These sour cream cookies sprinkled with pearl sugar are made into a delicious dough in no time, thanks to their three simple ingredients. Just cut them out, decorate and bake, and an indescribably delicious and gorgeous Christmas cookie is ready!
What I really like about these cookies is that there is no sugar in the dough. The sweetness of the cookies comes exclusively from the hail sugar. So delicious!
Last Christmas, I made these cookies with my little four-year-old daughter. Since my little sweetheart's patience isn't exactly the longest, this cookie was just the ticket.
The dough is prepared in no time; we spent the dough resting time reading and playing, and then the cookie cutting and decorating before baking was super fun! And the snacking afterward, for sure! 😉
Since Christmas is the best time of the year for me, you'll find a lot of beautiful recipes regarding Christmas at combinegoodflavors. Browse through the Christmas category and get into the proper mood with those gorgeous recipes.
Further favorite cookies: Coconut "Busserl" Cookies, Linzer Cookies with Eggnog, Walnut Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chestnut Flour.
🥘 Ingredients
- Cake flour
- Sour cream
- Unsalted butter - cold
- Flour - for the work surface
Decor
- Yolk
- Pearl sugar
See the recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
Step 1
Since you have to chill the dough for an hour, we will start preparing the dough at the beginning.
Cut the cold butter into small cubes and put the butter pieces into the mixing bowl of your kitchen machine.
Add flour and sour cream to the butter and rub the ingredients together with your fingers until you get a rough dough.
After that, let the kitchen machine, equipped with a dough hook, knead the dough at medium speed until a smooth, soft dough forms.
Wrap the finished dough in a plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for an hour.
Step 2
Before cutting out the cookies, preheat your oven to 356 °F // 180 °C top/bottom heat. Cover the baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
To prevent the dough from sticking, sprinkle some flour on the work surface before rolling out the dough.
Roll out the dough thinly on the floured surface and cut out the cookies. Dip the cookie cutter in flour in between. This way, the dough won't stick too much to the cookie cutter.
The easiest way to do this is to use a Linzer cookie cutter. This one has this beautifully scalloped shape on the large outer circle and a delightful motif of your choice for the small hole in the middle. I opted for the heart motif here.
There are also cookie cutters, where the large and small cutters are separate. This version requires a little more effort because you have to cut out each cookie twice.
The large cutter has a diameter of about 5 cm (1.97 inches) and the small one in the middle about 3 cm (1.18 inches).
Place the cut-out cookies on the prepared baking tray with baking paper.
Knead the dough that remains after the first round of cutting, roll it out and continue cutting until there is no more dough left.
Step 3
Now separate the egg into two mugs or plastic bowls. Keep the yolk for the sour cream cookies and store the egg white. You certainly can use it for further baking ventures.
Brush the cookie curls with egg yolk and sprinkle them with hail sugar.
Place the cut-out cookies on the baking tray with baking paper.
Brush them with egg yolk.
Step 4
Bake the cookies on the middle rack for about 15 minutes. Once they have a golden color, they are just right.
Sprinkle with pearl sugar.
Let them cool after baking.
Let them cool before storing them in an airtight cookie tin lined with parchment paper.
Enjoy these delicious cookies with good Christmas music and delicious hot chocolate, coffee, or tea!
🍽 Equipment
- Kitchen machine
- Plastic wrap
- Rolling pin
- Cookie-cutter
- Baking paper
- Baking sheets
- Baking brush
Looking for more delicious treats? Check out the following recipes:
- Linzer Cookies with homemade Egg Liqueur
- Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chestnut Flour
- Chocolate Dipped Butter Cookies
- Best Cinnamon Cookies (Zimtsterne)
- Leftover Egg Yolk Cookies
- Walnut Meringue Cookies
- Advocaat Egg Liqueur Bites
- Walnut Cookies
- Coconut Meringue Cookies
- No-Bake Roasted Almond Slivers with Chocolate
- Christmas Snowball Cookies (created by reallifeoflulu.com)
- Gluten Free Sugar Cookies (created by burntapple.com)
🌡 Storage
The sour cream cookies last up to three weeks if not eaten before. 🙂 Store them in a cookie tin or airtight container lined with greaseproof or parchment paper. The layers keep the cookies from sticking together or to the bottom or sides of the can.
