[kthull]

I have a sour cream sugar cookie recipe that I really love the taste and texture of. Slightly sweet, soft and almost cake-like. So my dilemma comes in when I use this recipe to make thicker cookies to bake on a stick. I roll them out to 3/8" thick (only slightly thicker than the 1/4" stated in the recipe), I lower the temp to 325 (vs. 375 for the thinner ones) and bake almost twice as long. Higher temps brown them but leave them undercooked in the middle.

When I do all that, the cookies bake up with the right texture, but they are raised in the middle, and I'd prefer a flatter cookie for decorating. The thinner version doesn't rise as much, though it is just slightly puffed in the middle. Any thoughts? One side note is that the dough is really sticky and tough to work with unless it's right out of the fridge, so I'm wondering if the dough should come fully to room temp once it's sheeted?

Also, I've not experimented too much with altering the leaveners, so if that's what I need for less lift, any suggestions on which to cut and by how much (they use both powder and soda).

Thanks! And here's the recipe:

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, soda and salt; beat well. Beat in sour cream, egg and lemon extract. Beat in flour. Divide in half, cover and chill 1-2 hours.

Roll out half the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut cookies into desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet, 1 inch apart.

Bake at 375 degrees for 6-7 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are light brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

 

[angrychef]

Kevin, seems to me the cookie is almost like the cookie used for black-and-whites. Soft and cakey, right? The leavening for such a cookie doesn't seem out of whack, but you can try playing with the baking powder if you think the cookie is too light and cut it down to 1/2 t. or 1/4 t. The reaction of the baking soda with the sourcream is approximately equal to the leavening of 1 tsp. b.p., so the extra baking powder in the recipe is for more lift. Another thing to consider would be try not to overmix the dough since they are to be rolled out and bake at 325 or 300F convection oven.

 

[kthull]

Thanks angry. I'll try reducing the baking powder like you suggested. And you're right about the cookies...soft and cakey. The kids just go nuts over them, even without the frosting!