Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Sugar Cake Cookies

Hi my crafty friends! It is hump day, can you believe how fast the weeks fly by?! Ok, I know if you are working they probably don't fly by as fast for you or if you are younger, like under 40. lol But my weeks fly by and I find myself wondering where the week went. Ok on to Sugar Cake Cookies, who has had them?  They are very popular here in the Amish country in Central PA just like the whoopie pie is. It is a large cookie but it is like a cake on the inside of it. They are so yummy! If you like just plain sugar cookies, you will love these sugar cakes. Here are some pictures to temp you and then the recipe will follow. This recipe is all over the state, but my recipe came from a little old lady who's name was Millie and she had a stand in our Market house in town. I worked for a deli, so there were times I worked our Market house and got to know Millie. She was such a sweet lady!! I loved her. I always would buy a little baggy of these cookies from her. Well one day our local newspaper did a feature on her and her cookies, cause let me tell you she could never make enough of these cookies to sell, she always sold out of them right away! So she gave her recipes out and you know who jumped on the recipe. Sure I had one, but mine never tasted as good as her's did. Now I'm happy to say they do. Millie has since passed on as this was well over 25 years ago, but her cookies live on in the homes of many here in Central PA. I know that I will never forget Millie.


 Before baking, I only put 6 on a sheet because they need room to spread out.

Sprinkling the sugar on liberally. 

Fresh from the oven.

The bigger the cookie, the better. They are all made huge where ever you find them around here!

Here is what they look like on the inside, and yes, I took a bite and then ate the whole cookie! lol  


Here's the recipe:

Sugar Cakes
from Millie Yinglilng
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 stick of butter
1/3 c. Crisco
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Mix these 5 ingredients in your mixer until fluffy.

1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda

Mix these two together, making sure to put the buttermilk in a 2 cup container because the baking soda makes the milk froth up. Mix well and set aside.

1/4 tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix these dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture. Once all the dry ingredients are mixed in with the butter mixture add the buttermilk mixture in. Mix well.

I used a large Pampered Chef cookie scoop to scoop my dough on to a splat mat that was placed on cookie sheet. If you don't have a cookie scoop, then place batter on the cookie sheet using a tbsp. Then sprinkle the dough with granulated sugar.

You will place in a preheated oven starting out on the bottom rack. Once the cookies have spread out and raised, you will move them up to the top shelf in your oven, baking until they are lightly brown around the edges. 

Removed from the oven and place cookies on a cooling rack, cooling completely. Now if you have baked them the right way you will be able to stack them into a container. If you haven't, if you stack them in a container they will get sticky and gooey and will stick to one another. They will still stick to one another a little even if you have baked them the right way but nothing like they will if you don't. You can place wax paper between the layers if you would like. Mine never last long enough to bother with the wax paper. lol This makes a nice pile of large cookies, I didn't count how many dozen it made, but I would think around 3 dozen if you are using the large cookie scoop and way more if you are using something smaller. 

Enjoy!



I hope you enjoyed my Sugar Cake Cookies if you give them a try. They really are easy to make, just a little bit time consuming because you have to start them off in off on the bottom rack and then finish baking them on the top rack. 

For those of you who asked about the peach pie, I have the recipe here. And those who have asked about a pie crust tutorial, I will try and make that when I make more pies. My recipe is just an ordinary pie crust recipe but people tell me all the time that my pie dough is the best they've ever tasted. That it is so flaky and perfect. Now when I first met my husband, I had never made pie dough in my life!! Never! But he quickly informed me he wasn't eating store bought pie dough, so I would have to learn how to make it. Wasn't sure I wanted to learn how and considered not seeing my husband, then boyfriend again. But because I was already in love with him, I learned how to make pie crust. lol Now my son's can't stand any other pie dough but mine. I have always heard growing up that you can tell by the feel of the pie dough if it was right or not. Never understood that...until now. You really can tell if your pie dough is right by the feel and that takes experience. Not hard, but it just takes time to learn. 

