This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Bradshaw Cookies are a type of sour cream cookie with cream cheese frosting. Soft, pillowy, and not very sweet, they are perfect for cutting out into seasonal shapes and decorating with frosting.
This recipe is part of a Virtual Cookie Exchange with other bloggers so go check out all the recipes! The links are at the bottom of this post. You can also search for the cookies on social media with the hashtag #VirtualCookieExchange. Jump to Recipe
Oven Blues
There’s nothing like a party to get you back in the groove. I haven’t posted since Thanksgiving for various reasons.
- The oven is STILL broken. It broke the day before Thanksgiving and is still dead.
- I have no appetite and my digestive system is way out of whack.
- My wrists and arms needed a vacation, they were achy, swollen, and hurt really bad, especially when working on the computer and phone.
- I’m trying to catch a cold and feel pretty icky.
I’m not going to lie, even though I’m happy to be participating, these were not fun to make. I had to pack all the ingredients and utensils up and go to my sister’s house to use her oven. Only when I got there, I realized I didn’t have the key to get in.
I was not feeling very well at all either so the whole enterprise felt like a fiasco. But I got it done, slept 12 hours, and am feeling a little better. Just in time for the party.
Bradshaw Cookies: A Sour Cream Cookie with Cream Cheese Frosting
Do a search for Bradshaw Cookies on Google and you won’t find much. You will get search results for cookware connected to Bradshaw International Inc. (a major housewares supplier) or maybe some Carry Bradshaw references. I finally got smart this year and searched for sour cream cookies and got results that are somewhat similar to this old family recipe.
This is the last of the family cookie recipes. I’ve shared all the others we make every single year except for these. I always like to imagine how these cookies came to be named Bradshaw Cookies.
Did someone use Bradshaw cookie sheets and the name stuck? Did someone in my family have friendly next-door neighbors, the Bradshaw’s, who shared their famous family cookie recipe? Who knows, but they are definitely different enough to be curious.
They aren’t very sweet at all and are almost biscuit-like in their thickness but they are very soft. The sugary sweetness of cream cheese frosting and its thickness matches the cookies well. I feel like royal icing would just be absorbed into the cookie and wouldn’t stand up.
We usually make the cream cheese frosting, dye it different colors, and then store it in airtight containers. Whenever we feel like a cookie, we can decorate just one. This makes the cookies last longer.
Now go be a cookie monster and check out all the other yummy holiday treats.
Virtual Cookie Exchange Participants
What Should I Make For · Ugly Sweater Gingerbread Cookies
The Sweet Nerd · Gingerbread Cookies – All Spruced Up
Girl Heart Food · Orange Poppy Seed Shortbread Cookies
The Beach House Kitchen · Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Beyond Mere Sustenance · Brandy-Spiked Mexican Hot Chocolate
Seasons & Suppers · Lemon Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
Ciao Chow Bambina · Lemon Drop Italian Cookies
Contemplating Sweets · Hedgehog Cookies
The Busy Spatula · S’mores Cookies
Salt & Lavender · Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars
Bradshaw Cookies: A Sour Cream Cookie with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Bradshaw Cookies
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter (salted), room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces sour cream
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Bradshaw Cookies
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter on high speed with an electric mixer until it’s smooth.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the sour cream and baking soda together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
- Alternate beating in the sour cream mixture and the flour mixture into the creamed sugar and butter until everything is combined. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you will have to mix the flour in by hand eventually. Just knead the flour into the dough until there are no streaks.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until it is 1/4 of an inch thick. You might have to add more flour depending on the texture of the dough. If you roll it out and try to cut out shapes but the dough stretches and breaks, you need to add more flour. Keep adding flour, kneading, and rolling it out until you can cut out sturdy shapes.
- Cut out the dough into various shapes. Take the leftover dough, roll it into a ball, and roll it out again to cut out more shapes. Repeat until there is no dough left.
- Bake on cookie sheets for 5 to 7 minutes. The bottoms should be a very light brown color and the tops should still be pure white. They won't look cooked. Transfer to cooling racks and let the cookies cool completely before frosting. Store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container or in a ziplock bag.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until fluffy.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar in, beating until smooth.
- Mix in the vanilla extract. Separate the frosting into different equal sized portions and use food coloring to dye it different colors. You can store the frosting in airtight containers in the fridge and frost the cookies as needed.
