Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Lofthouse Cookies

I have found my new favorite sugar cookie.  You know those grocery store, Lofthouse style cookies?  The big, thick ones with lots of frosting and usually sprinkles.  Those are the ones.  I recently found a recipe for them that I think is great.  I actually don’t remember the last time I ever ate one of those grocery store cookies—25 years ago, maybe?  But who doesn’t love a good sugar cookie?  And I particularly like them soft, not crunchy. 

I recently hosted a baby shower for a neighbor and got it in my head while trying to think of things to make for it, that I wanted to make cute, little button sugar cookies, but soft and thick.  That was when I found this recipe and made them for the first time.  That was about two weeks ago and I’ve now made the cookies three times.

Lofthouse Button Cookies 9-27-12

Cute, huh?  While I was frosting them, I started with the pink ones.  Kevin came in the room and I asked him if he knew what they were supposed to be.  Yeah, you’ll probably guess what he said.

Lofthouse Button Cookies

If you guessed that he said pig noses, you’d be right.  And then from then on, I even had a hard time seeing the cute “buttons”.  Oh well, they looked cute on the plate and for the shower, all the pink, yellow and blue pig noses.  (eyeroll, sigh)

Then, Taylor’s birthday was last week and he had some friends over for a zombie party.  Suppose I must brag about one of my creations again (though I’ve already done so on Facebook).  Just want to keep it for remembrance and posterity, you know. ;)  Taylor wanted a zombie pinata.  Yeah.  You try to find one.  I looked and couldn’t even find anything Halloween related—no ghosts, pumpkins, nothing.  So—look at this—I drew one and put it on a different pinata that I bought.

Zombie Pinata

Free hand drew that guy from looking at the smaller picture.  Taylor didn’t want his brain sticking out.  I was happy with how it turned out—on the Hello Kitty pinata I got.  You couldn’t tell, could you?  Until I told you, now you see it.  Taylor made us all swear we wouldn’t tell his friends that it was originally a Hello Kitty pinata.  Here’s what we did for the back.

Zombie Pinata 2

Anyway, back to the cookies.  For the party, we also made zombie cookies.  Each of the boys got to pick out chocolate eyeballs, plastic teeth, noses (Skittles) and put red icing (blood) gel on their cookie.  So again, I made the Lofthouse cookies and cut them in about 3  1/2 inch circles.

Parker's finished zombie

Parker’s cookie won for the grossest, with the eye hanging out.  The Lofthouse cookies were perfect and the boys had fun with them.

T's zombie cookie Brenton's zombie cookie

Landon's zombie cookie

Today I decided to make the cookies again to share them here for the 4th week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  So I had fun making some 2  1/2 inch round cookies with white frosting and some green, red, and white sprinkles.  A bunch of them are in the freezer (unfrosted) ready for another use sometime soon.

Lofthouse Cookies 10-17-12

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!—don’t know where original recipe started, I adapted it quite a bit

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 grams) light sour cream (you can use regular, but I never do, always use light)

2  3/4 cups (330 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the sugar and butter.  Add the egg, vanilla and sour cream and beat on high speed for a couple minutes.  Scrape the sides of the bowl.

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the cream mixture and beat on low just until combined.  Put the dough in an airtight container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  (Can also refrigerate the dough for a couple days, if necessary.) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll the dough out on a floured surface—not too thin, at least 1/4 inch thick, maybe between 1/4-1/2 inch.  Cut with shaped cookie cutters and lay each cookie on the baking sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies just look dry on the tops.  Let cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Frost the cookies and add sprinkles, if desired.

I don’t have a specific vanilla frosting recipe, I actually just kind of make it up as I go—Couple of cups of powdered sugar, some butter, a pinch of salt, some vanilla and cream/milk—beat in the mixer until it is the desired consistency.  Sorry, I often don’t measure.  I didn’t with the white frosting for these cookies.  Here is a link for a great buttercream frosting recipe that I have used before for cakes and it is similar to what I end up getting when I make up my own. ;)  http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

Lofthouse Cookies 2

You can find out about the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats on our host, Brenda’s blog, Meal Planning Magic and check out all the other treats this week—we’re at week 4, can you believe it—counting down the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  Don’t freak out yet! ;)

image

 

34 comments:

sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

Look at you crafty girl! My kid would have no pinata, that is how I would be, I have no talent. I just told him there are no pinatas at the store until after his birthday. hope he never realizes I may have fibbed. Also, I want to try these cookies, but not the zombie ones, they look gross;p

Deb said...

Thank you for posting this it's perfect timing. I wanted to make sugar cookies for my boys preschool class to decorate and you just gave me the best idea. You're the best.

Melissa said...

I love these type of sugar cookies! I love gross-looking food, too, so I'm really digging the zombies. You're a cool mom :)

Unknown said...

These are the husband's dream cookie - soft, icing, and sprinkle! Perfect for Christmas.

Lisa said...

Pig noses! Laughing out loud! Totally thought he'd say they were the beginning of faces. I love this cookie recipe too and usually make them into bars. And kudos on those creepy cookies.

Julia said...

There is nothing like those soft sugar cookies. They are a favorite of my husband. I will have to try this recipe.

Marina Prins Hoiting said...

I love these cookies, pinned it on my to do list!

Marina #9

Elaine said...

