Is there any more perfect dessert at Christmastime than the simple sugar cookie? The confection is delicious, yes, but also fun to make: you can cut them into trees, stars, or sleighs, and festively frost them any which way. They satisfy your sweet tooth and spread holiday cheer.
Kelly Fields would know. The owner of Willa Jean Bakery, she sells more than 10,000 cookies a week from her New Orleans shop. (Yes, they’re really that good: in 2019, Fields won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.) So when she published her critically lauded cookbook, The Good Book of Southern Baking, she made sure to feature lots of cookies, including the recipe for her signature sugar cookie. “These are literally an all-occasion cookie for celebrating,” she says.
Whereas parties are out of the question this December, baking scrumptious treats (even if it’s just for one or two) is an easy way to make holidays feel, well, like the holidays. Below, we share Fields’s recipe. It makes 48—which is a lot nowadays. But, as Fields explains, “If you don’t need it all, leftovers freeze really well and can be saved for the next holiday cooking-decorating bonanza.”
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1⁄4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1⁄4 cups granulated sugar
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing
2 egg whites
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons water
Directions
1. Make the cookie dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour with the baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the cream cheese until combined. Decrease the speed to low and slowly beat in the egg and vanilla, incorporating well. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed until a dough forms.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it a few times by hand. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until ready to roll out, at least 15 minutes or up to overnight. You can also freeze the dough for up to 1 month.