Sugar cookies are delicious and they always take me back to my childhood.
I can remember when I was little, my Mom would often take me to Bradlees (an old local department store…does anyone else remember it??) where they would have some of the most gigantic M&M sugar cookies in their little bakery counter.
Yep, they had a bakery counter. And anytime Mom said we were going to Bradlees, I would immediately think “COOKIES.”
Apparently, I already had my priorities straight at my ripe old age of three.
Growing up, sugar cookies still remained a favorite of mine for when I was craving something without chocolate. Believe it or not, I do still have those moments!
The one thing, however, that has always prevented me from making them more often is because I really dislike rolling out dough. It’s such a daunting, tedious task, isn’t it?
If you don’t think so, then I’ll be happy to give ya a call the next time I need some dough rollin’ done.
So recently, when my mom requested a batch of sugar cookies, I happily obliged but under one condition: no cut-outs! She agreed, and thus, my quest for the best no-roll sugar cookie was on.
The winning batch came courtesy of this recipe on Savory Sweet Life. I only made one slight adaptation, substituting half of the vanilla extract for almond extract. I am a huge fan of almond extract in my sugar cookies AND my buttercream frosting so I found this to be completely necessary.
The result was my now-favorite, no-roll sugar cookie. They are definitely a must-try!
Crackled Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup salted butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- coarse sugar crystals or regular granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cream together butter and sugar until creamy. Mix in 1 egg yolk at a time and vanilla and almond extracts. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt until dough is completely mixed.
- Using a medium scoop (or heaping tablespoon), form dough balls and roll them in sugar crystals. Place cookie balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper 2 inches apart. Do not flatten dough!
- Bake for 12 minutes until the surface of cookies has a cracked texture. The cookies should still look puffy and slightly undercooked. Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. ENJOY!
Notes
Even after being cooled, these cookies still retain their chewy middles, along with a slightly crunchy edge. Perfect, if you ask me!
So perfect, in fact, it was quite hard to resist “testing” a few while snapping these photos…
Hey, there’s no judging around here.
How would you rank the following…?
- Sugar Cookie
- Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
For me, I think it varies from day to day, but I’d have to say Oatmeal Raisin, Sugar, Chocolate Chip.
Paula @ Eat: Watch: Run says
Sugar (if it has frosting on top), choc chip, and then oatmeal raisin. Otherwise, Choc chip, sugar, and then oatmeal raisin.
I know poor oatmeal comes in last both times, but let it be known that I love oatmeal raisin and would never do anything to make an oatmeal raisin cookie feel unwanted.
Courtney says
Hahaha, I’m sure the oats appreciate that, Paula! :)
Jenny (Fit Girl Foodie) says
Wow that sugar cookie looks amazing! I can’t remember the last time I had one, it was more of a childhood cookie than an adult cookie. I would rank at Oatmeal, chocolate chip, sugar cookie. Can I throw a pb cookie in too? ;D
Courtney says
Oh HECK YES! ;)
Emily says
yumm! I’m always looking for sugar cookie recipes, because its the one cookie that I get sick of the same recipe if I use it too much. I don’t mind rolling out and decorating them when I have the time, but I definitely avoid making them if I’m in a hurry.
my cookie ranking is probably chocolate chip cookie (chocolate will always be my soulmate, I’m pretty sure it can solve the world’s problems), sugar cookie, then oatmeal raisin :)
Karen says
They look great! I remember Bradlees! I used to go there with my grandma all the time when I was little and she would always let me pick out a toy so I associated Bradlees with new toys growing up. By the way I decided to try putting PB in my yogurt for the first time and OMG it was delicious! I added it to some vanilla greek yogurt and then added chocolate chips and dipped apples in it it was a great dessert last night. Thanks for the inspiration I had never added anything besides granola to my yogurt before now, maybe I’ll try jelly today!
Courtney says
Jelly is AMAZING in yogurt! DO IT! :-D
Hope says
I totally remember Bradlees! We would go there all the time growing up! Those cookies look so yummy!
Let’s see..my order is Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip and Sugar Cookie :)
Faith @ lovelyascharged says
I’d have to go chcoolate chip > oatmeal > sugar. I like my cookies loaded!
Holly says
Those look so good! I love the crackled sugar on top! Perfect ;)
They remind me of Publix cookies- which is a local supermarket- probably similar to Bradlees. YUM! I want one..like right now :)
Hope you are having a good day..and a good week. I constantly think about you & the job situation- I hope it has not been too hard on you.
xoxo
Lisa @ Healthy Diaries says
Mmmmm I love a good sugar cookie! SO simple, yet SO good!
Didn’t you give up sweets for Lent though??
Courtney says
Only after dinner! ;)
Tara @ The Game Of Life says
I typically don’t like sugar cookies, but these look really good! My favorite cookie is chocolate chip with peanut butter!! Selma cookies…. Sooo good!
Courtney @ The Granola Chronicles says
These look great – especially the sugar crystals on top!
Jen says
wow those came out perfect!! so professional! :-)
Kelly says
Definitely…oatmeal raisin, sugar, chocolate chip. I am not a big chocolate lover in my cookies.
Shanna, Like Banana says
I LOVE a good sugar cookie and these look fantastic!
I’d say Sugar, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip
Melissa says
I’m not usually a big sugar cookie person, but those look delicious! My hierarchy of cookies would be Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal (but with chocolate chips or dried cranberries instead of raisins), and then sugar. But your sugar cookies might pull ahead of oatmeal–they look too good!
