Sam's Club Sugar Cookie

[SHERRY]

Does anyone have a recipe for a sugar cookie similar to Sam's Club, Walmart..type soft cookie with icing? I just love these and they are always a hit with kids. They are almost cake-like...and have a buttercream icing with sprinkles.

TIA
Sherry

[annagins]

Sherry, this recipe is very cake-like. I don't know how close it is to the Sam's recipe, but you might want to give it a try. The buttermilk is what gives it the cake-like texture.

Cake-like Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (I use butter flavored)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla*
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Crystal sugar (garnish)

Preheat oven to 400.
Cream shortening, sugar, egg, buttermilk and vanilla.
Combine flour, salt and soda and stir into batter.
Drop by large teaspoon fulls onto cookie sheet. Sprinkle with crystal sugar if desired.
Bake for 9 minutes.

*Along with the vanilla, I sometimes add a tiny, tiny bit of coconut extract.

http://www.ginsberg.com/anna/sugarcookies.jpg

[Cinnamon Crazy]

I just wanted to bump this up because I am interested as well. I am anxious to try the above recipe, but would love to try a rolled recipe with the same results. I have never been a fan of the crispy or chewy rolled sugar cookies. I would love something thick and soft for my cookie plate.

[annagins]

I haven't tried the Sam's cookies, but I have tried a packaged brand called "Loft House" which are very similar to what you're describing. I have seen copykat recipes for Loft House, so I googled a little bit and came up with this one. It has sour cream in it which will assure that moist, cakey texture you're looking for and these cookies are rolled.


Q. Can you find me a recipe for Lofthouse cookies? A lot of grocery stores sell them in the bakery department. — Kris Northstine, Apple Valley

A. “These cookies are very similar to the Lofthouse cookies that can be purchased in the grocery store,” writes DeeDee McDonald of Victorville. “These cookies taste less sugary and have a slight hint of sourdough. This recipe is from my great-grandmother who was born in Oslo, Sweden. My kids love them.”

cookie
Swedish Sourdough Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
11/2 cups sour cream
5-6 cups flour (until desired consistency for rolling)

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour. Cut out shapes and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Frost and decorate as desired.

[annagins]

I googled lofthouse again and found a few things saying that Sam's sells Lofthouse cookies. So who knows. Maybe the cookies you've tried are actually Lofthouse! I hope so.

[cher48603]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lofthouse makes Sam's cookies. If they don't, the recipe is almost identical. They're yummy & addictive.

[SHERRY]

Thank you all for the recipes and info...I am going to try both out and see how they compare. I bake cakes and use the same buttercream icing as Sam's, so I am going to frost the cookies with it.
Thanks Again :D

[blazedog]

I happened to run across this recipe researching cookie decorating -- don't know if it's like Sam's as I've never tasted those but the recipe looks like it would produce a delicious cookie:)

OLD-FASHIONED SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus additional for sprinkling
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel (yellow part only)
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, nutmeg and salt to combine thoroughly; set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar; beat until well-blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing until fluffy after each addition. Add vanilla extract and lemon peel; mix to blend thoroughly.

Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream, mixing until smooth after each addition.

Drop by tablespoons, placed well apart, onto well-greased baking sheets. Sprinkle each cookie lightly with granulated sugar. Place one or two raisins or cranberries in the center of each. Bake until cookies are golden brown (12 to 14 minutes). Remove at once to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 5 dozen 2 3/4-inch cookies.

[annagins]

Sherry, did you ever make the Lofthouse cookies?

[valchemist]

bumping to see if sherry (or anyone) has tried these recipes.

[merley]

OK these cookies look pretty tasty, but how about the icing. I'd like to try the buttermilk cookies, but need an icing recipe.

Thanks

[valchemist]

check out this thread for icing:

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=79835

[SHERRY]

Sorry for the delayed reply.. :)

I have made the Swedish Sourdough Cookies
I thought they were very similar to the Sam's Club cookie. They were more like cake than a cookie and were very puffy. They do not spread either. Because they are puffy, they really work best with just a fluffy buttercream on top. I tried to use a glace and it is not as pretty as when you use it on a flatter sugar cookie. It wants to run off the puffed rounded edges. These are not sinfully sweet and we really enjoyed them.

Note: You have to use a lot of flour to roll them out...it is a really sticky dough.

[blazedog]

Sorry for the delayed reply.. :)

I have made the Swedish Sourdough Cookies
I thought they were very similar to the Sam's Club cookie. They were more like cake than a cookie and were very puffy. They do not spread either. Because they are puffy, they really work best with just a fluffy buttercream on top. I tried to use a glace and it is not as pretty as when you use it on a flatter sugar cookie. It wants to run off the puffed rounded edges. These are not sinfully sweet and we really enjoyed them.

