Mexican Sugar Cookies Recipe

What's your favorite way to spread holiday cheer? Warming the house with the sweet smell of cookies must be pretty high on the list! And, thanks to recipe developer Catherine Brookes' colorful Mexican sugar cookies recipe, it's never been easier to brighten up the holidays. "I wanted to add a fun twist to a classic sugar cookie recipe and was inspired by the bright colours of traditional Mexican cookies," Brookes explains of these sweet treats. "Seeing the bright color pop as you mix the food coloring through the dough is great fun!"

Not only are these cookies fun to make, but they taste wonderful as well. Loaded with traditional baking ingredients like sugar, butter, and flour, these sugar cookies keep things simple, classic, and tasty. This recipe will give you 12 cookies altogether, and they're so much fun to make! Even the kids give you a hand. Prep and bake together is less than 45 minutes total. If you're looking to add a colorful twist to your cookies, give this Mexican sugar cookies recipe a try!

To get started on making these Mexican sugar cookies, you'll want to make sure that you have the right ingredients first. You'll need some room temperature butter, granulated sugar, a large egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Finally, to give them their colorful flair, you'll want to select food coloring of your choice. Brookes used yellow, red, and green food coloring, though you can switch it up based on personal preference!

Preheat your oven to 350 F. While the oven warms, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on a medium speed for about three minutes. You can also do this by hand with a wooden spoon. Next, add in the egg and vanilla extract. Beat all ingredients together again to properly combine. Sift any large clumps from the flour and incorporate it into the mixture. Shake out the baking soda through a
sieve as well. Sprinkle the salt in and mix on a low speed until well-blended. As you know, with desserts, texture is everything. Brookes advises that this mixture should be "just completely combined and smooth." She also notes that "you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl half way through if using a stand mixer."

Let's go hands-on for a moment! First, divide the dough equally between three bowls. Dollop in a few drops of red food coloring to one bowl, yellow to the second, and green to the third. Invite the kids in after you add food coloring, to avoid a messy cleanup (trust us, we know.) Now you can hand-mix the dough thoroughly to distribute the color. You can mix with ease, as Brookes says that the food coloring won't change the dough texture. "If you use a good quality coloring you should only need to very small amount so it doesn't change the consistency," she explains.

Separate your colored cookie dough into equal parts, then roll the dough into balls. As a food expert, Brookes weighed her dough to be sure all the cookies will be even-sized. "I weighed each cookie ball before placing on the baking sheet to get them equal," she explains, also noting that the weight you want to aim for is about 1.7 ounces.

The kids can join you in this step as well. "The mixing of the different colours into the dough and the rolling of the dough into balls would be a great activity for kids," says Brookes. Roll each dough ball into the sugar to coat it and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Our developer assures us there's no need to flatten them out, just roll with it (pun definitely intended). "No flattening as they spread a lot as they bake," Brookes added.

Now, bake these sweet treats for 10 to 12 minutes. They should be cracked on the top and just browning around the edges. Once you pull them from the oven, leave them on the baking sheets to cool for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, they can be transferred to a wire rack to finish cooling. Brookes says these should preserve well, if stored properly. "Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days," she says. Whether baking is a hobby or a semi-messy family affair, we hope these colorful Mexican sugar cookies bring light and warmth to your home!