I love those Lofthouse sugar cookies. And these look exactly like them! Major props. And I'm sure they taste even better since they are homemade. Definitely giving these a try asap!

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

I love Lofthouse cookies! I will definitely give these a try. My grandkids will love them...

Tracy said...

I love Lofthouse cookies! Can't wait to try your recipe.

Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction said...

I've seen Lofthouse Sugar Cookie recipes and I've had them on my to do list for some time but I've never gotten to them yet. Yours look delicious.

Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl said...

Lofthouse cookies are the best! I made a bar version of these last Christmas and they were sooooo good. I love how puffy and soft yours look--yum!

Katrina said...

Thanks, Deb. Just checked out your blog and will take from all the inspiration on it often.

Katrina said...

Thanks, Rocky Mountain Woman!

Trisha said...

I had bookmarked these cookies when Lisa made them last year I think or maybe it was the year before that. But I haven't yet tried them. I'm now convinced to try them out soon. I love how versatile they are. All 3 versions look great.

Natalie said...

i can't get over how much these look like the real thing!

Lisa C. said...

I know this is probably a stupid question, but how can I just print the recipe by itself?
Thanks

Katrina said...

Lisa, not a dumb question. I don't have one of those recipe plug-ins on my blog, but I should! I would copy and paste just the recipe and put it in a word file. (that's what I do on other blogs, even when they have plug-ins, just because I like making the recipe print just how I want it to on Word.)

Suzie said...

15 I had to giggle at the pig nose comment...leave it to the hubs...ha ha! Mine would say the same. They are adorable. I don't know how you find the time to bake everything that you do! The pinata is genius!! So clever and I laughed once you said Hello Kitty. The zombie cookies are great too. I can see why you and Veronica are friends, you're both bakers! I envy you both, because I'm not a baker. I just wanted to personally stop by and introduce myself and say thank you for helping with my fundraiser blog put on by Veronica. I really appreciate it and am so thankful to people like you! I look forward to getting to know you better :)

April said...

Oh how I wish I was as creative as you when it comes to this kind of stuff. My daughter said your cookies were gross, but cool. I can never think of stuff like that. Anyways, I'll be trying your version of sugar cookies soon.

Veronica Miller said...

I do love a good sugar cookie, esp with real frosting instead of the hard thin kind. The only bad part is you can't really stack them with the fluffy frosting! These look absolutely perfect and once again you astound me with your baking skills. I love your pinata and thought it had been a skull pinata before you revealed the secret! Also, I missed you saying those cookies were buttons and thought they were supposed to be baby faces and those were the eyes. That's even creepier b/c of the weird colors and no nose or lips. LOL! I have no imagination. haha

Paula @ Vintage Kitchen said...

Wonderful cookies, all of them, and the piñatas too! So creative!

Amy said...

You're so talented! Your free hand drawing is amazing. Those cute baby shower pig nose, oh, I mean button cookies are perfect! hehehe....after you said pig nose, I can't seem to find the buttons either. LOL. Those "scary" decorated cookies are so much fun. :)

Dawn said...

Mmmmm! Will surely try this recipe!

LOVE the zombie cookies! :)

Unknown said...

Wow those are some disgusting (in a good, creepy way) cookies. And its so awesome your son got his very own handmade pinata. That is super cool :)

Anonymous said...

These cookies turned out perfectly. Probably the best sugar cooky dough I've tried yet. I've never eaten the Lofthouse cookies, but this recipe reminds me of bakery cookies. I gave a plated of iced pumpkin and kitty cookies as a thank you to my vet and her techs! Got raves! Thanks!

Teresa said...

I can't find a Pin button to pin this recipe on Pinterest.
Teresa from Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen

Katrina said...

Teresa, I don't have a Pin It button for each post. I suppose I just rely on having a Pin It button on your computer. That's what I do. I will work on getting one like I know many have at the bottom of each post.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! I've tried many different lofthouse sugar cookie recipes and yours was by the far best! The dough was easy to handle using confection sugar instead of flour and they came out soft and light. I made mine into a sandwich cookie with ganache chocolate in the middle. Your recipe will definitely be for keeps!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I have been wanting to try to make these lofthouse sugar cookies again because I love these cookies, they are so delicious and addictive to eat. I have looked at multiple recipes for these cookies and each one uses a different amount of sour cream, I've seenrecipes that call for 2tbsp, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cups, 1 cup, 1 1/2 cups and some call for greek yogurt instead. There are so many different recipes for these cookies I don't know which recipes have the exact same texture and taste as the lofthouse sugar cookies I get at Walmart. Has anyone tried other lofthouse cookie recipes? Which taste most like the store bought ones? what amount of sour cream is best? I tried a recipe last year which called for 1 1/2 cups of sour cream and the dough tasted awful(I love eating sugar cookie dough) so I know 1 1/2 cups is to much. How much do I use???

Katrina said...

Unknown, I haven't actually tried the grocery store Lofthouse cookies for years, so I'm not too sure on an exact comparison. I have made this recipe several times, probably even at least a dozen or more and they turn out great every time, they get lots of compliments and the dough is great to work with. I think 1/2 cup of sour cream sounds like a great middle ground compromise between the 2 T. and 1 1/2 cups (which does sound like way too much).

Anonymous said...

I just made these and they are soooooo good!! Tastes just like the real thing. Make them, you'll love them!!! Thanks for this recipe. These are my favorite cookies.

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