One of our longest running family Christmas traditions is to make my dad’s mother’s sugar cookies. I made these with my grandmother Ellanor (or Tutu as I called her) each winter a week to a day before Christmas. I remember wearing our aprons, standing in my parent’s kitchen with the tile countertop, getting covered in flour, and sneaking bits of finished dough into my mouth. Even though my grandmother passed away about 10 years ago, we have continued to make these scrumptious cookies that always put me immediately into the holiday mood even in sunny California.
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Some years my dad makes the dough and sometimes I make the dough and some years we make it together. But no matter who makes the dough, we always do the icing and decorating altogether. Usually, we triple this recipe so we have 6 dough halves wrapped in plastic. We end up with about 120 cookies! But believe me, they go fast.
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It’s always fun to roll out the dough, sprinkle everything with flour, and use cookie cutters old and new. These cookies come out slightly tanned on the bottom and soft cream color on top. My mom makes the frosting each year and once we all work together to frost and decorate them, they are deliciously addictive. Santa would approve. Here are our cookies:
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| Christmas Sugar Cookies ©EverydayCookingAdventures |
Grandma Ellanor’s Sugar Cookies
Makes: approximately 36 cookies, depending on size of cookie cutters
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup butter, softened on the counter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- Grated orange peel zest from 2 oranges
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 egg
- 4 tsp. milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. Kosher fine salt
- Cookie Cutters
- Powdered Sugar Icing (see recipe below)
- Decorative sprinkles
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a large bowl, thoroughly cream butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds.
2. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in milk.
3. Sift together dry ingredients and blend in creamed mixture.
4. Divide dough in half. Chill one hour or overnight.
5. On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut dough into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack; cool.
7. Once the cookies are completely cooled, prepare Powdered Sugar Icing (recipe below). Spread and/or pipe the icing onto cookies.and top with sprinkles and/or candies.
Powdered Sugar Icing
Ingredients
- 2 cups powdered sugar
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1/2 tsp. vanilla
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4 Tbsp. milk
- Optional, food coloring dye
Directions: In a bowl, combine powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk. Stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until icing reaches spreading consistency. If desired, tint with paste food coloring.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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I’ve been using this recipe for 50 years with the kids and grandkids. This year we moved to The Villages of Florida and the old BH&G cookbook is somewhere in storage.
Thanks for making it available online. Doesn’t get any better than this.
I’ve made these sugar cookies for 50 years and they are the best!!
Best sugar around I have made every year for 40 yrs. I do add mace to mine but I think no other recipe comes close..
I make these cookies year after year no other recipe compares to it. My kids and grandchildren are grown I make them still and now for great grand children when someone ask ,I give them the recipe I do add mace to the recipe.
My old BH&G red &white recipe book was lost when I downsized. I have been searching for this recipe for some time. I remembered the grated orange peel. My family loves them. Other recipes just didn’t measure up. Thank goodness I found your site! I’ll be baking them today! Thank you!
Ditto! I think we accidentally donated our BH&G cookbook earlier this year and I was gutted when I realized that’s where the sugar cookie recipe was. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the post! You saved Christmas!
This is the best recipe. I have the old cookbook and have been baking these cookies for 45 years for every holiday. My family loves them. I have been using a combination of half shortening and half butter and they come out great.
Am I wrong that the original recipe called for shortening instead of butter?? I am almost positive we used shortening!!!
Hi Jodi! Yes, shortening. Unfortunately that’s not very common anymore so I had to learn how to adapt with butter which still makes the cookies taste delicious and keep soft.
It did use shortening. My grandma gave me the recipe recently straight from the book and it calls for 2/3 cup of shortening!
There is nothing like a great sugar cookie!
So true! And I love decorating them too.
Thank you! We recently moved and I can’t find my cookbook. No other recipe has ever come close to being as good as this one!
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad you love this recipe like I do.