Her elegant handwriting.
The smell of her house.
Her dainty wrist always dripping in jewelry.
Scotch on the rocks with a twist.
Her sugar cookies.
My beautiful grandmother.
I remember walking through the door of my grandmother’s house in Gettysburg when I was growing up. The wonderful smell that somehow managed to find its way into the packages that she sent to our house in Palatine would hit me full force. The smell of my grandmother’s house.
After walking through the door and inhaling deeply, I would give my grandmother a tight hug before my eyes darted into the far right-hand corner of her kitchen.
That’s where I knew I could always find Mimi’s gigantic glass cookie jar packed to the brim with her homemade sugar cookies.
I’d look back at my grandmother and she’d nod her head towards the cookies. That was all the permission I needed. It was cookie time!
In my three years of blogging, I think I can safely say this is one of the most precious recipes I’ve ever shared.
My grandma’s sugar cookies are by no means healthy, but they are by all means delicious. My entire family adores these sugar cookies. My parents, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins… everyone.
If you make them, be sure to make them extra large. They’re supposed to be giant. That’s part of the fun! They’re big, cakey yet dense at the same time and lightly dusted with sugar.
The sugar dusting is a must as well!
I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do in my family!
Mimi’s Sugar Cookies
Mimi’s Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 Dozen Cookies 1x
- Category: dessert, recipes
- Cuisine: dessert
Description
My grandma’s sugar cookies are by no means healthy, but they are by all means delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup Crisco
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Cream together Crisco and sugar
- Mix in eggs
- In a medium-size bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt
- Slowly mix flour mixture into creamed sugar; Mix well
- In a small bowl combine vanilla, sour cream and baking soda; Add to flour batter
- Cover and refrigerate overnight
- Heat oven to 350 degrees
- Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until sides of the cookies begin to slightly brown
- Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack; Sprinkle immediately with sugar and allow to cool completely
Question of the Morning
- Do you associate a certain recipe with your grandparents? Any favorites?
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All I can say is HOLY YUM those cookies look amazing!!!! I absolutely need to make them! My grandma makes the best mac and cheese. No matter what my mom does, it never comes out as good. She won’t admit it, though haha
This is such a precious post—thank you so much for sharing. It warms my heart thinking about my own grandparents. I will always remember my grandma’s chocolate chip cookies. I know the secret to their softness and plumpness was crisco, but I think that even if I tried to make her recipe today, that they still wouldn’t taste as good. Grandma’s have that special touch.
This is so sweet of you. Your grandmother looks absolutely beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing such a special recipe 🙂
My grandmom would always make candy cane cookies for Christmas! What is it about grand moms & amazing cookies?!
These cookies were absolutely fantastic!! I’m so honored that I was a recipient of your grandmother’s recipe and you did her very proud!! And interesting side note… I called my grandmother Meme too!! Thanks again and happy cookie swapping!!
Those look great, and what a great memory!
I associate two different kinds of meatballs with my grandmothers. For my dad’s mother, it’s macaroni meatballs (which, I later found out was my mother’s recipe, so while it should remind me of my mother, it reminds me of grandma), which have a fantastic sauce that I will pour over almost anything. For my other grandmother, it’s porcupine balls, which are meatballs rolled in rice. They have a similar sauce to the macaroni meatballs, so that should’ve been my first clue. 🙂
Your grandmother is beautiful! My Nana makes a meatball dish every time we go see her. That will forever be her signature.
Thanks so much for sharing! Family recipes are the best! 🙂 My grandmother used to make an amazing stuffing every year for Thanksgiving but no one ever knew the exact recipe. She passed away a little over a year ago, and this past year my mom managed to recreate the recipe somehow and it was so wonderful, almost like having a part of her with us again.
Grandmas always know how to make the best cookies 🙂
In my family, no birthday is complete without Watergate Salad (pistachio pudding + Cool Whip + pineapple), and it HAS to be made by Grandma, otherwise it’s not the same. My cousins and I have been known to get very demanding and once raised quite the protest when Watergate Salad was not present at a birthday celebration.
