To guarantee the best results, follow these tips and tricks:
Rest Your Dough: After mixing, let the dough rest for an hour (or freeze for later use). I wrap my dough in cling wrap. The dough can also be frozen this way. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and place in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag. Once enclosed in both the wrap and bagged, the dough can be frozen for 3-4 months.
Weigh Ingredients: Use a food scale for accuracy—flour, eggs, and sugar can vary! Weighing ingredients is a great practice when baking. This is the scale I use for weighing my flour, eggs and royal icing.
Roll Evenly: A rolling pin with guides ensures uniform thickness, so cookies bake evenly. This rolling pin from Amazon is similar to the one I use and love for its precision and ease of use. I roll my cookies at ¾ or 5/16, which gives you a thicker cookie and ensures a “good bite” every time!
Use Parchment or Mats: Roll and bake cookies on parchment paper or perforated mats for the best results. The rolling pin should never directly touch the dough – instead, you roll the dough between parchment paper or between parchment paper and a non-slip baking mat. I use this baking mat to roll my dough onto - it doesn’t slide, so I love it! These parchment sheets are used when you roll your dough and when you bake your cookies.
Sugar cookies should not be placed directly on the pan, but instead on a perforated baking mat or parchment paper. I love parchment sheets because they come in different sizes to perfectly fit your baking sheets. If you plan to bake cookies often, it’s worth investing in perforated baking mats. Instead of using parchment paper as the liner in your baking sheet, these are reusable and help ensure your cookies bake evenly every time. I actually use Chua mats, but these perforated mats from Amazon are very similar. Measure your pans before purchasing – you do not want to cut the perforated mats because they are made of silicone.
Bake for Perfection: If you do not already have baking sheets, you’ll need those as well. I use these Nordic Ware baking sheets, and I can typically fit 12-15 3-4” cookies on them. The best part is they do not warp during the baking process.
Transfer Carefully: When transferring the cookies from the baking mat to the baking sheet, it’s important to use a good spatula so you do not distort the shape of the cookie. This is the spatula I use, it slides under the cookie dough so much better than the thicker spatulas I have. It’s super thin and helps keep you from crushing the sides of your cookies.
Cool & Store Properly: Use stackable cooling racks and airtight containers to maintain freshness. Once the cookies are baked, they need to cool down on cooling racks. To save space, I use a stackable cooling rack. I LOVE this cookie cooling rack. It has 4 racks and takes up very little space. I’ve had mine for over a year and it’s holding up great!
Baked cookies can be iced immediately or frozen for up to 3-4 months. If you plan to freeze your cookies, they should be stored in airtight containers. I absolutely love the containers by Komax. I use both this set of 3 large containers and this extra-large container.
💡 Helpful Tools: Links to recommended products like rolling pins, baking mats, cooling racks, and airtight containers are included for convenience!
Okay, now onto the recipe!
The Recipe:
Yields approximately 3 dozen 3–4” cookies.
Ingredients:
FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
4 sticks salted butter (cold is better, but room temperature is easier on your mixer). Do not use margarine.
120 grams of eggs (about 2 jumbo eggs)
1/2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Lorann butter vanilla emulsion
1/2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Lorann cinnamon spice emulsion
1010 grams combined weight of unbleached flour and 1/8 cup cornstarch (I put the 1/8 cup of cornstarch in my bowl and then add enough flour for the total weight to be 1010 grams)
- Kroger has their own brand of unbleached flour. I love it. King Arthur is also great.
- Remove the flour gluten by substituting gluten free flour and a little extra egg for moisture (not an entire extra egg)
1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
OPTIONAL FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR COATING
¼ C sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Combine ingredients in a small flat bottom container. This will be used after the cookies are cut.
Mixing Instructions
1. Add 4 sticks of butter to mixing bowl. The colder the butter is, the better, however, cold butter is hard on your mixer, so you may need to cool to room temperature. Do NOT melt your butter – cold butter helps sugar cookies keep their shape.
2. Add both sugars and cinnamon to the mixing bowl.
3. Using the paddle mixing attachment, mix on a medium speed for 5 minutes. Yes, I time this step.
4. Using a flexible spatula scrape the mixture away from the sides of the bowl. This doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do not want the mixture stuck to the sides because if it is, it will not all mix well during the next steps.
