This Sugar Cookie Recipe has been a crowd favorite for YEARS because it produces a consistent cookie with the perfect buttery flavor. These cookies hold their shape beautifully when cut with cookie cutters and one of the best things is that you can choose to bake these sugar cookies soft and thick, or thin and crisp and both ways are phenomenal! You can cut them out with cookie cutter shapes, or simply roll balls in sugar and flatten with the bottom of a glass. We love them topped with our Classic Fluffy Buttercream or for something more fun and fancy, our Glace Icing.
Ingredient and Equipment Notes
- Butter – unless you have a dairy allergy or preference that prohibits butter, I recommend real butter for these cookies. I have not tested with plant-based alternatives so I cannot speak to that. Your butter should be a room temperature. If it’s not at room temp already, I like to cut my butter into small pieces and leave on the counter for 20-30 minutes. This generally works better than softening in the microwave, which often leads to uneven melting.
- Sugar – These cookies use white granulated sugar for sweetness and texture.
- Egg– It’s important to use a large or extra large egg in this recipe. If you use a small egg, there might not be enough liquid to bring the dough together.
- Extract – You may use vanilla or almond extract in these cookies, or a combination of both! My personal favorite is almond extract.
- All Purpose Flour– Use all purpose here, and make sure to measure carefully. Too much flour and the dough will be dry and crumbly. I recommend using a scale to measure by weight, but if that is not available, fluff your flour first with a spoon before measuring, then measuring by lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cup and leveling off with a knife.
- Stand Mixer – You can absolutely make these cookies with a hand mixer, but if you have a stand mixer, I recommend you use it. After your dry ingredients are added, the dough will sometimes look a little dry and crumbly but it will come together quickly into a soft, cohesive dough. It takes a little more time with a hand mixer, but a stand mixer will whip it up in a hurry!
Instructions
- Start by beating your real butter and sugar and continue creaming for a full 2 minutes or so. Your mixture will turn light and creamy in texture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
- Add egg and extract and mix to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined. Your dough will first look crumbly, but keep mixing with a stand mixer and it will quickly turn into a soft cohesive dough.
- You’ll need to chill your dough for about 1 hour. You can do so with dough gathered into one large mass, or use my preferred method which not only cuts down on chill time, but saves effort by rolling dough while it’s soft!
How to Easily Roll Sugar Cookie Dough with no Additional Flour
One of the problems with dusting your surface with flour before rolling cookies, is that you add a bunch of extra flour to your dough. Try to handle it as little as possible. Here is the best method to do that.
- Start by taking half (or all) of your dough and forming it into a rough ball and then flattening a little onto a silicone baking mat. If you don’t have a silicone baking mat, you can use parchment or plastic wrap but they tend to slide around the counter so it just takes a little more effort.
- Then place a piece of parchment paper (or plastic wrap) over your dough and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough between the baking mat and the parchment. This makes it so you can easily roll the dough with no flour needed, and nothing sticks to anything.
- What I do next is pick up my silicone baking mat and flip the whole “package” over, so the parchment is on the counter, the dough in the middle, and the baking mat on top. Peel off the baking mat and place your parchment and dough on a baking sheet that can now go in the fridge or freezer to chill. I put it on a baking sheet or directly onto a flat surface in the fridge or freezer.
How to Cut the Best Sugar Cookies
This dough retains its shape incredibly well, just make sure it’s chilled. I like to place mine in the freezer for 15 minutes or so, but you can also place it in the fridge. If you’ve used my method of rolling the dough out first, it needs far less time to chill. Then cut out shapes and repeat the rolling process with the remaining dough. If you want super crisp edges on your finished baked cookies, you can even pull out your cutter again and re-cut when they are hot right out of the oven.
How long do I bake Sugar Cookies?
The great thing about this recipe is that you can roll these cookies thick and under-bake them and they will be crazy soft and delicious. OR you can roll them thinner (1/4 inch or less) and bake until you see the edges start turning golden brown and they are perfectly buttery-crisp on the edges. Many recipes will simply be dry when baked till golden brown, but these are incredibly good- similar to a shortbread cookie that melts in your mouth. I love them both ways! Here’s a photo example of what you’d be looking for:
Frosting the Best Sugar Cookies: 3 Ideas!
For straight up flavor, we love our Classic Buttercream Frosting on sugar cookies. It’s the most traditional combination!
