Soft Maple Sugar Cookies with Maple Frosting

One thing that reminds me of the holiday season, for some reason, is maple. I feel so cozy and homey eating anything with maple syrup – french toast, maple candies, pancakes, waffles, and even, cookies.

That’s right. I made these lovely soft maple sugar cookies recently for the fourth annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap ^[4]! It’s hosted yearly by Love & Olive Oil ^[5] and The Little Kitchen ^[6] so check out their blogs and remember to sign up next year!

Anyway, it’s simple, really. You sign up, receive the addresses of three other food bloggers, and then send each of them one dozen homemade cookies from the same recipe. Of course, in turn, you’ll receive three boxes of cookies from three different bloggers. This cookie swap is partnered with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer ^[7], a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer. This is a very dear organization because pediatric cancer claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. Each participant in this swap paid $4.00 which was really a donation directly to the charity. And there were over 500 participants!! Very awesome, you guys.

I made these Maple Sugar Cookies with a Maple Frosting (recipe below), and I originally intended for them to be soft. They can be a confusing cookie because they were soft coming out of the oven, but then hardened up so they were more like a thin, hard disk (still tasty), and so when I was writing out the recipe, I crossed out the “soft” from the title of the cookies, hehe. But then!!! once they had some frosting on them, they became soft again because the cookie absorbed the icing so well. Success! I sent these cookies to Krystal of Krystal’s Kitsch ^[8], Shinee of Sweet and Savory by Shinee, and Candi of A Day in Candiland ^[9].

As the cookie swap goes, I received some stellar cookies!

These were from Rachel of A Southern Fairytale ^[10]. She made (clockwise from left): Cranberry Walnut Rum Fudge, Candy Cane White Chocolate Chocolate Cookies, and Chocolate Dipped Shortbread. Plus, she sent me a potholder!

These next ones, called “little horns” are a family recipe from Michelle of M’s Belly ^[11]. Very tasty!!

Last but certainly not least, I received these cookies from Melanie of Carmel Moments ^[12]. A dark chocolate cookie with a fair amount of caramel in the middle. Be still my gumbling, hungry, craving belly. Anything with caramel is amazing.

This was so much fun and I can’t wait to participate next year! If you are interested, sign up for notifications here.

Print Recipe ^[13]

Soft Maple Sugar Cookies

Yield: 60

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes/batch

Total Time: 42 minutes

Ingredients:

Maple Sugar Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Maple Icing

• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Maple Sugar Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 300*F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and shortening on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
3. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, and vanilla. Beat in flour in increments so as not to overload.
4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, or until edges are light brown.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely. Drizzle tops with maple frosting and allow frosting to set.

Maple Icing

1. In a medium bowl, combine milk, butter, and maple syrup. Whisk in powdered sugar until combined and desired consistency.