The BEST Soft Sugar Cookies With Buttercream Frosting

I have a sweet tooth. That should come as no surprise to you. I prefer sweet to salty typically (though I do love sweet AND salty a la peanut M&Ms and chocolate covered pretzels) and believe that there is ALWAYS room for dessert. So I typically like almost all dessert recipes. But – let me tell you – this cookie recipe is AMAZING. If you like soft sugar cookies with frosting, this recipe is for you.

icrashedtheweb-sugar cookies with buttercream frosting

Seriously. I typically have a hard time eating my baked goods after I bake them. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll have a cookie a little bit later, but these … these, I ate 3 of these in one day – that’s how good they were. Even B, a non-sugar cookie lover, who was hesitant to try them out, really liked these cookies.

I made mine with Halloween-theme and cut them out with pumpkin and other cookie cutters – you can just roll them with your hand into a ball and flatten them out so that they’re even easier to make. Make these cookies now. They are soft and the frosting is so good. You won’t regret it.

sugar cookies with buttercream frosting

The BEST Soft Sugar Cookies With Buttercream Frosting

Here’s what you need:

For the cookie dough

  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 5 1/4 c flour

For the amazing buttercream frosting (from this recipe)

  • 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • 2 ½ to 3 Tablespoons half-and-half

Here’s what you do:

For the cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and set aside.
  • In a large bowl of a standing mixer, cream together butter, oil, sugars, water, eggs and vanilla.
  • Add in flour mixture about 1 cup at a time, mixing as you add it to the wet mixture. Mix until everything is combined.
  • If you’re making regular (not cookie-cutter) cookies, use your hands to roll about healthy size (a.k.a not exact) round Tablespoon of dough and place it on a cookie sheet. Flatten dough to about ¼ inch tall. If you’re using cookie cutters, you can roll out the dough at this step. Dough should be about ¼ inch tall when you use the cookie cutter. Then place dough on cookie sheet.
  • Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  The cookies should be just browning when you take them out. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Once they are cooled, store them in the fridge and cool completely before frosting

For the vanilla buttercream frosting

  • Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
  • Frost and decorate cooled cookies. If decorating with sprinkles, add immediately after frosting each cookie so that they stick. I added orange food coloring to make the pumpkins. After frosting was dry I also decorated with black gel icing to make jack-0-lanterns.

sugar cookies with buttercream frosting

 

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes

Do you like scary movies? I don’t really. I don’t like being scared. Sometimes after watching the TV series Sherlock I have to go on Instagram or watch Gossip Girl just so I can sleep without nightmares. Yup. I’m a baby. Which is why when we invited our friends Dave and Anson over for a scary movie night to celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday, I was less than excited. Excited for the pizza from Crust we’d be eating? Yes. Excited for a scary movie? Not really. But I knew I’d suck it up and enjoy it – same as last year when I barely made it through Paranormal Activity. And if I didn’t? Well, at least I’d enjoy the baked goods!

I love peanut butter and chocolate. Especially during Halloween – who doesn’t like a good Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup? (Ok, I know a few people who don’t) Which is why when I saw this recipe for White Chocolate Candy Corn Buckeyes, I knew I had to make some Halloween themed Buckeyes. Aren’t they cute? And if you haven’t guessed from my previous recipe (Candy Corn White Chocolate Peanutty Bars), candy corn and peanut butter actually go well together. Who would’ve thought?

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes - i crashed the web

Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes (an update to my traditional Buckeye recipe)

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 tspvanilla extract
  • 3-4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 cup candy corn, about 3/4 of it chopped up
  • 1-12 oz. bag chocolate candy coating wafers (I use the Wilton Candy Melts)

Here’s what you do:

  1. Line a baking sheet with foil or waxed paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. Mix well (I use my KitchenAid) until it forms a stiff dough. Add in chopped candy corn.
  3. Shape dough into balls, about one inch or 2 tsp wide.
  4. Place on baking sheet and place peanut butter dough balls in refrigerator for 1 hour, or freezer for 30 minutes.
  5. Melt chocolate coating wafers according to package directions. I usually nuke in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave. Stir occasionally until smooth.
  6. Time to coat the Buckeyes! Remove peanut butter balls from freezer. Insert a toothpick into a ball, and dip into the melted chocolate. Return to wax paper or aluminum foil chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. For eyeball-themed buckeye, add a Candy Corn M&M on the exposed peanut butter area. For the plain candy corn buckeyes, coat entire peanut butter ball and immediately after removing from chocolate add a whole candy corn to top of ball while chocolate dries. Repeat with remaining balls.
  7. Refrigerate Buckeyes for 30 min to 1 hour to set.
Spooky Eyeball Halloween Candy Corn Buckeyes - i crashed the web

Top with M&Ms to make spooky eyeballs

Or just top with candy corn and enjoy!

Or just top with candy corn and enjoy!

A few questions for you:

  • Do you like scary movies? Not really. But I really do enjoy reading the Wikipedia pages to get a snapshot of the plot for them!
  • What’s your favorite scary movie? Saw. It scares the heck out of me but is SO interesting! The rest of the Saws don’t seem as good. I haven’t actually seen them – but reading their Wikipedia plot brings me to that conclusion. I also like Scream. That counts right? I went through a phase in high school where I was obsessed with the names Sydney and Tatum for girls.
  • What’s your favorite Halloween treat?

How can you not like this?!

After watching that I need to go flip through Instagram again. Spooky!