Danish Sugar Cookies

Whether these cookies really are Danish in origin is a matter of debate, but casting that aside, these light, buttery and supremely flaky cookies are sure to please. If you're on a diet, please stay away from these because they use both butter and shortening. Yes, I said shortening! However, the shortening helps to make these cookies so very light and flaky, and the butter helps to give flavor. Do make sure to sift your dry ingredients very well, because that will affect the overall texture of the cookies (flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and confectioners sugar tend to be very lumpy). As a note, this particular recipe is yet another old one - it comes from the 1967 edition of the Electric Company cookie book.

Danish Sugar Cookies

2 cups flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1 cup confectioners sugar

½ cup cold butter (MUST be cold!)

½ cup vegetable shortening

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Granulated sugar, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs and the butter is no bigger than the size of peas (sorry, you cannot make this dough in a stand mixer).

Stir in the egg and vanilla; the dough will be fairly soft.

Using a small cookie scoop or a spoon, shape the dough into 1" balls; roll them in granulated sugar and place 2" apart on lightly greased cookie sheets (these will spread quite a bit). Flatten to ½" thickness with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until delicately browned (make sure your oven temperature is accurate or you can easily scorch these).

Remove the cookies to racks and let them cool completely before carefully storing in a cookie tin or an airtight container. Be warned - they are extremely delicate and will break easily!

Makes about 3 dozen