Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (2024)

This soft and chewy vanilla sugar recipe does not require chilling and will not spread!!!

Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (1)

Remember that one time I mentioned that I have updates to my "other" vanilla cookie recipe? And then I never posted them? And I am a bad friend? Yikes!

I am going to post the changes as a new recipe. You can see the original

HERE

... or just forget about it and use this one every day for the rest of your life. (What? You don't make cookies every day?)

Check out my favorite baking tool recommendations HERE.

Author: Georganne Bell

Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (2)

Vanilla 2.0

A soft and chewy no-chill and no-spread vanilla roll out sugar cookie recipe.

Prep time: 15 MCook time: 30 MTotal time: 45 M

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup slightly softened unsalted butter (227 grams)
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar (200 grams)
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar (100 grams)
  • 2 large eggs (100 grams)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla (10 grams)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt (4 grams)
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (1 gram)
  • 3 1/2 cups (or 4 cups) all-purpose flour ( 490-560 grams)

Instructions:

How to cook Vanilla 2.0

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
  2. Cream the butter and both sugars together. If you have any brown sugar lumps, you should crush them up or pull them out. They make weird dents in your baked cookies.
  3. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
  4. Add the salt and baking powder and again with the mixing of the dough.
  5. Before you add the flour, let's have a little chat. Different altitudes need different amounts of flour. Differences in humidity will the change the amount of flour you should add. Is there a storm coming? That changes things. Add only 3 1/2 cups to begin with. Then add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is no longer sticky and pulls away from the side of the mixing bowl. (This happens at about 3 1/2 cups of flour for me...except in the winter time when it happens at 4 cups flour.) That's when you should stop if you are going to chill the dough overnight, or just wait for another day to bake it. If you are going to roll it out right away, add another half of a cup of flour so it will be thick enough to move from the rolling out surface to your baking sheet.
  6. Bake at 350F. If you roll to 1/4" thick, bake for about 7 minutes. If you roll to 3/8" thick, bake for about 10-12 minutes.

Created using The Recipes Generator


FAQs


HOW IS THIS RECIPE DIFFERENT FROM THE VANILLA VARIATION?-- The Vanilla 2.0 is slightly more dense and a little more chewy. The brown sugar gives it a light caramel flavor...kind of like a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips!

The Vanilla Variation is a lighter cookie - both in color and texture

MY DOUGH IS TOO SOFT! WHAT SHOULD I DO? -- If your dough is too soft, try adding a little more flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. ALSO... If it's very hot where you live and your butter was room temperature instead of just slightly softened - you might actually need to cool everything down in the fridge for 10 minutes before rolling out the dough.

MY DOUGH IS TOO DRY! WHAT SHOULD I DO? -- The two most common reasons for this dough turning out dry is:

1) Not using large eggs. It's SURPRISING what a difference that makes.

2) Using too much flour. I'm not saying you used more than the recipe calls for - but since this recipe is written by volume and not weight, you might be adding more flour depending on elevation and humidity. Next time you make this recipe, try starting with 1 cup less flour and adding flour until it's just right. But you can still save this batch too!

Luckily, the solution to both of them is the same -- Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk together. Mix a little at a time into the dry dough until the dough comes together again.

SHOULD I USE SALTED OR UNSALTED BUTTER? -- If we're talking purely about science - it doesn't matter in this recipe. It's purely a personal preference. Use the butter you normally reach for. If you know you love things with just a little more salt - use salted butter. If you are someone who generally reduces salt in recipes - use unsalted butter.

Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (3)


HOW MANY COOKIES WILL THIS RECIPE MAKE? -- The yield for this recipe varies. It depends on how thick you roll your cookies. I can get about 3 dozen cookies when I roll them at 1/4 inch thick and use a 3 inch wide cookie cutter.

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE DONE? -- Watch the surface of the cookie. As the dough begins to bake, the butter starts melting - creating a shiny or "wet" look on the surface of the cookie. As it continues to bake, the outside edge of the cookie will look dry and the wet spot in the middle shrinks. When that shiny "wet" spot in the middle disappears and the entire surface of the cookie is dry -- your cookies are done!

MY COOKIES TASTE DRY AFTER THEY ARE BAKED - WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM? -- It could be a couple of things.

1) You might be slightly over baking them. I watch the surface of the cookies and when the shiny spot in the center looks dry instead of shiny... I know they are done.

2) You might be using a little too much flour. If your butter was too warm to begin with, the dough will seem soft, and if you add more flour to make it not sticky...it will turn out dry. OR you might be adding too much flour for the amount of time that the dough sits. - This is why the recipe has two different amounts of flour. As the dough sits, the flour continues to absorb more moisture...making the dough more dry.

HOW LONG ARE THESE COOKIES GOOD FOR? -- It depends on how they are stored, but generally you can expect these cookies to taste fresh for about 7-10 days at room temperature.


