This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is our family recipe perfect for the Christmas & Holiday season making a big batch of cookies. These cookies are easy to customize to your tastes with various toppings and make a fun activity for everyone involved. Check out our family home video of our cookie making session below!
Sand Tart Cookie Recipe
We have made a tradition of making this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe every year for the last few years. After Eric and I got married, it started with my husband Eric asking his mom, Linda, about these favorite cookies that her mother used to make when Eric was a little boy. Linda found the recipe in her recipe box of hand-written recipes. Many of the recipes in the box were written by her mother and passed down to her.
I have a selection of the recipes that I plan to share on Life’s Little Sweets. It feels so good to share these recipes with everyone and have a permanent place where we can all reference them. Each recipe brings back fond memories and continues tradition.
I have pictured here antique family cookie cutters that have been passed down in Linda’s family. She said this kind of cookie cutter with a sharp edge is good for this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe.
Antique family cookie cutters
This bell-shaped, Sand Tart Cookie is decorated with vanilla sugar and ground pistachios
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Kitchen Tools Needed for Sand Tart Cookie Recipe
-
- a selection of cookie cutters
- rolling pin
- parchment paper
- cookie baking sheets
- mixing bowls
- a brush for brushing on the egg wash
If you like this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe, make sure to check out my Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies recipe and check out the “Cookie” category on LLS 🙂
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is also great as a family/kids activity because the decorating part is like an art project!
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is ideal for cookie swaps or when you have to make a huge amount of cookies.
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is sure to become your family favorite Holiday cookie recipe!
Here’s a collage of some photos from our recent cookie making session! From top to bottom: My daughter M and I, Eric rolling the dough, Eric, M and Linda, the famous recipe box! and Linda’s mother’s handmade apron.
Sand Tart Cookie Recipe
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is our family recipe perfect for the Christmas & Holiday season making a big batch of cookies. These cookies are easy to customize to your tastes with various toppings and make a fun activity for everyone involved. These sand tarts are a thin, crisp sugar cookie topped with crunchy nuts.
Ingredients
- 1 pound (about 2 1/4 cups) white granulated sugar
- 1 pound (about 4 cups) all-purpose flour, plus extra for lightly flouring surface when rolling out
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature/soft
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 eggs, separated, plus 1-3 eggs as egg wash for brushing on the tops of the cookies before decorating and baking
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- dash of Kosher salt, (1/4 teaspoon)
- sugar sparkling sprinkles for decorating
- ground nuts of your choice, (walnuts and pistachios are great!)
Instructions
- Separate the eggs from yolks in separate mixing bowls.
- Beat egg yolks until they are combined and slightly bubbly. Beat the egg whites until they are white and foamy.
- Mix room temperature butter and sugar thoroughly, add beaten egg yolks, then beaten egg whites. Add vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, blend the dry ingredients with a whisk: flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture gradually in 4-5 parts to butter mixture, mixing well. This makes a very thick,sticky cookie dough.
- Refrigerate the dough wrapped in plastic wrap for 3 hours or overnight (if overnight, allow the dough to come to room temperature before rolling, however, if the dough becomes too soft to work with return to the refrigerator until the dough becomes easier to handle).
- After chilling, roll the dough out (about 1/8 inch) on a floured surface, cut out cookie shapes, brush egg wash on, then decorate with colored sugar, cinnamon sugar, chopped/ground nuts of choice.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees (preheated oven) for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
- Makes about 100 cookies (depends on cookie cutter size/shape)
Did you make this recipe? Tag @lifeslittlesweets and hashtag it #lifeslittlesweets
Recommended Products
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13 Pieces Stainless Steel Christmas Cookie Cutters with Comfort Grip 3.5í plus a Rolling Pin for Large Holiday Cookies, Snowflake Cookies, Gingerbread Man Cookies, Christmas Party and Baking Gift -
Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker's Half Sheet (2 Pack), Silver -
Silpat AE420295-07 Premium Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat, Half Sheet Size, 11-5/8-Inch x 16-1/2-Inch (2 pack) -
Ateco 20175 French Rolling Pin,20-Inch, Solid Maple Wood, Made in Canada -
Wilton Holiday Sprinkles Assortment, 6.8 oz. -
King Arthur Flour 100% Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, 80 Ounce -
Ultra Cuisine 100% Stainless Steel Wire Cooling Rack for Baking fits Half Sheet Pans Cool Cookies, Cakes, Breads - Oven Safe for Cooking, Roasting, Grilling - Heavy Duty Commercial Quality
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 100 Serving Size: 2Amount Per Serving: Calories: 51
Our Other Recipes and Posts
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Scotcheroos
- Kodiak Cakes Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Easy Funfetti Sugar Cookies
- Breakfast Omelette Egg Cups on SoFabFood
- What’s your favorite family cookie recipe? Let me know in the comments below! Best, ~Sara
Pin this to your “Dessert” and/or “Cookie” board(s)! ⇓
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I can’t believe that you use 1lb of Sugar and Flour! Comparing recipies and I have 2cups of Sugar & 5Cups of Flour
Hi Ruth, I know it sounds like a lot. 1 pound sugar is 2 1/4 cups. This recipe makes a large amount of cookies, ideal for cookie making parties or if you are making cookies for a large crowd/family gathering. This is a recipe from my husband’s family and those kinds exactly what this type of sugar cookie recipe was used for. You can try making it with a little less sugar if you want, I haven’t tried it with less. You could also try the “Lil’ Sugar Cookies,” “Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies,” or “Easy Funfetti Sugar Cookies” (just search in the search box in the top right) both which require less amounts of sugar. I hope that helps! Thank you!
Ruth, I also checked the recipe with my husband’s mom, she said 2 cups is totally fine by the way.
Why do my cookies turn out hard? I used the same recipe last year and they turned out great.
Why does the dough need to be refrigerated as the dough is hard to roll out? How long do I need to let the cookie become room temperature so I can roll them out? I had to put the dough in the microwave to make it soft enough to roll out.
Thank you
do you mean they turn out hard when they are cooked?
It depends on the temperature of your room. If you are finding that the dough is too soft to work with, some people find it easier to refrigerate it (1/2 hour) to make it less sticky. I find that it takes 20 minutes-1/2 hour after taking it out of the refrigerator to get it to room temperature to work with it again. The only thing with the microwave is that it might cook some of the dough if it’s in there too long. Good luck, I hope that helps!