Organic Lofthouse Sugar Cookies

Welcome back to Mimi's Organic Eats. Today, we're making soft sugar cookies with pink frosting. This is a copycat recipe of your favorite grocery store sugar cookies, but mine are free of artificial colors and made with just simple organic ingredients. These pink frosted sugar cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day, Easter, or any time you wanna celebrate. Plus, I'm gonna share my top picks for using different ingredients to color these all kinds of different colors so you can celebrate any time. So let me show you guys how to make them. So first, we're gonna be preheating our oven to 325 degrees. And I'll usually go a little bit higher because I like crispy edges on my soft and chewy cookies, but these are a soft baked cookie, which is why we're gonna do 325. Next, we have 113 grams of salted butter in my stand mixer. And this butter is very soft. Now we're gonna add in 170 grams of cane sugar. And then we're gonna do one and a half teaspoons of vanilla extract. Then we're gonna add in a quarter teaspoon of almond extract. And now this is gonna give these cookies just like a little bit sweeter flavor. Trust me, you don't wanna skip the almond. Now we're gonna mix this on low until combined and there's no butter chunks. Once the butter and sugar are completely combined, then you're gonna continue to mix until the mixture looks light and fluffy. This is going to take about four to five minutes. So once our butter and sugar are creamed together, then we're gonna add in one large egg and 57 grams of sour cream. So the sour cream in these cookies is going to make them super soft and just like really pillowy when you bite into them. So it's super important to use sour cream. So you're not gonna mix the egg and sour cream just yet. We're gonna add in our flour first. We have 255 grams of all-purpose flour. Next, we're gonna add in two teaspoons of cornstarch. And we're using cornstarch in these cookies because we want them to be super soft and chewy and the cornstarch is gonna help give you a really chewy cookie. Next, I'm gonna add in one and a half teaspoons of baking powder. And then we're gonna do half a teaspoon of salt. So you guys wanna make sure you're using baking powder and not baking soda in these cookies. There's no acid for baking soda to react with, so that's why we need to use baking powder. And we wanna make sure these cookies are super soft and fluffy, so we definitely need to have a leavening agent. So now we're just gonna mix this on low until a smooth cookie dough forms. So now we're gonna line two baking sheets with parchment paper and we're gonna roll these into 18 cookie dough balls. And then we're gonna place nine on one sheet and nine on the other sheet. And a little trick for you guys, just divide your dough in half right now. That'll make it easier to portion out the cookies, especially if you're rolling by hand. And if you guys wanna use a cookie scoop, you totally can. But if you know me, you know I'm terrible with cookie scoops. Now we're gonna bake these at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly brown. Now it really helps to round these cookies out using a cookie cutter right after they come out of the oven. This is gonna make them perfectly round and a little bit thicker. So while the cookies are cooling, we're gonna make up our pink frosting. So you're gonna need 170 grams of vegetable shortening in your stand mixing bowl. And so I like using vegetable shortening for this specific frosting because I feel like it tastes most like those grocery store bakery cookies with the frosting. You guys know exactly which ones I'm talking about. Yep, the Loft House cookies. But if you guys don't like shortening and you wanna use butter, I am totally for that as well. And today I actually have a mixture of both because that's what I had left in my pantry. So next we're gonna sift in 354 grams of powdered sugar. Next we're gonna add in half a teaspoon of organic beet powder. This is what's gonna make this pink frosting pink without any artificial colors. And to know, it does not taste like beets. Now I'm making it a pastel pink, so I'm just using a little bit of beet powder. But if you wanna make them hot pink or dark pink, you can just use more. And don't worry, it still won't taste like beets. And now if you guys wanna make these a different color besides pink, you can totally do that. And if you guys wanna make these blue naturally, you can use blue spirulina. And if you wanna make them green, you can use match powder. And if you wanna make them yellow, you can use a little bit of turmeric, but too much of that one and you'll definitely taste it. If you wanna do yellow, I really recommend using India Tree's Nature's Colors Yellow. That one is the best natural dye I've found that works for yellow that doesn't leave a flavor. You guys can also use organic freeze-dried blueberry powder, strawberry powder, or raspberry powder. And you can even use activated charcoal if you wanna make them black for Halloween. So depending on what kind of holiday you guys are making these for, or if you're making them just for fun, you can customize this to use any kind of natural food dye that you want. And now my secret ingredient for this frosting is vanilla coffee creamer. And now if you guys don't have vanilla coffee creamer, you can use coffee whipping cream or milk, but the vanilla coffee creamer just gives this frosting just like such a really good flavor. It's like subtly sweet, it gives it a little something extra and it really makes these taste so much better than store-bought. So we're gonna add in about three tablespoons. If your frosting feels stiff, you can just feel free to add in a little bit more. Now we're just gonna mix this on low until combined and then we're gonna speed the mixer up to high and whip until it's light and fluffy. Always make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl partway through mixing. This is going to ensure that all the frosting is completely combined and it's nice and smooth. So once our frosting is done and our cookies are cool, now it's just time to frost them. And now I'm just using a butter knife because I like these rustic, but if you guys wanna use a piping bag or decorating tips, you can totally do that too. And now you guys can leave these plain, but I like to add a little bit of naturally colored sprinkles right on top. And I'm using India Trees Nature's Colors rainbow sprinkles today. These are made with plant-based dyes. And now we have the most delicious soft sugar cookies with naturally pink frosting. These cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day, Easter, birthdays, anytime you have a celebration. Plus, now you guys know how to color them with different colors so you can use them for Halloween, Christmas, or any other holiday. If you guys enjoyed this video, be sure to drop a like and leave a comment below. And if you want more cookie recipes without artificial colors, be sure to hit that subscribe button and join me next time in the kitchen.