Grandma Ropte's Sugar Cookies

As kids, we always looked forward to the long trip out to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ropte in Humboldt, Iowa. At the time, we lived in Warsaw, Indiana, so it was about an 8-10 hour drive (depending on road conditions, time of day, traffic in Chicago, and the level of fullness of between 5-8 bladders).

As we turned onto the long gravel driveway to enter into the family farm, though, a handful of things ran through my mind:

1) "Hallelujah - we're FINALLY here! I think I've been in that car a week!"
2) "I wonder who we'll see first?"
3) "Where are the barn cats?!?!?!"
4) "When is it time to see our cousins?"
and 5) "How long will it take to get one of Grandma's sugar cookies in my hands?"

Grandma Ropte made THE best sugar cookies! In fact, for the longest time, they were the only sugar cookies I had ever tasted. Her sugar cookies were melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and any other sugar cookie paled in comparison to them.

Fortunately, I ended up with a copy of this recipe, and although I can't seem to master it quite like my younger sister, they're pretty darn close!

The ingredients are as follows:

1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
1 Egg
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

It's very important to mix the ingredients in the right order, according to my sister: cream the sugar and butter first, then add the oil and eggs and blend. After that, add the extracts, and then in a separate bowl, sift together the powdered sugar, cream of tartar and baking soda. You add the sugar mixture to the butter mixture and voila - you're ready to get those cookies on the sheet!

I'm kinda in love with my Pampered Chef scoop, btw - makes for a much easier job for me!


Anyway, you take a big scoop and put it on the baking sheet

The next step is to prep a bowl full of granulated sugar, and butter the bottom of a flat tumbler (a.k.a. glass) with butter slathered on the bottom of it, then dip it in the sugar,

You then use the tumbler to flatten the cookie dough into a nice clean circle on the pan.


You then bake it on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-8 minutes. (The recipe says 8, my sister says 5)

They are delicious with this Sugar Cookie Sleighride seasonal tea, but eating them just plain is just as wonderful :)