Camila wanted to make Christmas cookie, and while I have a pretty good recipe, it called for some ingredients that I didn’t have at home. That was fortunate, because while searching for another recipe I came upon this one, from butter company Land 0’Lakes. I like it more than my regular recipe, specially with the frosting.
Without the frosting the cookies are too dry. That’s because of all the extra flour you use on them while you roll them. Making them thicker helps – mine were too thin. The icing, however, helps tremendously. The best part was that the kids didn’t like them that much – Mika found them too dry and while Camila likes to make baked goods, she doesn’t really like to eat them. The flavor was very good and, yes, you need all that vanilla extract. All the recipes for rolled cookies I’ve found call for orange juice or lemon juice, so I suspect the citric acid element is needed for chemical reasons.
The key to making rolled cookies is getting the dough at the right temperature to make them rollable. It takes 2-3 hours in the fridge, but I’ve noticed that 45 minutes in the freezer also do the trick. Work with dough in small batches. As soon as one gets too soft, put it back in the fridge and get another one.
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp. orange juice
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour + more for dusting
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 4 1″ squares of plastic wrap
Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 Tbsp. milk
- Food coloring, as desired
Instructions
For the cookies
With an electric mixer at medium speed, cream the butter with the sugar and the egg. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined. Add the flour and baking soda and mix at low speed until combined.
Wrap 1/4th of the dough. with each plastic wrap square. Flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm, 2 to 3 hours.
Heat oven to 400°F.
Lightly flour a working surface and a rolling pin. Roll out one package of batter to a 1/4″ thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Place 1″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. It’s ready when the edges of the cookie start to turn brown. Remove from oven and let stand for one minute before transferring to cooling racks.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
For the Icing
Marga’s Best Recipes