Pink Posies for Nicole: Big, Soft, Frosted Sugar Cookies

My son's girlfriend is a lovely young woman.  Smart, generous, funny, sweet, fashionable, fiercely loving and all packed into the teeniest of tiny ladies.  And let's not overlook that she's beautiful too!  Her birthday was this week (Happy Birthday, Nicole!) and I decided to make her cookies. 

I also have a confession to make:  I had an ulterior motive in making this recipe because I LOVE these cookies!  I cannot resist the grocery/big box store soft, frosted sugar cookies.  In making these, I got double the bang--pretty and tasty cookies for Nicole and pretty and tasty cookies for me!  It's good when that works out like that.

This isn't any fancy pastry chef recipe, it's one I like as a basic, soft sugar cookie that's easy to work with.  It's been on the internet for quite some time and has made the round of food blogs.  Its staying power points to just how tasty these cookies are, and even better in my eyes, how reliable the recipe is when made by a multitude of bakers. 

There are some tips when working with a rolled cookie dough.  Chill it!  Chill it really well!  I divide the dough, form it into discs, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for several hours or overnight.  Why?  First, it's too sticky to work with when just made (but actually makes a nice base for bar cookies when pressed into a sheet pan) and secondly, all that mixing creates gluten which makes baked good tough.  I won't get crazy (See Alton Brown of the Food Network for the definitive explanation of gluten) about the ills (and benefits) of gluten other than to say that gluten in bread is good, gluten in soft cookies is not so desirable. 

Chilling your dough helps to relax the gluten strands that were formed when mixing the dough.  When the dough is relaxed, the resulting product is tender.  Another trick to to use as little flour as possible when rolling out the dough, turning your dough so you're not rolling over the same spot and finally, planning your cutting of the dough to minimize re-rolling scrapes.  I only re-roll my dough once, any more than that results in tough cookies.  

I use a floured cutter and line these babies up on a Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake them in a pre-heated 350° F oven for 12-15 minutes.  They should only be the palest of pale golden on the bottom when they're ready to be removed from the oven.  Let them cool on the sheets before moving them to a rack to completely cool for finishing.  

I made the frosting a little stiffer (less cream) than usual because I wanted the sharp edges when piped.  If yours is softer, you can add a bit more powdered sugar or just spread it on with a spatula.  Either way, these cookies will taste delicious.  I also added just a light sprinkle of pink sugar crystals, just for a bit of bling.  All for Nicole!

Big, Soft, Frosted Sugar Cookies

Cookies:

• 4 1/2  cups           all purpose flour
• 4 1/2  teaspoons   baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon        salt
• 1 1/2 cups            unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups            sugar
• 5 teaspoons         vanilla
• 3 large                 eggs

Measure flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Whisk to incorporate and set aside.  

In the bowl of your mixer, add butter and sugar.  Mix until well combined and fluffy.  Add vanilla and mix to incorporate.  Scrape down the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating to mix well.  Mixture may look curdled at this time--it's okay.

Slowly add flour mixture, mixing after each addition.  I generally add mine in three additions, mixing after each until the flour is just incorporated.  Mix just until final all flour has been incorporated, using large spatula to finish mixing if any flour remains.  Divide dough in half, form each into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to  350° F.  Remove one dough disc from refrigerator.  Lightly dust table with as little flour as possible (too much flour can make your cookies tough).  Unwrap your disc and lightly sprinkle flour on top of dough and begin to roll out your dough.  I roll in one direction, from the center out, turning the dough a quarter turn so as not to rollover the dough too much.  Roll the dough a true 1/4 inch (thick) and using a floured cutter (I just dip mine in flour) cut the dough, spacing to reduce the need to re-roll as little of the dough as possible.  Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets, carefully gather remaining dough and re-roll.  If any dough remains after this rolling, I throw it out--the resulting cookies will be tough and taste of flour.  Repeat with remaining disc of dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the bottoms are a very pale golden brown.  Do not over bake.  Let cookies cool on the sheets before moving them to a rack.  Make the frosting.

Frosting:

• 5  cups                powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup                unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon        vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon        salt
• 8-10 tablespoons  heavy cream (you can use milk if desired)

Place powdered sugar in the bowl of mixer.  Add butter and vanilla and salt.  Mix together, keep mixing until incorporated--it will look like powdered sugar pebbles.  Add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you have a spreadable frosting.  If you make it too thin, add more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time.  I stop adding cream when I lift the beater and the frosting remains standing.  It is spreadable at this point. 

I used a Wilton star tip, #21 to make the frosting rosettes.  Fill your piping bag or baggie, and frost.  Let the frosting crust and store in an airtight container.

I like these cookies best the day after they've been made; the cookie is soft, the icing is just right--crusty on the outside and creamy on the inside.   

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