design: Sophie Rogers
Ever heard of stress baking? It’s baking while stressed instead of doing the thing that you’re actually stressed about. Now, I am NOT encouraging people to ignore their work or not take school seriously, BUT I am saying the transition from fall to winter is the best time to do stress baking.
For example, the weather is extremely crappy and cold, the trees start to look ugly and sad, and then there’s midterms. Ew. The combination of these is the epitome of stress.
Although, on a more serious note, November is the bridge between two of the best holidays: Christmas and Halloween. Baking sugar cookies from scratch and then decorating them according to holidays and seasons is one of my favorite activities, especially with the craziness that is the second quarter. Life can get overwhelming, so my advice? Bake!
The reason I like making sugar cookies from scratch is because: A. they taste better, (duh). B. they won’t turn into a blob of dough and will keep their shape perfectly for decorating.
To start, it’s best to have the ingredients at room temperature, especially the butter, but hey, if you just grabbed it out of the fridge, I’m not here to judge you. Pop it into the microwave for in 15 second intervals if needed, but make sure it’s not all liquid. Add the butter in a bowl and then gradually add the sugar mixture until it looks like a thick paste and mixed evenly. You could use a mixer, but I usually do it by hand. After combining the butter and sugar, the vanilla extract and egg can be added and mixed in.
In a SEPARATE bowl, combine the baking powder, flour, and salt. This is because the dry ingredients will be added into the wet ingredients gradually so that it doesn’t get too dry. Then, you’ll add some of the flour mixture and mix it into the butter mixture. Then, you’ll add more flour and repeat the process until the flour mixture is all mixed in. This part is best done by hand especially once it starts to look like a dough.
Sometimes, the dough ends up being too dry and crumbly, but this can be fixed by wetting your hands and kneading the dough on the countertop. The consistency should resemble clay and should be drier. If it sticks to the rolling pin, then it is too wet and some flour needed to be sprinkled in.
Lastly, I preheat my oven to 350 while I’m rolling out the dough and doing the cookie cutouts. I personally like my cookies soft so they are about ¼ inch thick when I cut them, but they can be thin and crispy too if that’s what you like. The cookies only need to be put into the oven for six to eight minutes although it may vary depending on the oven. They are done if the bottom of the cookies is a golden-brown color and the tops don’t look wet, although they should have a slight glaze to them. Poke them with a toothpick to be sure. Let them cool for a bit before adding decorations so the icing doesn’t melt, then enjoy!
