Years ago I posted a recipe for what was supposed to be a copycat of the cookies baked at Larry's House of Cakes in Southern Illinois. I've never been to Larry's, but the copycat cookies were pretty good. The recipe made a decent batch of crispy on the outside, soft on the inside sugar cookies with a little crunch from sprinkles. Unfortunately, they were not quite the same as their namesake cookies because they did not have that signature pink icing.
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New Pink Iced Sugar Cookies
So I had to scrap the old recipe for a new one. If you want a recipe that's best with sprinkles and without icing, there are some other good ones here including the Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies. These new cookies, whether or not they are like Larry's, are thick, soft, crumbly and have the special icing. And FYI I used Betty Crocker red gel color for the pink. I have mixed feelings about this particular shade. In real life it's prettier, but it's kind of a strange pink in the photos.
Soft Sugar Cookies Flavor and Texture
These cookies have a crumbly but soft (not too dry) texture from the combination of butter and shortening. You can use Crisco or something like trans-fat free Spectrum. I used butter flavored Crisco in this last batch, but I think I prefer neutral shortening with a better butter flavoring (like Happy Home) added in with the extracts. If you you add your own butter flavoring, a half teaspoon should do the trick. The texture is soft, not too dry, and crumbly. Like Lofthouse cookies, these cookies need the icing for moisture.
Shiny Pink Icing
Now about this icing, it's pretty (in real life), but it's also tasty. I am not sure if the real Larry's pink icing has butter in it or if it's just a sugar glaze, but this one does have plenty of butter, plus a little corn syrup to make it shiny. For flavoring, I use vanilla, but you can change it up by adding a little almond extract if you like. If you want it to have a smooth and shiny finish, you can put the icing on the cookies while they are still slightly warm. For a fluffier frosted look, let the cookies cool completely, then spread it on. Larry's doesn't put sprinkles on their cookies, but these look very pretty with them.
Recipe
Larry's Sugar Cookies Copycat
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (weigh or measure with a light hand) (285 grams)
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup shortening (regular or butter flavored) (98 grams)
- ½ cup salted butter, softened (114 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (60 grams
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest or bit of lemon extract OR use almond extract
- ½ teaspoon butter flavoring (if using plain shortening)
Pink Icing
- 8 tablespoons salted butter, softened (uf using unsalted, add pinch of salt)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 drops red food gel
- 1-2 tablespoons Milk as needed for consistency.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until incorporated.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the extracts.
- Add flour mixture to batter and stir until it is fully blended and you have a soft dough. It should not be super dry or too sticky.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out about 22 balls, then use the palms of your hands to roll them smooth. Press down gently to make ¾ inch thick rounds.
- Arrange rounds about 2 ½ inches apart and bake for about 12-14 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool while you make the pink icing.
Pink Icing
- Beat together the butter and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Add the corn syrup, remaining powdered sugar and vanilla until fully blended. Add 1 tablespoon of the milk and enough red food gel to make the icing pink. Continue adding milk until icing is smooth and creamy.
- You can put the icing on the cookies while they are slightly warm if you'd like it to melt a little and turn shiny. Otherwise, spoon and spread on completely cool cookies.
Anna says
Hi Brooklyn,
I'm glad you liked them! They were popular at our school bake sale. I just bought some Spectrum non-hydrogenated shortening and might try making these cookies with that.
Brooklyn says
The best sugar cookies ever!!! I loved this recipe. The cookies stayed soft and chewy. They were perfect, I have never had a sugar cookie to turn out as good as these.
julie says
Kathy, Thank you for the heads up- 🙂
Kathy says
Anna - I think I am going to experiment using your suggestions. Turns out I have made the vegan spice cookie (I amped up the spices to make it more gingerbread-like)you mentioned a few times. I love the texture so appreciate your ideas for coverting it to a sugar cookie. I will let you know if I am successful in making something worth passing along.
Julie - I am becoming pretty experienced with the egg substitutes but often find the texture is off and prefer to stay with recipes that do not include eggs.
Chris C-L says
I think I lived at Larry's House of Cakes when I was in college and when I was student teaching. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Larry's cookies. I ordered two dozen for Rick for Valentine's Day this year. We loving call it "Larry's House of Fat." Our favorites are the sugar cookies and the peanut butter cookies. You can see all of Larry's goodies at: http://www.larryshouseofcakes.com/
julie says
I found this on-line- I have not tried it yet but the article (vegan specific baking tips) said it can be used in baking
The Recipe: Flaxseed Egg-Substitute
1/2 cup flaxseed
1 1/2 cup water
Directions:
Grind flaxseed to a fine powder in an electric coffee grinder.
Mix flaxseed and water in blender and blend on high for 2 minutes.
Chill for 1 hour to set up. It can be used now, but it has a more egg-like consistency if allowed to chill.
Keep refrigerated up to 3 days.
Using the Flaxseed Mixture:
1/4 cup of flax mixture = 1 Egg
1 cup of flax mixture = 4 Eggs
They have some recipes as well-
http://bakingdesserts.suite101.com/article.cfm/baking_desserts_recipe_box
Anna says
Thanks, Sue!
Kathy, if you can't find a good vegan sugar cookie on the web, you might want to experiment. This vegan molasses cookie is very, very good.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/?p=1349
I'm thinking if you cut out all the spices, added extra vanilla and swapped either golden syrup or corn syrup for the molasses, you'd have a chewy sugar cookie. I'm not sure how it would taste, but it might work. It's worth a shot and you could test with a very small batch.
Oh, and you might want to throw in 2 teaspoons lemon juice so you'll have enough acid to work with the baking soda. OR you could try adding in 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
I bought those sparkles at our fancy H.E.B. grocery store.
Emiline says
Pretty.
Kathy says
Anna - Any thoughts on trying to veganize a sugar coookie? Or at least make it eggless? (I have an egg-allergic kid) My one attempt was sorta puffy but it tasted good.
Also, where did you get the colored sparkly sugar?
Sue says
The kids are going to love these!! I hope the bake sale is a huge success. No doubt it will be!