Ube Sugar Cookies with Frosting
No matter how many delicious treats I bake at home, those sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles from the grocery store will always be a guilty pleasure of mine. They are soft, sweet, and taste like happy memories. Today we’re making these with a twist! Let’s dive into some ube sugar cookies with frosting.
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What Is Ube?
Ube is a type of purple yam that is originally from the Philippines. It’s a very popular flavor in some Asian and Pacific Islander cuisines. You may have seen ube boba drinks, or even ube ice cream before.
It tastes similar to a sweet potato (they are related after all), but to oversimplify it, ube tastes like vanilla. Now, if you do a side by side comparison, I’d describe ube as a more earthy, sweet potatoey vanilla.
Ube Sugar Cookies
This recipe is a Lofthouse style sugar cookie (aka the heavenly ones with frosting and sprinkles). I used the Sugar Geek copycat recipe as my starting point, but tweaked the flavor and technique a bit.
Ube extract not only adds a yummy, unique flavor, it brings this lovely purple color to the cookies. There is no additional food coloring in the batch, just ube extract. If you want an even more intense color, I suppose you could add some gel color, but I don’t think it needs it.
Creating the Perfect Texture
These sugar cookies are quite cakey in texture. In order to nail that texture, you basically are making a thick cake batter. Shocking, I know. Using all cake flour also helps. You could maybe use up to half all purpose flour, but I can’t say for sure how that would turn out.
If you’ve ever gazed lovingly into the interior of a Lofthouse sugar cookie, you know that it almost appears to be laminated. My cookies do not have that effect. Next time, I might try a book fold before rolling out the dough.
Related Reading: Milk Tea Cupcakes with Boba Pearls
Top Tips
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cookies a nice texture.
- Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
- Do NOT over mix. Once you add the dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
- Use a rolling pin with measurement guides to get an even thickness.
- Cold dough won’t spread as much in the oven.
- Bake a test cookie before baking the rest of the batch to determine the best bake time.
Check It Out
These ube sugar cookies are not your standard cookie recipe, so I thought it might help to make a video tutorial. Watch it right here or on the Bakes & Blunders YouTube channel for some tips and tricks.
I am absolutely tickled pink (purple?) with how these beauties came out! Leave me a comment on the video or at the bottom of this post and let me know what you think.
Dealing With Dough
These ube sugar cookies are pretty awesome to work with, but I totes have tips. When it’s time to roll out your cookie dough, it MUST be firm. For the first round of cookies, my dough was a bit soft. It was much more difficult to deal with, though it did work out.
I used the largest cutter in this circle cutter set to cut out my cookies. The cookies will spread a bit in the oven, so when you place them on the baking sheet, give them plenty of room.
And All That Jazz
Lofthouse cookies are known for their buttercream and sprinkle topping. I immediately knew these purple ube sugar cookies needed white frosting and pretty purple sprinkles. They were for a Women’s Month event, and purple is the color for that month. How perfect!
There was just enough frosting to cover all the cookies. Once the buttercream has time to set, it crusts over and becomes firm enough that you can even gently stack the cookies with only minimal squish-age.
Enjoy!
Lofthouse style cookies get a fun, vibrant twist with this recipe for ube sugar cookies. The cakey cookies are soft and the frosting adds a beautiful touch of sweetness. Surprisingly, they are fairly simple to make, but they are visually stunning.
I hope you get to try a batch of ube sugar cookies soon. If you enjoyed your visit to Bakes & Blunders, you might also want to pop over to my Facebook page! I love being able to connect with other home bakers. Happy baking!
Ube Sugar Cookies with Frosting
Ingredients
Ube Sugar Cookie
- 13 oz cake flour
- 2 tsps cornstarch
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 oz unsalted butter softened
- 6 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp ube extract
Vanilla Frosting
- 8 oz unsalted butter softened
- 15 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 1/2 tsp clear vanilla
- 2 Tbsp water or heavy cream
- Sprinkles for topping
Instructions
Ube Sugar Cookies
- In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and powdered sugar. Beat on a medium/ medium- high speed until light and fluffy, about 5- 8 minutes. Scrape the bowl down once or twice during this process.
- Scrape the bowl down and add the egg and ube extract. Beat on low, scraping down the bowl occasionally, until the mixture is well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed until just combined. Use a spatula to make sure there are no pockets of dry ingredients.
- Turn the cookie dough out onto a large piece of cling wrap. Press the dough into a disc, wrap, and place in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Place the firm cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 3/8 in (10 mm). Use a round 2.5 in cookie cutter to cut out the cookie shapes. Place the circles onto a small sheet, cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- While the cookies chill, preheat the oven to 375℉. Meanwhile, press together the dough scraps, chill for 30 minutes, then roll out the dough again. Cut out cookies and repeat the process until you have used all of the dough.
- Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Place 6 cookies on the sheet with plenty of space between each. Bake 9- 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting them.
Vanilla Frosting
- Beat the butter on a medium speed for 8- 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down once or twice during this step.
- Add the powdered sugar in 3- 4 additions. After each addition, beat until well combined, about 1- 2 minutes.
- Beat in the clear vanilla. Add the water (or heavy cream) one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each one. Taste the frosting and adjust the flavor and consistency as needed.
Assemble
- Pipe a spiral of frosting onto a cookie and use a small offset spatula to smooth it out. Immediately top with sprinkles.
Notes
- You can use regular vanilla, but the frosting will be an off white color.
My Favorite Products For This Recipe
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
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