WWII Navy Sugar Cookies

Every year, I spend the weekend after we have shipped out the last basket from The 1840 Farm Mercantile Shop making cookies to send across the miles to our friends and family. It’s a tradition that started a few years ago. As a person who spends a lot of my time handmaking pieces for our shop, it just seemed right to handmake something to share with those we hold near and dear to our hearts. I like to think that it brings us a little closer somehow during this special time of year. While we are separated by geography, we can share a cookie and think of each other warmly as we celebrate the season. 

I enjoy the planning of what I call “cookie season” as much as I love baking the cookies. Each year, I try out a few new recipes in the hopes that they’ll make the cut and be added to this year’s cookie boxes. I also make sure that our most beloved favorites are included. 

This year, I tried out four brand new recipes. Two of them made the cut and were included in our cookie collection. One was delicious, but not sturdy enough for shipping. Don’t you worry, those deep chocolate toasted marshmallow cookies will get plenty of love right here at the farmhouse. I won’t allow a single bite go to waste. 

Among the new recipes I tried and loved enough to include in our cookie boxes was a recipe with a history. Somewhere along the year, I came across a recipe for World War II Navy Sugar Cookies. I don’t remember where I first saw them, but I was immediately taken with the recipe and the story that accompanied them. 

The recipe was originally printed in the Navy Cookbook in 1945. I read several stories about how these cookies were baked when sailors needed to have their spirits lifted. The recipe was designed to be very simple and quick so that hundreds of them could be made in a single batch. It’s a soft sugar cookie that could be made easily without requiring a rolling pin or cutting out individual cookies.  

I couldn’t wait to give these cookies a try. I placed the handwritten recipe in my blooming pile of recipes and it got lost to daily life. I got busy and forgot all about it. Imagine my delight when I discovered it just around the time that I was beginning to create the list of cookie recipes to be included in my annual baking. 

I don’t know if the story that is tied to this recipe is true. There’s no way for me to know, but I do believe that something handmade with good intention and care can lift the spirits of both the baker and the person who is lucky enough to receive them. Knowing that someone has taken the time, gone to the effort, and chosen to make something for you is powerful. It’s the sort of kindness that, as this recipe promised, lifts the spirits. 

This recipe is simple. It doesn’t create exquisite, intricate sugar cookies. It doesn’t try to. Instead, it creates a soft cookie that isn’t concerned with its creation or decoration. Stunning beauty isn’t the point of this sort of cookie. These drop cookies aren’t trying to win a beauty contest; they are intended to go from idea to the mixing bowl and onto the baking sheet easily and quickly. This cookie is all about the act of sharing it with someone or enjoying one yourself while it is still warm from the oven.  

This cookie is about the sense of purpose brought to the baker who bakes it and comfort to the person who enjoys every single crumb. It certainly accomplished both here at the farmhouse. It will certainly be a staple in my holiday baking and included in my annual cookie care packages year after year. 

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World War II Navy Sugar Cookies

The original recipe is scaled far beyond my needs. I don’t remember ever making a recipe that called for 1.5 gallons of flour! I chose to use a scaled down version. I also chose to make a few substitutions to make the dough a bit easier to work with and to make the dough a bit more forgiving for beginning bakers. If you would prefer to work with the original recipe, you can learn all about it right here.

The original recipe calls for a large addition of nutmeg, a spice that tends to be unwelcome here at my house. It’s something many of my family members don’t love, especially in bold amounts. I decided to substitute cinnamon instead.

The original recipe uses all shortening and no butter. It makes sense that keeping shortening out at sea would be much easier than housing refrigerated butter. I like to combine butter and shortening in equal proportions. I find that the butter adds a bit of rich flavor while the shortening creates a cookie with a soft texture. You can choose to use all butter, all shortening, or whatever combination you prefer.

At the farmhouse, we match insulin to carbs, so I often reduce the amount of sugar in our baked goods just enough to make them friendlier to our needs without altering the flavor and texture. I found that reducing the original 2 cups of sugar to 1 ½ cups worked very well. If you prefer a sweeter cookie, you can certainly add back in the ½ cup sugar that I removed.

While the original recipe doesn’t call for vanilla extract, I chose to add a bit in. I love the flavor of vanilla and felt that it would add a bit of depth to these cookies. I understand why a naval recipe wouldn’t rely on having access to vanilla extract, but I had it at arm’s length right on the kitchen counter and decided to add a bit in for good measure.

With very few exceptions, I incorporate my trick for making my own pastry/cake flour in my baked goods by substituting a bit cornstarch for the flour called for. I find that it is an easy way to create a more tender cookie and make the dough a bit more forgiving to work with. I decided to implement that method here, but you can certainly choose to use All-purpose flour for the full 5 cups and omit the corn starch entirely.

I have fond childhood memories of my godmother inviting me to help her make sugar cookies when I visited her. She would prepare the baking sheets and then help me to dip a small glass in water, followed by a dish of granulated sugar, and press the cookies until they were flat circles. I understand now that she let me make an enormous mess as I “helped” because she was more concerned with making memories than making perfect cookies. I tried to use this shaping method with the first batch of cookies, but it didn’t work as well as it does with a more traditional, stiffer sugar cookie dough. So, I compromised and sprinkled a bit of granulated sugar over the top of the mounds of dough before baking. You create a bit of the pretty, sparkly look and the light crunch of the sugar crystals without any of the effort or mess. You could even use a pretty colored sanding sugar for an extra treat during the holidays. This recipe in intentionally simple.

I find that it creates the best cookies when I allow the dough to be baked just as it was designed to be. Don’t try to make the cookies perfect or handle the dough too much. Just place the mounds of dough on the cookie sheet and proceed with baking. You’ll have a simple and delicious cookie with little effort.

Servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter , softened to room temperature
• ½ cup shortening , room temperature
• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup whole milk or heavy cream
• 4 ½ cups All-purpose flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• sugar for sprinkling on the cookies before baking (optional)

Instructions

• Prep two cookie baking sheets by lining them with a reusable silicone liner or parchment paper. Position the racks in your oven so that they are in the top third and bottom third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place the butter, shortening, and sugar in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Cream them together using a mixer or by hand with a sturdy wooden spoon until they are well combined and smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and heavy cream or milk. Mix just enough to combine. The mixture may break a bit, but it will come back together when the dry ingredients are added.
• Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a bowl and use a dry whisk to combine them, break up any small lumps, and aerate the dry ingredients. Alternatively, you can use a sifter if you prefer to achieve the same results.
• Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in a single addition. Mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the dough and no visible flour remains. This dough will be quite soft.
• Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, transfer cookie dough to the lined cookie sheets. I usually portion them around 2 tablespoons per cookie with five to six cookies per large baking sheet. The dough may seem too soft for baking but press on because they bake up beautifully without spreading much on the baking sheets.
• Sprinkle a bit of granulated sugar over each mound of cookie dough if desired. Transfer the cookie sheets to the preheated oven. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes just until the top of the cookies have a slightly dry appearance and have a hint of browning around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and place the sheet on a wire rack to cool for 8-10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for several days. They rarely last that long here at the farmhouse.

Notes

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