Note: You have to use a lot of flour to roll them out...it is a really sticky dough.

I really am a terrible roller but last Christmas I bought a silicone rolling pan and a large rollpat mat -- these really helped me enormously. It is also helpful to roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper -- especially useful when the dough needs to be refrigerated and/or frozen before rolling out completely.

[valchemist]

sherry,

I have been doing "research" ;) on this very question lately. (the question you posed in the first post of the thread, that is). I will post my findings soon. first I have to make those swedish sourdough cookies. I didn't make them when I was conducting research last week because I had read reviews elsewhere that said those cookies were not like lofthouse/sam's afterall. but if you say they are, then they are worth trying at least.

the good news is that even if they aren't what I am after, I did find a cookie that is a big winner.

[valchemist]

I tried the swedish sourdough cookies the other day and while they were good, I didn't find them to be like lofthouse/sam's cookies. they weren't as tender and melt in your mouth and didn't have the same flavor.

this is the one I found that came closest (and I tried about 8 recipes).


* Exported from MasterCook *

Roxymom's Sugar Cookies

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 30 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cookies Desserts


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3/4 cup butter -- softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Mix together (val's note: I creamed the butter and sugar first. then added egg/cream/vanilla. then the precombined flour/soda/salt), roll out and cut (val's note: I formed into balls and then flattened slightly before baking). Bake at 350 degrees until light brown approximately 10 minutes. Cool and frost.



DECORATOR ICING (cut this recipe down by 1/3! ie use 1/4 c shortening, 2 tbsp milk, ...)
3/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. plus 2 T. milk
1 (2 lb.) pkg. powdered sugar
1/2 t. creme bouquet flavoring
1/2 T. lemon juice
1/8 c. hot water

Beat all ingredients together. If too thin, add more powdered sugar. If too thick, add a tiny bit more milk.

The creme bouquet flavoring can be found at a kitchen supply store or from Wilton. If you can't find it, you can substitute vanilla.

Source:
"Roxymom on copykat BB"



NOTES : roxymom: These are the best sugar cookies I have ever made. They stay soft.

My notes: The original recipe had no salt and was 4 times bigger in scale! I cut the recipe down to one fourth. I added ¼ tsp salt. I creamed the butter and sugar as a first step. Then added the egg, cream, and vanilla. Then stirred in the precombined flour/soda/salt. Instead of rolling out, I rolled them into balls and flattened them slightly before baking. I pulled them out of the oven just as they were barely beginning to brown around the edges. If you did roll this out, you would definitely need to refrigerate first. great cookies and the closest so far to lofthouse (I didn't try the icing though). they are tender and melt in your mouth, like lofthouse. but they have butter and lofthouse uses margarine.

original recipe made 12 dozen.

I tried the frosting and found that it definitely needed a pinch of salt. it wasn't like lofthouse frosting, but works nicely with the cookies. a butter/powdered sugar/milk/salt frosting (the kind I use for preacher's chocolate cake) would be a better choice, I think.

[valchemist]

here is the frosting I would use instead of that decorator icing.


Buttercream Frosting

1 lb powdered sugar
1/2 c butter -- softened
1/8 tsp salt -- optional
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsps cream -- (2- 3 tbsp) milk can be substituted
food coloring -- optional

cream butter and powdered sugar. add salt and vanilla and enough cream (or milk) to reach desired spreading consistency. add desired coloring.

needs no refrigeration.

[Beth]

Thanks for your report Val. My son's friend loves the Loft House cookies, so we may have to try making something like them. I agree that the buttercream you posted sounds better than the one with the cookie recipe.

[blazedog]

I have been doing some recipe organization and came across this cookie recipe which I haven't tried so I don't know if they fit the bill but the olive oil was such an intriguing ingredient -- not sure of what it would do to the texture -- the notes are not mine obviously.

Melt In Your Mouth Sugar Cookies

½ c. butter
½ c. olive oil
½ c. sugar
½ c. powdered sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 c. flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, oil and sugars. Add egg and
vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and add them slowly to the creamed
mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes or
until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on racks.