The cookies are not suitable for freezing, because the nib sugar becomes moist and melts.
If you're looking for more Christmas cookie-baking tips, check out our blog post "Baking Basics for Christmas Cookies"!
💭 Top Tip
To prevent the dough from sticking too much to the cookie cutter, it is useful to dip the cutter in flour in between. This will save you trouble and the cookie-cutter will not be so sticky.
You will have one egg white left over from this cookie recipe. If you do not have an immediate use for it, freeze it. Then you already have an egg white for another time that you can use further.
Especially during the Christmas season and the annual Christmas cookie baking, it happens that you'll need an additional egg white or yolk now and then.
Therefore, please save leftover yolks and egg whites, freeze them, and use them later. This safekeeping of leftover ingredients saves money and is better for the environment!
🙋🏻 FAQ
Leftover egg whites can be kept frozen for up to 6 months. To do this, put the egg whites in a container suitable for freezing. You can also use an ice cube mold for that. And then store in the freezer.
Nib sugar (also pearl sugar and hail sugar) is a product of refined white sugar. The sugar is very coarse, hard, opaque white, and does not melt at temperatures typically used for baking. The product usually is made by crushing blocks of white sugar, then sifting to obtain fragments of a given diameter.
Source: wikipedia.com
The cookies get this wonderful golden color by brushing them with egg yolk.
More gorgeous cookie recipes for you to try:
If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it by ★★★★★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. This would be awesome! You can also sign up for our Newsletter or follow me on Pinterest or Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @combinegoodflavors and hashtag #combinegoodflavors, so I don't miss it.
📖 Recipe
Sour Cream Cookies
Equipment
- Plastic Wrap
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Paper
- Baking sheets
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cake flour
- ⅔ cup Sour cream
- ⅔ cup Unsalted butter - cold
- Flour for the work surface
Decor
- 1 Yolk
- Nib sugar
Instructions
- Cut the cold butter into small cubes and put the butter pieces into the mixing bowl of your kitchen machine.⅔ cup Unsalted butter
- Add flour and sour cream to the butter and rub the ingredients together with your fingers until you get a rough dough.2 cups Cake flour, ⅔ cup Sour cream, ⅔ cup Unsalted butter
- After that, let the kitchen machine, equipped with a dough hook, knead the dough at medium speed until a smooth, soft dough forms.
- Wrap the finished dough in a plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 356 °F // 180 °C top/bottom heat. Cover the baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Sprinkle some flour on the work surface before rolling out the dough.Flour for the work surface
- Roll out the dough thinly with a rolling pin and cut out the cookies.
- Place the cut-out cookies on the prepared baking tray with baking paper.
- Knead the dough that remains after the first round of cutting, roll it out and continue cutting until there is no more dough left.
- Now separate the egg into two mugs or plastic bowls. Keep the yolk for the sour cream cookies and store the egg white.1 Yolk
- Brush the cookies with egg yolk and sprinkle them with nib sugar.Nib sugar
- Bake the cookies on the middle rack for about 15 minutes. Once they have a golden color, they are just right.
- Let them cool before storing them in an airtight cookie tin lined with parchment paper.
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
🎄 More holiday favorites you'll love
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.
Gloria says
I always have sour cream in the fridge. I love using it in cooking and especially in baking. These cookies are super cute and would be a nice addition to the holiday treat tray.
Nora says
Thank you, Gloria! I am so happy you liked them!
Karen says
Super yummy! Made these with my kids and they turned out perfect! Will definitely make again soon.
Nora says
That's awesome! Thank you!
Elizabeth says
Oh these are different - excited to try!
Keri Bevan says
I can't believe these yummy cookies only have 3 ingredients. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Nora says
Thank you, Keri! I am so happy you like them!