Virtual Cookie Exchange: Chewy Sugar Cookies

It's funny that the minute you say you bake for fun, people draw back. They ooh and aah and flat out refuse to bake anything for you from then on out. Or if they do, it's with all sorts of apologies - I know it's not as good as you can make or some nonsense like that. Bah. It makes doing things like cookie exchanges difficult. Not that it isn't difficult already for me, since most of the grad students in my department hightailed it home after finals were finished or projects were turned in. Not so many people here in the area still who would do a cookie exchange with me. (That's probably a good thing, as I really don't need more cookies in my life...)


But the thought behind it stays, even if you're doing a virtual cookie exchange. These events can be approached in a few ways: you bake a cookie with family history, you bake a cookie with mass appeal, or you bake a cookie that's a bit off-the-wall as a way to stretch your friends' palates and brains when it comes to Christmas cookies. Any way you look at it though, you're baking for them, no one else. So when Di invited a big group of us to take part in a holiday cookie recipe exchange, I was thrilled but didn't know what angle I wanted to take. I've already shared my thimble cookies, and there are so many "weird" cookie recipes that I've made thanks to TWD... So I had to go with a cookie that had mass appeal. Chewy sugar cookies.


You see, the only masses I'll be baking for during the next few weeks are, well, J. And he patiently puts up with my more random baking adventures with strange ingredient combinations. He overlooks my chocolate + mint hatred despite loving the combo in anything possible. But when I mentioned making sugar cookies using the recipe from my mom's neighbor growing up, he got a bit of a pained expression on his face. You see, he likes chewy cookies. Not cakey, not crisp, chewy. And I can handle that when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, molasses cookies, ginger cookies and peanut butter cookies, but sugar cookies? For me, sugar cookies are for cakiness and slathering on of good ol' American buttercream frosting. I hemmed and hawed.


But in the end, chewy it was. Because this is a cookie exchange, and it's the holidays, damnit. Which means thinking of others and all of that tinsel-lined and ornament-bedecked goodness. It means baking what he wants rather than what I want. Which, in the end, means I get to see him grin goofily after his first bite into one - game, set, match. This baking for others thing? I could totally get behind it.

Di will have a roundup of all the sugared craziness by the end of the week - I'll try to remember to post a link to it here so that all of you can hunt for new Christmas cookie favorites!

Chewy Sugar Cookies
from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups flour
additional 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for coating

Preheat the oven to 375*F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Beat the butter until it is soft and homogeneous (no cooler lumps, it should appear smooth). Add the sugars, corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat until thoroughly combined before adding the egg. Stir in the flour - it will be quite stiff and difficult to get all of the flour into the sugar mixture, but just take your time. It'll get there.

Place the 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Using a teaspoon cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough and roll into balls. Drop each into the sugar, rolling around until they are fully coated. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least two inches between each one.

Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes (I baked mine for 7). They will have just the slightest hint of browning at the edges and will still be quite puffed and rounded - don't worry, they'll fall flat when they get out of the oven and cool a bit. Transfer them to a cooling rack immediately, but be careful since they will be a bit fragile.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies