Amish Sugar Cookies

In honor of National Sugar Cookie Day, here's an old recipe that I've really grown to appreciate over the years. It's called Amish Sugar cookies. The recipe is from a reader named John.  The cookies are crumbly and light and tend to fall apart when you eat them. They're not quite like shortbread, and I wouldn't call them butter cookies, either. They're kind of boring/plain on their own, but with frosting they are excellent.

Amish Sugar Cookies Ingredient Notes

The butter flavored emulsion is completely optional, but I bought some at Michael's a while back and like to put it in Amish Sugar Cookies just for fun. I think it adds a little hint of flavor. Feel free to leave it out completely or add another flavoring.

Bleached flour seems to make the cookies a little lighter a puffier, but any all-purpose flour will work.

For the frosting, it's best to use whole milk.

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Recipe

Happy Sugar Cookie Day -- Amish Sugar Cookies

Anna

Powdery light sugar cookies that are perfect with a thick layer of frosting

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 22 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 32 cookies

Ingredients

 

• 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour 8 oz** weigh for best results (230 grams)
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ½ cup salted butter or add ⅜ teaspoon of salt and use unsalted (114 grams)
• ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar (60 grams)
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon butter flavored emulsion such as Lorann optional

Frosting

• 8 tablespoons butter softened
• 3 to 3 ¾ cups of powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons of room temperature whole milk plus more as needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

 

• Do not preheat the oven yet because you'll be chilling the dough.
• In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and cream of tartar.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until creamy. Gradually beat in the oil; beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Add some butter flavoring if you like.
• Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Batter should be too soft to roll -- it's similar to chocolate chip cookie dough in thickness. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes so that it's easier to shape into balls.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. For browner edges, preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Scoop up scant tablespoons of dough and shape into 1 inch balls. Arrange the balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased or parchment or foil lined (do not grease or use spray) baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes (may take longer). Let cool slightly on baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, put the room temperature butter in a bowl. Gradually add as much sugar as you can, stirring well, then add a little milk. Start beating with an electric mixer and continue adding sugar and milk until frosting is creamy. Add vanilla.
• Spread over cooled cookies

Notes

They tend to be puffier, lighter and crumblier when bleached flour is used, but you can use any flour you like. As for the frosting, this recipe only uses ½ cup of butter and the rest of the moisture comes from milk. Whole milk works the best. With a higher ratio of sugar, the frosting crusts over. However, if you want a richer frosting you can use 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter. The yield is approximate.

Keyword Amish Sugar Cookies

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