Ube Sugar Cookies

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Get ready for another ube recipe! Does anyone else feel obligated to make sugar cookies during the holiday season? Don't get me wrong, they are fun (and easy!) to make. But I'm not the type of person that enjoys frosted cookies. To make things more interesting and colorful, I threw in ube extract to make it more interesting. It's pretty darn good.

Why Use Ube Extract?

Ube, the native Filipino purple yam, is difficult to find if you don't live in Asia or near a Filipino grocery store. To use in sweet recipes or baking, you will also need to turn ube into jam which involves boiling it for some time with sugar or condensed milk until it thickens. This sugar cookie recipe calls for ube because it's easier to find and use than the actual tuber. As much as I would love to make this cookie with natural ube jam, I simply need the means to buy them locally.

Ingredients For Ube Sugar Cookies

• Flour: Using all-purpose flour will create a chewy interior once the cookie sits for at least a day after baking. 
• Cornstarch: I found this ingredient through Preppy Kitchen's sugar cookie recipe to help ensure your cookie doesn't spread when baking.
• Butter: If you are not using a mixer, use the recommended room-temperature butter. But I found that when using an electric mixer, room-temperature butter tends to curdle from the heat, so I used cold butter. See what works for you.
• Sugar: Good old granulated white sugar will do!
• Salt: Adding some flavor to the sugar cookies.
• Egg: These will add structure and chew to your cookies.
• Ube Extract: Our feature ingredients will create a purple color and a flavorful nutty vanilla taste for our cookies.

How to Make Ube Sugar Cookies

1. In a separate bowl, add salt, cornstarch, and flour. Whisk them together and then set them aside. 
2. Cream butter and sugar together until you get a soft texture. 
3. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and ube extract to the creamed butter. Mix everything until well incorporated.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine until smooth. You should end up with a dough that comes together quickly. If your butter has melted, don't worry. Just keep it refrigerated in the next step for a longer time.
5. Cover the dough with cling wrap and place in the fridge to chill overnight. This is a very important step to help make shapes with cookie cutters easier.
6. Shape cookies with half of the dough. I split the dough into two pieces and placed one piece in the fridge while working with the other.
7. Dust your work surface with flour and add flour to your rolling pin. Roll the dough to about a quarter inch (half a centimeter) thick and punch out the dough with cookie cutters. 
8. Place the shaped cookies on a lined baking sheet and keep them refrigerated until ready to bake.
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F) and bake the cookies for about ten to fifteen minutes.
10. Let it cool completely before eating or frosting.

Frosting the Cookies

I love these ube sugar cookies as they are, but if you want to double up on the ube flavor, you can add some ube extract to a light glaze recipe. Here is how to do it.

1. Add powdered sugar, warm milk, and ube extract in a bowl.
2. Mix until smooth and let it sit until most air bubbles have disappeared. Consistency should be thin but a little viscose.
3. Dip cookies face down into the glaze.
4. Let the excess icing drip off completely.
5. Place the cookie on a rack lined with parchment paper or a line baking sheet. 
6. Let the icing set until hard.

How to Serve

If you want softer cookies, I recommend letting these cookies sit for at least a day. I also find the ube flavor more prevalent when I let the cookies sit longer. Enjoy with a glass of milk or your favorite hot drink!