Cooking with kids can be a lot of fun. It can also be a disaster. If you have older children, it is fine to make and chill a dough, roll it out and cut it into fancy shapes. However, this can be a challenge to the patience of younger children.
Some people make the dough and just get the kids to help cut and decorate. I think it is better to have the kids take part from beginning to end. To do this effectively you need to have a recipe that comes together quickly, lets the kids do most of it and it must give a great cookie. Sugar Cookies to the rescue.
The recipe uses oil instead of butter so there is no long creaming process and it mixes quickly. Using a sugar coated glass to press the cookies gives a great uniform cookie and is easy enough for little hands.
I don’t want to suggest this recipe should be saved for when kids are around. I make it often as they make one of my favourite cookies. It is just easy enough to do with children.
The recipe itself is my variation on a Sugar Cookie recipe from the original Joy of Cooking. I have switched it up to get a sugar coating on top of the cookies.
Preheat your oven to 375 F. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl.
You put the sugar and oil in a bowl and mix them. Add the egg an vanilla and beat well.
Put the flour mixture in all at once and mix into a uniform dough.
Roll the dough into 1/2 inch balls and put them 2 inches apart on cookie sheets sprayed with baking spray. Put sugar on a small plate. Grease the bottom of a drinking tumbler with butter. Dip the glass into the sugar and press a ball to about 3/16 inch thick with the glass. Dip in the sugar again and flatten the next cookie. Continue until all the cookies are pressed flat.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, just until the edges of the cookie look golden. Let the cookies sit on the tray for a couple of minutes and remove them.
Store in a cookie jar or covered container.
These are such great cookie. They have a crisp edge and soft interior. They have a nice taste from the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Best of all, they look so good that kids will look like chefs! The effect will only be amplified as they disappear quickly and the adults try to sneak all of them!
The Old Fat Guy
Ingredients
- 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) flour
- 4 ml (3/4 tsp) baking powder
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) cinnamon
- 1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
- 90 ml (1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp) vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla
- sugar and butter for pressing the cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.
- Mix the oil and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.
- Add the flour mixture and mix to a uniform dough.
- Roll the dough into 1/2 inch balls and put the balls 2 inches apart on a baking tray sprayed with baking spray.
- Put some sugar on a small plate.
- Grease the bottom of a drinking tumbler with butter.
- Dip the glass in the sugar and press a cookie ball to about 3/16 inch thick with the sugar coated glass bottom. Dip the glass in the sugar and press the next cookie. Press all the cookies flat.
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, just until the edges are golden.
- Let them cool for a couple of minutes and remove from the tray.
2 Responses
Love the cinnamon addition, this reminds me of a cookie my grandma made.
Thanks! Sugar cookies take me back to my childhood too!