This recipe looks fantastic, I’m sure the sour cream gives them that “hmm what is in these?” delicious flavor. Can’t wait to try them, thanks so much for sharing such a special recipe!
Awww I love grandma smells and recipes! And I love how their scent always gets into the cards and packages they send you. Those sugar cookies look and sound divine!
That is so sweet of you to share her recipe. I make my great aunt Avis’s gooey cinnamon rolls in memory of her, everyone loves them and it always makes me feel closer to her
This post almost brings me to tears! My grandparents are so special to me and I have so many dishes and recipes I associate with memories of my grandmother. Thank you so much for sharing!
Sugar cookies are my absolute favorite cookie around Christmas time…especially the frosted ones! Which is pretty weird considering they do not contain my love..peanut butter ;).
I do not associated any recipes with my grandparents, but I do always think of my granddad whenever I see Hawaiian pizza because that is the only kind of people he would eat and I always thought it was so weird to have pineapple on pizza. I guess I wised up because now I love it!
I call my grandmother MIMI!!!! And we made my mom’s official grandma name Mimi!! 🙂
It’s the best! Your Mimi is beautiful
Oh I love this post! My grandma always made us homemade waffles when we stayed at her house in the summer, and they were always amazing. I later found out that she had some help from Mister Bisquick, but I think the fact that she made them with “love” for the people she loves made them that much more special and delicious!
Not usually a huge fan of sugar cookies but these look different because they are so thick and doughy! Definitely will be giving this recipe a try in honor of your grandma! 🙂 Thanks Julie!
Thanks for sharing your Mimi’s sugar cookie recipe 🙂 These are my favorite type of Christmas cookie. I will definitely be trying out this recipe!
What a sweet post. I also associate certain smells and foods with my grandparents. When I was little I was convinced that Nana’s “gits” (grits) were the best in the entire world–no one could make ’em like her! In reality, she used Quaker instant and stirred in Country Crock margarine, but to me they were a delicacy. Super buttery grits always remind me of her.
These cookies look so thick and chewy!
Beef stew, biscotti, and chicken salad sandwiches most remind me of my grandma. 🙂 She’s the best cook.
Those cookies look amazing! I usually associate the smell of a sweet smoke to my Grandpa– he was a smoker unfortunately. My Grandma makes chocolate chip cookies every so often and it’s like no one can make them the way she does– same with her sauce
My mom’s mom: divinity with a pecan half perched on top. My dad’s mom: peanut brittle.
I don’t have the ability or patience to make either one of them and to be honest, I wouldn’t want to. The memories are fine as they are, and my concoction would never measure up to their deliciousness.
What a special recipe! The best recipes are the ones tied with memories of our loved ones. This makes me miss my own grandma, who I’m glad I will be seeing in a couple of weeks 🙂
They’re sitting in my fridge right now! The hard part will be waiting. I love how you described your grandmother and her house. I have so many amazing memories with mine as well, including baking amazing cookies like this together 🙂 And the way her house smells! Love it
Have a good day, and thanks again Julie
Thanks for sharing; they certainly look sinful!
She’s adorable! And her cookies look so good! What a precious memory 🙂
I am so happy you are sharing this recipe! I’ve seen these cookies on some of your previous posts and they look so good but I didn’t want to ask for the recipe in case they were a family secret 🙂 When my Nana passed away, my Aunt gave me all her recipe books for Christmas. I cried in front of my entire family, I was speechless. It was the best Christmas gift ever…some of her recipes I can barely read due to years of food getting on them, she was an amazing good. For an Italian, she made the BEST Chinese food, LOL
What beautiful memories of your grandmother.
Her cookies look so yummy.
Thank you for sharing a recipe so close to your heart.
Thank you for sharing this precious recipe!! I can only imagine how much it means to your family!
