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
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: About 30, 2 1/2 inch cookies
- Category: baking
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.
i just came across this site and its love at first recipe (which was the colorburst cupcake). my son’s first birthday is just around the corner and i would to add some extra special touch to it. I am hoping to make the cupcake, the stuffed pizza roll and sugar cookies (BTW: the cookies pictured here looks so delicious).However am a newbie in baking and got a teeny question. What type of sugar did you use in the recipe? Why am I asking this is when I make spritz cookies I use the granulated sugar which results a grainy dough. From the pictures I can see its a very smooth dough and was thinking that if I use granulated sugar I might end u with a grainy dough.
Generally speaking, when recipes call for “sugar” it means granulated white sugar (which is what you use here). If a recipe needs powdered sugar, it will call specifically for it. Don’t worry about a grainy dough- the sugar melts when the cookies bake!
I just found your website and am totally hooked! I decided to try these sugar cookies, and I am extremely pleased with the result! My son and I are both gluten intolerant, and this recipe adapted to being gluten free really well. Because gluten free things tend to be on the crumbly side anyway, and after reading some of the comments, I measured the flour very carefully and also left out a tiny bit of flour to start with just to make sure. I patted it out, then covered it with an extra sheet of parchment paper to roll it out. They are perfect! Thanks for sharing!
I love love love this recipe!! I baked nearly 400 of these cookies this weekend!! Now I need to royal ice them all for my cousin’s wedding on Saturday! 🙂
Sara,
I make your cookies all the time….totally awesome. Just have one question. Have you ever doubled the batch? I would like to double the batch, but want to know if it will come out okay. Sometimes I know that if you double batches, they don’t work, and just want to know if you have ever done that on this one. Thank you for a great recipe!
Julie
Yes Julie, it doubles great!
Have you ever tried these with a cookie gun? The cookies are delicious (as are most of the recipes I’ve tried off this site) and I’d love to try making them with the gun – but I don’t know if the dough is good for pushing through. What do you think?
I made this recipe from Munchkin Munchies and immediately thought of that pretty pink cookie when I whipped up the frosting! I couldn’t resist myself, made a batch of your sugar cookies and another batch of the frosting, (I used 3 1/2 C sugar instead of 4), and they came out beautifully! Needless to say, I have LOTS of pretty cookies in my house!
I know you’ve been asked a million times but do you have a recipe for the pink frosting? It looks SO yummy!! I want that cookie in the picture SO bad haha!!
These are the best! I've searched and made several sugar cookie cutouts searching and these were awesome because they taste great, were SUPER easy, and HOLD THEIR SHAPE (don't puff up and lose their semblemce of what the cookie cutter looks like. Thanks for the keeper!
err, I'm naming it Sara. Sorry!!!
If you have a problem with the dough crumbling, make sure you are measuring your flour correctly. Spoon flour into the measuring cup and then level with the back of a butter knife. Also, make sure you are using large or extra large egg. Make sure your butter is also soft enough.
Baking is a science, so if you have the tiniest bit too much or too little of something, its not going to come out right.
If dough is crumbly, add some milk, a little at a time until your dough looks satiny smooth and sticks together.
Not only did I think the dough came out beautifully and was easy to work with, this recipe made the best sugar cookie (even with my subs) to date. I'm naming my next child Kate (or dog, or fish).
Great sugar cookie! I also had problems with the dough crumbling after a couple hours in the fridge. Next time I will certainly spoon the flour. I only used 2 3/4 cups anyway, but I ended up adding water to the dough to make it manageable, and the cookies turned out fine, just a little dry. I might add even less flour next time.
I know this is sugar cookie blasphemy, but my husband had lap band surgery and can't tolerate much sugar or fat. I have been searching for a recipe to modify… and the correct way to modify so that I still get the sugar cookie taste without the sugar. I do use organic Stevia, not the processed crazy stuff and I do use some sugar for that chemical reaction. I will be using half butter and half olive oil. I'm trying to not make a healthier version sacrifice quality and flavor.
I guess I just wanted you to know that I'm using your recipe, or maybe misusing, so that my husband can have a wonderful Valentine's Day treat. If I can pull it off, I will name my next child after you… seriously. Or maybe a puppy if we don't have anymore kids.
TK–If I use salted butter, I just omit the extra salt. If I use unsalted, I add the salt.
Ben & Diane–Here's the link for the cream cheese and jam cookies:
https://ourbestbites.com/2010/04/cream-cheese-and-jam-cookies.html
Hi, I have just started looking at your recipe blog and this recipe looks AWESOME!! I was just wondering how you make the cream cheese and jam cookies. I looked through the recipe index and did not see it. I assume you just cut out two cookies and put the cream cheese in the middle and the jam in the cut-out but I am sure it is more sophisticated than that. Do you have a tutorial or something?
