With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft cut-out sugar cookies. Use your favorite cookie cutters and try my classic royal icing.
Originally published on my website in 2014, this recipe is a massive fan favorite. You’ll also find the recipe in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
This is my flagship recipe for cut-out sugar cookies. I’ve made them at least 38577 times (imagine all the butter), so I figured it’s time to share new recipe tips, a video tutorial, and more helpful information.
Why You’ll Love These Sugar Cookies
- Soft, thick centers with slightly crisp edges
- Irresistible buttery vanilla flavor
- Leave plain or flavor with extras like maple, cinnamon, and more
- Hold their shape
- Flat surface for decorating
- Stay soft for days
- Freeze beautifully
Sugar Cookies Video Tutorial
Overview: How to Make Sugar Cookies with Icing
- Make cookie dough. You only need 7 or 8 ingredients. With so few ingredients, it’s important that you follow the recipe closely. Creamed butter and sugar provide the base of the cookie dough. Flour and egg give the cookies structure, and vanilla extract adds flavor. I almost always add a touch of almond extract for additional flavor and highly recommend that you try it too! Baking powder adds lift, and salt balances the sweet. So many *little ingredients* doing *big jobs* to create a perfect cookie. By the way, I also have a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies!
- Divide in two pieces. Smaller sections of dough are easier to roll out.
- Roll out cookie dough. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick. If you have difficulty rolling out dough evenly, try this adjustable rolling pin. Speaking from experience—it’s incredibly handy!
- Chill rolled-out cookie dough. Without chilling, these cookie cutter sugar cookies won’t hold their shapes. Chill the rolled-out cookie dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Cut into shapes. If you need suggestions for cookie cutters, I love Ann Clark brand. (Not sponsored, just a genuine fan!) Some of my favorites include this heart set, dog bone, snowflake, snowman, leaf, and a pumpkin. I also use and recommend these heart cookie cutters.
- Bake & cool. Depending on size, the cookies take about 11–12 minutes.
- Decorate. See my suggested icings below. I also have a tutorial on how to decorate sugar cookies with even more helpful decorating tips.
Have a little flour nearby when you’re rolling out the cookie dough. Keep your work surface, hands, and rolling pin lightly floured. This is a relatively soft dough.
The Trick Is the Order of Steps
Notice how I roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it in the refrigerator? That’s my trick and you can see me doing it in the video tutorial in this post.
Let me explain why I do this. Just like when you’re making chocolate chip cookies, to prevent the cookies from over-spreading, the cookie dough must chill in the refrigerator. Roll out the dough right after you prepare it, then chill the rolled-out dough. (At this point the dough is too soft to cut into shapes.) If you chill the cookie dough and then try to roll it out, it will be too cold and difficult to work with.
I also divide the dough in half before rolling it out, and highly recommend you do the same. Smaller sections of dough are simply more manageable.
Another trick! Roll out the cookie dough directly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. (Parchment paper will slide around on your counter, so I always place a piece of parchment paper on top of a silicone baking mat to roll the dough without slippage.)
Pick up the sheet of parchment with the rolled-out dough on top, transfer it to a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. You don’t need to make room for two baking sheets in your refrigerator—simply stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other, with the parchment paper in between.
How Thick Do I Roll Sugar Cookies?
These sugar cookies remain soft because they’re rolled out pretty thick. Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick or just under 1/4 inch thick. Yes, this is on the thicker side and yes, this produces extra thick and soft cookies. If rolling out cookie dough doesn’t sound appealing, try my drop sugar cookies instead.
Sugar Cookie Icing
I have 3 sugar cookie icing recipes, and you can choose whichever works best for you.
- Favorite Royal Icing: This royal icing is my preferred sugar cookie icing because it’s easy to use, dries within a couple of hours, and doesn’t taste like hardened cement. (It’s on the softer side!) I make it with meringue powder. Meringue powder takes the place of raw egg whites, which is found in traditional royal icing recipes. It eliminates the need for fresh eggs, but still provides the same consistency. You can find meringue powder in some baking aisles, most craft stores with a baking section, and online. The 8-ounce tub always lasts me a good while. The trickiest part is landing on the perfect royal icing consistency, but I provide a video in the royal icing recipe to help you.
