Bewitching Sugar Biscuits

Happy Independence Day to everyone in America. I hope all of your BBQs and cookouts went well and everyone enjoyed the fireworks. I always like watching the fireworks here. Some of the fireworks even blow up in different and fun shapes, like I remember last year there was a purple octopus! I’m not entirely sure how you get a firework to blow up like that, but that would be so cool if the actual rocket was shaped like an octopus! So, again, I hope everyone had a splendid evening and made delicious things like burgers, ‘dogs, corn on the cob and more. Which brings me to why I am posting today.

Today was such a hot, hot, HOT day. I’m pretty sure it got very close to 100 degrees. However, this did not stop me from turning on the oven, so sir-e-bob. Today I bring you sugar coo-er biscuits from my Harry Potter cookbook. Yes, I know Harry Potter is British and it’s kind of ironic to make something from the country we are celebrating our independence from, but I don’t care.

These “biscuits” are your basic sugar cookie, I think at least. When baked, these beauties are the perfect size and are slightly crisp, but not overly so. I think I may have mentioned once or twice that I am not a thin cookie kind of person, but I will make an exception for these biscuits because they are just addictive to eat. And I was not disappointed in the size of the cookies either. Usually cookies tend to not spread as much as I would like and I end up getting a smaller cookie. That is not the case with these cookies, a two-ish inch cookie cutter will give you about a three inch cooked cookie, which makes for a happy girl. ;)

I have to warn you though, the dough needs to be verrrrrry well chilled or otherwise the dough will just get warm and unrollable. I should know; I waited just a tad to long while rolling out the dough and the first batch I could only get four cookies onto the sheet because the rest of the dough was getting too soft to be rolled out and transferred onto the baking sheet. I kept having to put the dough in the freezer and roll it out and hope that it wouldn’t get to hot. What may also help is after chilling the dough, as quick as you can, cut the cookies out and then put the rounds onto another pan to be transferred into the freezer, that way, the actual cookie is chilled as well. Despite the tiny bit of frustration I experienced with the chilled dough (probably to do with the heat outside) these are a delicious addition to anyone’s biscuit (cookie) repertoire.

Sugar Biscuits
from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients
3 cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 sticks butter, soft
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Extra sugar to dust the top of the cookies with

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once the two ingredients have combined and become light and fluffy looking, beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure that each egg has been fully incorporated before adding the next. Next, beat in the vanilla extract.
3. Turn the electric mixer down to the lowest speed. Gently add in the flour mixture and mix until combined. Once almost fully mixed, turn the mixer onto medium-high and beat for 15-30 seconds. Divide the dough into two portions and wrap each portion into individual pieces of plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove one chilled dough ball and quickly roll it out into ¼ inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out pieces of dough and place them on the cookie sheet. This is where things got a little tricky. You see, its probably best to divide one dough ball half into two and then roll that portion out as the other portion chills. Then stamp out the cookie and place on the baking pan. Lightly dust the tops of the dough with sugar.
5. Bake for 12 minutes. I personally think this would be too long. I baked mine for 10 minutes and they came out perfect, however, they become a little tougher as they sit out, so if you want a really soft cookie, go for 8 or 9 minutes. Note: These are Hagrid’s cookies and they are supposed to be a little doughy, so if you want them like Hagrid, roll the dough to about ½ inch thickness and bake for about 10 minutes max. Remove the cookies from the oven and place on a cooking rack for about 3 minutes. Then transfer the actual cookie onto a cooling rack for the duration of the cooling process. Repeat steps 1-5 until all of the dough has been used up.