If you’d like something a little more fun and artistic, try our popular Glace Icing and glaze.
And if you’d like to top them with royal icing, you can try my hand painted decorating technique!
How do I store Sugar Cookies?
If I’m making a large amount of sugar cookies I will almost always make them ahead of time because sugar cookies freeze beautifully! Simply cool completely after baking and then layer between parchment in the freezer. When you are ready to frost, just pull them out of the freezer- you can even frost them while still frozen and let them come to room temperature on the counter. Alternately, you can simply place baked cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature.
Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: About 30, 2 1/2 inch cookies
Description
Perfect buttery sugar cookies that can be baked either thick and soft or thin and crisp. They hold their shape well and are perfect for decorating! Pair with our Best Buttercream Frosting for the perfect cookie!
Ingredients
1 cup real butter at room temperature
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 large or extra large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3 cups flour (390g) lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled (don’t scoop!)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Instructions
Note: I recommend a stand mixer for this recipe, if you have one. If not, a hand mixer will work just fine.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add in egg and extract and mix to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Tip: Don’t use your measuring cup to scoop up the flour. Either weight it, or use a regular sized spoon and lightly spoon the flour into the cup and then level it off with a knife.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined. Your dough may at first look crumbly, but keep mixing and it will quickly turn into a soft cohesive dough.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour, OR use my method of pre-rolling as explained below.
- Preheat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll chilled dough and cut into shapes.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your cookies. Baking time is a personal preference. Watch for the edges and tops to be set. If you like your cookies crisp on the edges, roll them thinner and bake until just golden brown on the edges. If you want thick, soft cookies, remove from oven when cookies are puffed and set, but no browning is visible.
Suggested Pre-Rolling Method:
Gather half (or all) of your dough and form into a large ball. Place on a silicone baking mat (or a large piece of plastic wrap) and press down gently. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of your dough and then roll on top of the parchment into an even layer about 1/4 inch thick, or thicker if you desire thick cookies. Pick up your silicone mat and flip the entire thing over. Peel off silicone baking mat so you are left with your sheet of parchment with your rolled dough on top. Place this parchment-lined dough on a baking sheet and place in the fridge or freezer. Repeat with remaining dough. (See recipe tutorial for photos of this process.) Refrigerate for about 20 minutes or pop in the freezer for about 10. Continue with recipe as written.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: baking
Questions & Reviews
Ok Kate,
I'm going to believe you and give it a chance…. not immediately as I am on a low carb diet to go to a wedding, but perhaps after:D Only 9 more days to go!!! I'm actually going to go ahead and blame you and your blog for my weight gain:D I have become addicted to it and the food is AMAZING!!! Darn you LOL…. If only I had a smidge of any sort of self control…hmmmm… perhaps they have some at that Christmas Tree Shop LOL.
Thanks for the tips. I will give it a try and hope for the amazingness to hit my little taste buds.
PS. I was just reading some more of these posts and there seems to be a severe silpat addiction on here LOL. I just came across a silpat wannabe that is tremendously cheaper, but seems to be the exact same thing at this place called "The Christmas Tree Shop". Now, I have no idea why it is called this, as it does not contain Christmas stuff, nor does it sell trees (unless it's Christmas time, but still no trees):/ It is like a glorified dollar store… cheap cheap cheap and TONS of wonderful things!!! Beware, you may find yourself wanting a cart midway through this place!! Or, bee line to the kitchen goods for your $6.99 "silpat" and GET OUT OF THERE!
Angela, this is seriously the best! And I'm not just saying that, haha! These are my hubby's FAVORITE cookies and he won't touch a dessert that doesn't have chocolate in it.
Here are my hints in a nutshell:
–Use the best butter and in no circumstances should you use margarine or shortening.
–Lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cups and level it with a knife. The biggest problem people have with this recipe is adding too much flour, which will make the dough crumbly and the cookies like hockey pucks.
–After you make the dough, instead of letting it chill first, roll it onto a sheet of parchment or plastic wrap and then top it with another layer of parchment or plastic wrap. It will chill much faster this way and it's so much easier for the cookies to hold their shape.
–If you like 'em soft, roll them about 1/4" thick and then bake them just until they're starting to get a little golden around the bottom edges.
–Don't leave out the almond extract!
That's it! Happy cookie baking! LEt us know how it goes!
