How To Make Store-Bought Soft Sugar Cookies At Home, According To TikTok
One Tik Tok user is letting us all in on an inside secret. You know those super soft sugar cookies you find at the grocery store? They've usually got a nice thin layer of icing and taste unlike any other sugar cookie you can find. They're called Lofthouse cookies, per "Today," and, chances are, you've probably had them at least once in your life.
Turns out, you can make these delicious treats right at home. The Las Vegas-based influencer Little Sparkly Sweets recently posted a TikTok video showing how to get these iconic cookies straight from your own oven. However, some commenters weren't fully convinced that this endeavor was worth the effort. "It won't be the same though," one person wrote. Another chimed in with all caps, cautioning, "YOU BUY THEM."
While there may be some controversy over how you get these cookies into your mouth, many people who commented on the video implied that getting Lofthouse cookies from the store was part of the appeal, though it's always fun to embark on a creative challenge like this one.
The ingredients for the cookies are things you may already have
At the start of the TikTok video, creator Little Sparkly Sweets pans over the full ingredient list, and it turns out most of them you'd find in your typical cookie recipe: flour, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, baking soda, and cream of tartar. However, as the baker shows the items, viewers couldn't help but notice she was using sour cream, with one who commented, "I am not putting sour cream in my cookies."
Before you turn away, the dairy product is actually really good for baking. Even Martha Stewart thinks you should be using it. According to her magazine, sour cream adds a tangy flavor to baked goods — though it's often very subtle. The fat in the ingredient also moistens and bulks up the baked good, making for a more tender result.
The specific amounts the baker uses are as follows: A half-cup of unsalted butter, three-quarters cup of sugar, one large egg, a third-cup of sour cream, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, one-and-three-quarters cups of all-purpose flour, one-and-a-half tablespoon of cornstarch, a half-teaspoon of baking powder, a quarter-teaspoon of cream of tartar, a half-teaspoon of baking soda, and one-eighth teaspoon of salt.
Making the cookies isn't too different from other sugar cookie recipes
While showing the entire baking process on TikTok, creator Little Sparkly Sweets didn't do anything too unexpected with this recipe — that is, if you're used to baking cookies. Starting with all of the wet ingredients, she combined the butter, sugar, egg, sour cream, and vanilla extract in a stand mixer. In a smaller bowl, she then combined the flour, cornstarch, baking power, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Then, she added the dry ingredients into the stand mixer.
After combining everything, the baker put the dough into the refrigerator for two hours. Chilling sugar cookie dough is a very common baking technique because it allows fats, like butter, to solidify before baking. This is extremely important because, without this step, the dough will expand too quickly in the oven and lose its texture (via Taste of Home).
After chilling, the poster then used a cookie scoop to dish out the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then, they flattened the balls into rounder shapes before baking the cookies for eight minutes. The video did not specify the temperature, but anywhere from 350 degrees Fahrenheit to 375 degrees Fahrenheit is a pretty common temperature to get most cookies baked all the way through, says the Food Network.
After the cookies fully bake, make the icing and decorate
When it comes to Lofthouse cookies, you can't forget the icing. While the cookies are in the oven, get to work on your delicious frosting. According to Little Sparkly Sweets on TikTok, to do so, you'll need a half-cup of unsalted butter, two-thirds teaspoon of vanilla extract, two-and-a-half cups of powdered sugar, two to three tablespoons of heavy cream, and the food coloring of your choosing. "Warning," the baker noted in her video, "You will need a lot." Combine all of the ingredients in a stand mixer, then add the icing to a piping bag. From there, you can decorate your cookies as you see fit.
Though the cookies did turn out beautiful in the video, some viewers couldn't help but make jokes about the brand they're based on. "You forgot the chalk," one person wrote. "If it doesn't give me raging heart burn it's not the same," another shared. Although some seemed to prefer this recipe over the store-bought version. "These look better," one viewer commented, or as another put it, it "doesn't look artificial enough." So, if you do follow this recipe, expect a higher-quality, more gourmet version of Lofthouse cookies. If that's not what you're looking for, it's okay to also buy a pack from the store.