Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies

Probably my very favorite cookie is a sugar cookie. It is all too hard to find the perfect one. Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies were part of Rose's cookie making frenzy this summer and everybody has asked for them again and again. I prefer a less soft and fluffy texture but but I definitely am in the minority because these consistently are a crowd favorite. Try a few of these to add to the joy or reduce the sting of the election results.

This recipe is from Nick Malgieri's Cookies Unlimited. The instructions call for a standing mixer but anyone with basic baking experience can see how easy it would be to adapt to hand mixing.


Makes about 60 cookies

Step 1:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
Set the racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 375°. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt; stir well to mix.

Step 2:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until combined, then beat in vanilla.

Step 3:
3 large eggs
1 up buttermilk
Add eggs, one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Lower the speed and beat in a third of the four mixture, then half the buttermilk, and another third of the flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often. Beat in remaining buttermilk, then the remaining flour mixture.

Step 4:
3 or 4 cookie sheets or jelly roll pans covered with parchment or foil
Scrape bowl and beater, then remove the bowl from the mixer, and give the dough one final mixing with a large rubber spatula. Drop tablespoons of the dough 3 or 4 inches apart onto the prepared pans.

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until they spread and rise -- they should be lightly golden.

Slide the papers off the pans onto racks. After cookies have cooled, detach them from the paper and store them between layers of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with tight fitting cover.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you so much for the recipe!! If you enjoy a true Pennsylvania Dutch Sugar cookie, like the ones our family purchases from Laudermilch's in Hershey, Pa., then this recipe will make you happy. It took me several attempts and varying the measurements a little but I finally achieved a cookie very similar to theirs but much better. The only 2 changes I made was increase the baking powder to 1.5 Tablespoons, and the vanilla to 1 Tablespoon, then bake them at 375 degrees for 13 minutes on parchment paper. The baking powder makes them rise...they are like a little cake so you need them to rise nicely. Remove from the parchment paper immediately and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, frost them with buttercream icing and store in airtight container or freeze them by placing on a wire rack in the freezer and then place in a Ziplock Baggie. Voila! The perfect Pa. Dutch cookie. Everyone who has ever eaten my cookies has loved them and asked for this recipe. Enjoy!

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