Thanks for sharing!! I can’t wait to make them for my family 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I just shared my stepmom’s cookie recipe on my blog and know how precious those special recipes are!
Thanks for sharing such a precious recipe! These are absolutely perfect for me to make since my boyfriend’s family doesn’t like chocolate ha. Also, you grandmother is gorgeous! I always associate sephardic almond cookies with my grandma, she always gives them to me for my birthday!
Aw this is such a sweet post! Does your grandma read your blog? Unfortunately my Nana passed away many years ago, but whenever I would visit her she always made a fresh batch of her AMAZING brownies and always had ginger ale on hand. Such great memories 🙂
Beautiful post! Cookies look awesome 🙂
What a precious and beautiful story. Growing up we lived really far from my grandparents, so we didn’t spend too many holidays together. The way I’ve gotten to know and taste my grandmother’s cooking is through my mother. There are so many recipes I associate with my mother and with growing up. It’s cool to know that those are the recipes she grew up with and associates with her mother (with a few of her own sprinkled in there). Your Mimi’s Sugar Cookies look delightful and I love that they are made big and cakey! That’s the best kind of cookie in my book. 😉
Your grandma looks so happy in that picture! Definitely pinning this to my sweets board for my cookie bake with my mom this Christmas. Thanks for sharing, Julie! 🙂
Grandma is so cute!! I actually just asked my brother and my grandma didn’t make anything. But everytime i see goldfish and haagen daaz pints of ice cream i think of her cause they were always in the house.
Awe what a wonderful recipe, thank you for sharing and I can’t wait to try them!
We call my grandma Honey and everyone relates thanksgiving dressing to Honey. It’s so classic and simple, but I’ve yet to like anyone else’s dressing more than Honey. I’m the only grandchild with a nickname, and the only one with her recipe! I now share the pressure Honey has to make the dressing live up to everyone’s expectations!
Thank you so much for sharing! Your Grandmother is beautiful just like you! 🙂
Beautiful post! 🙂
Your Grandma is beautiful! Her cookies look delicious and definitely even better because I bet they have a lot of love in them as well 🙂
this is funny, i just spent last night making my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, the memories are just like yours. My grandma also makes amazing cinnamon rolls and applesauce.
Beautiful post, the sugar cookies look delicious. I seriously cannot wait to make them and it’s even nicer to know that there’s such a beautiful story behind it. That photo of your Grandmother is fantastic, her smile is out of this world!
I associate tea cakes with my paternal grandmother. She used to make them when I was in elementary school. I remember one time being so upset that my mom made me take some to school to share with my class. She’s my grandma, and those were MY special tea cakes! She gave me the recipe once, and I lost it. She’s since passed away. 🙁
Your comment about how the sugar on top is a must reminds me of my grandmother, Grammie (or GiGi to the great-grandkids). She would always say “It’s not a must” if it was something she didn’t feel was needed or appropriate. Every time I hear that saying, I immediately think of her. Thanks for the sweet memories your heartfelt post brought! 🙂
Oh, and I always associate my grandmother with cocoa krispy bars and baked spaghetti – So, so yummy!
You are so sweet to share this recipe. My grandmother and I share tea time anytime I’m home with her (I live 2 hrs away). Next time we have tea time I am going to bring these sugar cookies! Thank you tons!!!
Yay! I was hoping you would share the recipe after you talked about it last week! Can’t wait to make them!
Your grandma is adorable. My girls call my mom Mimi, so when I read that you call her Mimi it truly made me smile. Your Mimi’s cookie recipe looks amazing, the girls are I are going to make it for Christmas.
One of my favorite recipes my grandma (Gigi, as my girls call her) makes is her pound cake. It is the best pound cake recipe. My husband called it heavenly once. 🙂
Thank you for bringing a smile to my face.
Rice Krispy Treats and Divinity- both remind me of my grandma on my dad’s side! Divinity especially around the holidays!