Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
(from Diane70’s recipe box)
Source: Joanne Fluke (from RecipeThing user Ryan77)
Categories: Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups melted butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar -- in a small bowl (for later)
Directions
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Do not preheat oven yet- dough must chill before baking.
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Melt butter. Add sugars and mix. Let cool to room temperature and mix in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, lemon zest, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well. Add flour in increments, mixing after each addition.
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Chill dough for at least one hour. (Overnight is fine.)
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When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°F and place rack in the middle of the oven.
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Use hands to roll dough in walnut-sized balls. Roll dough balls in a bowl of white sugar. (Mix white sugar 2 to 1 with colored sugar for holidays-green for St. Pat’s Day, red and green for Christmas, multicolored for birthdays.) Place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Flatten dough balls with a greased spatula.
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Bake at 325°F for 10-15 minutes. (They should have a tinge of gold on the top.) Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling. They can be decorated with frosting piped from a pastry bag for special occasions or left just as they are.