On the eighth day of cookies I slaved and baked for thee, a couple of pretty simple sugar cookies.

The eighth recipe is one of my favorite childhood cookies. The Simple Sugar Cookie is as plain as a cookie can be, which is what little four old me craved. It’s a cookie that’s non intimidating to many children, not to mention they are fun to cut out and decorate.

Simple Sugar Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

3 eggs, separated

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp kosher salt

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolks, baking soda, vanilla and salt. 

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into cookie batter. Add flour a little bit at a time, you want enough flour to make a soft dough but it can be easily rolled out. 

Roll out cookie dough on a lightly floured surface to a ¼” thick.

Cut out cookies with your desired cookie cutters. Place shapes on baking sheets, sprinkle with sugar crystals and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool on wire racks and store in airtight containers when cooled completely. 

*Notes:

A little tip, sometimes if my cookies spread out a little too much during baking I will recut the cookie shape after baking before I start to cool them. I know it’s cheating a little bit but I do like how it refines the shape.

If you find your cookie dough to be a little too sticky you can pop it in the fridge for an hour to harden up the dough a bit.