- Hey, bakers, John Kanell here
and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making the perfect sugar cookie.
These are so easy, and with the addition
of one ingredient, they become a magical treat.
Do you see this edge?
It is just vertical, it didn't become a glob,
it wasn't frustrating to work with.
It only needed a like few minutes in the fridge to chill
and that was just so I wouldn't
get my fingerprints on it to be honest.
All right, let's get started.
First off, I'm adding four cups
or 480 grams of all purpose flour
into my bowl and there's a sifter here too,
so it makes everything really easy.
Half a teaspoon of salt,
1/3 of a cup of cornstarch.
This is the stuff that's gonna make it not spread
and it also makes your cookie kind of like,
tender and crisp at the same time, not chewy though.
So, if you like chewy sugar cookie,
this is not for you.
But if you want your cookie to not spread out,
and become a glob, this is for you.
So, sift this all out.
Bop.
Okay, whisk it all up,
set it aside,
and now it's time for the butter and sugar.
Into the bowl of my stand mixer
fitted with a paddle attachment,
I'm adding 226 grams or one cup
of unsalted room temperature butter.
Let's give it a quick cream...
(mixer whirring)
and then add in one cup or 200 grams of granulated sugar.
(mixer whirs faster)
Mix it up until it's nice and light
and fluffy and just right.
(mixer whirs faster)
You can give the bowl a quick scrape down,
not...not necessary but it helps.
(mixer whirring)
All right, let me show you what light and fluffy means
because I always read that in recipes
but some people are like,
"What does that even mean?"
This, now the butter has become a lighter color,
so much closer to white and it's really fluffed up a lot.
It's got air pumped into there
and sugar is totally mixed in.
It's not dissolved, but it's mixed in.
Now we're gonna add in two room temperature eggs
one at a time.
Room temperature eggs incorporate way more easily
and they're always what you want in baking,
except, except for certain pastry things.
But that's a whole other story.
(mixer whirring)
Let that first egg incorporate
and then add the second one in.
(mixer whirring)
All right, definitely scrape that bowl down
one more time and mix it up.
(mixer whirring)
Now I'm gonna add a couple teaspoons
of vanilla in just...eye ball that out and mix it up.
(mixer whirring loudly)
You could've also used almond extract,
lemon zest, the world is your oyster here.
So many different flavorings to use.
Add the flour in one big batch,
making sure not to spill too much.
(bowls clanking)
I call that a success.
Let's use this.
(towel flaps)
Now, let's mix it up.
On low, to start off with.
(mixer whirring)
Okay, now I think it's ready.
(mixer whirring loudly)
Yup.
(mixer whirring)
But, take a moment, move all that flour
into there and scrape the bowl down one more time.
Yes, you could use a scraping paddle attachment.
I actually have one.
I got so many recommendations to buy one,
but I will tell you they really make everything
fly up into the air
while also mostly scraping the bottom.
You can tell me in the comments
if you have a similar experience.
Or there's a magical thing I'm missing.
But the tea towel works great.
Almost done.
(mixer whirring loudly)
There we go.
So here, I want you to see this cornstarch works some magic.
This dough is like playdough almost.
It's not sticking to my fingers even though
it's room temperature.
And really if you wanted to, you just like...
(taps dough)
toss it into the oven right now and it would be fine.
However, this no-chill dough will get chilled
just so I can have nice, clean shapes cut out.
You know, like right now,
like yes, that cuts out nicely,
but it'll cut out nicely and handle nicely
so you can transfer them around once it's chilled.
Okay, thank you magical cornstarch.
Right now, we're gonna roll this out and chill it.
Dump that dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap.
I don't know if you can see it,
but it's here.
Let's push it together.
Now, I'm just going to roll it out
between two layers of plastic.
This only needs like 20 minutes in the fridge.
The only thing is that you don't want any of this dough
to dry out in the fridge.
So, it needs to be all covered by plastic.
Into the fridge, just lay it flat
and we'll be right back with the swap out.
My swap out was on the counter for like 5 minutes,
so it could warm up just a bit.
I actually made it last night,
so that's why it had to be there for a bit longer.
Dust that surface really well.
I'm using a pastry mat, by the way,
so it doesn't need direct work on the counter.
Now let's place this out.
You can see it cracked a lot
because I placed it one some bottles.
There was no room in the fridge.
So, it was all wavy when it came out.
And then it cracked flat.
Let's flour the rolling pin and get to work.
(upbeat music)
Can you hear that they are trimming trees next door?
And by trimming trees, I mean completely cutting down
a 50-year-old pine tree.
And on a similar note,
George doesn't feel like taking a nap.
On my last Q&A which you can click up here for,
I learned that some people didn't that this is my house.
They thought it was set,
but it's actually where I live and the babies are...
And the tree trimmers work around so...
Errant noises here and there.
So, I'll be cutting out a few different shapes:
circles, my favorite and pigs.
I was looking for a non-holiday cookie cutter
and this is what I had.
So, we're going to give it a try.
These are probably going to be
a little bit sticking to the pastry mat.
If you want to do the best job ever,
divide the dough into two batches
and it'll be much more easy to handle and move around.
But, I wasn't feeling that.
So, we're just gonna cut the circles out
and then remove them altogether.
Okay, that's a lot of circles.
So, remove that excess and you can re-roll the excess
into another batch of cookies.
And transfer these over onto my baking sheet.
You want to see some of the things you can do
with circle cookies?
You can check out my "How to Make Orchid Cookies" video
and my how to make...I think there's like
a rose or flower one.
I'll put links to the blog posts or videos.
Any one that I can find.
Have my circles, and now it's time for a couple pigs.
Why not?
Batch one into the oven, 375 for about 12 minutes.
You want to watch a keep an eye out.
I like my sugar cookies almost brown but not browned.
Totally up to you, though.
Brown is tasty too.
Let's give it a try and see
if it tastes as good as it looks.
(dreamy music)
That's nice.
I think a sugar cookie should be crispy on the outside
and kind of soft and chewy on the inside.
That's what this is.
If you like this video, check out my
"Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie."
They are amazing.
Thanks so much for watching.
If you like my videos, hit that like button and subscribe.
And I will see you soon.