Basic Sugar Cookies - Tried and True Since 1960

This is my backwoods Mississippi grandmother's own customized sugar cookie dough recipe. Royal icing is recommended, but these are also wonderful without icing. Very light and buttery. My mom stuck with it, and we grew up eating the raw cookie dough before snacking on the cookies at holidays. This will always be my basic cookie dough recipe. It's very quick and easy to make a batch of this dough and to customize. These are common ingredients easily found in most sparsely-stocked kitchens. You don't have to be a master chef to get a batch of these cookies to turn out well.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Calories: 81 Calories

Ingredients

• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar, or more to taste
• 1 cup butter at room temperature

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).

Step 2

Mix self-rising flour, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt thoroughly in a bowl; beat at least 5 minutes. Refrigerate dough at least 2 hours to overnight.

Step 3

Roll dough out on a floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin; cut cookies out with cutters. Place cookies onto baking sheets.

Step 4

Bake in the preheated oven until cookie bottoms are lightly golden brown, about 15 minutes.