America's Test Kitchen
Printed in The Sheridan Press

Making holiday cookies — the rolled, cutout, and glazed butter-cookie variety — is everyone’s favorite December activity. Unfortunately, these cookies either look good but taste like cardboard or have buttery, rich flavor but lack visual appeal.

We wanted a simple recipe that would produce cookies sturdy enough to decorate yet tender enough to be worth eating. Superfine sugar helped to achieve a delicate texture, and using the reverse-creaming method — beating the butter into the flour-sugar mixture — prevented the formation of air pockets and produced flat cookies that were easy to decorate.

Looking to make our dough a bit more workable without adding more butter — at 16 tablespoons, we’d maxed out — we landed on the addition of a little cream cheese, which made the dough easy to roll but not too soft. Baking the butter cookies one sheet at a time ensured that they baked evenly. Do not reroll the scraps more than once; the cookies become tough.

Check out the recipe!

About The Sheridan Press
The Sheridan Press has served Sheridan County, Wyoming, since 1887. The award-winning independent newspaper offers print and online news delivery platforms to the thriving community, which boasts a college; a lively arts, culture, and music scene; a bustling downtown; and many other amenities, including unlimited outdoor recreational opportunities. To subscribe to The Sheridan Press, click here.