Mrs. Fosse's Sugar Cookies

There are two recipes for Sugar Cookies in Gram's collection and I remember her making both of them.  Even as a kid with not so discerning tastes I could differentiate the two - one was delicate, had a fine crumb and was paler in color.  The other was a bit more rustic and coarse, it was yellower and browned more on the edges and bottoms.   I didn't have a favorite, I liked them both equally.

I chose to make this one first for sentimental reasons - it was a recipe Gram got from my Great Grandmother on the other side of the family - Ethel Newton Smith Fosse - my Mom's Grandmother.  The two sides of our family often spent holidays and special occasions together.  These occasions resulted in joint efforts in cooking and baking which in turn resulted in some recipe exchanges.  Gram liked this one so much she put it into her regular cookie rotation.  I'll be posting a couple more of these "cross-family" recipes in the future.

This recipe requires cutting the fat into dry ingredients

The preparation of this cookie calls for a step that I don't think I've ever used in cookie baking before - cutting together the fat and dry ingredients like you would when making a pie crust.  I'm sure the texture of the crumb is a direct result of this technique.  The recipe calls for lemon extract which gives the cookies a delicious hint of citrus.  If you really like that flavor adding some fresh lemon zest would make a nice addition.  Regarding fat for this recipe, it calls for 1 cup of margarine, but when the ingredients are so limited in a cookie such as this I really prefer a bit of rich buttery flavor so I made them with 1/2 cup butter and a 1/2 cup margarine.  I opted for a 50/50 split so as to keep some moisture and prevent them from being too rich.

Cream of Tartar is commonly used in Sugar Cookie recipes, but what is it?  I vaguely remembered from Home Ec., Science, Nutrition, and some Culinary classes that it was a stabilizer, often used when beating egg whites for things like meringue to help keep the egg whites nice and firm.   I also know that it is a component of baking powder, so I thought perhaps it has a leavening property.  I have assumed that this leavening effect is why it is called for in Sugar Cookies.

Upon a quick Google search, I got some claification here: Cream of Tartar is sometimes used " . . . with recipes containing baking soda.  Baking soda is a leavening agent that needs an acid to activate it.  (I'm sure just about everyone has had experience with the "volcano" projects in school that have an eruption caused by a combination of baking soda and vinegar.)  It's often used in recipes that involve creaming butter and sugar together, because this process creates tiny air bubbles in the mixture that can be expanded by the addition of baking soda and an acid.  Baking powder is basically baking soda with acids already added, but some recipes call for baking soda and cream of tarter rather than baking powder, because the baking powder generally has an additional acid that activates further leavening when the batter or dough is heated in the oven.  (Most baking powders are labeled "double-action" or something similar that indicates the presence of the two different acids.  "Single-action" baking powder would just be a combination of baking soda and cream of tartar.)"

I further found that Cream of Tartar's scientific name is potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, has formula KC₄H₅O₆, is a byproduct of winemaking. It is the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid, a carboxylic acid.  Here is a link to some more interesting information about Cream of Tartar.  There is your chemistry lesson for the day!  

While I'm a bit of a purist in that if you put a plate of sugar cookies that have both plain sugar and colored sugar on them, I'd choose the plain ones.  My husband on the other hand likes the colorful ones.  I have a dearth of colored sugars in my pantry and I thought I may as well use them so I did a bit of both.  I found that the coarser sanding sugars are harder to work with, and required that you partially flatten the cookie first, then sprinkle the colored sugar on the flattened cookie, then press the cookie again to adhere the sugar.  

R - flattened to 1/8 inch, L - flattened to 3/8 inch.

Speaking of flattening the cookies, I found that how much you flatten them varies the results quite a bit.  The first sheet I made I flattened to about 3/8 in.  These cookies puffed up in the center thanks to the above mentioned baking soda and cream of tarter, and stayed soft in the middle.  After the first sheet I flattened them to a thin 1/8 in, which still had a bit of a rise, but made a nice flat crisp cookie.

MRS. FOSSE'S SUGAR COOKIES

3 C flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
1 C margarine (I used 1/2 C margarine, 1/2 C butter) chilled, cut into 1/2 in. pieces
2 eggs beaten
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
1 C sugar, plus extra for rolling
Colored sugars for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk together first 3 ingredients in large bowl, add margarine (and butter if using).  Using pastry blender, cut ingredients together until they form a sandy texture.   Set aside.  Using stand or hand mixer combine sugar, eggs, and flavorings until well mixed.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture and beat until just combined.  Using 1 in. scoop make cookies, smooth with  hands, then roll in sugar.  Place on cookie sheet 1 - 2 inches apart, and flatten to 1/8 inch thickness with the bottom of a glass. (I find it is easier to flatten if you dip your glass in sugar after flattening every 2 cookies).  Bake 10 - 15 minutes.  Remove from sheets and cool on rack.