School Sugar Cookies recipe from my time as a lunch lady will remind you of your favorite grade-school dessert.
About Lunch Lady Cookies
For a semester in college, I spent every Thursday as a lunch lady in a Tuscaloosa, Alabama school.
It was quite the experience, and people who work in school cafeterias are grossly undervalued.
While most of it was tireless, thankless work, I was delighted to make dessert.
Especially if it was for school cafeteria cookies.
Using an electric mixer the size of a 4th grader, you'd make enough dessert for hundreds of kids.
After trying one of the sugar cookies, I knew I needed the recipe.
Despite the instruction to toss the printed recipe, I snuck it into the extra-large pockets of my khaki pants.
Best decision ever, snagging that sugar cookie recipe for my later use. I figured I should get something good out of this experience...
I was oh so very right.
And now you can enjoy them too!
Ingredients
Butter: Unsalted butter that is at room temperature is best. If you use salted butter, skip adding the salt. And room temperature helps the butter to cream with the sugars.
Sugar: Both granulated and brown sugar are used in this school sugar cookies recipe. I prefer light brown sugar but dark brown sugar will also work fine.
Oil: A tiny bit of helps keep the cookies from being too puffy. Any neutral oil will work like canola oil, vegetable oil, or avocado oil.
Extracts: To give it an extra hint of sweetness and flavor, use both vanilla extract and almond extract.
Flour: All-purpose flour is recommended. Any kind of whole grain or whole wheat flour makes these cookies a bit too dense. Gluten-free all-purpose flour can also be used.
Salt: To enhance the sweetness of the cookies, add a pinch of salt.
Baking soda: For a chewy cookie, add baking soda. Baking powder will not give you the same results, so make sure that it's baking soda you use.
How To Make School Sugar Cookies
Time needed: 1 hour
These delicious school cafeteria are simple to make. Here's how:
- Cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
- Add in egg, oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
- Sift together dry ingredients.
- Stir dry ingredients into the mixer.
- Refrigerate.
- Place dough on a baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies.
- Enjoy!
Final Thoughts:
These are my all-time favorite sugar cookies!!
Just like the ones you loved from your school cafeteria: crispy on the outside, perfectly chewy on the inside, sugary, sweet, buttery...heaven.
COOKIE RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE:
- Gingerbread Cookies without Molasses
- Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
- Microwave Oatmeal Cookie
- Chocolate Chip Cookies Gluten Free Dairy Free
- Banana Almond Butter Cookies
School Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon avocado oil
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract a little bit less than ⅛ tsp
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars.
- Beat in oil, egg & extracts.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Slowly beat in the flour mixture. Be sure to scrape the sides of the mixer at least once to make sure all of the flour is incorporated.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes. They don't really brown, so take them out when you see the slightest hint of golden around the bottom edges.
- Let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Virginia McNeil
if i make these ill end up eating 1/2 the dough and then all of the cookies that end up getting baked!
memeinge
Unfortunately, you are 100% right. I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't eat all the dough was because I knew I needed to bake some cookies to take pictures...
they.are.so.amazing! If I had the energy, I'd make them again right this moment
Wheeler
HAHA I think I remember you having to do that... I wish you had a pic of yourself in the cute "uniform". These cookies are making my mouth water though! I want to eat one right this second.
memeinge
ha! Yes, I destroyed all photographic evidence of the lunch lady uniform.
The cookies are so so so delicious! best sugar cookies I've ever made {and I've made a lot!}
Pat
This is probably a silly question, but after you refrigerate the dough, how do you actually form the cookies? Are they spooned onto the sheet?
Meme
Yeah! I just use a tablespoon (or a regular soup spoon) and scoop the dough into balls. Place them on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart and bake. Hope that helps. Enjoy 🙂
Pat
Perfect. Thanks!!
Meme
Happy to help!
Kay Walker
Have you got an easy buttercream lemon frosting recipe for these? They are soooooo good!
Meme
I have a buttercream frosting recipe but not with lemon. I bet you could add some lemon zest and substitute lemon juice for some of the milk to make it lemon flavored. YUM!!
xo
Maria
These are very good but they came out hard. Followed recipe exactly as is & baked for 11 minutes.. What did I do wrong? Made 28 cookies
Meme
Hi Maria! It is likely that 11 minutes might have been too long for the cookies in your oven. Because ovens vary (and my oven is old and not super reliable), your cookies might have cooked faster than the recommended time.
Next time, you can try cooking them for 8-9 minutes (or until they are just ever so slightly golden on the edges) and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for 2-5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Hope that helps! 🙂
ciara
Did the original recipe really call for avocado oil or a different oil? What can I substitute avocado oil for? My daughter and best friend are very allergic to avocados These look so good!!
Meme
Great question! You can use canola oil or vegetable oil. I'll update the recipe to add 🙂
Thanks!! Enjoy!
David L Woolsey
Thank you for publishing this recipe. I made it last night, and the cookies were exactly like I remember in elementary and middle school!
Meme
YAYYYYY!!! My heart just exploded with happiness! I need to make them again soon 🙂
Jackie
I didn't refrigerate the cookies and they are soft in the middle. What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe exactly but forgot about the fridgeration part.
Meme
Hi Jackie,
It sounds like maybe they need to cook a little longer. Oven temperatures and times (unfortunately) vary, so the direction times are guidelines. You can also allow them to cool on the baking sheet for longer. This will help them cook a smidge more.
Hope that helps!
Neena
Hi there,
I was wondering, would it ruin the recipe if I left out the almond extract? I do not have any on hand in the house.
Meme
It'll be ok! I love adding the tiny bit of almond extract to give it that extra sweet flavor, but the cookies are still tasty without it.
Enjoy! 🙂
Frances Rouse
I can't wait to try these, Meme! I'm pretty sure my lunch lady NEVER put cookies on our tray, but I'll let these make a memory for me.
I hope you're doing well!