Notes:

This is a wonderfully versatile recipe. Aside from being easy to remember.
You can make cookies any size and they turn out well. You can play around
with the flavorings (Fiori di Sicilia is wonderful, so is butternut, butter
pecan, etc.) You can dredge the cookie in sugar and then flatten to save a
little time. You can top with vanilla sugar or rum sugar. I love making huge
cookies (with those big cookie scoops Wal-Mart carries.) They can be wrapped and given as greatly appreciated gifts. My newest adventure was yesterdaymorning. I made the big cookies (approx. 5-6 inches in diameter - this recipe will make nine or ten cookies that size) and before baking, took big chunks of sugar my husband brought back from a mission trip to India - they are approx. 3-5 mm in size, colored them blue and sprinkled them on the cookies before baking. Made a cookie to rival any found in professional
bakeries, especially if you use parchment paper on the cookie sheets so the
cookies slide right off without marring the symmetry of the cookies.

Keywords:
cookies droppedcookies

[SHERRY]

Valchemist,
I am glad you tried the Sweedish ones also. I still have the tub of cookies on my counter that no one is eating...they will be tossed tonight. I can't wait to try your recipe that won the "loft house taste test" :) Thanks for passing along a tried and true.

[valchemist]

sherry,
let me know if you try them. a friend of mine baked them up (with the buttercream frosting) and she was loving them. maybe she will chime in with a review.

blaze,
thanks for that recipe. it looks interesting. I wouldn't make them with the olive oil, but I would try them with canola or the like. I will put them in my to try file.

[TLee4]

I made the Roxy's Mom's ones, with the buttercream frosting this weekend. (Orange frosting for Halloween :) ). They are SO SO good. I don't make sugar cookies often, but I will never feel a need to try another recipe. These are melt-in-your-mouth and SO good. I ate WAY too many and sent the rest to a Halloween party with my husband. I highly recommend this recipe.

Terri

[Tammy2268]

Have you ever tried powdered sugar instead of flour for rolling out the dough?Works great, and I think they are more tender, because you don't have that added flour...give it a try...

[blazedog]

sherry,
let me know if you try them. a friend of mine baked them up (with the buttercream frosting) and she was loving them. maybe she will chime in with a review.

blaze,
thanks for that recipe. it looks interesting. I wouldn't make them with the olive oil, but I would try them with canola or the like. I will put them in my to try file.

Val -- Per the person who gave me the recipe, olive oil is the "secret ingredient". I've run across a few recipes for baked goods with olive oil but I've never cooked with it. Aside from taste and smoking point, I had always assumed liquid oil was the same in terms of chemical structure interacting with other ingredients.

[dgeevanson]

Val - thanks for posting the results of your "research". When we finish eating some of last week's treats I will try the roxymom's cookies with the suggested buttercream frosting. Thanks Darla

[valchemist]

Val -- Per the person who gave me the recipe, olive oil is the "secret ingredient". I've run across a few recipes for baked goods with olive oil but I've never cooked with it. Aside from taste and smoking point, I had always assumed liquid oil was the same in terms of chemical structure interacting with other ingredients.

well, you reeled me in. I simply had to do a side by side taste test. that's how I am.

I made a half recipe with olive oil and a half recipe with vegetable oil. the texture of both were the same. the only difference was that the olive oil ones had a funky olive oil taste. both cookies are crisp but melt in your mouth tender. I formed them into 1 inch balls, rolled in sugar, and then flattened slightly with my hand. got 20 cookies from a half recipe. the ones made with regular vegetable oil had a great taste. just a delightful little cookie. nothing like lofthouse, though (in case anyone was wondering). Lofthouse are soft and fairly dense, these are neither. and the ones with olive oil? into the trash they went. the taste was just yucky.

[blazedog]

well, you reeled me in. I simply had to do a side by side taste test. that's how I am.

I made a half recipe with olive oil and a half recipe with vegetable oil. the texture of both were the same. the only difference was that the olive oil ones had a funky olive oil taste. both cookies are crisp but melt in your mouth tender. I formed them into 1 inch balls, rolled in sugar, and then flattened slightly with my hand. got 20 cookies from a half recipe. the ones made with regular vegetable oil had a great taste. just a delightful little cookie. nothing like lofthouse, though (in case anyone was wondering). Lofthouse are soft and fairly dense, these are neither. and the ones with olive oil? into the trash they went. the taste was just yucky.

:D :D You're a better man than I Gunga Din. :D Thanks for letting me bake vicariously. Truly a sensory disconnect in terms of the recommendation as olive oil flavored cookies aren't something I have dreamed about.

I had never even heard of a Lofthouse cookie prior to this thread.

[PamN]

val, did you use "pure" olive oil, or an extra-virgin? Almost all I have around any more is extra-virgin, and it can have a much stronger taste.

[valchemist]

thanks for bringing that up, Pam.

