Almost Lofthouse Cookies

(This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with August's theme, Snacks from Scratch.)

Lofthouse Cookies.  You know, those soft, melt-in-your-mouth, super-sweet-but-still-so-good frosted sugar cookies that are sold in the bakery section of your grocery store?  They're stacked in plastic trays, and the color of the frosting and sprinkles depends on what holiday is around the corner.  You know what cookies I mean, right?  The ones that are so appealing, the ones your kids beg you to buy.  And sometimes you (OK, I) give in!  And then you (OK, I) eat just as many as the kids because they are soooooo good in spite of having all those preservatives and ingredients that we can't pronounce on the label!


Well, now you can make your own at home.  Almost.  This version of the Lofthouse Cookie is very, very close to the original.  The cookie is deliciously soft, and although the frosting is not spot-on, my critics said they liked this frosting better than the frosting on the store-bought version anyway.  These cookies received rave reviews from everyone in our camping group.  I even had pregnant women stealing cookies out of my trailer! I guess that's a compliment??

Head on over to The Novice Chef to find this recipe.  Read the recipe all the way through before you get started!  Jessica has some great tips to help you turn out some great cookies.  When you're finished reading the recipe, come back here and read a lot more tips!


Options and Tips:

• Plan ahead!  The dough needs to be refrigerated overnight before you roll it out.  Not only that, but this recipe makes a TON of cookies, so you'll need lots of time to bake them.
• This recipe says to add 5 cups of flour to the dough and then add up to another full cup of flour, 1/4 cup at a time.  I ended up using the full 6 cups of flour, but could have probably gotten by with 5 and 1/2 or 5 and 3/4 cups.  It threw me off when it said "dough needs to obtain the right consistency for rolling".  When you are mixing the dough, it will seem very sticky, and you'll probably think (as I did), "I'll never be able to roll this out...it needs more flour."  But remember (and if you read the recipe through to the end you will see this) the dough needs to be refrigerated overnight before rolling it...which helps make it not so sticky.
• I refrigerated my dough for 3 days because I ran out of time to roll out and bake the cookies.  It kept just fine in the fridge for that long, and the cookies turned out great.
• When you roll out the dough, you'll need a LOT of flour on the counter and on your rolling pin.  You'll also need a super thin spatula to peel the cookies off the counter.  In addition, the instructions say to work with only half of the dough at a time, and to refrigerate the other half.  I would recommend working with only a quarter of the dough at a time, because it's a lot easier to work with when it's REALLY cold...as soon as it starts getting even close to room temperature, it gets sticky, which makes it hard to roll out and cut.
• The instructions say to roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  I recommend AT LEAST 1/4 inch thickness.  The thicker the cookie, the more true-Lofthouse-ish it was!  The thinner cookies were still soft, but seemed a little dry.
• Less is more when it comes to baking time.  Even the thickest cookies were baked all the way through after only 7 minutes...and the less time you bake them, the softer they are.
• Make sure you have sprinkles before you get started!  I was sure I did, but apparently we used the last of them at Christmas.  Red sugar crystals just don't have the same effect, do they? :(
• If you're anything like me, you won't be able to resist trying one (or two) as soon as they are frosted.  But don't judge that first cookie!  These cookies really and truly are better after they have been sitting for a day (or even three days!).  I hid some of mine, so they lasted over a week...and the cookies that we waited longest to eat really were better (and closer to the original Lofthouse) than the ones we ate on the second day.