Grandma Swainston’s Sugar Cookies

Day 5 of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Today’s recipe share is one that is close to my heart! I am sharing a recipe that has been passed down through my mom’s side of the family, my great-grandma’s classic sugar cookies. My great-grandma Swainston was quite the baker herself. She and her friends would bake together (usually making pies 😅) growing up and she had quite the collection of recipes. My great grandma also happens to be one of my heroes. She was adventurous, spunky, independent, and I’ll never forget how she took the time to get to know each of her “greats” individually. She always made me feel so special when I was around her.

Growing up my mom always made her grandma’s sugar cookies on Valentine’s Day and here and there throughout the year. We always LOVED when she’d pull out the pink and red frosting and let us frost our own cookies. She always made a giant heart shaped cookie for my Dad, too. So many great memories with this yummy recipe!

One thing I love about this recipe is how moist (yes, I said it! Isn’t that one of the most hated words out there?) and soft these sugar cookies are. If you bake them just right and cut them nice and thick, you will definitely taste the difference in this recipe! None of that crumbly, fall-in-your-lap experience you get with so many other sugar cookies 😉 The dough is also really easy to roll out and work with.

For this recipe, I did find it important to refrigerate the dough for a good 30 minutes so that the cookie dough would bind together better, thus making it easier to roll out onto the surface for cookie cutting. So, when planning to make this recipe make sure to add a good 30 extra minutes to the process.

Sugar cookies are such a fun tradition to have with your family this time of year and I love the pop of color they add to any cookie plate or dessert line up. These cookies are sure to not disappoint and I’m pretty sure this recipe can become your sugar cookie go-to from here on out!

For this recipe, you will cream the shortening and sugar until well combined and there aren’t any chunks of shortening left. Next, add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Cream until well combined. Then, sift your dry ingredients together. You’ll then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough has been chilled, sprinkle flour over your rolling surface. You do not want the dough to stick whatsoever to the surface! Grab a handful of dough and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out by starting in the middle and rolling out to the edges. For thick cookies, I would recommend the dough be rolled out to 3/4 inch. As you roll, try to apply even pressure so that the dough is rolled to an even thickness.

You’ll then bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Like I have explained in my other recipes, I always check on my cookies before the 12 minutes are up to make sure they aren’t getting to browned. If you like soft sugar cookies, I would pull the cookies out just as they are about to brown on top. You can bake for a little longer if you like crunchy sugar cookies.

These cookies taste delicious with a basic buttercream icing recipe and lots and lots of sprinkles (according to my 2 year old 😝)

I hope some of you will be able to try this recipe! I feel so lucky to be able to share such a wonderful family recipe with all of you!

xoxo

Nicole