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By Lina | Recipe/DIY Content Creator
Dec 18, 2020 @ 2:05 PM MST
Super Soft Sugar Cookies
yield: 12 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 10 MINUTES
total time: 20 MINUTES
Ingredients
- 2 cups shortening
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 and 1/3 cup cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- sugar, for decorating
Directions
1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2
Using an electric mixer, cream together both types of sugar and the shortening.
3
Add in beaten egg and vanilla extract. Mix for a couple of minutes until smooth.
4
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5
Slowly stir together wet and dry ingredients. Don’t over mix.
6
Drop spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet. Press down a little to flatten.
7
Bake at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. Cookies are done when cracked a little around the edges, but not yet brown.
8
Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack, and top with granulated sugar or sprinkles.
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Love sugar cookies?
If you’ll be doing some baking this holiday season, consider making these super soft, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies. This simple and straightforward recipe uses cake flour and shortening for a thick, soft, bakery-style sugar cookie, just like you’d find at Paradise Bakery, a popular chain of café-restaurants owned by Panera Bread.
Hip tips for making these copycat Paradise Bakery sugar cookies:
- This recipe calls for shortening, which gives the cookies their thick, satisfying texture. You can choose to substitute butter for shortening if you prefer, but you may find that your cookies come out flatter and not quite as soft. As a compromise, you could try using half butter and half shortening, or even a butter-flavored shortening, which would give you all the benefits of shortening with the flavor of butter!
- Don’t have any cake flour on hand? Try using this easy workaround: For every 1 cup of cake flour needed, add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to the bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup, then fill the cup to the top with all-purpose flour and level.
- To get cookies that have a soft, cake-like texture, be sure not to overmix when combining your wet and dry ingredients. Doing so can cause your cookies to come out “tough.” When it’s time to combine your wet and dry ingredients, gently stir them together just until they’re mixed.
Super Soft Sugar Cookies
yield: 12 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 10 MINUTES
total time: 20 MINUTES
Make these delicious copycat Paradise Bakery Sugar Cookies, perfect for any small dessert bite or holiday cookie batch!
Ingredients
- 2 cups shortening
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 and 1/3 cup cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- sugar, for decorating
Directions
1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2
Using an electric mixer, cream together both types of sugar and the shortening.
3
Add in beaten egg and vanilla extract. Mix for a couple of minutes until smooth.
4
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5
Slowly stir together wet and dry ingredients. Don’t over mix.
6
Drop spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet. Press down a little to flatten.
7
Bake at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. Cookies are done when cracked a little around the edges, but not yet brown.
8
Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack, and top with granulated sugar or sprinkles.
Additional Notes
*This batch made 22 larger cookies, so the number of cookies will vary based on how big you decide to scoop them. Original recipe found at azcentral.com.
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My family loves these Paradise Bakery copycat cookies… and FYI – Santa does, too! 🎅
These happen to be the cookies we make at the holidays and they’re pretty much my favorite cookie EVER! They’re super versatile and can be adapted for any holiday or occasion depending on how you choose to decorate them.
To make them more festive, you could add red and green sprinkles to the top, frosting, crushed candy canes, or cinnamon & sugar for more of a Snicker Doodle taste. You can even add other yummy add-ins like mini M&Ms. YUM!
Don’t have the patience for rolled dough and cookie cutters this year? Try this fun cookie press instead!
About the writer:
Lina has a Bachelor's Degree from Northern Arizona University with 11 years of blogging and photography experience having work featured in Today.com, Martha Stewart, Country Living, Fox News, Buzzfeed, and HGTV.
