This Secret Ingredient Makes Holiday Sugar Cookies Extra Soft

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of biting into a freshly baked snickerdoodle, you’ll be familiar, and probably quite fond of, their incredibly soft and tender texture. In fact, even if you nibble on that same cookie a few days after it was baked, it magically retains that freshly baked texture. So what’s the secret?

Cream of tartar!

What exactly is cream of tartar and how does it work?

Funny enough, cream of tartar is actually a by-product of wine making. It’s made from the finely ground tartaric acid that forms on the sides of wine barrels during the fermentation process. As the name suggests, it’s very acidic and works in two ways when it comes to baking. Firstly, it gives cookies a subtle tang that adds dimension beyond the standard butter, sugar, and vanilla flavor. Secondly, it works in conjunction with baking soda to leaven baked goods.

As you may recall from high school chemistry class, baking soda is a base. In order for it to be activated, it needs to be combined with an acid. As it pertains to cookie baking, when that acid is cream of tartar, the cookies will get a great big rise, then quickly fall to create delicious craggily tops and irresistible chewy centers. Cream of tartar also inhibits the formation of sugar crystals, which means instead of the cookies going crisp once they cool, they remain chewy and soft-baked in texture.

Why you should add cream of tartar to your holiday sugar cookies

So why do snickerdoodles get all the love when it comes to the dreamy texture that cream of tartar creates? This holiday season I am here to make a case for using a dash of cream of tartar in your sugar cookies. This recipe for Easy Breeze Sugar Cookies will quickly become a new family favorite.

Unlike standard holiday sugar cookies that seem to go stale within hours (poor Santa!), these will keep fresh for days thanks to the pinch of cream of tartar added to the dough. Plus, there is no need to roll these out; simply form into balls and flatten and bake. Often, sugar cookies get a bad rep because you end up having to add so much flour to the dough to roll them out that the end result is dry and tasteless.

The addition of cream of tartar will give these holiday beauties a flavor unlike any sugar cookie you’ve made before. You can top them with a classic buttercream frosting and sprinkles of choice, or make a simple drizzle with a little powdered sugar and milk. Alternatively, you can roll the cookies in festive colored sugar for a fun and nostalgic take on the sugar cookies of your childhood. Just don’t be surprised when Santa eats them all up!

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