Tender Crisp Sugar Cookies

As I write this I am only this recipe's 12th reviewer, which I can only guess is because it has an average rating of a mere 3-1/2 stars. I'm hoping to boost that, as this recipe is simply underrated. I disagree with the few reviewers who found these "tasteless" and/or "cake-like" and if they had to be thrown out I respectfully suggest the baker must have done something wrong. There are a few types of sugar cookies - chewy, soft, firm, light, crispy, tender - and the list goes on. These are light as air, tender and crispy, which cream of tartar always seems to contribute. The flavor is subtle, perfect for embellishing with frosting, decorating sugars, chocolate glazes, cherries, rolling in cinnamon-sugar or whatever else you fancy. Just as good plain, too, when you don't want something overwhelmingly sweet. This was a nice dough to work with, easy to mix up, and I had them in and out of the oven in just minutes. I decorated them for Christmas by rolling them in green and red decorator sugars before flattening them slightly. There is everything to like about this cookie!

I love sugar cookies and these are the best sugar cookies I have ever made. And No cookie cutters necessary!! You can't go wrong with this recipe.

I am on a quest to find the best sugar cookie recipe. Sadly, this was not what I was looking for. If you like cakey sugar cookies, you might like these. They taste about like the sugar cookies you can buy from Walmart with the frosting on them.

Wow, I couldn’t believe it when I found this recipe. It is almost the exact recipe my mom has made ever since I can remember (her recipe adds 1 tsp more salt). She told me her best friend gave her the recipe 45 years ago. Her recipe even has the same name, Tender Crisp Sugar Cookies. Depending upon how you bake these they turn out differently. I have rolled them out thick with a short cooking time and they turn out very soft and stay soft and are great with icing. I have just used them as a drop cookie, or my mom likes to roll them out thin to make them crispy and then frost or sugar them. My husband likes them when I roll them into balls then press them slightly with a glass and when they are fresh out of the oven I sprinkle them with sugar. I like them with chocolate icing. My crazy son likes them best when I make them with less flour (he calls them sugar cookies made wrong because I accidently left out TWO cups of flour once) they really spread when baking, but turned out chewy and good. This is an all time favorite that can be eaten plain, sugared or iced, dropped, rolled out or rolled into a ball. Love them.

I was about to submit this recipe when I realized it was already here! I changed the scaling/serving amount to 20 though and use 1 cup butter and no shortening. These are the cookies my Grandma used to make. They are fabulous! The only difference in my recipe is "chilling for two hours or overnight and flattening with a glass dipped in powdered sugar before baking." Can't believe anyone wouldn't love these cookies! My entire family does!

I made thesefor my son's 1st grade Valentine's party this past week. This worked just fine. I dipped the cookies in red sugar crystals and 22 first graders, 2 teachers, my 4-year old, and my husband wolfed them down and asked for more. For others who tried the recipe and were disappointed in the taste, I wonder if perhaps they are used to rolled, soft/chewy sugar cookies, or those made with lemon extract. As for the comment that they "taste about like the sugar cookies you can buy from Walmart with the frosting on them," I would have to disagree. This is a basic sugar cookie recipe that tastes great with coffee, cocoa, etc. The only trouble I had was with the dough being a bit soft, but I'm sure that was my fault because I was mixing too vigorously and lost a bit of the flour mixture at one point. I just sprinkled a bit of flour over the mixture, worked it in, and it was fine. Still too soft? Refrigerate for 10 minutes for a more cohesive dough that is still easily shaped. I'll use this recipe again.

Best crsipy style sugar cookie around! Don't need any frosting. Makes a huge batch and freezes well.

I made these cookies at Christmas time.They came out very crisp and had an excellent taste. I cant believe they wouldve gotten any bad reviews. They are similar to a recipe I had years ago and lost from my ex mother in law. I was so thankful to get it again!! These will definitely be made again, especially at Christmas.

I made over 100 of these for my husband's school fundraiser. It was difficult to tell when they were cooked through-the first batch was a little under-done. It took about 17 minutes a batch to get them baked just right. These were not quite as sweet as I hoped they would be, but I'm sure the frosting the students added made up for it.

These cookies were very good for cutting

This recipe has the exact same proportions as "No Roll" & almost identical to "Sugar Cookies V". SCV has a little less flour. Sum it up? If you tried one, you've tried them all. Not a bad cookie, but not a great choice for cutouts. I liked "sugar cookies with buttercream frosting" better.

This a really great sugar cookie, they are rich and crispy and are much lighter than the rolled sugar cookies.

These make a ton of cookies, so be prepared to be baking for a while! I think they are great. I used them to make spiral snowman cookies (you basically roll the dough then roll into a spiral and decorate for snowman) that I plan to finish decorating with a friend and her 3 1/2 yr old daughter. for those, they are a bit crumbly, but as long as they are cold and you roll them well, these cookies work easily enough. They don't have a ton of flavor, true, but they're sugar cookies, which are generally decorated with frosting or sugar or whatever, and I think they are perfect for that. They aren't very sweet at all, so you can go to town wtih decorating, so that's great! They rise well and bake out so allow for some room on the cookie sheet. They are great for what I wanted. Thanks for the recipe!

Easy and tasty.

They are good! I just didn't find any crispness to them - I want to play around with this recipe to see if the size of the cookie had anything to do with the heftiness! These babies were thicker and heavier than I thought they'd be, even with proper creaming, etc. I did use my larger cookie scoop. --Regardless, they are good and a hit with everyone I've shared with. Plain, or even more fantastic with yummy chocolate frosting... Mine looked exactly like the one photo that currently exist for this recipe, just thicker.

Great recipe, made exactly as suggested. I really hate rolling out cookies, so this recipe was for ME! The delicious taste of sugar cookies without the rolling. :) I made them smaller than usual size, and used red and white frosting. They turned out very nice looking and I think they'll make a nice (tasty!) addition to my holiday cookie trays without the fuss of rolling and cutting.

I was a little disappointed in this recipe, only b/c I am on a mission to find a sugar cookie recipe similar to the ones you can find at the store with the colored icing on top. However, if you like a shortbread/sugar cookie...this is the recipe for you!...It was nice a crisp, just like the shortbread cookies you can buy!...:)

I do cutouts with this recipe. Very light and slightly crisp- everyone loves them. I use butter flavored shortening, though. I think that that adds to the flavor. Grrreat recipe. Thanx!!

I tried this recipe and it didn't have any taste. I threw them away.

VERY bland, definitely not one member of my family liked this sugar cookie recipe. Dough wouldn't stay together very well either.

I love these they're so fun, and they taste great. Thank you so much for posting.

I tried these for the first time, very easy to make. Since oven temps vary I tried baking at, 10, 12 and 13 minutes, I would say best baking time is 11 to 12 minutes. The flavor was excellent, however the cookie seemed a little dry to me, but hey it was my first attempt. Made some plane and the others with various sprinkles. Can't say these are my favorite but will certainly try making them again.

I tried these for the first time, very easy to make. Since oven temps vary I tried baking at, 10, 12 and 13 minutes, I would say best baking time is 11 to 12 minutes. The flavor was excellent, however the cookie seemed a little dry to me, but hey it was my first attempt. Made some plane and the others with various sprinkles. Can't say these are my favorite but will certainly try making them again.

wonderful recipe , tender with just enough crisp , they didn't last long!

Excellent easy recipe, my family loved them. Thank you

very good like the fact that these are Drop cookie as I just love sugar cookies and will make year around drop cookie are much faster and easy with lot less work I have arthritis bad in hands so this was easy for me I also rolled mine in sugar before baked makes them more yummie