No Spread Sugar Cookies
No-spread sugar cookies are soft, buttery, homemade sugar cookies that are great for making cut-out cookies. This is the best non-spreading sugar cookie dough around.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup salted butter softened
- ¼ cup butter-flavored shortening softened
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 whole egg and egg white
- ⅓ cup sugar for dusting the top of the cookies after they bake
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Whisk together then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, butter, and shortening. Use a hand mixer to beat together until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and the whole egg. Beat together until combined.
- Add the egg white and continue beating until well combined. Turn off the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Turn the hand mixer on low and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until no flour pockets remain. Cover the mixing bowl with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and use a cookie scoop to create balls of dough, about 2 to 3 tablespoons depending on how large you want your cookies. Place the balls of dough on the cookie sheet and use the bottom of a cup to flatten into a ½-inch thick round cookie.
- Place one cookie sheet in the oven and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. You want the edges to be firm without turning brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately sprinkle sugar on the tops of the cookies.
- Let the cookies cool for 2 to 3 minutes on the baking sheet. Place the other baking sheet in the oven and cook for 8 minutes.
- Repeat the sugar and cooling steps for the second baking sheet.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Not having enough flour in your sugar cookies is what will cause them to spread. When they are cooked in the oven, the fat in the butter and shortening melt, and without the proper amount of flour to hold them together they will spread. If this happens, add 2 tablespoons of flour to your mixture.
An alternative way to form the individual cookies would be to roll the dough out on a flat surface with a rolling pin to about ½-inch thickness, then use a round cookie cutter to cut out the circles from the rolled dough. Place 6 cookies on one baking sheet and 6 on another.
If you are using royal icing on top of the cookies, then skip the step where you add sugar to the tops after they are done baking.
If using royal icing on the top of these cookies make sure to allow them to cool completely before icing.