Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
For perfectly tender, highly addictive sugar cookies, use the most flavorful salted butter that you can find and good quality vanilla extract. For the freshest, most delicious cookies, only bake as many cookies as you plan on eating in a day. To store extra dough, scoop it and roll it into balls and store them in an airtight container in the freezer. Bake them from frozen, rolling in sugar just beforehand.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 18 persons
Ingredients
- 2cups/256 grams all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 12tablespoons/170 grams salted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
- 1cup/200 grams plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1large egg, at room temperature
- 1large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.Step 2
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary. Beat in the egg and egg yolk until creamy, then add the vanilla, again scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low until just combined.Step 3
In a small bowl, place the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Roll the dough into golf-ball-size balls (about 2 tablespoons each), then roll each one in the sugar.Step 4
Transfer the dough to parchment-lined baking sheets, at least 3 inches apart. Bake the cookies until just set and dry in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Transfer each sheet to a rack to cool for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies to racks to cool completely.