- Easy Cookie Icing: This easy cookie icing is ideal for beginners. It’s easier to make than royal icing because you don’t need an electric mixer and the consistency won’t really make or break the outcome. However, it doesn’t provide the same sharp detail that royal icing decorations do. It also takes a good 24 hours to dry.
- Buttercream: This cookie decorating buttercream is also excellent for beginners. You can tint it any color you like, flavor it, and spread it on with a knife or use piping tips. It soft-sets after a few hours, meaning you can carefully stack the cookies for storage.
The pictured heart-shaped cookies are decorated with my royal icing using Wilton piping tip #4. If you’re not into piping tips, you can simply dunk the tops of the cookies into the icing, like we do with these mini animal cracker cookies. 🙂
Sugar Cookie Tips & Tools
Before I leave you with the recipe, let me suggest some useful sugar cookie tools. These are the exact products I use and trust in my own kitchen:
- Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets
- Rolling Pin or this Adjustable Rolling Pin
- Food Coloring: Liquid food coloring can alter the consistency of the icing, so I recommend gel food coloring. For the pictured cookies, I used a few drops of dusty rose and 1 drop of sky blue. This Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit is great to have if you do a lot of decorating and want to have a variety of colors on hand.
- Piping Tips/Squeeze Bottle: If you’re using royal icing, I recommend Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding. This is a wonderful basic piping tip to have in your collection. If you’re using my easy glaze icing, I recommend using a squeeze bottle.
- Piping Bag: If you’re using royal icing and a piping tip, you need a disposable piping bag or reusable piping bag.
- Couplers: Couplers are handy if you have multiple colors of icing and only 1 tip, and need to move the tip to the other bags of icing.
- Cookie Cutters: I like this heart-shaped cookie cutter, but you can use any shape you desire!
For even more recommendations, see this complete list of my favorite cookie decorating supplies.
Here’s What You Can Do With This Dough
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Striped Fudge Cookie Sandwiches
- Snowman Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Stained Glass Window Cookies
- Valentine’s Day Cookies
- Maple Cinnamon Cut-Out Cookies
- St. Patrick’s Day Cookies
- Easter Cookies
- Fireworks Cookies
And if you’re craving sugar cookies with a little extra tang, try my cream cheese cut-out cookies with Nutella glaze.
Print
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours (including chilling)
- Yield: 24 3-4 inch cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft sugar cookies as much as I do. The number of cookies this recipe yields depends on the size of the cookie cutter you use. If you’d like to make dozens of cookies for a large crowd, double the recipe. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*
For Decorating
- Royal Icing, Easy Glaze Icing, or Cookie Buttercream (royal icing is pictured)
- Assorted sprinkles
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until the mixture is light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough should be soft. If it seems too soft and sticky for rolling, beat in 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough in half. Place each portion on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4 inch thick.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough portion, still on the parchment paper, on top of the first. Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Carefully remove the top piece of dough from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Gather the scraps, reroll, and continue cutting until all the dough is used. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you reroll.) Repeat with the second piece of dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are very lightly browned and set. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate the cooled cookies with royal icing, easy cookie icing, or cookie decorating buttercream. Feel free to tint any of the icings with gel food coloring. See post above for recommended decorating tools. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting.
- Enjoy cookies right away or wait until the icing sets to serve them. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifting or shipping. Store plain or iced cookies covered tightly at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days. If decorated with cookie buttercream, cover and store decorated cookies at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-safe container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough (before rolling it out) for up to 3 months. Prepare the dough through step 2, divide in half, flatten each half into a disc (like we do with pie crust), wrap each disc in plastic wrap, place both wrapped discs in a freezer-safe container, and freeze. Thaw the wrapped discs in the refrigerator overnight, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill the rolled-out dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Wooden Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutter | Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit | Piping Bags (Disposable or Reusable) | Couplers | Wilton Tip #4 | Squeeze Bottle
- Room Temperature: Room-temperature butter is essential. If the dough is too sticky, your butter may have been too soft. Room-temperature butter is actually cool to the touch. Room-temperature egg is preferred so that it mixes quickly and evenly into the cookie dough.