Jamie aka "Sometimes Healthy" Girl says
Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Sugar!
PS – Confession: I have never made cookies from scratch by myself. I think this will have to be a goal for my new blog. I will most definitely be using one of your recipes!
Courtney says
Oh my gosh, you MUST!! :)
Jess@atasteofconfidence says
Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, sugar! But I am equal opportunity :)
Colleen @ The Lunchbox Diaries says
How can I rank sugar over chocolate chip?! It depends on whether or not I’m in a chocolaty mood – otherwise, they’re so tied. Sorry, oatmeal raisin ;)
Kate says
Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and then sugar cookies! But after seeing all these sugar cookies I think they might be moving up a spot! They look fabulous!! :)
courtney @ cupcakedynamite says
those look PERFECT!
Khushboo says
That’s like asking a mother who her favourite child is! It’s very mood-dependent but right now, it would be choc chip, sugar cookie& then oatmeal raisin. Mmmm
Lyss says
I remember Bradlees! Sadly ours didn’t have a bakery counter… or maybe it did… I just remember the pretzels :)
Those cookies look delicious! Sugar cookies are definitely my favorite, followed by chocolate chip. I’m not a fan of oatmeal raisin though.
Karis' Kitchen says
I love sugar cookies and can’t wait to make these! I had never heard of Bradlees until I started working at Kohl’s corporate. There are quite a few former Bradlees that are now Kohl’s stores…makes me wish Kohl’s kept the cookie part of the business :)
Heather @ GirlyEverAfter says
I love cookies and sweets of any kind really! These look so good. I’m a chocoholic so chocolate chip cookies are my fave, but a good oatmeal raisin gets me everytime!
Ally (oatsandspice) says
These are picture perfect – I can never get my sugar cookies
To look this good :)
Courtney says
I couldn’t either, until I tried this recipe! :)
Ashley @ Healthy Heroine says
Ooh this one is easy! Oatmeal raisin, sugar, and then chocolate chip. I could take or leave chocolate so that almost always drops to the bottom of my dessert ranking lists.
P.S. You sugar cookies have just shot to the top of my “recipes to try” list. They look yummy!
Courtney says
YAY! :-D
Heather T says
I remember Bradlees!! That was soooo long ago!! My cookie order would have to be choc. chip – oatmeal raisin – sugar cookie :)
Pat Rowe says
These sugar cookies are absolutely the BEST sugar cookies I’ve ever had! I have never been a big sugar cookie fan, but these………….yummy!!! I would have to go for chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and then sugar. Thanks for helping out your mom today!!!!! : )
Courtney says
You’re welcome! :)
april v says
Three words: Oh.My.Gosh.
Two words: Must.Try.
;)
april v says
Oh, and my order would be..
Oatmeal (w/out raisins!) — Choc.Chip — Sugar (unless it’s these..and they may end up coming in FIRST!)
Jordan says
Just made these! THEY ARE DANGEROUS DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Amy says
Courtney I just made these cookies and they were amazing! i saw them on the blog when you first posted and just made them…What was i thinking?? While re reading the recipe I saw Bradlee’s. That was my first job….I loved Bradlee’s!! I think of it almost like a target…miss Bradlees days. Thanks for your awesome recipes!!
Courtney says
Oh GOOD! They’re definitely a favorite of mine too! And I LOVE that you also know what I’m talking about with Bradlees…haha, definitely goes wayyyy back!
Brandi says
Oh my WORD. These are sooo good!!!! I just had a batch and they are perfect! Thank you so much.
Mary says
Sugar, sugar, and sugar
lisa g. says
Let me tell you these suckers are awesome! I baked mine 12 minutes. You could even roll them in a cinnamon & sugar mix and have snickerdoodles! Im thinking of adding mini- chocolate chips and skipping the rolling into sugar. Even with no brown sugar I bet anything they would be awesome chocolate chip cookies! Maybe I would roll a few in powdered sugar and see what happens. What do you think?
Courtney says
So glad you liked them, Lisa! I’ve never tried any of those modifications but I say anything is worth a try if you have the time and the ingredients ;)
Phil says
Okay, so I’m a little late to the party but these look really good, and so I must ask…What temperature is the butter when you cream the butter and sugar together, and just how long do you actually cream them together for? I assume (hopefully correctly) that the butter should be about 60° to 65°F, but how long do you actually cream the butter and sugar for? I know your recipe says until creamy, but…Creamy as in….Continue mixing until the mixture has almost doubled in mass and has lightened to a whiteish-yellow color? Or is that too much for this specific recipe?
I almost forgot to ask, how did you measure out your flour? Did you use a scale to measure the flour by weight, scoop directly from the bag, spoon the flour from the bag into your measuring cup, and or was the flour sifted first?
Sorry for asking so many questions, it’s just that the answers to these questions are important if there’s gonna be any chance at all to perfect this recipe on my first try.
Like I said, I know I’m late to the party here, but hopefully someone’s still around to answer these questions.
Jamie says
I just made these and they are amazing! I followed the instructions exactly, with the exception of using all vanilla (we don’t care for almond). They look exactly like the pictures and are sooooooo good. I also tried rolling them in different sprinkles and they look great!
Thanks for a new family favorite recipe.
Jamie
Nelda says
I am a baker and these turned out perfect! I made “alien” cookies for my daughter with this recipe. Crackle cookies with many “eyes” was a great combo! Thank you for a recipe that actually works! Blessings to you and your family.