Cookies For Rookies

Now that you’re stuck helping out in the kitchen for the holidays, what are you going to make? Might as well not botch a complex meal and stick to something basic like sugar cookies. I tested out a few sugar cookies recipe to find if it is worth your time, if it tastes good, and if it is easy to make. Chewy Sugar Cookies http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chewy-sugar-cookies-recipe-1915008#reviewsTopWork/Time: These cookies took me a little less than an hour to make. Nothing overly challenging, but rolling out individual cookies with the dough can be time consuming. It is a good time to listen to music or a podcast to have some background noise while working. They cooked for 10 minutes, giving me just enough time to get another tray of cookies ready to be put in the oven. Dough Consistency: The soft dough was easily molded into small balls, but it was way too soft to be made into any other shape. This is not the classic Christmas cookie dough recipe. Cookie Consistency: Once the cookies were out of the oven they had grown a few inches and were very light and fluffy. While they were warm, they easily crumbled apart. When the cookies cooled off, they were very light and could be decorated without problems. Taste: The cookies were very sweet and savory. Each bite melted in my mouth and every flavor complemented the other without being overpowering. Recipe Comments: The recipe is very easy to read and explained how to do each step without over or under explaining. It calls for buttermilk, but instead of buying a half gallon and then having to make a mountain of buttermilk pancakes after only using 4 tablespoons for the recipe, you can sour some milk yourself. I used the called for 4 tablespoons but I used normal milk. I added 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and let it sit until the milk curdled just a bit. Don’t panic- that’s what’s supposed to happen and normal milk makes a good buttermilk substitute. Overall: These cookies are time consuming, but they taste delicious and are a great cookie to make for any season or special event. I plan on making these again soon. 4/5   Easy Sugar Cookies http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/eloises-easy-sugar-cookies-82945?ftab=tweaksWork/Time: These cookies took about 30 min to make. Most of the process was just mixing all of the ingredients, but once the dough was done, I had to roll it out on a floured surface. The recipe does not specify how thick to roll the dough, so the recommended cook time is off. Dough Consistency: The dough was very dry and crumbled all over the counter. When pushed together hard enough, it would keep its shape but there were not enough wet ingredients in the recipe to properly hold the dough together. When it was rolled out, the edges would crumble further, and any shape that was cut out of it had a high chance of falling apart if it was too thin. Cookie Consistency: These cookies were still dry when they were finished cooking. They were dense, crunchy, and soaked all of the moisture out of my mouth. They didn’t puff up or grow any in the oven like most cookies do; they only turned a little brown. They were very hard and could easily hold a lot of frosting while trying to decorate them. Taste: They were closer to biscuits than to actual cookies. The only prominent flavor of the cookie is the flour itself. They were lacking in any amount of sweetness. The only thing that could help them is by adding a lot of sugary frosting and that may not even save it. These could more easily be passed off as a cheep scone then a homemade sugar cookie. Recipe Comments: This recipe needs a lot more sugar and flavor added to it. Adding another cup of sugar and another teaspoon of vanilla could help balance out the overpowering taste of flour. It just needs something to give it real flavor and a wet ingredient to help bind the dough together for rolling it out. Overall: This recipe feels incomplete. It can be a starting place for sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and even chocolate chip cookies, but it should not be on its own. 2/5By Sarah Stanley