Bake You Own Lofthouse-type Cookies

I love Lofthouse Cookies.  The cookie part reminds me of my grandma's soft sugar cookie, kind of cakey, fluffy and melt in your mouth good.  The icing is buttercream and it's topped with sprinkles.   Yum, I do love buttercream.

When I received my usual assignment for the Thanksgiving meal...dessert...I started planning.  The pumpkin pie I bring is always lovingly baked by Costco.  They're reasonably priced, convenient, large and delicious.  Since not everyone likes pie, I needed to bring something else to be served when the pie is passed around.


Instead of using some of my tried and true recipes, I headed over to Pinterest.  There were several desserts I had pinned that I've been wanting to try.  Number one on my list, Lofthouse-type cookies.  


I read the ingredient list and they were all things that I had in my pantry.  That makes things easier.  So I grabbed my KitchenAid and got started.  I bet you thought the first thing I'd to was preheat the oven.  Nope.  It says on the recipe to refrigerate the dough overnight.  Since I couldn't wait that long to taste them, I refrigerated the dough for about 3 hours.  I found the dough a bit soft but still easy to roll out.  Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly as it's written below.


Sweet Pea's Kitchen's Lofthouse-type Cookies


For the Cookies:


6 cups flour, divided 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups light sour cream


For the icing:


1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons heavy cream
Several drops food coloring
Sprinkles


Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk 5 cups of flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the flat beater attached, cream the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat at low speed until combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed. Dough needs to obtain the right consistency for rolling, so add additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until this is achieved (up to 1 cup more flour). Divide dough into two sections. Flatten into rectangles about 1 1/2 inches thick, then wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.
5. Generously flour a work area and rolling pin. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until pale golden. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
6. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Once smooth and creamy, add in heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired spreading consistency is achieved. If desired, add food coloring and beat until combined.
7. Once cookies have cooled completely, frost and add sprinkles. Allow frosting to set, then store in an air-tight container. Let cookies set for several hours before serving to allow the flavors to develop.

Yields: 4 1/2 dozen cookies

In step seven, they advise you to let the cookies set for several hours to allow the flavors to develop.  After I ate a cookie or two (I had to taste test them, of course), I left them set and the flavors did indeed develop.  They turned out perfectly.

They received rave reviews at Thanksgiving.  I sent some with my husband to work and they quickly disappeared.  The ones I kept at home didn't last long at all.

As you can see in the photo above, I didn't add sprinkles to mine. That's because I had none.  It seems that my daughter likes putting them on her ice cream and didn't let me know that we were out. Even without sprinkles, they were a wonderful imitation of the Lofthouse cookies.

I won't be needing to buy Lofthouse cookies anymore. From now on I will be making my own.