta sugar saver. Terracotta absorbs moisture (and doesn’t go unhealthy), and you should buy a brown sugar-saver bear or disc that’s particularly designed for this goal. You possibly can even purchase brown sugar storage containers that embrace a terracotta piece proper within the lid, like this one. They’re actually helpful.
This brown sugar cookie dough comes collectively rapidly with an electrical mixer. As soon as all of your substances are mixed, it’s time to roll out and chill the dough.
My #1 Tip for Making Reduce-Out Cookies
Roll the dough out earlier than chilling. I’ll clarify why that is so profitable. Divide the dough in half, roll out every portion, after which chill:
Most sugar cookie doughs require chilling so the cookies maintain their cookie cutter form within the oven. However when you’ve ever tried rolling out chilled sugar cookie dough, you could keep in mind how tough it’s to flatten chilly, stiff dough. So, roll out the dough whereas it’s nonetheless gentle (proper after making it), after which chill the rolled-out dough. Right here’s my precise technique, and it really works for chocolate sugar cookies, too:
- Divide the dough in half as a result of smaller sections are simpler to roll out.
- Roll out the cookie dough immediately on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you’ll be able to simply switch it to the fridge.
- Decide the entire thing up, set it on a baking sheet, and place it within the fridge. Keep in mind, you will have 2 slabs of dough. If you happen to don’t have sufficient room for two baking sheets in your fridge, merely stack the items of rolled-out dough on prime of one another, with parchment paper or silicone baking mat in between.
After the rolled-out dough chills for at the very least 1–2 hours, use cookie cutters to chop out shapes. Be sure you re-roll the dough scraps as wanted.
The cookies are completed when the sides are set and the middles nonetheless look barely gentle. These cookies maintain their form properly within the oven, and bake up with a pleasant flat floor that’s excellent for adorning.
Now, for everybody’s favourite half!
Adorning Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies
For the cookies you see pictured right here, my workforce and I used royal icing to embellish the cookies formed like reindeer, timber, sweet canes, and gingerbread folks. And we used cookie adorning buttercream to embellish the snowflake cookies.
If you happen to’re new to adorning with royal icing, it could assist to look at my video tutorial on how one can enhance sugar cookies. I’ll stroll you thru 4 easy and approachable methods which might be an incredible place to begin when you’re new to cookie adorning. For the pictured cookies, I used Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding with icing. This can be a fantastic fundamental piping tip to have in your assortment.
I even have an simple cookie icing glaze you may attempt as an alternative. It takes longer to dry than royal icing, nevertheless it’s fast and straightforward to make, it doesn’t require piping luggage/ideas. I take advantage of squeeze bottles for it! It’s fantastic you probably have younger bakers keen to assist enhance.
And, after all, don’t overlook the sprinkles. If you happen to plan to dedicate an entire day to cookie-baking, right here’s how How one can Host a Cookie Adorning Day information. 😉
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is a part of my annual cookie countdown known as Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the most important, most scrumptious occasion of the yr! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza web page together with:
Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies
Prep Time: 2 hours, half-hour
Prepare dinner Time: 12 minutes
Whole Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: 24 3-inch cookies
Class: Cookies
Methodology: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
These brown sugar cut-out cookies are excellent for the vacations or anytime you crave sugar cookies with slightly additional taste. Make them any form you want and have enjoyable adorning together with your selection of icing. The variety of cookies this recipe yields is dependent upon the scale of the cookie cutter you employ. If you happen to’d prefer to make dozens of cookies for a big crowd, double the recipe.
Directions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and salt collectively in a medium bowl. Put aside.
- In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar collectively on excessive pace till fully easy and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat on excessive pace till mixed, about 1 minute. Scrape down the perimeters and backside of the bowl and beat once more as wanted to mix.
- Add the dry substances to the moist substances and blend on low pace till mixed. Dough shall be a bit gentle. If the dough appears too gentle and sticky for rolling, add extra flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, beating nicely after every addition.
- Divide the dough in half. Place every portion onto a chunk of frivolously floured parchment paper or a frivolously floured silicone baking mat. With a frivolously floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use extra flour if the dough appears too sticky. The rolled-out dough could be any form, so long as it’s evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Flippantly mud one of many rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a chunk of parchment on prime. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on prime. Cowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at the very least 1–2 hours, or as much as 2 days.
- As soon as chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line giant baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Fastidiously take away the highest dough piece from the fridge. If it’s sticking to the underside, run your hand below it to assist take away it. Utilizing a cookie cutter, minimize the dough into shapes. Re-roll the dough scraps and proceed chopping till all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough. (Be aware: It doesn’t seem to be plenty of dough, however you get plenty of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Organize cookies on baking sheets 3 inches aside. Bake for 11–12 minutes or till frivolously browned across the edges. Permit cookies to chill on the baking sheet for five–10 minutes, then switch to a wire rack to chill fully earlier than adorning.
- Beautify the cooled cookies with royal icing, cookie buttercream, or simple cookie icing; prime with sprinkles, if utilizing. Be happy to tint any of those icings with gel meals coloring. For adorning inspiration, my How one can Beautify Sugar Cookies tutorial is useful.
- Take pleasure in cookies instantly or wait till the icing units to serve them. Plain or adorned cookies keep gentle for about 5 days when lined tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cowl and refrigerate for as much as 10 days. If adorned with cookie buttercream, cowl and retailer adorned cookies at room temperature for 1 day, or within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Directions: Plain or adorned sugar cookies freeze nicely as much as 3 months. Anticipate the icing to set fully earlier than layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw within the fridge or at room temperature. You may also freeze the cookie dough for as much as 3 months earlier than rolling it out. Put together the dough by step 3, divide in half, flatten each halves right into a disc as we do with pie crust, wrap every in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the discs within the fridge, then deliver to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill rolled-out dough within the fridge for 45 minutes–1 hour earlier than chopping into shapes and baking. See this submit on how one can freeze cookie dough for a video tutorial.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Wood Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Vacation Cookie Cutter Set | Cooling Rack | Piping Baggage (Disposable or Reusable) | Couplers | Piping Ideas Set | Assorted Sprinkles (Like These or These)
- Can I Skip the Spices? Sure. In order for you a plain brown sugar cookie, you’ll be able to omit the spices with no different adjustments to the recipe.
- Room Temperature: Room temperature butter is crucial. If the dough is just too sticky, your butter might have been too gentle. Room temperature butter is definitely cool to the contact. Room temperature egg is most well-liked so it’s rapidly and evenly combined into the cookie dough.
- Icing: Use royal icing, simple cookie icing, or cookie adorning buttercream. See submit above to learn concerning the variations.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Sure. Double all the substances and divide the dough into 3 or 4 sections in step 4.
- Be sure you take a look at my prime 5 cookie baking ideas AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking instruments.