Sugar Cookies from Almost Practical

Sugar Cookies - made dough June 5, 2020 from Almost Practical

dough with butter

The only baking I've been doing is for Soldiers Angels and sending them in care packages to deployed military service members. Since it's summer, we're now in triple degree heat for where most, if not all, of the packages are going.

dough with butter

The volunteer bakers have been warned about products made with butter going rancid if the packages are too long en route or if they're not packaged properly or subjected to intense heat or all three.

dough with butter

I will be the first to raise my hand to admit that I love butter. I love it slathered on warm bread, I love baking with it and I can't fathom eating cookies not made with the goodness of butter.

dough with butter

But the term "rancid' will freak out any baker. We don't go to all the time, effort and pleasure of baking things for others only for them to receive something rancid or moldy. I mean, ewww.

dough with butter

So far, the few times I've heard back from the care package recipients, my boxes have arrived in good shape and have been enjoyed. At least, that's what they've been polite enough to say and I choose to believe them.

cookies with butter

However, I'm sufficiently leery of "rancid" to make some effort to avoid it if I can. Hence why you're seeing a ton of pictures in this post. Because I made this recipe twice, once as is with butter and the second time with butter-flavored shortening instead of butter.

cookies with butter

I've labeled which was which in each picture so you can see the difference. And if you can't tell the difference, I'll give you the cheat sheet: the dough made with butter was great to work with and easy to portion out. It spread like a normal cookie, not too thin but didn't stay super thick either. And it tasted amazing once it had cooled enough for the edges to be crisp and airy. The genuine butter flavor came through well and the middle was chewy. Yum.

cookies with butter

dough with shortening, original recipe as is

When I made the recipe as listed but with shortening, the dough was dry. As in, dry and crumbly enough that I knew I wouldn't be able to form into dough balls that would hold their shape and that an extra teaspoon of vanilla wasn't going to fix it. So I add an extra egg instead. That helped bind the dough together and bring its consistency closer to the butter version.

dough with shortening, added extra egg

dough with shortening and extra egg

If you look closely, you can tell the difference between the two doughs. And side by side, you can also tell the difference in appearance between the two versions of baked cookies.

cookies with shortening

cookies with shortening

cookies with shortening

When I did the taste test, I could also taste the difference between the butter and the shortening versions. While I have already rhapsodized about the butter version, the shortening version was more crisp and airy but lacked the depth of flavor that the butter version had. Which was not surprising.

cookies with shortening

cookies with shortening

butter (L) and shortening (R)

What was surprising, however, is, the next day, when I tried the second half of each that I had held back from the fresh-out-of-the-oven version, the two were much closer in texture and even taste. Yeah, I didn't see that coming.

butter (L) and shortening (R)

The butter flavor was less pronounced in the butter version giving the butter-flavor-Crisco version less of a handicap. The textures were also similar the next day. Huh.

butter (L) and shortening (R)

butter (top) and shortening (bottom)

So the good news is I can make this cookie with butter-flavor Crisco and not entirely compromise my butter-only principles. Okay, I am compromising them but it's better than "rancid". You can do your own taste test but if you do make this with butter-flavor Crisco, don't forget to add the extra egg.

butter (top) and shortening (bottom)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (or butter-flavor Crisco if you want to sub shortening)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg (use 2 eggs if substituting shortening for the butter)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
3. Add dry ingredients in two batches and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
4. Portion into 1-tablespoon-size dough balls, flatten very slightly into thick discs. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for 10 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Do not overbake. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely.