Vanilla Bean Cookies

Vanilla Bean Sugar cookies piled on a white plate on a white background, with some rolled in vanilla sugar and a couple of small white flours.

5 from 6 votes

These Vanilla Bean Cookies are made with vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla sugar making them super intensely vanilla. They have an added egg yolk which makes them extra rich.

Prep Time12

Cook Time8

Total Time20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 172kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 vanilla beans
2½ cups flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Vanilla Sugar (optional)

½ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350℉.
In a large bowl combine the softened butter and granulated sugar. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
Cut the vanilla beans lengthwise and use a small sharp knife to scrape out the seeds from inside the beans.
Add the vanilla seeds to the batter. Then add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and combine.
Add the flour and mix to combine.
In a small bowl add ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir and mash with a small spoon to combine.
Roll the dough into balls with 2 tbsps of dough each. Roll each ball of dough in the vanilla sugar.
Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Notes

When scraping the seeds from the vanilla bean, be sure not to scrape off the inside of the bean pod itself. Or if you do, pick that out before adding the seeds to the dough.
For perfectly round cookies, roll each portion of dough between the palms of your hands to make a round ball. Once they bake they will flatten and become perfectly round circles.

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