By Fall arriving, marsh grass gilding, writing at desk about autumn cooking, blog post about seasonal transitions. The week was the life. The life was the cooking. The cooking was the love. And the love was the week, and the week was one of the weeks that stack together to become the years, and the years become the life, and the life is the woman at the stove who cooks and writes and loves and does not stop.
I made she-crab soup on Sunday — the anchor, the constant, the practice. The soup was perfect. The perfection was the practice. And the practice continues, one Sunday at a time, one bowl at a time, one life at a time, the woman stirring, the roux thickening, the kitchen warm, the family fed, the love alive.
After the soup pot was cleaned and the roux had done its quiet, faithful work, I still had the itch that every autumn Sunday leaves in me — the need to fill the kitchen with one more warm thing, one more act of the season made edible. Fall sugar cookies have become the coda to my Sunday ritual: simple, buttery, cut into the shapes of leaves and gourds, dusted in amber and cinnamon sugar the color of the gilded marsh grass I’d watched all morning from my desk. They don’t ask much of you, and that’s exactly the point — by Sunday evening, I’ve already given the day everything I have, and these cookies meet me exactly where I am.
Fall Sugar Cookies
Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 35 min (plus 1 hour chill time) | Servings: 36 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- For topping: 1/4 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- Fall-themed cookie cutters (leaves, acorns, pumpkins)
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together with a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes.
- Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using) until fully incorporated. Mix in the sour cream until smooth.
- Combine and chill. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low until a soft dough forms. Divide the dough in half, flatten each portion into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to overnight).
- Preheat oven. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll and cut. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disk of dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into fall shapes using your cookie cutters and transfer to the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
- Season and bake. Sprinkle each cookie generously with the cinnamon-spice sugar mixture. Bake for 8–10 minutes, until the edges are just set and the bottoms are very lightly golden. Do not overbake — they firm up as they cool.
- Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough disk.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 112 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 15g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 62mg