Position one of your oven racks in the middle and preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Alternatively, use ungreased cookie sheets for baking these easy sugar cookies.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. (This will take several minutes.)
Add the egg, vanilla, cream or milk and beat thoroughly. (Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary, to make sure all ingredients are well blended.)
Add the flour mixture and with the mixer on low speed, stir until the mixture is just blended.
Arrange by teaspoonfuls on the prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
Bake, one cookie sheet at a time on the center oven rack, for 8 to 12 minutes until lightly golden around the edges.
When done, remove from the oven and transfer the cookies with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely.
Repeat with the remaining dough, being sure to allow cookie sheets to cool completely before using them again. (I often rinse the backsides under cool water to speed up the process.)
Recipe Notes
My Cooking Notes & Variations
This recipe is from The Supper Book by Marion Cunningham, who also authored the old Fannie Farmer Cookbook I received as a wedding gift more than 25 years ago.The directions say that the recipe makes about 50 cookies. When I make them I usually end up with about 36. It's a testament to just how much larger our serving sizes have gotten through the years. And probably explains - at least partly - why we keep getting larger!The cookbook says to bake the cookies 8 - 10 minutes, but I find it usually take mine about 12 minutes to be done - probably because I make mine a bit larger.I love these with a 2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest added to the dough.Serving size: 1 cookieClick here to see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site.3*SmartPoints (Green plan)3*SmartPoints (Blue plan)3*SmartPoints (Purple plan)2*PointsPlus (Old plan)
Nutrition Facts
Plain & Simple Sugar Cookie Recipe
Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)
Calories 66Calories from Fat 24
% Daily Value*
Fat 2.7g4%
Carbohydrates 9.7g3%
Fiber 0g0%
Protein 0.8g2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.