Amish Sugar Cookie Recipe AKA The Best Drop Sugar Cookies EVER

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These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I’ve ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

Welcome to day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies here on Something Swanky! ????

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No, you’re not crazy. Yes, you did the math right. No, I’m not going to have time this year to fit in all 12 days of cookies. I’m pretty bummed about it actually. But this year is all about surviving the craziness of moving + the holidays at the same time, and you know what? If we manage to squeeze in 3 or 4 days of Christmas cookies, I think I’m going to be okay. I just loved doing this last year so much, I had to at least get in a little mini version this year!

But you just wait for Christmas 2017, I’ll be pulling out all the stops. Guaranteed.

Ok, let’s get to the star of the show today: these Amish Sugar Cookies. Since we’re not getting in the full 12 days of cookies this year, I’m only sharing the best of the best. And, trust me, these cookies are the cream of the crop.

In fact, I can get a little overexcited about these cookies. I feel like I should warn you up front in all fairness. But just stick with me to the end, and you’ll see why I can’t stop gushing about this seriously amazing recipe!

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

A little backstory before the gushing starts:

I’ve spent this year trying to come up with fun “family history” activities for my family. I know that might sound a little strange, but we have had a really great experience with our kids learning about our family’s ancestors and the countries they originated from. My favorite activities, of course, have been the ones that involved food. One time we did a dinner with lots of different foods from many of the countries where our ancestors lived (brats from Germany, macarons from France, empanadas from Mexico, etc).

In preparation for one of these activities, I discovered that my husband has an ancestral connection to the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish! Of course, I immediately dove into the world of Amish recipes. Expect many more to come, but for today I am sharing my absolute favorite so far: Amish Sugar Cookies.

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

These cookies are UNREAL. They are so, unbelievably good that I just don’t even have the words to do them justice. Considering there’s not a morsel of chocolate in sight, that is high praise indeed coming from me!

I’m a texture gal, and I typically like a lot of stuff in my cookies. You know. M&MS and chocolate chips and butterscotch and oatmeal and nuts. That’s normally my cookie happy place. But not this time!

These cookies are remarkably plain. But they’re also remarkably soft. Pillow-like soft. And deliciously buttery. With delicately crispy edges and a crackly sugar coating, you will absolutely not be able to stop at just one.

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

I’m also obsessed with how versatile these cookies are! For a festive holiday cookie plate, you could roll them in colored sugar sprinkles instead of plain granulated sugar. You could stick a Hershey Kiss on top (yum, the Candy Candy Hershey Kisses would be amazing) for a holiday blossom cookie.

You could even mix in some M&MS or chocolate chips if you wanted.

But these cookies don’t need it. You’ll fall in love with them just the way they are, I promise.  If you only make one of my cookie recipes this year, make sure it’s this one. You won’t regret it!

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

Amish Sugar Cookies

Yield: 2-3 dozen
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

These Amish Sugar Cookies are by far the BEST sugar cookies I've ever eaten! Soft and pillowy perfect cookies.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • granulated sugar for rolling

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, oil, and sugars until light and fluffy.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Mix in the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

Scoop dough by 2 tbsp and roll into a ball in the granulated sugar until coated. Place cookie dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes (err on the side of underdone to keep these soft, they should not be brown on top at all). Remove to a wire rack immediately to cool.

 

Notes

Tip: the vanilla really stands out in this recipe, so use a high quality one! I love this vanilla crush.

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