Sugar Cookies + Sensory Play
On Tuesday, we baked along with Amanda from Earth Made Kitchen who showed us a simple-yet-delicious sugar cookie recipe. While we baked, we talked about all the sensory benefits of baking with kids and teens of all abilities.
Baking and cooking are sensory activities that utilize all five senses—touch, taste, smell, look, and sound. Sensory play is important for brain development as well as language and social development. For individuals with special needs, engaging the senses can be very useful for calming anxiety and frustration. With this recipe, we have a few suggested adjustments for your child depending on if they seek more sensory input or if they like avoid sensory input.
If they seek more sensory input:
Use an electric mixer or, if you have a stand mixer, have them put their hand on the mixer while it’s running.
Add a citrus extract or zest to the dough and encourage them to smell it.
Right before the dough finishes coming together, have them use their hands to finish bringing all the pieces of dough together. Let them roll the dough into balls with their hands (two big balls when you need to split the dough or skip the cookie cutters and have them roll the dough into 2-inch balls before baking)
If they seek less sensory input:
Avoid the electric mixers and have them mix everything by hand. Make sure your butter is very soft for this (microwave for a few seconds if needed).
Have them use gloves when touching the dough.
Avoid touching the dough if needed. They can mix it completely with a tool, roll it out with a rolling pin, and, when they cut the cookies, they can use a spatula to lift them onto the cookie sheet.
For the recipe, watch our video (showing half the recipe) and the written recipe below.
Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
Directions:
Put sugar, butter, and vanilla into a bowl. Use an electric mixer or wooden spoon to mix thoroughly.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.
In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
Cut two pieces of parchment paper (that can fit on your baking sheet). Put one piece of parchment paper on a clean counter and lightly flour.
Divide the dough into two even pieces. Put one piece of dough onto the floured parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to 1/4" thickness. Put the rolled-out dough and parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Repeat for remaining dough. (If your dough is too wet to roll, add a lot of flour to the parchment paper and a lot of flour on top of your dough before you start rolling.)
Refrigerate rolled-out dough for at least 2 hours to make cutting easier.
Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into desired shapes. Gather scraps of dough, re-roll and cut out shapes again. Repeat until you’ve used all the dough.
Place cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the underside of cookies turn golden brown.
For the icing, after the cookies are baked and cooled, add the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of water to a small mixing bowl. Use a whisk or spoon to combine. If it’s too thick, add another tablespoon of water and mix again. If it becomes too loose, you can add more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
Hold a cookie by the edges and dip into the icing. Let the excess icing drip off. Then lay the cookie flat on a plate or tray to harden. Top with sprinkles, if desired. Repeat for all cookies.
Note: To add natural coloring to your icing, mash up fruit (like strawberries or blueberries). Substitute the fruit juice for the water when making the icing. If the icing is the color you want but is still too stiff, you can add a little water.