5. Add eggs and flavor extract/emulsions to the mixture and mix on a medium speed until well combined – 2 minutes max.
6. Once again, using a flexible spatula, scrape the mixture away from the sides of the bowl.
7. Add dry ingredient mixture to the mixing bowl. (I combine my salt, baking powder, cornstarch and flour into one bowl. I do not sift my ingredients)
8. THIS PART IS IMPORTANT!!! I break 4-5 paper towels off a roll and wrap it around the mixing bowl during this step – it helps avoid a floury mess! At a medium low speed, mix until the mixture releases from the sides of the bowl. I do not time this step, I simply look to know when – but it takes a couple of minutes. You do not want to over mix on this step. When you first begin this step, it will not be loud but will get louder and louder – expect this – this indicates the wet and dry mixtures are combining – after it’s been loud for about 30-45 seconds, peak inside the bowl and see if most of the mixture is still touching the sides of the mixing bowl. If it is, keep going, but if most of it is in the middle of the bowl (not stuck to the sides), then it’s time to stop. Sometimes all my dough will be released, but often there are a few small places where it’s still stuck to the side. That’s okay if the majority is released.
9. Remove the bowl from the mixer and take it to the counter. Dump the dough onto the counter and use your spatula to remove any dough stuck to the side. Pile all of the dough together and knead it a dozen or so times.
10. You can keep your dough combined now or separated. If you’re going to bake it all, then keep it combined, but if you plan to freeze it, you may want to separate into smaller amounts. Place about 3 feet of cling wrap on the counter laying the length of the counter. Place another 3 feet of cling wrap across the first 3 feet, forming a “t”. Lay the dough in the middle, pat down until it’s about 1 ½ to 2 inches thick. Then wrap the sides of the cling wrap over the middle ensuring all of the dough is securely covered inside cling wrap.
11. Let the dough sit this way for at least an hour (up to 3 hours).
12. After 1 to 3 hours, either place in a Ziploc bag and freeze (3-4 months), refrigerate (2-3 days) or roll and bake.
Rolling & Baking Instructions
Be sure to read the tips at the beginning of this article for important rolling and baking information.
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (convection) or 350°F.
2. I usually break my dough into smaller chunks for this step, but you do not have to - place the dough onto a non-stick baking mat or piece of parchment.
3. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough.
4. Using your rolling pin, with guides (see information at the top of the page), roll the dough to the desired thickness.
5. Cut the cookies to the desired shape(s).
6. Prepare the baking sheet by laying a perforated baking mat or piece of parchment paper in the baking sheet.
7. CHOOSE 1 of these steps
a. Add optional cinnamon sugar coating: Carefully slide the spatula under the cut shapes and sit it in the cinnamon sugar mixture, coating the bottom of the cookie. Using the spatula, move to a COOL baking sheet (never place on a warm or hot baking sheet). It’s easy to mess the shapes up during this process, so be careful. The colder the dough is, the easier it is to keep the shape firm.
b. Do not add optional cinnamon sugar coating: Carefully slide the spatula under the cut shapes and move to a COOL baking sheet (never place on a warm or hot baking sheet). It’s easy to mess the shapes up during this process, so be careful. The colder the dough is, the easier it is to keep the shape firm.
8. Cookies can be placed closely together, but they should not be touching. Leave at least ¼ to ½ inches between cookies.
9. Place the entire baking sheet with cookies in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. The cookies should feel frozen when you remove them. This step is VERY important. This helps the cookie keep its shape during the baking process.
10. Place the baking sheet with cookies into the oven on a middle rack and bake until they no longer appear shiny. Once the shiny appearance is gone, they should be done. I cannot give you a precise time. This step varies depending on the size of the cookie, the thickness of your dough, the use of a perforated mat versus parchment paper, and the variation of your oven’s temperature (there are more variables, but these are the big ones). My cookies are 5/16 inches thick. I bake them using convection bake at 325 degrees for about 13 minutes. However, there are times when at 13 minutes the cookies still have a shine to them, so I add 2-3 minutes until they are no longer shiny.
11. Once done, remove from the oven and place the pan on potholders. I usually leave my cookies on the pan for about 10-13 minutes. If you move them too soon, they may break, so be careful. It’s best to use your spatula for this step.
12. Move the cookies to a cooling rack and let them sit until they are completely cool.
13. Cooled cookies can be stacked in an airtight container for storage or iced.
Cookie Storage Instructions
Cooked cookies can be stacked and stored in an airtight container.
- On the counter they will remain fresh for about 10 days
- In the freezer they will remain fresh for about 3-4 months (possibly longer)
- Do not refrigerate
- Once iced, place cookies in cellophane bags or place parchment between cookies and store in an airtight container with cookies standing on their sides.
With these tips and instructions, you’ll bake cookies that are as beautiful as they are delicious. Remember, practice makes perfect, and this process gets easier with each batch!
Happy baking and enjoy your All Good Things cookies! ❤️🍪
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