The Best Sugar Cookies in the World

It has taken me 35 years (the number of years I have been baking on my own) to finally find the mother of all sugar cookie recipes. Thanks to Katie Wennerstrom who was willing to share this recipe that she got from her Mother in Law (thank you whoever you are). I love my sugar cookies to be thick and soft with some density and not too sweet. I like the frosting to be what adds the sweetness to the cookie.

(pssst The secret is the buttermilk)

This takes 2-3 days to make.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs slightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

In a medium bowl beat eggs, buttermilk, vanilla then baking soda last of all. Set aside to let buttermilk and soda react. Small bubbles will form.

In the bowl of Kitchen Aid sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the sugar. Add the shortening and beat with dough hook to a cornmeal consistency. (note: I don't know if you can do this in a mixing bowl with hand held beater because dough is very stiff)

Turn mixer on low and add the liquid mixture. When completely incorporated, turn mixer on high and beat for 5 minutes. If dough is too sticky add a little flour, but dough should be soft.

Take dough out of mixer, pat into a flat oval, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge over night.

Next day preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough onto a floured surface to about 1/4" thick. Cut shapes and place 2" apart on un-greased baking sheet. Cookies will puff up spread slightly.
Bake 7-9 minutes exactly. Do not brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and when completely cooled, frost with the following frosting recipe.

Frosting
Ingredients:

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine softened to room temp
1 pound powdered sugar
1-3 TBS milk
1 tsp almond extract

Cream shortening and margarine together in Kitchen Aid. Add powdered sugar alternately with milk until all sugar is used and frosting is right consistency. Add extract.

4th Generation English Toffee recipe by Paula

After that great entry on how chocolate makes the toffee, I know you are all saying, "Where's the toffee?". So, here is the recipe for the "greatest toffee in the world". Remember, use the best milk chocolate you can find and use lots of it.

In all the batches of toffee my Mom would make, every once in awhile, a batch wouldn't turn out. I remember her saying that it must be the butter. One thing I learned this year when making the toffee is that you have to use the best quality butter. Walt had bought a lot of cheap, store brand butter when it was on sale. It greatly affected all my holiday baking but especially the toffee. The butter had too much water to milk solids and the toffee separated in the cooking and caused the chocolate to be mushy.

Another tip about making the toffee is that you can't make it when it's cloudy, raining or snowing. I don't know how they can call it English toffee, when it is always raining there. When it is sunny out, I drop everything else and make the toffee.

And finally, it is really a winter thing. We never make toffee in the Summer.

English Toffee

Ingredients:

1 pound unsalted Butter
1 pound light Brown Sugar
1 pound good Milk Chocolate, finely chopped or grated
Almonds or Walnuts, toasted and finely ground
Candy thermometer
11"x17" jelly roll pan

Prepare nuts and chocolate and set aside.

In a medium size pot, melt the butter slowly over low heat. When the butter is just melted but not foaming add the brown sugar and stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon until brown sugar is incorporated.

Insert candy thermometer without tip touching bottom of pan, and turn heat up to medium-low.

Slowly bring the mixture to a rolling, rapid boil. Slowly is the operative word.
Let mixture boil, without stirring, until it reaches the hard crack setting (300-310) on the thermometer. This should take about 30 minutes if done properly. Do not rush this step.

While mixture is cooking, sprinkle half the grated nuts over pan covering completely in a single layer. Then sprinkle half the chocolate over nuts also covering completely and liberally.

When toffee mixture has reached the hard crack setting remove immediately and pour over the previously prepared jelly roll pan. Tip jelly roll pan to spread mixture as far and evenly as possible. Mixture may not cover entire pan area.

Wait about 5 minutes for mixture to cool slightly, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate over the still hot toffee. Let chocolate sit and melt for several minutes. When chocolate has changed color and become darker, it is melted. Take a metal knife or spatula and spread melted chocolate evenly over the toffee. Then sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top.

Put toffee in a cool place for several hours (can be refrigerated) until chocolate is set and toffee is cool. Cut or break into bite size chunks. Store in airtight container. Will keep for months.