Buttermilk Sugar Cookies

Some cookies are about crunch. Some are about chew. These buttermilk sugar cookies are about tenderness, that soft, cakey quality that makes you close your eyes and reach for another before you've finished the first.

The buttermilk is everything here. It brings a subtle tang that balances the sweetness, and the acid reacts with the leavening to create the lightest, most pillowy texture you can get from a drop cookie. My grandmother Evangeline made these every Sunday afternoon. She kept a jar of them on the counter, and they never lasted past Tuesday. At Lagniappe, we serve a version with our coffee service, and guests ask for the recipe more than any other dessert we make.

The technique is simple but demands attention. Cream that butter until it's pale and fluffy. Alternate your wet and dry ingredients. And for heaven's sake, do not overbake them. A sugar cookie that crunches has lost its soul. You want them soft in the middle, barely golden at the edges, with that sparkly sugar coating cracking slightly as they cool.