The Best Sugar Cookies for Coffee Breaks (and any occasion really)

[andrastia]

Hello all my caffeine brothers and sisters!

I'm so glad to be here in this community, can't believe I didn't find you sooner considering I'm quite in love with coffee. We've been having this crazy love affair for about 2 decades. We're exceptionally loyal to each other and I've only really been adding Decaf to our relationship recently for health reasons. I wake up greeting Coffee with a smile every morning!

I jest of course, lol.
But in all seriousness ...

What goes really well with coffee at any time of the day?

Biscuits!!

I've been messing around with baking and finding the best recipes for the last 6 to 7 years. There have been a few recipes that I've kept for the long haul, they just seem to be (almost) flop proof and are super tasty.

Unfortunately this recipe does not cater for any dietary requirements. I'll try some in the future that are healthier alternatives and when I find one that sticks, I'll let you all know.
I've included a section at the end about biscuits as gifts too - because, well who in their right mind doesn't enjoy receiving home baked biscuits right?

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients & Instructions:

1 cup softened butter (or margarine depending on your preference)
1 cup castor sugar
Cream these two together in a stand mixer or with an electric hand beater.

Put your oven on to 180*C to preheat

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ~ the good stuff)
0.5 (half) teaspoon caramel essence
1 large egg
Add these to the creamed sugar butter mixture and beat until well combined.

3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 (half) teaspoon salt
Sift these together into the well combined mixture (by hand), a bit at a time and then once all incorporated, switch mixer to bread kneading paddle and mix.

Roll out the mixture onto a LIGHTLY floured surface or covered with clingfilm to 6-7mm thick and use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out the shapes you desire. This mixture is really excellent at holding it's shape through the cooking process and I have never needed to chill the dough before hand which saves time.

I put foil or baking paper over my baking sheets instead of using spray and cook or grease or anything like that - it makes sure that the cookies come off the surface easily and the foil/baking paper can be re-used until the entire batch is cooked, then torn off and discarded.

Arrange your biscuits with some space in between them on the baking sheets and bake in the center of your oven for between 8 and 9 minutes. Obviously this is an estimate which I've worked out works well for me, but you'll have to watch your first batch of biscuits and once they start going golden brown, they're done. You don't want to overcook them or they might become too crisp once cooled. Arrange them onto a cooling rack (not a flat surface or the bottoms may get soggy from condensation).

If you would like to make them super pretty, drizzle some molten chocolate ontop in different directions, add sprinkles like hundreds & thousands or vermicilli, add edible glitter in different colours and you've got biscuits fit to sell at a bakery! Dipping these in your coffee is just SO GOOD!

Your biscuits can be frozen for up to 1 month so if you're making these as Christmas gifts and want to start early, then you can start baking up to 3 weeks before hand and simply re-bake them for a slight bit to remove any moisture from the freezing process. Obviously if you want to freeze them, the have to be without any sort of embellishments or frosting - you'd have to do that closer to the occasion.

If you enjoyed this and you're keen to try some of my other recipes, I have a brilliant one for home made biscotti which you can jazz up to your liking. These are biscotti bundles I made for Christmas gifts a few years back. The varieties I made were:

Cranberry & Almond
White Chocolate & Macadamia
Milk Chocolate & Pistachio

Cheers,
Your fellow coffee junkie - Ranger Andy :)

^{Image source}

^{All images are my own unless otherwise stated}

_{^{Calvin & Hobbes - Bill Watterson}}

Comments

[galenkp]

What a great post. You had me at biscuits really. 😊

[andrastia]

Lol Galen these aren't good for you, especially seeing as they are Sugar Biscuits! I'll find you a better recipe that is diabetic friendly 😁

[galenkp]

You're probably right, and I appreciate that you remembered. I hope there's a substitute...But please pass over the broccoli biscuits or lettuce biscuits... Whilst I don't mind either, having it in biscuit-form isn't legit.

[litguru]

Decadent and delicious!

[andrastia]

Why thank you @litguru, much appreciated :)

Have a great day.

[jacey.boldart]

I love everything about cookies, the process, especially for cut-outs. I love the way they display on a nice plate.... and of course, eating them !

I enjoyed your post !

[andrastia]

Thanks so much @jacey.boldart I completely agree, they are good fun from start to finish (but the eating part is by far my favourite lol).

Have a lovely day Jacey

🍪

[macchiata]

love the cookies! and I am also in decaf gang because health reasons. Though occasionally, I take non-decaf :D it's worth the pain sometimes.

[andrastia]

Hey @macchiata so nice to hear from you again.

Thanks for the comment and reading the post, yes decaf sucks but I also sneak in the real stuff sometimes (don't tell people 😆). Hope you try the biscuit recipe.

Have a great day

Cheers
Andy

[macchiata]

haha I promise I won't tell people 😄 I will try your recipe soon when I get back home. I also love making cookies and at home, me and my mom have our own home bakery business.

[andrastia]

Oh that's so wonderful, I am sure that you have brilliant recipes. I wanted to have a home bakery business a few years back but it never materialised.

Hope to see some of your baking creations here soon too 🍪☕🍩🍵🍰🍶🥧

[cinnccf]

Hello @andrastia

We're Looking forward to seeing you soon;-)
Have a great day!