WHY ARE SOME OF YOUR METRIC CONVERSIONS DIFFERENT THAN THE ONES I GOOGLED? -- Because I'm a weirdo. Apparently I don't measure "to standard". 🤣🤣 I figured it was more important that you have the best possible metric weights than that I match a standard. I hope you don't mind.

Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (4)

MY FAVORITE BAKING TOOLS:

After more than a decade of baking and decorating cookies, I definitely have some favorite tools. Here are links to what I use --

These are my absolute favoriteBAKING SHEETS(I have about 16 of them now!)

I use thisPARCHMENT PAPERor theseGRID SILICONE MATS(I love the way the silicone mats make the bottom of the cookies look...but I also REALLY love not washing the parchment paper!)

I use THIS ROLLING MAT AND GUIDE STICK SET with THIS ROLLING PINbecause it allows me to roll out half a batch of dough at once. (Another alternative is theJOSEPH JOSEPH ROLLING PIN, but you can't roll quite as much dough out at once.

I use this DIGITAL SCALE. (But to be completely transparent...I've never tried any others. This one was cheap and it's never stopped working.)

Use a

HIGH HEAT THERMOMETER

to make sure your oven is the right temperature.

NEED MORE??


Ready to start making and baking an army of decorated sugar cookies?! Check out my Beginner's Guide to Making and Baking Sugar Cookies for Decorating!!

And then learn all about royal icing in this post!

Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (5)


Vanilla 2.0 -- A Sugar Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix better? ›

Easy Add-In: After creating the dough according to the sugar cookie mix instructions, Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream to create a tangier, cakier and all-around more flavorful cookie. Flavor Twist: For a punchier twist, swap the water in the sugar cookie mix instructions for rum, bourbon or coffee liqueur.

How old is the sugar cookie? ›

History. Sugar cookies have a plain flavor and have been made for centuries. The popularity and availability of sugar cookies rose when sugar became widely available. The sugar cookie is believed to have originated in the mid-1700s in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Can you over beat sugar cookie dough? ›

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer.

What is the best thickness for sugar cookies? ›

With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky.

How to jazz up boxed sugar cookie mix? ›

A teaspoon or two of extracts will noticeably boost flavor when blended into your sugar cookie mix. Vanilla is the obvious choice. For a more intriguing flavor, add both vanilla and almond extracts. Rum, maple and anise are other delicious varieties to consider.

What can I add to box cookie mix to make it better? ›

Add powdered milk.

Sprinkling about 2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered milk per cup of cookie mix may seem kind of unconventional, but it is the best hack! The milk powder adds a rich, creamy taste to the dough and transforms cookies into velvety little delights that your whole family will love!

Is cookie male or female? ›

This adorable gender-neutral name has Latin, English, Dutch, and modern roots, all revolving around cooking and baking. The traditional Latin and English meaning of Cookie is "cook," perfect if you want to raise a little future chef.

What country invented sugar cookies? ›

Let's have a hearty hip-hip-hooray for the German Protestants, who settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and invented the early sugar cookie. Their crumbly cookie made with butter and shaped into round or keystone shapes were a sweet hit from their formation in the late 1700s.

What happens if you chill sugar cookie dough too long? ›

After 72 hours, the dough will begin to dry out and you risk it going bad, especially if chilling pre-portioned balls of dough instead of the entire mass of dough. If you want to store longer than 72 hours, see the freezing tips below.

Should I chill my sugar cookie dough? ›

Chilling the dough also improves the way your cookies taste. "In terms of flavor, you'll notice more depth of flavor from the vanilla and the sugar will taste sweeter," says Haught Brown. "In terms of texture, chilled cookie dough produces a more evenly golden-brown cookie with a crisper edge and chewier center."

What happens when you add too much flour to sugar cookies? ›

If your cookies come out looking more like biscuits, you've likely added too much flour. Our cookies didn't expand much from the rolled-up balls we put on the baking sheet. They also didn't brown as well as the other cookies. It doesn't take much—in this case, my mom and I added just 3/4 cup extra flour to the dough.

What is the best piping tip for sugar cookies? ›

The extra-large nozzles are typically used for buttercream cakes and cupcakes. If you are decorating the large floral cookies though, they are used as well. If you already have these down, a different kind is the Russian tips. They do have mini ones that are perfect piping tips for sugar cookies.

Why is my Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix so dry? ›

You may not have used enough water, margarine or egg. Be sure to measure ingredients carefully.

Can you add peanut butter to Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix? ›

Place the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, peanut butter, butter or margarine and egg in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer until the dough comes together. Using a large spoon drop even sized cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.

What is a substitute for butter in Betty Crocker cookie mix? ›

On the other hand, if your cookie recipe calls for melted butter, vegetable oil can be subbed, because it has a similar consistency.

How do you make Betty Crocker cookie mix less sticky? ›

When cookie dough is too sticky, you may have an imbalance of wet and dry ingredients. You can fix this by adding a teaspoon of flour or cornstarch at a time until your dough is just how you want. The added flour or cornstarch will absorb the excess liquid and reduce the dough's overall stickiness.

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