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Mar 04, 2024

When these cut

Editor, Berkshires Week Getting the maximum number of sugar cookies from your dough takes time and patience. My grandmother’s kitchen was a laboratory of sorts. I never knew what equipment she would

Editor, Berkshires Week

Getting the maximum number of sugar cookies from your dough takes time and patience.

My grandmother’s kitchen was a laboratory of sorts. I never knew what equipment she would assemble for our cooking and baking experiments.

I always loved was the pile of cutters that appeared when it was rolled-and-cut cookie day. I was fascinated by the stars, crescent moons, hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds and circles of many sizes that she would lay out across the metal table in the kitchen that served as our laboratory bench.

After making and chilling the day’s cookie recipe, we would roll out the dough to the proper thickness (1/8 inch for those measuring, but Grandma taught me to judge by eye). The work was then to stamp out as many shapes as possible without having to gather up and reroll the dough. This took thought and concentration. We discussed proper placement, how to arrange the shapes to take advantage of their indentations and curves so as to maximize the number of cookies we could stamp.

Patience was the order of the day. Together, her warm hands over mine, we stamped out the shapes, lifted each one carefully so that no star would lose a point on its way from the table to the baking sheet, and no heart would be broken.

When baked, these marvels didn’t last too long. It was then I understood the importance of learning how to make as many as possible.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar, extra for sprinkling on top

1 egg

2 cups flour, sifted

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the shortening until soft. With the mixer on medium speed, add the sugar gradually, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until combined.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl with a whisk. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the shortening and sugar, mixing on low speed. Add half the milk, then alternate another third of dry ingredients, the remaining milk, ending with the remaining dry ingredients, mixing until combined after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Shape dough into a ball and wrap in a piece of plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours, or until firm.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 F and grease two cookie sheets with cooking spray or butter. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness and cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a round glass. Place the cut cookies on the baking sheets and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes, watching to be sure the bottoms don’t over-brown. Remove cookies from baking sheets and place on a wire rack to cool. Claim your cookies early. These won’t last long.

Ellen Spear is the editor of Berkshires Week. She can be reached at [email protected].