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Dessert

Cut-out Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies made with butter flavor Crisco, sugar, milk, vanilla, egg, flour, baking powder, and salt, chilled, rolled, cut, and baked.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cut-out Sugar Cookies

Oven375°F
Time7 to 9 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Cream butter flavor Crisco, sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.

  2. Beat in egg.

  3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix into creamed mixture.

  4. Cover and refrigerate several hours to overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. Heat oven to 375°F.

  2. Roll half the dough at a time to about 1/8 inch thickness on floured surface.

  3. Cut in desired shapes.

  4. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.

  5. Sprinkle with colored sugar and decors or leave plain to frost when cool.

  6. Bake at 375°F for 7 to 9 minutes.

  7. Cool slightly.

  8. Remove to cooling rack.

Make and add the frosting

  1. Combine ½ cup butter flavor Crisco, 1 pound (4 cups) confectioners sugar, 1/3 cup milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl at low speed of electric mixer until well blended.

  2. Scrape bowl.

  3. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.

  4. Frost cooled cookies.

  5. Eliminate milk in lemon or orange frosting variation.

  6. Add 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel and 1 teaspoon lemon or orange extract to the creamy vanilla frosting.

  7. Add 1/3 cup lemon or orange juice.

  8. Add 1 teaspoon orange peel with orange juice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
121 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter flavor crisco
Provides fat that keeps the cookies tender and helps them hold their shape.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown lightly while baking.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Flour, all purpose
Forms the main structure of the cookie dough.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lifts the cookies and gives them a light texture.

The step that matters

Roll half the dough at a time to about 1/8 inch thickness. Chilled dough is firm and can crack, so rolling a portion at a time keeps it manageable. Even thickness, here about 1/8 inch, makes the cookies bake at the same rate so thin spots do not burn.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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