These cookies have been in my family since, well, the 90’s. One of our family friends—you guessed it—named Marilyn, would make these cookies and I would just flip. I mean they were so good and so soft, and just all around flavorful-delicious. These soft, almond-flavored sugar cookies are just the ONLY thing good about life.
Dramatic, I know.
I can remember making Marilyn’s Soft Sugar Cookies in my childhood home in our tiny little kitchen. Ironically, the house itself was huge, but the kitchen was as small as a bathroom. The house had an incredible dining room, wood floors, dark-paneled walls crowned with 1910 wallpaper, and a large wooden table that sat in the center. So when the cookies were done, we would take them to that room, sit on large squeaky chairs, and frost what seemed like a thousand cookies.
These cookies changed my life. Later on in my adolescence, when my mom wasn’t sure if she would be around for the next Christmas, she bundled up some of my favorite cookie recipes and gave them to me in a little binder laced with Christmas ribbon. Marilyn’s Soft Sugar Cookies were in it. Thank God for that.
And now, many Christmases later, I still make these cookies every year at Christmastime. I don’t think I’ve missed even one year. I usually make them all at once at the beginning of December, and then freeze them in three batches. I pull them out when I want to bring some to work or when we are about to host a Christmas cookie decorating party. If you’d like to make a smaller batch, this is an easy recipe to cut in half.
My mom always taught me three simple rules when making these cookies:
- When rolling out the dough, make sure not to roll it out too thin. You want the dough to be thick. This keeps the cookies nice and soft.
- The cookies are done when they no longer look shiny. Make sure to remove them from the oven before they start to brown on the edges. Again, this keeps the cookies nice and soft.
- Eat with a cup of coffee.
Okay, maybe that last rule was not my mom’s, but it’s a good rule in my opinion. Make these this Christmas season with your son or daughter, and enjoy them with some strong French press coffee. Go crazy on the sprinkles and don’t hold back on the frosting.
Marilyn’s Soft Sugar Cookies
Marilyn’s Soft Sugar Cookies are the only kind of sugar cookie you need. These cookies turn out perfect every time you make them.
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 28 minutes
- Yield: 45 servings
Ingredients
|| Cookie ||
1 1/2 cups butter-flavored Crisco
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
4 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
|| Frosting ||
2 cups butter
1 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons cream
Sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
|| Cookie || In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the Crisco, sugar, eggs, and almond extract together until well-mixed and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together and add to the creamed butter mixture. Beat together on medium-high for another 2 minutes.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough about 1/3-inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out the dough and bake on a parchment-lined (or use a silicone baking mat liner) cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes. Bake only until cookies have set and have lost their shine. Do not let them brown.
|| Frosting || Using a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, slowly mix room-temperature butter and vanilla bean together. With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix until all the sugar is incorporated. Add the salt and cream until a luxurious, silky frosting appears.
Frost cookies and adorn with sprinkles as desired.
Keywords: christmas cookies, cookies, soft cookies, sugar cookies
Karlee, these are beautiful! You are so talented!
Ah, Thank you so much, Sandy! I am loving decorating sugar cookies!
Where do you get your sprinkles from? Specifically the gold stars!
Aren’t they the cutest? I get them from a little cake decorating shop in Salem called Cherry City Cake and Candy. They’re wilton.
http://www.wilton.com/gold-stars-edible-accents/703-200.html
Made them today with my kids, Karlee! They take me back to being a student at SC! I used the good ol’ Betty Crocker vanilla frosting, though, just like Marilyn said to do! Hugs and happy holidays!
Yes! Oh, good times! That’s how I remember them too, Betty crocker frosting FTW. this makes me happy!
Can I make these ahead of time and store the cookies until I am ready to frost them? Or keep the dough chilled for a few days until I am ready to bake and frost?
The dough will keep chilled for up to 3 days! And YES! I like to make the cookies and then freeze them in a ziplock until I want to frost them!
Karlee does this frosting harden to allow for stacking?
Hey Tanya!
It will harden slightly like a typical american buttercream. But it won’t harden like royal icing. I’ve been able to lightly stack them after about a day of the cookies left out uncovered.
Karlee