</div/
</div/
I’ve never heard of Bradshaw cookies before, but they sure do look adorable thanks to all of your cute decorating! And who can resist a cream cheese icing? 😀
On a different note, I really hope you feel better soon. I can relate to how difficult it can be to try and maintain a blog and create and test recipes when you’re feeling ill, as I’m also dealing with a mysterious illness at the moment, and finding the motivation is so tough. Just know that it’s okay to take it easy, and that resting and taking a break from things is sometimes exactly what you need. I know that may seem strange coming from a stranger like me, so I hope you don’t mind me saying all that!
Shannon, I don’t mind at all, thanks for sharing! Sometimes you can feel like the only one that’s struggling and that everyone else has it together, which makes you feel worse. Finding people that can relate to those feelings makes it easier to take the breaks that the mind and body need. I hope you’re feeling better ❤️
Sour cream cookie with cream cheese frosting that’s not too sweet!!!! Count me in!!! Thank you so much for ALL your efforts to bring this post to all of us. Your adorable cookies make me want to make a batch even though I don’t like baking cookies. SO CUTE 🙂
P.S. Hope you are feeling better, my friend. Get well soon.
Ahhh, best compliment ever Pang! And thanks, I’m feeling much better now ❤️
These look awesome!! I am pretty sure I’d eat a whole lot of these! 😛
The struggle is real ?
I am saving and pinning these cookies. My boys will love it for sure and because you mentioned it’s not overly sweet, I think it will be a hit in my house:)
Thanks, Kankana, I hope you enjoy them if you do make them! Decorating the cookies is so much fun to do with kids too.
Aw, Meg, I’m sorry that you’re not feeling well and that you were locked out. That stinks big time. 🙁 The cookies look amazing though! I love the bold colors and I just want to sink my teeth into them. They look super soft and flavorful! Also, when I read “Bradshaw cookies”, I thought of Carrie Bradshaw from SATC lol
Sinking your teeth into them is a lot of fun because of their soft texture and all the frosting! It makes me feel like a kid again. And lol, these should be the official SATC cookie ?
These look so cute. I love everything about Christmas. 10/10
Thanks, Kendall! And me too, Christmas is the best.
Oh Meg! Thanks for sharing a bit of your story with us! And thanks for these beautiful cookies! They’re so festive, and the fact that they’re not terribly sweet is a huge plus for me. I hope you’re feeling stronger each day, and soon have your oven working again. Merry Christmas!
My oven was fixed yesterday! I’m so happy and am feeling much better too. Thanks, Tamara and Merry Christmas!
I love that it’s not too sweet, and the sour cream and cream cheese sounds so good!
Yes, the two pair so nicely together! Sometimes cream cheese frosting detracts from other flavors but in this case, it compliments the cookie so well.
Whatever the story behind the Bradshaw name, these are such gorgeous cookies! I hope you feel much better soon! Pinned.
Haha, no matter the name, as long as I can eat it, I’m satisfied! And thanks, Milena, I’m feeling much better now ❤️
Beautiful! And especially loving the cream cheese frosting 😉 Hope you are feeling better soon!
Thank you, Jennifer, I’m feeling much better ❤️
So sorry about your oven woes Meg! A fiasco is right! So glad you persevered and shared these! They look just beautiful!
I’m so glad I decided to still participate, I needed a little holiday spirit! Thanks, Mary Ann!
These are absolutely delightful. Brings back a flood of good memories when my Grandma Tory would make sour cream sugar cookies. We loved them as kids, and as an adult I can now heighten this cookie with your added touch, cream cheese! YUMMY. Geeze. I promise to start a diet in Jan!
Thanks, Cindy! I want to make your Grandma Tory’s sour cream cookies, I love trying out different recipes of the same type of cookie. And lol, I know, the holiday’s are killer on any lofty health food aspirations.
i’m so sorry about your oven and that you haven’t been feeling well since Thanksgiving. As much as I love homemade cookies, I’m pretty sure I would forgo my baking if I had to schlep my gear to a friend’s. But your perseverance paid off – these are so sweet and love that soft texture and crumb. Happy holidays my friend!
Thank you, Cathy! And lol, yes the rest of my holiday baking will have to wait for the oven to get fixed. Happy holidays!
I love cream cheese frosting so these are definitely made for me…though, I will share a couple with Santa…gotta be on that nice list 😉 Have a wonderful week, my friend!
These cookies are my favorite thing to put cream cheese on, they were made for each other! And you would be on the nice list no matter what Dawn!
Oh man, it has been a time for you! I am so sorry for your trials, but so happy that this party inspired you to make these gorgeous cookies! These are everything I hope to see on my cookie platter! Beautiful and delicious, my friend! Feel better! Happy holidays!
This party was so inspiring! I just want to bake a whole bunch of cookies now. I’m really hoping my oven will get fixed today.