March Madness (Crinkle Sugar) Cookies
It’s that time of year again – March Madness! I had added a star to this recipe when it popped up around St Patty’s Day. I made a mental note to keep these in mind whenever I had some extra egg yolks. And believe it or, I had two extra egg yolks a couple days later. We were going over to a friend’s house to watch Purdue play in the tournament (Go Boilers!). I decided to make these cookies festive for the game using Purdue’s gold and black. Everyone loved these cookies. They’re basically snickerdoodles dipped in colored sugar. You could make these for any occasion with any colored sugars.
Crinkle Sugar Cookies – from How to Eat a Cupcake, adapted from AllRecipes.com – I got 22 cookies using my cookie scoop10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.
Add egg yolks and vanilla, and beat for 2 more minutes.
With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a little at a time.
Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and roll it in some sugar. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until tops are cracked and the edges are just brown (the centers will still be very soft). Cool on wire racks.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love freezing dough but somehow most ends up in my tummy unbaked when I do that 🙂
What a great gift! I’m thinking that would be wonderful for all sorts of occasions. Thanks for the idea!
These are adorable and I love that idea! Two questions, though: 1) Were these as good as the cookies from the other recipes? and 2) When you freeze them, do you bake right from frozen?
Great questions Carly – As far as comparing them to the other cookies. I enjoyed the chocolate M&M cookies the best, but they were REALLY chocolatey. The other non-chocolate M&M cookies were a bit more chewy and they had nuts in them, so they had a different vibe. This recipe was more of a classic M&M cookie for sure.
As far as baking from frozen, you can def just go straight from freezer to oven. Bake them ~13 minutes instead of ~11 and take them out when they look done.
these were delicious!
they look so cute all frozen up 🙂
I love the pink and red M&Ms. Thanks for the idea of freezing the cookie dough.
I was going to ask you the same thing as Carly, well the first question. These cookies are cute. Your freezing method reminded me that I have a bunch of sugar cookies still in the freezer! Do you know how long cookies can stay in the freezer?
I don’t know how long they will last in the freezer. I have a tendency to forget about things in my freezer… I’d guess a couple months? Anyone have ideas?
What festive little cookies 🙂 I love them! I also like the fact that you froze them. I bet they were delicious. Make sure to enter the All Through the Year Cheer event for Valentine’s Day 🙂
I think that sounds like a great way to spend valentine’s day. It can be intimidating the way it’s so hyped up. The cookies look very festive, love ’em!
We don’t do “valentine’s day” either since my MIL was born on the 14th and daughter’s birthday is the 15th – besides, its more important to say you love someone everyday, not just one day out of the year. Love the idea about freezing the cookie dough in preshaped form and giving that away. Wonderful idea!
I am looking for cookies that travel well for my soldier adopted through Soldier’s Angels and these look like a winner!!
Mmm, these were so tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day!
These are just too cute!! I love M&M cookies too!!
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Just had to add my two cents on the idea of giving cookie dough frozen and ready to be baked – genius! For some reason, I’ve never thought of that, even though I’ve given cookies frozen to people to be defrosted when they’re ready to eat. I love the dough idea!
YUM-these look absolutely delicious! I love the pink and red M&Ms!