Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies
Old fashioned sour cream cookies are soft, chewy drop cookies with a hint of tang and a smooth layer of frosting. They're easy to make and perfect for any occasion, from holidays to casual gatherings.
Equipment
- 1 Stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
Cookie ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract
- 1 egg
- ½ cup sour cream
Frosting Ingredients
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 1 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- food coloring optional
Instructions
Making the cookies
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a small bowl. Stir well and set aside.
- Add the shortening to a mixing bowl and mix on medium until no lumps remain.
- Slowly add the white sugar to the mixing bowl and mix on medium until the shortening and sugar are creamed.
- Add the extract and the egg to the mixing bowl and mix on medium until the egg is incorporated.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream to the mixing bowl and mix on medium until fully incorporated.
- Chill for a minimum of two hours up to overnight. The dough is very soft and sticky. Chilling also makes the dough easier to work with.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Use the smallest, one tablespoon cookie scoop and drop the dough on to the lined baking sheet. 20 cookies evenly spaced per baking sheet is perfect. A cookie scoop is great for making uniform sized cookies, but you can also drop one tablespoon of dough from the tablespoon itself as well.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Check at 11 minutes. The bottoms will be golden brown but the tops will be just staring to lightly brown.
- Allow the cookies to fully cool before frosting.
Making the frosting
- Melt the milk and salted butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted, add in any extract and food coloring and stir. Stir until the food coloring has completely dissolved and incorporated.
- Turn the heat to low. Add the powdered sugar about one cup at a time and stir until melted. [The frosting can be made thicker by adding more powdered sugar. Add only ¼ cup more powdered sugar at a time and then stir. The frosting thickens quickly. If you made it too thick and want a thinner frosting, you can add more milk but only add one tablespoon of additional milk at a time.]
- Once the frosting has melted and is spreadable, turn the heat off. You can remove the pan from the stove, but leave the frosting in the saucepan.
- Add the frosting to cookies with an icing spatula, regular spatula, knife or spoon. As you go, you'll want to stir the frosting in the saucepan frequently to keep it from hardening. If the frosting in the saucepan hardens too much, place it back on the stove on low until the frosting is spreadable again.
- The frosting hardens on the cookies very quickly. If using sprinkles, it's best to add the sprinkles to each cookie as each cookie is frosted.
- Once the frosting has fully hardened, the cookies may be served immediately or stacked and placed in an airtight container.
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