Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

For Christmas, I gave several family members each a box of Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies, from Joanne Fluke's Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.  Back to the classics, right? ;) You can visit her webstie here.

Here's the recipe:

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

REQUIRES CHILL TIME (1 hour)

4 sticks melted butter (yes, it's okay to melt them! :D)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional - but I used it and they tasted AWESOME)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar (critical!)

1 teaspoon salt

4 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar in a bowl

1. Do not preheat oven yet.
2. Melt butter.  Add sugars and mix.  Let cool to room temperature and mix in the eggs, one at a time.  Then add vanilla, lemon zest, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  Mix well.  Add flour in increments, mixing after each addition.
3. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in middle position.
5. Roll dough in walnut-sized balls.  Roll dough balls in a bowl of white sugar.  Place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet.  DO NOT FLATTEN DOUGH BALLS WITH GREASED SPATULA!*
6. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 10 to 15 minutes (mine took 15), or until they have a tinge of gold on the top.  Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.  Yield: 8-10 dozen.

*Sorry, Jo, but these cookies spread out too much and crumble when you pre-flatten them.  They'll spread out on their own in the oven.

Now, before we break it down, I only made a half-recipe.  It was Christmas Eve (oh, yes, this is a verrrry late post XD) and I was making another buche.  Buche = busy = not much time for cookies.

Now, breakin' it down:
Melt butter...

And sugars and mix.

Add eggs and mix.

Add vanilla, lemon zest, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt...

 ...and mix.

Add flour...

 ...and mix well..

Chill for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Roll in walnut-sized balls and dip in sugar...

 and bake for 15 minutes ROLLED.  Like this:

NOT this:

Because if you bake like this, your cookies will NOT thank you for it:

So.  Bake your dough balls...

and bake for 15 minutes at 325 degrees F.  Your good cookies will come out like this:

You can decorate these any way you want.  Me, I glazed mine in a milk-and-powdered sugar glaze - which was easily dyed pastel green and red with food coloring.  Of course, now that my lazy self has gotten around to posting this after Christmas, holiday colors may not be the best idea now.  Still, these cookies are really, really good, so make them anyway!

Bon appetit!
-JJ