Grandma Burdick's Sour Cream Cookies

This is one of those family recipes that does everything. Drop them as-is for soft, puffy cookies with a tender crumb. Fold in chocolate chips, raisins, or chopped nuts for a loaded version. Or add extra flour, chill the dough, and roll them out as cut-out cookies for the holidays.

The sour cream is what makes these special. Mixed with baking soda, it creates a slight tang and an incredibly soft texture that stays that way for days. These aren’t crispy cookies. They’re the thick, cakey kind that practically melt when you bite into them.

A full tablespoon of vanilla is generous and it shows. You can taste it in every bite, which keeps these from being one-note sweet.

Kitchen Tips

• Mix the sour cream with baking soda separately before adding it to the batter. It fizzes up and activates properly that way.
• Drop by heaping tablespoons for uniform size. These spread very little, so they’ll be roughly the shape you drop them in.
• Pull them at the earlier end of the bake time (8 minutes) if you want them extra soft. They firm up as they cool.
• For rolled cookies, the extra cup of flour and a 2-hour chill are a must. Without it, the dough is too sticky to handle.

Variations

• Frost with a simple buttercream or a powdered sugar glaze for decorated sugar cookies.
• Add lemon zest to the dough for a bright, citrusy sour cream cookie.
• Fold in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips for a holiday batch.