COOKIES / February 11, 2024

SLICED SUGAR COOKIES + MAPLE FROSTING

I have posted and talked about and shared and mentioned these cookies way too many times to count.

And I am BEYOND excited to be sharing my absolute favorite sugar cookie recipe in the world today on ALF.

These SLICED VANILLA SUGAR COOKIES WITH MAPLE FROSTING are my absolute go to sugar cookie recipe.

Without a doubt, these are the cookies I make over and over again; everyone loves them, someone always wants the recipe, kids are obsessed, adults are in love. And best of all, I have officially found the time to share them with all of you!!

I have always had an affiliation for soft sugar cookies with fluffy frosting.

You know the ones at the grocery store that literally everyone sells? Yes, THOSE sugar cookies with fluffy frosting. They’re a little like shortbread texture and they’re made really really thick and frosted with a tall layer of frosting that looks soft and scrumptious and covers every inch of the top of the cookie?!

Those are the aboslute best.

Every holiday there is a new theme and colorway of these cookies and I always love to see them out!

And I’m pretty sure every person in the world has tried these at some point or at least seen them.

Last year at Ollie’s preschool they had the grocery store version of cookies as treats all the time and the kiddies LOVED their half of a cookie delight. I mean, who wouldnt?!

These Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Maple Frosting are a super easy version of the famous thick and fluffy frosting cookie.

I found this recipe on Half Baked Harvest and after making her recipe multiple times, I felt these were absolutely perfect to share with everyone! The cookie dough is made easily in a stand mixer with a little almond extract flavoring and shaped into two logs. The cookie dough logs, after being refrigerated in a split wrapping paper cardboard tube, are silced into the cookies as evenly as possible. No cookie cutters are needed and the slicing is super easy because the cookie dough is hard and cold.

Once the cookies are sliced, they can be baked fairly close together because they keep their shape and don’t spread like traditional cookie dough balls. The cookie bakes until it’s light and fluffy and soft. It does have a slight tendency of a shortbread texture, but be careful not to overbake here. They will look super light and should not be golden brown or slightly brown either.

When the cookies are cooled, a fantastic easy butter frosting is whipped until super super thick using maple syrup and vanilla extract as the flavoring. Half Baked Harvest also reccomends using caramel instead of maple syrup but we have never made that version because the maple syrup frosting version is too hard to pass up!!

The next best part is the decorating the cookies. You can spend as much time as you want on these. Ollie loves to help me decorate the cookies and it’s such a fun acitvity to do with your littles. You can be as creative as you want, take as much time as you want, too!

I make these during the Holidays and I love all the festive sprinkles you can find then.

VANILLA SUGAR COOKIES WITH MAPLE FROSTING

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Cook Time 10

Servings 40

Ingredients

COOKIES

3 STICKS SALTED BUTTER 1 1/2 CUPS, ROOM TEMP
1 TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
1 CUP LIGHT BROWN SUGAR PACKED
1 TEASPOON ALMOND EXTRACT
2 LARGE EGGS
1/2 TEASPOON SALT
1 TEASPOON BAKING SODA
4 1/2 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR

FROSTING

2 STICKS SALTED BUTTER 1 CUP, ROOM TEMP
1 TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
2 1/2 CUPS POWDERED SUGAR
1/4 CUP PURE MAPLE SYRUP CAN SUB CARAMEL SAUSE INSTEAD
SPRINKLES FOR DECORATING

Instructions

COOKIES

COMBINE SOFTENED BUTTER, VANILLA, AND BROWN SUGAR IN A STAND MIXER OR LARGE BOWL AND HAND MIXER. WHIP UNTIL SUPER SMOOTH AND ALL COMBINED TOGETHER AND STARTING TO GET FLUFFY.
ADD IN ALMOND, 1 EGG AT A TIME, AND WHIP AGAIN UNTIL COMBINED TOGETHER.
POUR IN SALT, BAKING SODA, AND FLOUR AND COMBINE AGAIN UNTIL A DOUGH BALL FORMS.
HALVE THE DOUGH INTO TWO EQUAL SIZED BALLS. USING PARCHMENT OR WAX PAPER TO PLACE THE BALLS ON, FORM EACH BALL INTO A 10" LOG. USING THE PAPER, FOLD IT OVER AND ROLL IT UNTIL IT'S UNIFORM IN SIZE AND SHAPE. SMOOTH IT OUT AND ROLL UP IN THE PAPER.
PLACE EACH LOG INTO A SPLIT WRAPPING PAPER TUBE. PLACE IN THE FRIDGE FOR ROUGHLY 3-4 HOURS. CAN BE IN THE FRIDGE FOR 5 DAYS, IF NEEDED.
ONCE READY TO BAKE, PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 F DEGREES.
UNWRAP EACH AND SLICE EACH 10" LOG INTO 20 COOKIES. SLICE IN HALF FIRST, THEN IN HALF AGAIN, AND CONTINUE UNTIL YOU GET 40 IN TOTAL, 20 EACH LOG.
PLACE COOKIES FAIRLY CLOSE TOGETHER, ABOUT 2" APART, ON A PARCHMENT PAPER LINED COOKIE SHEET.
BAKE FOR 8-10 MINUTES, BUT NO LONGER. THESE WILL BE SOFT COOKIES AND NOT BROWN OR GOLDEN.
LET COOL, WHILE COOLING MAKE THE FROSTING.

FROSTING

USING A STAND MIXER OR LARGE BOWL AND HAND MIXER, CREAM SOFTENED BUTTER AND SUGAR UNTIL FLUFFY AND SMOOTH. THIS SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 3-4 MINUTES.
ADD IN THE POWDERED SUGAR AND PURE MAPLE SYRUP AND KEEP BEATING UNTIL WHIPPED IN TEXTURE. SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 2 MORE MINUTES.
USING A SMALL 1 TABLESPOON COOKIE SCOOP, MEASURE OUT FROSTING FOR EACH COOKIE WITH ONE SCOOP EACH.
SMOOTH OUT THE FROSTING AND DECORATE WITH SPRINKLES!

Notes

AUTHOR: HALF BAKED HARVEST

CAN YOU FREEZE THE COOKIE DOUGH INSTEAD OF PLACING IN FRIDGE?

Yes, totally! Just note that it may be slightly harder to slice through, but not impossible. You will also need to add 1 minute or so to the baking time if the cookie dough is still frozen.

DOES THE FROSTING HARDEN AFTER SPREADING?

Yes, the frosting will harden slightly after a little bit so it won’t stick to everything and you can stack the cookies.

DO YOU HAVE TO USE THE WRAPPING PAPER TUBE FOR THE DOUGH?

It is not necesary to use the tube, it just helps to form the log of cookie dough into a more round shape. If you don’t plan to use the wrapping paper tube, just shape the dough as round as you can before placing in the fridge.