In honor of Mrs Lincoln’s birthday today I made the former First Lady’s very own Sugar Cookies – using her personal recipe. While researching for a recipe of Mrs Lincoln’s I stumbled across the sugar cookie recipe all in thanks to the volunteers at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

The recipe is from the book, A. Lincoln Cookbook, A Cookbook of Epic Portions by Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

This vintage and historic sugar cookie recipe can be used when making the perfect Christmas sugar cookies. You can decorate, add ice to make them your own.

I recommend if you are doing cut-out sugar cookies to refrigerate the dough for an hour or two to make the dough easier to roll out. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out and bake in a preheated oven of 350 degrees for about 8 minutes – until golden brown.

Cool the cookies and then have fun decorating!

Mary Todd Lincoln’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

41/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Combine butter, vegetable oil, 1 cup of granulated sugar and powdered sugar, and beat until creamy. Add one egg. Add other egg with the vanilla extract. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add to butter mixture.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Drop balls into granulated sugar and roll them around. Using an everyday kitchen glass, dip the base into the sugar and press the balls out onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool.