Soft Sugar Cookies (Southern Cream Cookies)

These aren’t the crispy, snap-in-half sugar cookies you’re thinking of. Southern cream cookies stay soft and pillowy thanks to a full cup of sour cream in the dough. The tang of the sour cream cuts the sweetness just enough to keep you reaching for another one.

The sour cream serves double duty. It adds moisture that keeps the cookies soft for days, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda to create extra lift. That’s why these puff up thick and cake-like instead of spreading flat and crispy.

The cinnamon-sugar press is a Southern tradition. Dip the bottom of a greased glass into the sugar-cinnamon blend and press each dropped cookie flat. Every cookie gets a sparkling, spiced top with a slightly caramelized crunch that contrasts with the soft interior.

Chef Tips

• Drop from a teaspoon and space 1 inch apart. These don’t spread much, so you can fit more on a sheet than typical drop cookies. But too close and they’ll merge during baking.
• Grease the glass bottom between presses. The dough is sticky. Without a fresh coat of grease every few cookies, the glass pulls the dough up instead of flattening it.
• Don’t overbake. Pull at 15 minutes when barely golden. These dry out fast if left in the oven too long, and then you’ve lost the whole point of a soft cookie.

Variations

• Lemon cream cookies: Add lemon zest and a teaspoon of lemon extract to the dough. Skip the cinnamon-sugar press and dust with plain powdered sugar after baking.
• Brown butter version: Brown the shortening (or use butter) until it smells nutty before creaming with sugar for a deeper, toastier flavor.