If you love the soft, pillowy dreaminess of sugar cookies, mint meltaways and snickerdoodles, let us introduce you to Amish sugar cookies. Each bite has a lovely, buttery taste with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that’s truly irresistible. The best part? They’re easy to whip together and require zero chilling, so you’ll be indulging in no time.
Amish baked goods are in a dessert category that’s all their own. With classics like shoofly pie, fastnachts, apple dumplings and whoopie pies, the Amish have perfected their butter-forward bakes. These Amish sugar cookies are a great recipe to get you started in the delicious world of Amish baking.
Ingredients for Amish Sugar Cookies
- Butter: Richness and structure come from butter, essential to these cookies.
- Canola oil: Canola oil adds moisture and tenderness to the sugar cookies. Oil is liquid at room temperature, meaning it won’t harden as it sits like butter does. This keeps the cookies nice and soft for days.
- Confectioners’ sugar: Used alongside regular sugar, confectioners’ sugar provides a light, melt-in-your-mouth cookie texture and sweet taste.
- Eggs: Eggs bind the ingredients together so the cookies don’t fall apart.
- Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar kickstarts the baking soda and gives these sugar cookies their distinctive soft, chewy texture.
Directions
Step 1: Create the dough
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the butter, oil and sugars. Beat in the eggs until well blended. Beat in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Gradually beat the dry mixture into the creamed mixture.
Step 2: Bake the cookies
Drop the dough by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake the cookies until they’re lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies to wire racks, and cool to room temperature.
Amish Sugar Cookies Variations
- Drizzle on a glaze: A quick confectioners’ sugar glaze gives these cookies a beautiful finished look. Bonus points if the glaze has food coloring or a fun extract mixed in!
- Sprinkle in baking spices: Throw in spice blends like pumpkin pie spice, chai spice or fall spices to dress up these Amish sugar cookies.
- Add in extract: Along with (or instead of) the vanilla extract, add nutty almond extract, citrusy orange extract or bright lemon extract.
How to Store Amish Sugar Cookies
To store, allow the cookies to cool completely to room temperature. Place the cookies in an airtight container, and store at room temperature for up to three days.
One of the top 10 Amish baking tips is to store cookies in an airtight container along with a slice of bread. Without refrigeration, the Amish have become masters at storing food, and they’ve found that adding a slice of bread to the cookie container keeps the cookies fresher longer. We also love using this hack to soften cookies once they’ve gotten too crunchy.
Can you freeze Amish sugar cookies?
Yes, you can freeze Amish sugar cookies. To freeze cookies for later, allow them to cool to room temperature, then arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Pop the sheet in the freezer until the cookies are frozen solid, about 30 minutes. Then layer the frozen cookies in airtight containers, with a piece of parchment or waxed paper separating each layer. This will help prevent the cookies from sticking to one another. Freeze the containers of cookies for up to three months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge before serving, or pop a few in the microwave until heated through.
Amish Sugar Cookies Tips
Can you make Amish sugar cookies without cream of tartar?
No, you need the cream of tartar to make Amish sugar cookies. Baking soda needs an acidic ingredient to create the gas bubbles that make baked goods rise and lighten. Cream of tartar (aka tartaric acid) provides that in this recipe. Yay, chemistry!
Can I use Amish butter to make these cookies?
Yes, you can use Amish butter to make these cookies. Amish butter has a higher fat content than American and even some European butters, so it will make your cookies taste even richer and more buttery.
