Hello again, fellow Trailblazers! It’s Amelia and I’m here with three fun DSU-inspired sugar cookie recipes in honor of National Sugar Cookie Day. Did you know that the sugar cookie originated in the mid 1700s in Nazareth Pennsylvania? German Protestant settlers are the ones who created this soft, buttery cookie that was originally known as Nazareth Cookies.
Celebrate National Sugar Cookie Day by making one of these delicious and easy recipes below or save them for a rainy day!
Chocolate Bison Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
½ cup room temperature, unsalted butter
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 ¾ cup flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
Dark chocolate canned icing
Chocolate sprinkles
Black icing
Bison cookie cutter (I got mine from Amazon)
Cookie Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, vanilla, milk, and the egg.
Add flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder to the cream mixture and mix again.
Roll on to a floured counter top and cut into bison shapes with your bison cookie cutter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes.
Decorating Directions:
I used Cake Mate tube icing to outline where I wanted the bison’s fur to be, leaving out the shape of the horn to fill in later.
Then press chocolate sprinkles into the icing and shake off any excess.
Once the icing sets, add in a small horn with white icing and black dot for eye and black hooves.
Trailblazer Spirit Thumbprint Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp coconut extract
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 ½ cup flour
White chocolate
Red and blue food coloring
Cookie Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until very light and fluffy.
Add salt, vanilla, coconut extract, and egg. Mix until well combined.
Add in baking soda and flour, mixing until incorporated.
Roll dough into 1” balls and place them on a silicone mat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet 2” apart. Bake for 6 minutes. Cookies will stay light in color but will start to get lightly golden around the very edges. Do not over bake!
Using the end of a wooden spoon, press carefully into the center of each cookie, to make a well for the filling (be careful to not make a hole in the bottom).
Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling Directions:
Melt and divide white chocolate into two bowls and add food coloring as desired.
Place each color of chocolate into a small plastic bag with the corner cut off to pipe into the well of each cookie.
Allow chocolate to set before storing cookies in an airtight container.
Swirled Star Student Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
2 ½ cup flour
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp light corn syrup
3-4 tbsp milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
Gel food coloring
Cookie Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix on low, scraping the bowl occasionally, until the mixture forms a dough. Be sure to start on low or the dry ingredients will fly everywhere.
Divide dough in half. Place a large sheet of waxed paper on large cutting board or flat surface. Place cookie dough on the wax paper. Place another large sheet of wax paper on top of the cookie dough. Press down into a flat disk with the palm of your hand, then roll out the dough between the two pieces of wax paper. Continue rolling until dough is about ¼” thick. Place dough, still between the wax paper sheets, on cookie sheet.
Repeat with second half of dough. Place both rolled out cookie dough sheets in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cut cookies in desired shapes and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 6-10 minutes depending on the size of your shapes. I took them out as soon as the bottoms started to brown because I like them softer. If you want crunchy cookies, let them cook longer. Cool completely.
Marble Icing Glaze Directions:
In a large bowl, combine sifted powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk, and light corn syrup. Whisk until smooth. If mixture is too dry, add additional milk, one teaspoon at a time until mixture can be well stirred.
Stir in extracts.
Glaze should be thick, to test that it is the right consistency drop a few droplets on top of a test cookie. If the glaze remains stiff, it needs to be thinned. If it runs off the cookie it is too thin and needs more powdered sugar. If it settles down smoothly, it is just right.
Divide glaze into four small bowls.
Working with one bowl at a time use a toothpick (a different toothpick for each color) and dip it into the food coloring bottle and then into the glaze. You want a small bit of food coloring.
Drag toothpick through the food coloring and glaze until it is swirled.
Holding your cookie at the base, dip the surface of each cookie into the glaze.
Once the first bowl runs out or the color become too muddled together from dipping, move onto your next bowl.
Repeat steps 5-7 until all cookies have been dipped. Allow them to harden for at least 30 minutes.
Show us how you spend National Sugar Cookie Day by tagging us in or DMing us your creations on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!