I meant to mention that I used extra virgin and that was most likely the problem. but, having said that, the cookies made with vegetable oil had the same texture anyway, so no reason to risk having an olive oil taste by using plain (ie non extravirgin) olive oil.

[blazedog]

thanks for bringing that up, Pam.

I meant to mention that I used extra virgin and that was most likely the problem. but, having said that, the cookies made with vegetable oil had the same texture anyway, so no reason to risk having an olive oil taste by using plain (ie non extravirgin) olive oil.

As my old boss used to say -- how did the date end?

Are the cookies actually worth making or are their better recipes of their ilk?

[valchemist]

yes, the cookies are definitely worth making with vegetable oil. they are very good if you like a light crisp tender cookie.

[JJeannette]

FYI, the Melt in Your Mouth cookies can be chilled, rolled and cut like other cut-out recipes, but because they are so tender, I wouldn't roll them too thin. It will double nicely as well--8 dozen cookies anyone?

[valchemist]

here are the olive oil cookies in case anyone is interested. the vegetable oil cookies look identical.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid193/p4eb9e528472e012f4cc1b6355c9e701b/f1a01b36.jpg

[yomomma]

Can you taste the olive oil?

[valchemist]

Can you taste the olive oil?

yes. see my review on the bottom of page one of this thread. I used extra virgin becasue that is all I had, so it has a stronger taste. but I am sure you would also be able to taste regular, even if only slightly. vegetable oil is definitely the way to go with these cookies as the texture with either oil is identical.

[Lorena]

Just to tell that I tried this recipe yesterday. They were very good, on the tender side, but not melt in your mouth, they were rather cakey, I think. But I must say that to half of the batch I added lemon zest. I baked a portion of both doughs. And I will definitely add more lemon zest to the batter without it. I find them very tasty that way.
For the icing, I simply used lemon juice, powdered sugar and a bit of glucose (next time I will use a bit of green food color)
I will give a try to the cookies made with oil tomorrow. I will post my feedback. :)

[Apricot]

I made these a couple days ago but ended up overcooking them so instead of being lightly browned around the edges, they were completely brown. Delicious, but the texture would be different had I pulled them out of the oven a few minutes earlier. They did spread more than the recipe I reviewed and I ended up with a thinner, flatter cookie. The others were more like little mounds. I'll try this recipe again after I eat my way through this batch.

Val-you mentioned you tested something like 8 recipes. What did you do with ALL the cookies???

[Lorena]

Yes, good point, they tend to spread. I forgot to say that, almost always, I freezed the batter.

[valchemist]

thanks both of you for the reviews!!

my roxymom cookies weren't flat. they spread a little, but they were definitely not flat. about the same height as apricot's (cwalde's) recipe, actually. I always chill my dough, too, by the way. when I say melt in your mouth, I mostly mean tender, but mine also had a dissolving quality to them. not quite as dissolving as lofthouse, though. they definitely weren't cakelike. at least not according to my definition of cakelike but I suppose we all have different definitions of textures.

they definitely need to be baked on the short side to get the best texture. baked just til barely brown on the edges. the overbaked ones aren't nearly as good (IMO). and let them sit in a container a few hours at least before eating them.

[Linda in MO]

We made Roxymom's Sugar Cookies today and they're very good! I think I got about 34 from the batch. I didn't refrigerate the dough and used my med. size cookie scoop to form them. I baked them for 11 minutes instead of 10. I baked some on a sheet pan lined w/ a silpat in my regular oven and some on a sheet pan lined w/ parchment paper in my top smaller oven of my Maytag Gemini. The cookies baked in the smaller oven got much browner on the bottom, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing but they're a little drier in texture. I should have only gone 10 minutes. They also stayed a bit rounder in shape. I'm not sure if the differnce was from using the smaller oven or because of the parchment paper instead of a silpat. :confused: Anyway they're all good. I made a 1/2 batch of the buttercream frosting that Val posted (using a little more vanilla) and I have a little bit left over. They're even good plain though. I can't really compare them to Lofthouse cookies though since I've only tried them once before and it's been a while. I'd love to try these w/ lemon zest added to the batter and iced w/ a lemon buttercream frosting. Yum!

Here's my 5 yr. old w/ the cookies...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid198/pc9b2f8f47f78bf36be88ba36cc2f2259/f0f50151.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid198/pc517f8f66db91456f8536413918596fd/f0f50192.jpg

[valchemist]

glad you liked them, linda. your son is adorable! I don't recall ever seeing a picture of him. thanks for sharing.

[annagins]

He is adorable! I love the glasses.

[Linda in MO]

Thanks guys! We think he's adorable, too, but I guess we're partial. ;) :p