My Mom’s Unconventional 50-Year-Old Trick for Making “the Best Sugar Cookies You’ll Ever Taste”

The holiday season is synonymous with baking season — specifically, cookie baking. I can’t help but try out a few new recipes in the hopes of finding a new forever cookie. Still, the butter-stained recipe cards for powdered sugar-dusted Italian pizzelle, holiday wreath-shaped spritz cookies, and the ever-classic peanut butter blossoms are cookies that I return to year after year. My mom’s recipe for cut-out sugar cookies is the pièce de résistance of the Christmas cookie platter, and it’s all thanks to her secret ingredient.   

The first stop on my mom’s career path was as a home economics teacher in the 1970s. It was for those classes that she developed recipes for cheddar swirl bread and cut-out sugar cookies. Her cookie recipe was as easy to make as it was forgiving — it had to be to make it through the organized chaos of a classroom. What made it a family classic was her secret ingredient: orange juice.

The basic flavor of sugar cookies can be underwhelming, so it is no wonder that the decorative icing gets all of the attention. Most sugar cookie recipes rely on vanilla extract alone for flavor, but my mom adds orange juice for extra flavor. The sugar cookies are still vanilla-flavored, but the orange juice adds a hint of floral fruit flavor that makes them extra-special. 

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Mix softened unsalted butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. 
2. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and orange juice. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, waiting until one egg is completely incorporated before adding the next. Mix in vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of orange juice. 
3. Mix in the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing just until it is incorporated and a soft dough forms. 
4. Roll the dough out and chill. I learned from Senior Recipe Editor, Christine Gallary, that the easiest way to make cut-out sugar cookies is to roll the dough out between sheets of parchment paper before refrigerating the dough. Chill the dough until firm.
5. Cut out and bake. Use festive cookie cutters to cut out individual cookies and bake until set and golden-brown around the edges. 
6. Ice the cookies. While these cookies don’t need the icing for flavor, it does give them a festive touch. If you love the orange flavor in the cookies and want to extend that to the icing, you can substitute a splash of orange juice for the milk in your icing recipe too!