Ok girls…. here is the big question LOL…. lemme back up first. I ONLY like those soft deliscious grocery store sugar cookies… you know the ones, they taste soooo good and it's like they aren't even fully cooked.. YUMMMOOOO! Every home cooked sugar cookie I have EVER eaten NEVER tastes like this. Here's the question: Is this another one?
Kate is right! Spooning makes all the difference! I have ruined alot of batches, just because I did not spoon the flour. Sounds weird, but true! Take the time and spoon the flour and you will have the most awesome, buttery sugar cookies ever! They are worth another try!!
DeVore Family–Spooning the flour into the measuring cup actually makes a HUGE difference in this recipe. I've gotten lazy a time or two with how big my spoonfuls were and the dough was significantly more crumbly. I guarantee that that was your problem. 🙂
Crumbly (like super crumbly) dough here too. I let the butter sit out beforehand. The egg was large, I didnt hand scoop flour into the cup but I cant imagine it would make that much of a difference, I had to add like 1/4 cup of milk… so weird!
I am so glad I found this blog! I followed the directions exactly. I did scoop my flour before I read the comments on crumbly dough so I was worried, but it turned out okay! I used my stand mixer with very soft butter, but I think the key is room temp softened butter, don't microwave your butter!
All I have so far is the dough, but it's amazing. I can't wait to bake the cookies tomorrow.
Do you normally bake with unsalted butter? I used regular butter and the dough is slightly salty, but I am sure with icing they will be perfect. My name is Sara, and I am also a sugar cookie snob!
The frosting I always use for frosting my sugar cookies is about 3/4 stick real butter, melted; 3-4 cups powdered sugar; 3-4 tablespoons milk; and 1-2 teaspoons vanilla (or whatever) extract. I never measure anything either! But I think it's important to melt the butter; I've tried it without melting the butter and I don't like it as well. My sugar cookie recipe is almost exactly like this one, except for two changes: It has 2 tsp cream of tartar in it, and it has 2 extra eggs (3 total.) Otherwise everything else is exactly the same. I wonder what the extra eggs do? I love my sugar cookie recipe, but I might try this one next time just to see how they're different!
While I have yet to bake these cookies, I have just made the dough, twice. The first batch came out crumbly, so I scoured the comments and discovered that it was most likely due to me scooping (oops!) the flour instead of spooning it. I also softened the butter even more before creaming it. The second batch of dough came out perfect! Very soft, very smooth, very easy to press into disks to put in the fridge. So there you have it, the method of four measure makes a HUGE difference! Can't wait to bake these in the morning!
juliejules- I don't actually have a recipe, but here are all of the ingredients you need: real butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a little milk or cream. I just do it to taste!
What is the recipe for the "classic way" of "creamy frosting" (the pink cookies). I need to find a recipe just like that! Please!!! You are such an inspiration! Thanks so much!!
I made these for Halloween with your Glace icing. They were great! One thing to note though, I was told that I needed to put the cookies in the fridge since I used milk in the icing.
Thank you Sara for your response. The eggs I used were large, but I am wondering if it was the butter. It had been frozen, but I thawed it in the microwave I thought enough. Next time we make them I will make sure to leave it out for a few hours before making. I will post a comment if this makes a difference. I will also try the spoon the flour into the measuring cups..I didn't know it would make a difference. Baking is new to me, trying to learn it to have something else to enjoy with my son! Thanks for the tips!!
Do you think the crumbly problem people seem to be having is because they're using cold butter instead of softened/room temp? You don't specify in your directions, but I'm pretty sure it should be softened. It would be very difficult to cream the butter and sugar with cold butter, and maybe that's what's causing the crumbliness? Just a thought…
Zabrina- we've had a few people say the same thing and we can't figure out why! I've made this recipe probably a hundred times and it's never happened to me. The only thing I can think of is maybe if your egg is small- so make sure to use a large or extra large egg. It also helps to use a stand mixer and make sure you don't scoop your flour to measure it. Use a spoon and lightly spoon flour into measuring cups so you don't get too much. Hope that helps!
Hi….my son and I just tried to make your sugar cookies and for some reason it doesn't seem right. The end result is a very crumbly dough….but I wouldn't really call it dough. When trying to pat it together it wouldn't even stay together..it just fell apart. I did put it in the refrigerator in the bowl hoping that would help…but I was hoping to be able to roll it out in the wax paper. It seems like it was too dry…but I added all the ingredients as stated in the recipe. Do you know why this might be happening, or know of a trick that I can fix it without having to throw it all away??
