Sugar Cookies: Tastes like science and graphite illustrations

"Remember when your Dad burned down your family's shed in the name of Science? And really it was because he was convinced the neighbor was going to steal the hedge trimmer in the middle of the night? That's why I wasn't allowed to sleep over at your house."

I, like a lot of people, trust Cooks Illustrated completely. They're not going to fuck you up, because they've figured it all out for you. Their recipes are so in-depth that it makes no sense to try and deviate. They're one step ahead of you, and they don't trust you with the knives.

Most of my Cooks Illustrated issues are hand-me-downs from one of my Dead Grandmas. I've got maybe six, maybe seven, and most of them are Holiday issues, which is great. The day I get the urge in my bones to butterfly a seventeen pound turkey so it can cook in under two hours, I'll know where to look, what to use to wipe my salmonella smeared hands as I sit sobbing in the empty bathtub, with four sticks of butter and packets of ramen seasoning.

I love the graphite illustrations -- like Garth Williams just decided to stop drawing animals and focus on intently detailed hands holding potatoes. I love that there are rows of colored photos on the very last page, and when you reach them you feel like you've just been baptized by Oprah's hand. The whole world is anew. You know what a bowl of clam chowder looks like in color. When the cars outside start moving, your mind will lose it. 

But all this aside, I've made only one thing from Cooks Illustrated, and this is it -- the ultimate sugar cookie. I like sugar cookies, in theory, because I like butter and vanilla and sugar and everything that comes from them, like caramel and body issues! I've made this recipe twice, the first time was maybe five or six years ago and each time they've tasted better than I could have imagined. The recipe instructs you to roll damp balls of dough in granulated sugar, which results in the lovely crackled web. However, only seven or so of the 20 cookies I got out of the recipe came out with the crusty webbing intact. They all taste the same, but we all know which ones hands go for first. It's like child pageants -- being four and having no front teeth is normal. But is it beautiful, Tawny?

Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

2 cups AP flour (I used, and the article specified, Gold Medal)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks/1 cup softened butter (Challenge European)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping Tbs light brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs pure Vanilla extract

1 bowl cold water
1/2 - 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 drinking glass

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy and airy -- in a stand mixer, this might take around 2 or 3 minutes. Using my hand mixer, even on the lowest setting, I only had to cream mine for around 1 minute and 30 seconds. What you want is a unified mixture that isn't separating or "curdling". Add the egg, vanilla and salt and mix until combined. Sift in the dry ingredients: flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Using a tablespoon or small scoop, scoop round balls of dough and roll them into smooth spheres between damp palms -- re-dip your hands after every one or two cookies. The water secures the sugar to the dough, resulting in a lovely "cracked" pattern on top. Place no more than six cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet/half-sheet pan, flatten slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass and bake for 10-15 minutes, checking and rotating the pan if needed after eight. Bake until golden brown around the edges, still slightly soft in the middle and sugar is cracked.

Remove and cool on pans for 1 minutes, then transfer to a rack and cool completely. According to the article, you can store these cookies in an airtight container for up to five days. Or you can eat them all.

Comments

[Susan]

I did frame one of them, once- I remember it was "dried chilies of the world" It was when I was first married, and we had no money. The cookies do look good. Good enough for Santa?

[rachel]

Those looks look fabulous! But I have to say, the worse mac and cheese I ever made (inedible!) was from following a Cook's Illustrated recipe to a T. I've had some other major misses with them too for savory foods. They seem to have desserts down though.

[nina roux]

this cooks illustrated recipe is my go-to recipe for sugar cookies - the best I've ever tasted!

[Melissa]

Girlfriend! You left me in the lurch! They sounded so delicious that I and the five year old set to making them only to discover no cooking temp! We're gonna try 325. Is that right?

ps This in no way affects the love I have for your ever-delightful blog.

[Patricia Scarpin]

These cookies look so good.

[Mercedes]

If I hadn't totally overdosed on baklava this afternoon, I would totally be making these!

[Kathy]

I love Cook's Illustrated! I have every magazine since the first, plus the old "Best Recipe" cookbook and the updated version. Gooood stuff. Fun reading about how everything goes together and why, and I agree on the illustrations. The pictures on the back of each magazine always amaze me, too - I keep meaning to frame one of those.