Coffee with the Chicken Ladies

These Easy Drop Sugar Cookies are quick and easy to make and also delicious. They’re perfect when you want the sparkle and crunch of a sugar cookie but you don’t want the hassle of rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. You drop this dough on your prepared cookie sheets, flatten them a bit with a glass dipped in sugar, then pop them into the oven for a quick bake.

This recipe calls for grated lemon peel but you can also vary the type of citrus that you use. Orange, or lime, or even a mix of grated peel will work. This recipe is also a bit unusual because you’ll use oil instead of butter. It produces a cookie that is soft inside but crunchy around the edges. As always, we include substitutions for gluten and dairy free versions.

We talk through making these cookies in Episode 213 of our podcast. If you enjoy these Easy Drop Sugar Cookies, you may also want to try our recipes for Chocolate Snickerdoodles and Cranberry White Chocolate Chip cookies.

Easy Drop Sugar Cookies

These cookies are so easy to make, but they taste like they were a lot of work! Using oil instead of butter makes them soft inside and crunchy around the edges. They are the perfect quick holiday cookies, and you can easily make them gluten and dairy free. You can use any size glass to press the cookies, just make sure you butter or grease the bottom of the glass and dip it into sugar for each cookie. Add more sugar to the tops of the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. We used demerara sugar for sparkle, but feel free to go crazy with red and green sugars if that's what makes you happy!

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Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 eggs room temperature
• ⅔ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind or other citrus rind or 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour or GF 1-1 flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• coarse sanding sugar or other cookie decorations

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and lemon rind. Stir in the sugar. Add the flour mixture and stir until well combined.
4. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto baking sheets. Flatten each cookie a bit with the bottom of a glass that has been greased and dipped in sugar. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle coarse sugar or more granulated sugar on top of the cookies. Allow to cool fully before serving or storing.