[andrastia]

Oh wow, that's awesome, thank you so much Cinnamon Cup Coffee, what an honour!
I'm here to stay guys, it's such a lovely community, very glad to have found you.

Have a superb day all you caffeine peeps :)

Cheers
Andy

[cinnccf]

You're most welcome!
It's great having you onboard🤗
We look forward to reading your stories!
Have a fantastic day;)

[nikkabomb]

Wow! Those cookies look so delicious! I am craving for it huhu I wish I can just order it online but we are miles away hehe. I dropped by here after seeing your post in the curation report of 3C’s. More powers. 🥰

[andrastia]

Thanks Nikka

They are good cookies, but they're so easy to make and so forgiving a recipe, so I'm hoping people will give them a try.

Have a great weekend with excellent coffee

Cheers
Andy

[viviehardika]

Biscuits and Coffee was great combination I thought!

[andrastia]

Thanks @viviehardika

I agree, it is a winner!
Thanks for dropping in and writing, I hope you have a lovely day

Ciao
Andy

[viviehardika]

You too...

[millycf1976]

Hello @andrastia 😁

What a delightful post!
Captivating biscuits made with so much love.
I do have a collection of special recipes too. I'm yet to revisit the ones I've kept in storage here in the UK while I was away.
That's an incredible idea for biscuits, and I'm a visual person, and practice mindful eating (applying all senses), so I appreciate the shapes. My husband would enjoy the chocolate drizzled ones, but I'd make some plain ones for myself ;-)
You're onto something amazing here. You ought to package and sell them at Christmas; I think companies would support you as departmental gifts.
I see all my fav ingredients popping out at me: cranberry, and nuts. I love nuts, and pistachio and macadamia are high on my list.
Thanks for stopping by to share this awesome treat with us.
Please drop by anytime🤗
Enjoy the rest of the weekend;-)

[andrastia]

Hi there @millycf1976

Thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed that, please do make the biscuits, you won't be disappointed.

Ooh yes share your recipes with me please, I need to add more to the ones I have. Variety is the spice of life they say, so the more the merrier when it comes to confectionaries!

The nut biscotti is pretty amazing if I say so myself - they really do go down well as gifts. Maybe I should find some markets to sell these at, it may work well like you say with the lead up to the festive season.

Have a lovely day and we'll catch up again soon with a cuppa :)

Ciao
Andy

[millycf1976]

Hey Andrastia, sorry for my late reply.
I love collecting cooking recipes, but I've never tried baking biscuits (I'm not that talented 😁). You've given me a great idea though.
I have a thing for muffins, as I love having muffins with my coffee. I guess I could look into trying something new, and these biscuits would be great to share with other boaters, as I live on a narrowboat and constantly meeting lovely new neighbours.
Yes, we must catch up with a cuppa;-)

Have a nice weekend!

[andrastia]

Hi Milly

Thanks so much for the message. Yes, that sounds like a great idea, those biscuits freeze very well so if you want to give them out as gifts, you can always have a "stash" that you just defrost from and then gift them accordingly. I must say I admire your lifestyle with your hubby on your narrowboat, I am sure that there are challenges, but what a freaking adventure!

To you too, I hope it's a weekend filled with goodness

Ciao

Andy

[millycf1976]

Hi Andrastia, I never would have thought the cookies would be good for freezing. That's so useful to know.
That's awesome, as you could always have them for unexpected visitors too:-)

Yes, it's amazing on the narrowboat, and something we don't see ourselves wanting to give up anytime soon. I think challenges and boat go hand-in-hand, so we see them as part of the adventure.
Everything else outweighs the cons.

One thing on my bucket list is to visit a Safari, as I have a great fondness of big cats. I'd love to see them in the wild. To be honest, before HIVE, I used to wake up to watching wild cats on Instagram, because I went through a period where I connected with animals more than humans 😁 and they were good for my soul!

[andrastia]

Oh I can definitely understand that the experiences and adventure outweigh the hard parts of living on a boat, I am not a huge fan of water, I think my equivalent would be living in a remote cabin in the middle of a forest somewhere - in the middle of nowhere...that's kinda my ultimate daydream (I probably daydream about this way to much lol)

You would absolutely love to come to South Africa if big cats are your animals. I totally understand relating more to animals than people, I think animals are sometimes more humane than people are!

[millycf1976]

I think animals are sometimes more humane than people are!

You couldn't have said that better😂

They are amazing. So much love, so much care.

Funny enough water is not my thing, although I'm a water sign, but I love rivers (my fav body of water). The sea is a different matter. I could sit and look at the sea all day long as it takes my mind to different places. It feel a strong feeling of gratitude when I'm next to the sea, because it reminds me that I'm just a small dot in the vast universe.
I survived 7 years living in the Philippines, and the sea was what kept me alive. I was lucky to wake up every morning overlooking endless sea. Going in the water, I'm never keen. I hate the deep blue, also the shallow. I got comfortable in the pool there for aqua aerobics, but that was about it.

A remote cabin in the forest is definitely up my street. I love tree houses too. Campervans are not for me. Traffic is stressful, and too much road rage in the UK🤣