Amish Sugar Cookies

A few days ago I was looking for different "drop cookie" recipes and came across an Amish Sugar Cookie recipe that intrigued me. I love sugar cookies, but sometimes refrigerating the dough, rolling it into balls and then rolling them in sugar is a little too time-consuming. This week I am making several types of cookies for my husband's deployment welcome home party, and was looking for simple recipes that I could make after work, so I decided to give this one a try!

I read a lot of reviews on this recipe and made some changes to the original one I found online. Some people said the cookies had a strange taste that could be from the oil and were greasy, so I decided to use Crisco in place of vegetable oil (you can also use butter-flavored Crisco but I did not have that). I use the Crisco baking sticks for baking now as they are much easier to use than measuring out Crisco. My powdered sugar was a bit lumpy so I sifted it. Some reviews said the cookies were bland, so I used more vanilla than called for (the recipe says 1 teaspoon but I used 2 teaspoons). Some reviews also suggested either substituting or adding other extracts - my personal preferences would be either lemon or almond. I added 1 teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla. I also added 1 teaspoon of salt to the recipe as some people said it was needed. The reviews said to be careful not to over-bake, so I baked these at 350° instead of 375° just to be safe, since my oven is a bit temperamental. After about 10 minutes I just watched them closely until they were done.

This dough is soft and can be refrigerated for easier handling, but since the dough is not being rolled that is not necessary. I refrigerated it overnight just so I could bake these right when I got home from work the next day.

Some reviewers suggested slightly flattening the cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (flatten the first cookie with the glass and then dip it in sugar so it sticks). Other reviewers simply sprinkled some sugar on top of the cookie dough. Since I was looking for an easy recipe, I baked them without doing anything additional - just used my small cookie scoop to make the same size cookies and stuck them in the oven! But when they came out they looked very plain, so I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top of each cookie. 

These are more of a crumbly cookie, similar to a shortbread, than a soft sugar cookie. To me that means adding pecans would turn these into delicious Pecan Sandies! See my next post for that recipe!

All in all, the cookies tasted good, but didn't look too great. I think I will stick to making rolled out sugar cookies for that reason if I am bringing them to a party and want them to look nice, but for just making and eating at home, this is a great recipe!

Amish Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Crisco

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon or almond extract (optional)

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, Crisco and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla and other desired extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours (optional).

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, if desired.

Bake at 350° for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned – do not overbake! Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 5 dozen.

NOTE: These make a crumbly cookie, not a soft sugar cookie.

To make these Pecan Sandies: Substitute 1 cup of granulated sugar with ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup packed brown sugar. Only use vanilla extract (no lemon or almond). Toast the whole pecans first for better flavor. Sir 2 cups finely chopped toasted pecans in to batter. Push a pecan half into the center of the cookies before baking (optional).