Best Chewy Sugar Cookies

Today I have a re-post for you! And because I am saving all of my interesting blogging thoughts for my daybook, and I described these cookies so well the first time, I think I'll just use my words over again, with MUCH better pictures! Enjoy :)

There are two, distinct, completely different kinds of sugar cookies in this world. Lets get that straight. There are the fluffier, thicker kind, the kind you cut into shapes and frost. Then there are the chewy, crispy, covered-in-sugar cousins to the snickerdoodle. Keeping up? Good. I love both. I already have a perfect cut-out sugar cookie recipe, but we'll save that one for a holiday (and frost them, of course!). I've never bothered to try and make the other kind, because they always let me down. I am PICKY. When you have a cookie this simple, it has to be PERFECT. It should taste creamy, and buttery, not just like sugar. Bleck. So when I saw this recipe at Bunny's Warm Oven, I was skeptical. But she said they were the best... and the pictures looked just about perfect... and I was determined to make a batch of cookies for the boys. Not to mention it has cream cheese in it. Cream cheeeese... Which I love as much as lemon, and more than most things.

Best Chewy Sugar Cookies (adapted from Bunny's Warm Oven)
Printable Recipe

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar (plus about 1/3 cup for rolling the dough in)
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 Tablespoons butter, melted and warm
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 Tablespoon whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, measure out the sugar. Place the cream cheese on top and pour the melted, warm butter over the top. Stir to combine. There will be a few lumps of cream cheese remaining but they will mix in completely in a few steps.

Whisk in the oil until fully combined. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and milk.

Add the flour mixture and fold in with a spatula until a smooth dough forms. Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into 24 balls. Roll each ball into the extra sugar. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet.

Using the bottom of a flat drinking glass, slightly flatten each cookie until they are 2 inches in diameter. (Skip this step if you're at high altitude, your cookies will spread just fine on their own)

Bake for 11-15 minutes, turning the pan halfway through baking. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

The cream cheese did the trick! Of course it did. It's cream cheese. It makes everything better. 

These are, to take one of my favorite descriptive words from Anne Shirley, "toothsome". Crisp around the edges, chewy through the middle, rich buttery flavor, perfect. Probably a good thing I sent most of them to work with The Geologist. 

Make them! You'll love them!