These sugar cookie dippers can be decorated for any occasion and are so yummy dipped in coffee, milk or hot cocoa!
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There's nothing more festive than Cut-Out Sugar Cookies decked out for the holidays with frosting and sprinkles! And I love that sugar cookies can be customized for any and all holidays with different cookie cutter shapes and colors of sprinkles.
But when the weather outside is chilly, I love being able to dip a sugar cookie in milk or hot cocoa! These Cookie Dippers make it easy to do so!! They're simple to make (no cookie cutters needed) and would be perfect for an afternoon snack, dessert or on Santa's plate of cookies! And how cute would these be to go along with a cute mug and hot cocoa packet for teachers and friends?!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter – I always use salted butter. However, if you only have “unsalted” butter on hand, simply add ½ teaspoon salt when you add the vanilla.
- Sugar – For sugar cookies, I always use white granulated sugar. If you only have brown sugar on hand, you could certainly give it a try! (I’ve always thought they’d be delicious that way, but would have a darker appearance, would be a bit more soft and certainly aren’t the classic sugar cookie!)
- Egg – The egg helps bind all of these ingredients together; this is a must for a sturdy sugar cookie!
- Baking Powder – You’ll notice this recipe has a very small amount of baking powder, which is a leavening agent. If you add too much, the cookies will raise more and spread, which can ruin the clean cut look you’re going for. However, a very small amount will help give the cookies a little rise so they’re not too dense.
- All Purpose Flour – For many recipes, you can substitute self-rising flour with little other adjustments. However, for no-spread sugar cookies, you’ll want to use just all purpose flour.
- Sprinkles - Adding sprinkles to the cookie dough makes these dippers so fun and festive!! I find that jimmies work best as they don't bleed out into the dough and hold their shape.
- Frosting Ingredients and/or Almond Bark, if you plan to decorate the cookie dippers. I like using melted almond bark on these!! However, you can certainly use buttercream or the Wilton royal icing recipe (as it hardens and makes the cookies easy to store).
How to Make Sugar Cookie Dippers
- Make the dough – The dough is really simple to put together. You’ll combine the butter and sugar, then add the egg and extracts. Lastly, you’ll stir in the baking powder, flour and sprinkles.
- Refrigerate – Pat the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight.
- Roll out and cut the dough – Remove the disc from the fridge and roll out to ⅛-3/8 inch thick. Cut into "dippers" with a sharp knife and place on parchment-lined baking sheets or a silicon baking mat.
- Bake – Bake at 350F for 7-9 minutes, or until barely turning a golden brown. If you over-bake them, they will firm up and won’t be as soft as intended. The bake time will largely depend on the cookie size and thickness, so be sure to watch them carefully as they bake.
- Decorate – Now time to decorate! As I mentioned before, white almond bark and sprinkles are my preference for these dippers. You can use buttercream or a royal icing recipe, too!
How Do You Make Cookies That Don't Spread
These cookie dippers have a simple shape and look best if they don't spread much (though they'll be delicious either way)! Here are a few different tips on making sure they hold shape!
- You'll notice in this recipe that there's very little baking powder (leavening agent). We need a little bit so they're not too dense, but not so much that they'll spread.
- Don't skip the refrigeration time. If the dough is too soft, it'll be more likely to spread.
- Don't place the cookies on pans that are already hot. Use a pan that has had a chance to cool.
- Don’t work the dough too much. The more times you roll the dough out, the more “stretchy” the gluten in the flour gets, making the cookie more tough. Get as many cookies cut on that first roll-out, then roll out once or twice more if needed. (This doesn't necessarily help with the cookies spreading, but is an important note for optimal cookies!)
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Cookie Dippers
Ingredients
- ¾ c salted butter softened
- ¾ c sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract optional
- ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ¼ c flour
- ¼ c sprinkles jimmies work best
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well-combined.
- Stir in the egg, vanilla and almond extract.
- Add the baking powder, flour and sprinkles and stir until combined.
- Scoop the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disc and wrap up tightly; refrigerate for 1+ hours or overnight.
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and roll out on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛ - ⅜" thick.
- Cut into "dippers" about 1 inch wide and 4 inches long and place on a parchment-lined (or silicone baking mat-lined) cookie sheet.
- Bake one pan at a time for 7-9 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to turn a golden brown.
- Let cool on a cooling rack.
- Decorate as desired.
Carlee says
These are so cute and festive! If LD wasn't such a big fan of decorating cookies I would totally do these instead of shapes this year.