Homemade Lofthouse Cookies

If you have never tried Lofthouse cookies before, what are you waiting for? If you have tried these, your mouth is watering just like mine right about now! 

Our family absolutely loves these soft, chewy, melt in your mouth cookies with the thick and creamy frosting topped with loads of colorful sprinkles. 

 There are three times each year when my family enjoys having these cookies around: Valentine's Day, Easter, and 4th of July. With Easter being just a week away, I figured now would be a great time to post a recipe for homemade Lofthouse cookies. Although these taste cookies are totally worth the price you pay for them at the grocery store, I am in the game of saving money. I can use this recipes to make double or even triple the amount of these luscious cookies for the price of a dozen of them at the grocery store. 

You'll Need:

5 1/2-6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream

FROSTING:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract 
5 cups powdered sugar
4-6 tbsp milk
Food coloring
Sprinkles

For the Cookies:

In a large bowl whisk 5 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix in the sour cream until well blended. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture until a sticky dough forms. Add up to an additional 1/2 cup of flour to achieve a soft, but still slightly sticky dough. 
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half and shape into rectangles about 1 1/2 inches thick. Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 425º F. Lightly flour a sheet of parchment or silicone pastry mat.  Working with one rectangle of dough at a time, roll each out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter (or a round glass works well too), cut out the cookies and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and cut out. Bake for 7 minutes until pale golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, salt, and vanilla.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar one cup at a time until smooth. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. Add food coloring of your choice. For spring we like to use greens, yellows, and pinks. For 4th of July, we keep the frosting while and add red and blue sprinkles. For Halloween we do orange frosting and black sprinkles, green frosting and green sprinkles for St. Patty's Day, pink frosting and red sprinkles or white frosting and red and pink sprinkles for Valentine's Day, and either white frosting with red and green sprinkles or green frosting with red and white sprinkles for Christmas.
When the cookies are cool, frost the tops with the frosting and decorate with sprinkles.  Allow the cookies to set out until the frosting has set.  Store in an airtight container between sheets of parchment for several hours or overnight to allow the flavors to develop.

This recipe yields more than 5 dozen cookies! I'm thinking these just may be our wedding favors because they are delicious and inexpensive to make.
You will not have left overs I promise! These cookies will fly off the platter.