These Lofthouse cookies are the perfect mixture of soft, sweet, and crumbly from the cookie texture to the smooth frosting!
Earlier this year, I decided to make sour cream cookies in the hopes of recreating Lofthouse cookies. While delicious, it wasn’t as close to a recipe as I would have liked. So, I decided to try again! I am unsure of what ingredients companies use to get those perfect cookies, but I felt this recipe came close! While the cookies are an exact replica of Lofthouse cookies, they were close enough, so I decided to use the name to keep it simple.
The most interesting thing that I noticed about these Lofthouse cookies is how soft they were. They don’t necessarily expand so much as they expand up when baking and gain a lovely, soft and crumbly texture. I could eat a whole box of the cookies straight. But the frosting does add another layer of flavor.
And another layer of mess. Just like store-bought Lofthouse cookies, these don’t exactly store well without some sort of special container. And even though they are so light, they still can crush each other.
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.
Ingredients
The ingredients for these cookies are in line with most ingredients for every cookie. Butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour, some sort of leavening agent. Easy enough. I actually used both baking powder and soda for this recipe because I thought it would give a better result. But the weird ingredient is the same as the last time I made these types of cookies: sour cream.
Process
Making the Dough
With how much baking I do I feel like the stand mixer is a needed tool in one’s kitchen arsenal. I don’t think there is any process I’ve done that couldn’t be done by hand. Tools are not necessary, but they help so much. I find this double true at the beginning of any cookie recipe when I need to cream together butter and sugar. This process always takes longer than expected with a stand mixer, I would lose my mind doing it by hand.
The second step is to add in the egg, sour cream, salt, and vanilla extract. I love watching the butter mixture turn into almost a soup when adding eggs or milk. The sour cream also made it more creamy than usual.
I mixed the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a separate bowl before adding it to the wet mixture. And then I obsessively stared at the dough and watched it come together. Given how light and airy I want these cookies to be, I was especially conscious of overmixing.
Shaping and Baking
The next step for making these Lofthouse cookies is to shape the dough. There is very little leavening agent inside the dough which means their shape is not going to change that much in the oven. Most of the cookie shaping takes place before they bake.
First, I made dough balls. About 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter. I find this to be generally good cookie dough ball size. It took about 12 cookie dough balls to fill up one sheet tray. Once they were evenly placed, I smushed them down into a disc. I used a dough scraper for this since it provides a large, flat surface.
When the cookies smashed, I did notice that they stretched in a way I didn’t expect. They flare out on the ends creating a bumpy edge. I should have probably smoothed them into a circular edge at this point, but I forgot to. With the cookies properly shaped, it was time to bake!
The Frosting
But what are Lofthouse cookies without a bit of frosting? Frosting is easy to make so long as you whip it long enough. I started with the butter and used the stand mixer to whip up the butter as much as possible. Going full butter for this recipe was a difficult decision for me but due to the ratios needed for this recipe, it felt like the right choice.
Then I added in the extract, powdered sugar, salt, and heavy cream. There is something extremely satisfying about watching frosting come together. Going from a random mess of ingredients into something fully edible (and delicious) is like magic to me. Well, chemistry… But is there really a difference?
Lastly, I added the food coloring. I am glad that pink is the standard color for Lofthouse cookies. The biggest issue I have with frosting is that the base is effectively white. This makes it difficult to add any form of vibrant color. Everything comes out a bit pastel. Which works out fine if the final goal is pink!
I couldn’t decorate the cookies until they were fully cooled or else the frosting would melt. I also tried to add sprinkles while the frosting was soft so the sprinkles would stick.
Reflections
Yea, I really love Lofthouse cookies. This recipe managed to come in a bit closer to the store-bought cookie, but I feel there is still an element was off. But that doesn’t make them any less delicious. I could eat these everyday if I wasn’t afraid the sweet would hurt my teeth. Overall, I would definitely make this recipe again.
Lessons
What’s the Difference?
While these Lofthouse cookies and the sour cream cookies I previously made are similar, they are also drastically different. It’s the same ingredients but the proportions are different. And those proportions are what make the key differences. I equate baking / cooking to chemistry. You can have the same compounds at the core, but different ratios make different solutions. That’s why both the ingredients and the amounts are so important.
recipe
Lofthouse Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- ½ Cup Sour Cream
- ½ Teaspoon Fine Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
Frosting
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/3 Teaspoon Fine Salt
- 3 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
- Red Food Coloring / Gel
- Sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with silicone liner or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, sour cream, salt, and vanilla extract until fully combined, scraping the sides as needed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add the flour mixture to the large bowl and mix until just combined. Scraping the sides as needed.
- Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, divide the dough into 1-inch balls. Place the dough balls on the baking tray with approximately 2-inches between each ball. Using a flat surface, press down on each ball to create a disc.
- Baking for 10 to 12 minutes or until very lightly golden. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for another 5 minutes. Then remove the cookie from the sheet and transfer them to a cooking rack to fully cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, heavy cream, and food coloring (or gel).
- Spread the frosting on the top of the cooled cookies, the layer should be relatively thin and leave a small border of the cooking on the outermost edge. Decorate with sprinkles as desired.
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