This cake is perfect for a tea party, baby shower, or bridal shower. It is fluffy, airy, and not overly sweet. The combination of the plums and lemon zest is excellent.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 2 dozen cookies |
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup shortening
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, or more as needed
- 1 tablespoon milk, or more as needed
Instructions
- Mix sugar, shortening, buttermilk, and egg together in the bowl of an electric stand mixer (such as KitchenAid®) until creamy.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract, and salt in a bowl. Beat into sugar mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Leave dough to set in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin to desired thickness. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake in the preheated oven until bottoms begin to lightly brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on wax paper or a wire rack, 15 to 30 minutes.
- Combine confectioners’ sugar and milk in a bowl. Mix into a paste, adding more sugar or milk as needed. Spread frosting thinly onto cooled cookies and cover with sprinkles.
- Make sure to use a level teaspoon of baking soda and a heaping teaspoon of baking powder.
- Grandma Amico used to say to never combine different cookie shapes on a sheet because different cookie shapes differ in size, and therefore vary in cooking time. If you don’t cook them long enough, they will fall. If you cook them too long, they will brown on the edges and get hard. Over the years, I have had to vary the cooking time and temperature of these cookies depending on the oven I used, so it’s always good to do a small test batch before you commit to a baking time and temperature. If you find your cookies are flat, you need to lower the temperature and bake a little longer.
- The frosting is easiest to work with not chilled, as it spreads better on the cookies.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 153 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 26 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 171 mg |
| Sugars | 14 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
To me, these are the quintessential Christmas cookie. My mother made them every year when I was growing up; they were my father’s favorite and we kids liked to cut them out and decorate them. Making them as an adult, though, I now realize how difficult this dough can be to work with. It is very sticky to roll out, and the more flour you use to roll them, the tougher the cookie becomes. The best tasting cookie is with the least amount of flour added. They also spread a lot in the oven, so if you do an intricate cut out, it might not hold its shape. I have come up with 2 hacks to remedy these issues. One, you can use a cookie mold. That literally holds them into the desired shape and does not require rolling, so no extra flour. The dough will be really sticky when you put it in the mold and you might not be able to get it exactly into the shape, but like I said, this dough spreads a lot in the oven. By the time they come out, they will fill the mold. My caution with this method is that they are very difficult to get out of the mold, so even though the recipe says to use an ungreased cookie sheet, I would definitely grease the cookie mold, and it also wouldn’t hurt to use a silicone mold that you can press from the other side to help release them. I don’t have one of those, I’m just assuming it would be a lot easier! What I really like about using the mold method is that the cookies come out nice and thick! My second and even easier hack is this: Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet, flatten them with the bottom of a cup, and decorate like Christmas ornaments. You could even cut out a little hole at the top of the ornament and tie a piece of twizzlers pull-and-peel through it (once they are cooled) for string. Alternately, I have made little hook shapes at the top with my fingers and some spare dough. They come out very cute and so much easier than trying to roll out this delicate, sticky dough. Enjoy!
Absolutely love this recipe. I make it all the time.
These are like heaven! So soft and sugary! Delicious!
Really liked it