Sugar Cookies, The Old Fashioned Way

I love cookies. I love baking them, eating them, and letting their wonderful scents fill my kitchen. Baking cookies is therapeutic for me; I love watching the dough come together, rolling them in even little balls and watching them creepily through the oven as they spread and puff up just slightly.

Today I had a random craving for sugar cookies. However, the only flour I had on hand was sprouted spelt. Since I hardly ever use white flour but didn't want to make sugar cookies with a denser flour, I did what any sane person would do: take the bus to Whole Foods to buy white spelt flour. And a pretzel bun, but that's another story. Back to the cookies.

I put on my favorite apron and got to work.





And made...


Old fashioned sugar cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups white spelt flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
- 1 flax egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk

Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, set aside.
- Combine melted butter with remaining wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients slowly to the flour and mix.
- Roll dough into even balls (I used a 2 tbsp measure) and place on silpat or a baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to press the cookie balls down, dipping in flour if necessary. Sprinkle with a touch of sugar.
- Bake for 9 minutes. Cookies should just start to turn golden on the edges, but retain a pale color. You want these soft and pillow-like, not brown! Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Makes 2 dozen




These are crispy and buttery on the edges but so soft and delicate on the inside that they nearly melted in my mouth. They're not like the cut-out sugar cookies that are topped with royal icing (which I dislike); they taste just like the sugar cookies I remember growing up, which in my opinion makes for the ultimate comfort cookie.