Spiced Sour Cream Cookies

A soft, chewy cookie prepared with sour cream and familiar, warming, Christmastime spices. Spiced Sour Cream Cookies are loaded with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg too, which makes them a very comforting and cozy confection! The drizzled glaze is completely optional too!

If you’re looking for a soft, chewy, moist cookie filled with familiar Christmas flavours, look no further. Spiced Sour Cream Cookies are all of those things and more! The cookie dough is prepared with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, which is basically a pumpkin spice blend. Before baking, the cookies are rolled into balls and then rolled in a spiced sugar coating. You can bake them off and leave them like that, or you can drizzle them with a basic icing too. As you can, I did it both ways so that you can see what they look like before you decide.

Let’s for just a moment pretend you are not an avid baker. If that’s the case, you might not have all of those spices in your pantry or spice rack. If not, and you are not too keen on buying four different spices for just one cookie recipe, I have a solution for you. Buy just a pumpkin spice blend. It has all four of those spices and allspice too. Honestly, it will not make a whole lot of difference.

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk more about this Spiced Sour Cream Cookie recipe. These cookies are perfect for sharing. They pack well and will keep fresh for a few days in a cookie bag or box. Not only should these cookies be a part of your 2021 holiday baking, but make them a part of your annual cookie giveaway. Every year, we make up boxes or bags of cookies to share with neighbours. These went into last year’s box. They might make it into this year’s box as well! Welcome, Dear Reader, to the fourth cookie in this year’s 24 Cookies of Christmas countdown!

HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Because there are a lot of ingredients in these cookies, although, to be honest, you will most likely have them all on hand already. They are, after all, very common ingredients. But, nevertheless, I’m going to break them down into two sections to make the list seem less daunting.

WET INGREDIENTS

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature! To be perfectly honest, I have made these with both salted and unsalted butter and there’s no difference in taste or appearance once all is said and done. Use what you have on hand.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Sour Cream – These are sour cream cookies, so there’s bound to be sour cream. It keeps these cookies moist and soft. The tanginess offsets the sweetness and helps balance out the flavour of the cookie.
• Extract – You have choices here. Use and extract you like such as vanilla, rum, pumpkin, etc.

DRY INGREDIENTS

• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown cookies and cakes.  In cookies, the sugar will help the dough to spread, and will create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Brown Sugar – First of all, it has way more flavour than regular white sugar! And, in this recipe, brown sugar helps to keep the cookie moist and soft.
• Flour – Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Baking Soda – A baking ingredient to help with leavening or rising. 
• Baking Powder – This is used to increase the volume of the batter and to add texture as well.
• Cream of Tartar – The acid in the cream of tartar gives everything a distinctive tangy flavour.  When used in cookies, it adds a chewiness, which happens because cream of tartar prevents sugar in the cookie dough from crystalizing into crunchiness.

SPICES

• Nutmeg – Nutmeg is a seed that comes in whole or ground form.  It is a key ingredient in many baked goods and is essential to anything eggnog related.  I often use it in fall dishes, especially in mashed potatoes!
• Cinnamon – Cinnamon is a spice created from the inner bark of the Cinnamomum tree.   The bark is dried until it curls into a roll known as a cinnamon stick.  These are ground into powder.  Commonly found in baked goods, cinnamon is aromatic with a warming flavour.
• Cloves – Ground cloves come from whole cloves which have been finely ground.  They are a flower bud that comes from the clove tree.  Whole dried cloves look like small nails.  The name clove comes from the Latin word for nail.  They are extremely fragrant and commonly found in spiced cakes and confections.
• Ginger – Ground ginger is fresh ginger that has been peeled and dried before being ground into a powder.  It has a pale yellow in colour and has a pungent, spicy smell.  It adds a warming, spicy flavour to recipes.

HOW TO MAKE SPICED SOUR CREAM COOKIES:

In a large mixing bowl, use a hand-held mixer to cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. It is important to remember that your butter should be softened and at room temperature! Add in the eggs, sour cream, and extract. Beat well to incorporate.

Next, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Beat until just incorporated. Now, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. Chilling the dough prevents it from spreading too much when you bake the cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside. In a small, shallow bowl, whisk together the sugar and spice topping ingredients and set aside. Portion the cookie dough into tablespoons. Roll into balls and roll into the topping mixture. Set on the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Finally, dust with freshly ground nutmeg, or drizzle with icing, if desired.

LET’S CALL IT CHRISTMAS CHEER!

Oftentimes, any drink that is alcohol based and served at Christmastime is referred to as Christmas cheer. Alcohol is quite common in baked goods, especially at this time of year. Previous to this past year, I did not cook or bake with alcohol much. But, I started to experiment with it, and it turns out that it’s quite good in recipes!

Instead of using extract, you can make an exception for these Spiced Sour Cream Cookies. You can actually use real rum instead of just rum extract. However, if you’re not a fan of using alcohol in your baking, you can easily use your favourite extract instead. You will want to make sure the extract you choose works well with the flavour of the cookie. For that reason, I would only recommend vanilla, pumpkin spice, etc. Think along the lines of warming extracts.

Alternatively, if you want to use alcohol, but do not have rum on hand, you can use other types of alcohol instead. Try using brandy or bourbon in these cookies!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR COOKIES EXTRA SPECIAL

As you can see, I simply rolled some of the cookies into a sugar and spice mixture before baking them. This intensifies the warming, spicy flavour and gives the cookies a little bit of sparkle. Once the cookies are out of the oven, I like to grate over a little bit more fresh nutmeg, because I absolutely love nutmeg!

You can buy a whole nutmeg. They look like really fat raw almonds. Use a nutmeg grater to get it just perfect. This is the one I have. You can store your unused whole nutmeg right inside it. Of course, store-bought ground nutmeg will work too. Be scant; the flavour can be intense!

If you prefer, you can glaze the cookies too. If you plan to glaze the cookies, do not roll them in the sugar and spice mixture before baking. Roll them into balls and bake only. When cooled, simply whisk together two cups of confectioner’s sugar with 3-4 tablespoons of milk, or until the glaze is at your desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cookies and allow them to set. I did half and half, because I love a contrasting look on a cookie platter!

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Spiced Sour Cream Cookies, you certainly can! Once they are completely cooled, pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out onto a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down to follow me and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 100 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!