Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie
Soft, buttery, and full of vanilla flavor, this sugar cookie recipe is perfect with only a few ingredients and comes together in less than an hour.
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Equipment
- stand mixer with paddle attachment
- parchment paper
- Rolling Pin with measuring guides
- silicone spatula
- kitchen scale optional but recommended
- cookie stamps optional
- silicone brush optional - for glaze icing on stamped cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cup all purpose flour 390g
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature 168g
- ¾ cup sugar 150g
- 1 ea large egg room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean extract
- 1 tsp baking powder omit if stamping cookies
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
Glaze Icing for Stamped Cookies
- 1 cup confectioners sugar 113 g
- 3 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and vanilla on high until light and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down bowl as needed.¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, ¾ cup sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla bean extract
- Once creamed, scrape down bowl and add egg. Mix on low for about 1 minute. Scrape down bowl as needed.1 ea large egg
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.3 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp fine sea salt
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients on mix on low until partially combined.
- Increase mix speed to medium low until dough comes together on paddle attachment and pulls away from bowl - about 1 minute.
- Place parchment paper on counter and lightly flour.
- Place dough on parchment paper and knead with hands if dough still needs to come together a bit more. Add another sheet of parchment on top of the dough.
- Roll out to desired thickness with rolling pin. Remove top piece of parchment and light flour dough.
- Cut shapes and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until there is light browning along bottom edges.
- Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Allow to cool completely before enjoying or decorating.
Stamping Cookies
- After following the steps above in making the dough, flour and roll out to no more than ¼" thickness. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Flour cookie stamp well to avoid dough sticking. To help the flour 'stick' you can place some dough on the cookie stamp, remove and then roll stamp in flour to help it adhere.
- Place cookie stamp on dough and press firmly all along the edges and on the knob. Make sure to press down firmly to ensure the design imprints well.
- Use a circle cookie cutter to cut cookie design. Place on baking sheet at least 1" apart.
- Follow baking instructions as listed above.
- Prepare glaze icing. Use soft rubber brush for brushing on icing.
- Dip brush into glaze icing and gently spread onto cookie until the top is fully coated. Allow to set for a few minutes and then store in an airtight container.
Glaze Icing
- Combine confectioners sugar and milk in bowl. Whisk until sugar has dissolved.1 cup confectioners sugar, 3 tbsp whole milk
Notes
Weigh Your Ingredients. You will have a better chance of success with this recipe if you weigh your ingredients.
Use A Stand Mixer. I recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe, but you should be able to make by hand as long as you knead the dough well when bringing the wet and dry ingredients together.
Baking Powder. If you are going to be using the recipe to stamp the cookies then omit this ingredient.
If you are going to color your cookie dough, add the food coloring after the egg has been mixed in and prior to adding the flour. This helps color the dough without having to do the extra work to knead the color into the dough!
If you are stamping cookies, roll out dough to ¼" thickness and then place in refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and then proceed to stamp cookies.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
