Grandma Janet’s White Cookies

How to Make

• PREP

• Step 1: Measure 1 cup of sour cream into a medium bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The sour cream will rise up.

• TO MAKE THE DOUGH

• Step 2: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat white sugar and shortening.

• Step 3: Spoon sour cream into the sugar mixture

• Step 4: And add vanilla.

• Step 5: Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

• Step 6: Into a separate large bowl, dump 6 1/2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder, stirring so the powder is dispersed throughout.

• Step 7: Add the flour to the cookie batter 1 cup at a time, beating on medium-low speed after each addition until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is stiff.

• Step 8: If it’s not firming, sprinkle in more flour until stiff. You need a thick wooden to stir in the last few cups of flour by hand.

• Step 9: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

• Step 10: The batter is ready when it’s firm and doesn’t stick on your finger.

• Step 11: If the dough remains sticky, add a little more flour.

• ROLL OUT & BAKE THE COOKIES

• Step 12: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Step 13: On a heavily floured surface, roll a handful of cookie dough into a flattened 1/8-inch thick sheet, dusting with flour to prevent sticking.

• Step 14: Cut the cookies using a lightly floured 2- or 3-inch round biscuit turning the cutter slightly as you lift it off the dough.

• Step 15: Slide a lightly floured spatula under each cookie to ease it from the surface and transfer to a cookie sheet, lining cookies 1 inch part. (If the cookie sticks to the counter, there wasn’t enough flour on the rolling surface so add more next round.)

• Step 16: Scatter sugar onto the tops of the cookies.

• Step 17: Bake 7-8 minutes. The cookies go from white to golden brown in a matter of seconds so watch closely in the last minute. The whiter the cookies, the softer they are in the middle. For a crisper cookie, bake 8-10 minutes, removing from oven as they turn darker brown.