Ok everyone, thanks again for stopping by and visiting me. You know how you always make my heart sing when you do. Crafty hugs, Brenda



19 comments:

MaryH said...

Oh these look delicious. Now aren't you glad you got that recipe, since Millie is no longer available for the cookies? Good for you. You should add a recipe tab on your blog, since you're such a great cook! TFS & hugs. MM

Brenda in IN said...

These sound yummy as well as the pie. I thought I would lose weight along with the dog, but that won't happen if I fix both of these! Thanks for the receipes.

Lisa said...

Oh my gosh, those cookies look so delicious!! I agree with Mary...you should add a recipe tab on your blog!! How awesome that Millie lives on with her cookies!! Have a great day my friend :)

Lisa
A Mermaid's Crafts

Maarit at Violets Corner said...

Oh my, so yummy!

Hugs
Maarit

jimlynn said...

YUMMY LOOKING!! I love sugar cookies more than anything so know I'll have to jot this recipe down and use it. Thanks a million!
I think recipes like the one you got from that sweet lady are absolutely the best!
Lynn

Anita in France said...

Oh, Brenda, what a wonderful post! Loved your story of how you came by Millie's recipe ... and how you just had to learn how to make pie dough! Your cookies are awesome and look soooo yummy ... bet these were always so snapped up by every one of your sons before they even cooled ... guess that's why they're man sized! Hugs, Anita :)

Carol L said...

OK, here's to some serious YUM with this post! TFS the recipe! The cookies look delish! I can't wait to see the pie crust tutorial! The only pie crust I've ever made that turned out flaky was done with good old lard, and that was fail-proof! Thanks for whetting the appetite :)

Tina Campbell said...

Super cute story and the cookies look scrumptious will be giving these a try :) That is the blessing of living in PA the Amish cooking Oh My do I love the whoopie pies that are made in the area :) You got a nice scrap page going on here with this story to tell :)

Sheila H said...

Yummy! Thanks for sharing :)

Loll said...

Those sugar cake cookies look DELICIOUS! :) Have copied the recipe and hope to give it a try soon --- thanks for sharing! And thanks for sharing the lovely story about your friend Millie ... I'm sure you miss her dearly. Loll xx

Irish Cherokee said...

My God they look delicious. Unfortunately neither I nor DW can have the sugar. - Jim

Bonnie said...

Yum! I'll bet your kitchen smells so good!

Darnell said...

Yummers! I got an instant visual of those six strapping young boys of yours scarfing up these whopping big cake cookies while they were growing up! It looks huge in your hand, but I'll bet they seem pretty normal-sized to your husband and sons!!

I notice that they have Crisco in them and right there I know they are delicious. I'll bet you use Crisco in your pie dough, too. It makes all the difference in the world when you're baking. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I'll bet my littles (as Mary would say) will love these!! Hugs, Auntie

Darnell said...

P.S. I just noticed Mary's comment as I was clicking off. I agree that (when you have time, haha) it would be great if you could do a recipe tab!!

vic said...

Brenda these look so yummy I will have to try these :)
Have a lovely evening
Hugs
Vic x

Jules said...

Hi Brenda

Now that is what you call a cookie!!

Gorgeouss.

I hope all is ok at your end.

Have a great weekend.

Love Jules xx

Mrs A. said...

Your biscuit/cake both sounds and looks delicious. I loved reading your story of the hand down recipe too. hugs Mrs A.

Cara said...

I am most certainly going to give these a try! Thank yo so much!

cm said...

My comment disappeared here, too - but the opportunity for a revisit and yet another view of these awesome cookie photos works perfect for me! O LOVE everything about your post: your story of Millie and how you came to 'own' the recipe, the photos (craving one right now), the recipe - nothing short of splendid! As for your pie crust: yes please to a tutorial! The way to a man's heart is through is stomach - and you've certainly proven that right in learning to make perfect pie crusts for your guy! I suspect he considered you a 'keeper' from day 1, whether you could bake pies or not!! Yes, mega-watt smile planted on my face...and the cookie recipe is on my 'make' list!
Hugs~c