Stamped Cookies #18 - Maple Sugar Cookies

Stamped Cookies #18: Maple Sugar Cookies - made January 2, 2022, modified from Liv for Cake 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined, light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
2. Add egg yolk and beat on low speed until combined. Add maple syrup and beat on low until combined.
3. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing on low speed until just combined and dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each half into a thick disc. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for 30-45 minutes.
4. Tear off a large piece of parchment paper and lay out on your work space. Lightly flour. Tear off a second, equally large piece of parchment paper. Leaving one dough disc in the refrigerator while you work on the first one, unwrap chilled dough and place in the middle of the lightly floured parchment. Cover with second piece of parchment and, using a plain rolling pin, roll out to an even 1/3" thickness. Flour sparingly, if needed, to keep the dough from sticking.
5. Remove top piece of parchment and lightly flour dough. Roll out with your embossed rolling pin. Cut into desired shapes. Take remaining dough scraps and roll into golf-ball-size dough balls. Roll in granulated sugar, coating completely then use cookie stamps to stamp out designs. 
6. Repeat with second dough disc. Cover and chill or freeze embossed, stamped and cut out cookies for several hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees (I baked at 375). Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Make sure you click on the post title to go to the original blog post and see Liv for Cakes pictures. Her stamped cookies turned out more defined than mine although I used the same ingredients and followed the recipe with the 2 exceptions of I froze them longer than an hour (I actually had the stamped cookies in the freezer for several days before I baked them) and I baked at a higher temperature.

I'm wondering if that's where I went wrong, by baking at 375 degrees instead of 325 like the recipe said to. Intuitively I've always baked at a higher temp so the outside and the impressions would set more quickly before spreading and potentially losing the impressions.

Also because I baked at a higher temperature, my cookies browned more than hers did, which makes sense. I'll have to try the lower temp next time and see if that works better.

Fortunately I will be making these again as they were delicious. The maple flavor comes across well but not overwhelmingly so. Please use good-quality maple syrup (I used the one from Trader Joe's) as your cookies will be flavored by the syrup you use. I know that's stating the obvious but I'm a fanatic about high quality ingredients so I will state the obvious.

I like to do close ups of the inside so you can see the texture. This was both crisp (at the edges) and pleasingly chewy in the middle. That's my kind of cookie.