I saw it asked above but not answered….Should the butter be salted or unsalted? I used the recipe once with salted and they were a little salty, however, I'm afraid to use unsalted and have them turn out bland. Please help! I've got to make a V-Day batch!
Kate and I honestly have no clue! I have made this recipe probably 100 times and never once, ever, have I had that problem. The only thing we can think of is that people are packing their flour (measuring it incorrectly). They turn out perfect for me every time!
Hey thanks for the post! I have been craving sugar cookies and I tried making them today, unfortunately I had the same problem as one of the other women who posted on here…mine was all crumbly after mixing all the ingredients together. I used real butter and everything! When I was cutting them into shapes they broke apart really easily as well. They tasted ok when baked but still very fragile to the touch. Have any ideas as to what might have happened? I saw that someone else posted that you had a variance between the salt and the baking powder in this and the prescription recipe maybe that is a factor? I dunno, is what is on the post right now the correct amounts? I'm just sad cause I made a whole bunch and lots of people have posted how yummy they are and I'd like to figure out my mistake so I can try to get the "yummy" result for next time! Ha ha thanks!
Thanks! I was going to save half the dough to make easter egg cookies in a couple of months, but I decided just to go all out for V-day and make them all into hearts. They are now freezing nicely in my freezer until decorating day on Monday!
I just tried this recipe and used a large egg. It was very crumbly!!! Thankfully my Mom's sugar cookie recipe is very similar (3.5C flour, 2t baking powder, and 3 eggs) so I was able to salvage it.
So many great reviews for this that I'll have to try it next time with an extra large egg!
Kim–These freeze awesomely in any form–unrolled dough, rolled dough, dough cutouts, or baked cookies. Also, the frozen dough is delish. Not that I know. All of these virtues make them super dangerous, right?! 🙂
I have these chilling in the fridge as we speak. I really don't need a lot and I can tell that the dough will make a ton of cookies. Will it freeze well? I seem to recall you saying somewhere that it does, but I could have this recipe confused with any of the other dozen recipes that I use from your site 😉
Is there a recipe for the frosting for these sugar cookies (the soft-looking frosting)?
My family has a Valentine's Day sugar cookie tradition that I am ever so glad to continue now that I have a family of my own. I've tried several sugar cookie recipes (including kind of complicated ones) and THIS recipe is the winner! The YUMMIEST, EASIEST ever! Turned out perfectly and you truly don't have to cover them with loads of frosting or candy like we usually do to make them delicious. I think it's got to be all that scrumptious butter! 🙂 I'm going to get brave today and try the almond extract instead of the safe, tried and true vanilla. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Can this cookies be made without the egg and still turn out? Look so
Yum-O and dying to try.
You had me at "sugar cookie snob." I grew up in Texas and then moved to Utah and was appalled by the thick, dry, flavorless "sugar cookies" I had there. Since then, I have been searching for the perfect recipe, and I have tried them all. I have to say, HANDS DOWN this is probably the best I tried for many reasons: 1) You used real butter, and not margarine or shortening, which I've tried, and it doesn't quite taste the same; 2) I loved how easily they rolled, cutted, and stayed together. It was the first sugar cookie recipe I've tried where I could literally pick up the cut pieces WITH MY HANDS and put them on the cookie sheet. They weren't too sticky, soft, no buttered or floured spatula to get them off, nothing! 3) I loved how I could literally roll them all and cut them all in one sitting. What I hate about most recipes I've tried, is that the dough gets too warm, and then you have to refrigerate it in between rollings and cuttings. That's why I HATED sugar cookies because they took FOREVER! With this one, all my rolling and cutting, boom! were done. Also, the taste is awesome. I can relate to wanting a sugar cookie tasting good on its own. I grew up with my Swedish grandmother making them, with real butter, and never frosting them, but just decorating with sugar and sprinkles before baking. I say, if the cookie NEEDS two inches of frosting, then it's not a very good cookie. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, for FINALLY giving me a good recipe. I'm not kidding, it has taken me 34 years to find one!
Sara is right…These are the best sugar cookies. I am glad I read all the posts before baking because I probably would have messed up on measuring the flour like so many others. They taste so good even without icing. 🙂 Thanks Sara for being a sugar cookie snob!
I was just reading Angela's post about only liking the store bought kind with the frosting and I too love those cookies. If you make these thick enough and slightly underbaked these taste very close to those! I have searched for a recipe for them and I found it in this one! Awesome
I made these last night and I loved them. I love this blog in general! My cookies came out soo cute! They look like I bought them at a bakery. I loved the dough too. I couldn't keep out of it while I was rolling them out! Haha.
Cathy- sorry I don't have a recipe. I don't measure when I make that! I need to write it out so I can post it, people are always asking!
Which frosting did you use on the pink round cookies? They look tasty! Thanks!