Thursday: Best-Ever Sugar Cookies. Soft. Delicious. Perfect.

This is the cookie dough after being rolled out 8 times. Still so perfect!

I have been searching all of my baking life for a perfect sugar cookie recipe. Mine always end up too crispy or don't roll well, or the dough doesn't re-roll, or it's too sticky, or it doesn't rise the right amount, OR they make you throw it in the fridge for a few hours..... (The cookie dough always tastes perfect, though.) Luckily for me, I finally found a recipe for perfect sugar cookies. They roll easily- they bake beautifully- they are great for cutting out shapes- they are soft and just the right amount of chewy- plus, you can roll, cut, re-roll, then re-cut out cookies umpteen times without the dough ever getting a bad texture. Interested? You'd better be!

Ingredients
* 3/4 cup butter/margarine (works fine with either)
*8 oz cream cheese (softened)
*1/2 cup sour cream (can sub vanilla yogurt, too)
*3 cups sugar
*4 eggs
*1 Tb vanilla extract
*8 cups flour
*1 tsp baking soda
*1/2 tsp salt
*1 tsp baking powder


Step 1 
(pre-heat oven to 350)

Cookies ready to go!

Cream together the butter/margarine, cream cheese, sour cream and sugar until smooth.

Step 2
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

Step 3
Using a wooden spoon, add the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. You may want to sift these all together before mixing- but if not, just make sure you combine them all thoroughly.

Step 4
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin to about 1/2 thickness.

Step 5

I'd say these are slightly too browned- pull
your cookies out a little before they get
this dark

Cut out your desired shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are just barely, BARELY tinged with  a light brown.

Step 6
Enjoy the heck out of these cookies. They are so soft and delicious.

P.S.- this recipe kind of makes about a million cookies (6-8 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutters), so you might be interested in turning the dough into Perma-Fresh Cookies.


Mothering Joy
It may not be much, but when I've spent all morning playing with my kiddoes and then put them down for nap-time, I like to use my mini break to straighten up my home. I love being able to sit down in a clean room with two sweet, sleeping babies just feet away from me. It makes me feel accomplished in a way that is better even than the sense of accomplishment I have gotten in the workplace.