Thank you….by the way…I love your blog and the recipes I have tried have been fantastic!!
Just started reading your blog… I started at the most recent and am going backwards and have made it to your 1st blogiversary. This is the first recipe I've tried and they taste WONDERFUL! I was hoping to use a new leaf shape cookie cutter but the dough didn't hold together quite well enough for me, there was a fine line between so cold it cracked and too soft so I just made pumpkins and circles (I am going to try the spider web trick with the glace icing!) But these are probably the BEST sugar cookie I've ever tasted. You guys are awesome!
These are ridiculously amazingly awesome! i loved how they held their shape and the tip about rolling them between two sheets of wax paper, they're were so much easier to cut while the dough was still cold, once it hit room temp it became sticky but still workable. I absolutely love this recipe and used the Glace icing too, it worked really amazingly. I love your guys' site, every recipe ive tried on here has but foolproof!
Susan, I honestly don't know what to tell you! Sounds like you did everything right. It does get very hard when chilled so you might want to try the trick I mentioned about rolling it before chilling. Other than that, maybe just give it another shot and see it works better for ya!
Hi Sara,
I'm into baking cakes and breads, but this is my first time doing sugar cookies. I had a little bit of a problem with my dough, mine came out super soft after I mixed everything (followed exact measurements and used real butter etc.), after I chilled it, it was firm so I thought I didn't do anything wrong but while I was cutting it, it's not holding it's shape so I can't choose the cutter that my son wants to use so I ended up with a heart shape. What do you think went wrong? By the way, I sifted my flour then I measured it just like I'm used to making my breads. Was sifting the flour made a big difference or I under mixed my dough? Help!
But your cookies were great! It's really a keeper. Thanks!!
Thanks for the great recipe. I made flower cookie pops for my daughter's tea party and now am making baseball cookies for my son. I think the problem people are having with the crumbling dough is due to too much flour. I'm thinking they are scooping and not lightly spooning into the cup. It makes quite a difference in flour quantity.
Sara, These are amazing! I just made a huge batch for my daughter's bday. I have a question though, the party is on sunday (friday now), should I freeze them or are they still good in two days? Also, if I didnt freeze them, how early can I decorate? I was going to use the glaze icing, does it stay good if i decorate tonight or should I do that saturday? Thanks so much!
Sara,
These are by far the best sugar cookies IN THE WORLD! My husband isn't a huge fan of sweets so i usually eating anything I make myself! This time i had to fight him off!!! He loved them. I did freeze half and they turned out great when i got them out of the freezer!!!!
nope, the recipe is correct as written, one egg. The plural in the directions is just a typo because I halved my original recipe for this post. I honestly have never ever had that problem so I'm not quite sure why! Are you using a stand mixer? If you are mixing my hand or with a hand mixer I could see why it would be crumbly, but with a stand mixer it comes together after mixing enough. That's the only thing I can think of!
Sara,
I made these this morning, and I had the crumbly problem everyone else is having. Here are my thoughts: the recipe calls for one egg, but the directions say "add in eggs and extract". Should you really use two eggs? I thought maybe that was the answer so I added another egg and they turned out terrifically. But I'd really love to know if you've been successful with just one egg. The dough was practically powder in the bowl.
Thanks for the recipe. Even though I changed it a little, these cookies were great!
Sara,
Thanks so much! I might just do a double batch and freeze half! Thanks for all the great posts and recipes!!! Brightens my day everytime!
Kristen,
Yes, this dough works great for the freezer. You can freeze the raw dough, or the baked cookies. Both works great. The pink frosting is just butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. I don't measure, just whip it up!
Hey!! this will be yet another recipe i can't wait to try of yalls!! Thinking that its going to be a baking weekend and this will be added to my list!!!! Do you think this dough would be a good "freezer" recipe? I like to keep homeade stuff on hand in the freezer to have some quick bakes for guests!!! Also, which icing is used for the pink cookies? I want to try the glace icing, but the pink looks absolutely delicious!!!
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for!!!! It reminded me of my camp cookies, these were amazing, and the batter, was definitely considering putting some in the freezer as you mentioned, to die for!
– Sam
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