Taken from a yellowed strip of newsprint tucked into a recipe box full of Gramma’s Greatest Hits, this is the crispest of sugar cookies, sandy-textured but tender with a gorgeous pale golden color begging for a smattering of sparkling colored sugars and sprinkles, no icing required. It’s the first cookie I make every holiday season; when sheets of these start emerging from the oven, Christmas is finally on the way.
Like being a fan of a little-known indie rock band, I grew up thinking this most beloved recipe was special to my family, and in turn that we were geniuses because no one else knew about it, with its unique additions of vegetable oil, confectioners’ sugar, and cream of tartar. Imagine my bewilderment when I found this exact recipe in a vintage Illinois state cookbook, titled Mary Todd Lincoln’s Sugar Cookies. Yeah, I guess she probably got to this recipe first, then.