- Flavors: I love flavoring this cookie dough with 1/4 teaspoon almond extract as listed in the ingredients above. For more flavor, use 1/2 teaspoon. Instead of the almond extract, try using 1 teaspoon of maple extract, coconut extract, lemon extract, or peppermint extract. Or add 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon. If using lemon extract, you can also add 1 Tablespoon lemon zest.
- Icing: Use royal icing, easy cookie icing, or cookie decorating buttercream. See post above to read about the differences.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Yes. Double all of the ingredients and divide the dough into 3 or 4 portions in step 3.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These cookies were delicious! I omitted the almond extract and added a little more vanilla extract. And I added powdered sugar into the flour as well.
These cookies were delicious!
I have no idea what went wrong. I followed the recipe to a T. Softened my butter for 2 hours. My dough was super dry and crumbly. Not a dough at all until I added another 1/3c of butter.
Hi Carolyn! The flour may have been over-measured. This is a slightly crumbly dough, but comes together when you roll it out. Make sure you spoon and level the flour instead of scooping (or weigh it). The more you work with the dough (re-rolling scraps) the more it comes together. Hope this helps!
These cookies was easy and successful! I appreciate all the tips and you sharing the recipe! This batch is for my daughter to decorate with some little ones! Merry Christmas!
How thick do you roll the dough?
Hi Kathleen, we roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
Thank you!! ☃️
Can someone tell me if meringue mix can be used instead of meringue powder? That’s all I could find. Thanks!
Hi Stacy, it’s my understanding that the meringue mix you purchased should work in the royal icing recipe. Meringue powder is a replacement for making meringue (it’s not just dried egg whites), so I assume meringue mix is the same.
Perfection! Soft, easy to work with and taste great.
Amazing!!! Honestly my dream sugar cookie. Soft and melts in your mouth. But it worked perfect for cut outs. I put in fridge for three hours without rolling out first. It was amazing!
Made these without almond extract and they are delicious! Will make them a little thicker next time. I rolled them thinner than directed and the thinner ones are a little brown on the edges and crispy – still good but will also not let them brown at all next time. These have a nice shortbread flavor without the almond.
Perfect recipe. I followed it exactly but doubled it. Cookies came out moist, flavorful, and didn’t spread out at all. I made these for Christmas cut outs and used 5 shapes of various sizes. Doubling the recipe only made 20 cookies, so unless you are doing small, uniform shapes, I would definitely double or triple recipe. This is now my go to sugar cookie recipe!
This recipe was great and the cookies tasted delicious! I didn’t refrigerate the dough as I needed them there and then and they were fine! Super good recipe
These cookies were very bland and not soft at all. Recipe was easy but to cookie was not very good at all. 🙁
Did you add enough vanilla extract and almond extract? These cookies, paired with the easy glaze icing, were delicious IMO.
These cookies are perfect vehicles for the royal frosting. Not too sweet and rely on the sweetness of the icing. Otherwise would be toooooooooo sweet. Great recipe!
Hi Sally,
I’ve never baked sugar cookies before, but I love your website. You’re recipes contain real ingredients, you provide clear and easy to follow directions, and baking is so much fun with you! So I made these cookies today and I used a Santa hat cookie cutter, an ornament cutter, and a Christmas tree. I made two separate sets of cookies because my brother can’t have gluten. Then I made a buttercream frosting and finally used green and red sanding sugar. My brother loved his cookies! Everyone loved the cookies. My brother wanted to know the secret. I said Sally’s amazing recipes of course. . I have never enjoyed any cookie this much before. They remind me of the frosted snowman shortbread cookies that Starbucks had a few Christmases ago. These are even better. Thank you for sharing your wonderful, delicious recipes. I will never buy a sugar cookie again.
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones.
Thank you Sofia, reviews are my go to and now after seeing you’re review I’m making these for the family. Thank you Sally really love your presentation.
Mama Dee
I made them last night. I had to add about 2 extra tbsp of flour. The dough came together and rolled perfectly. I did not chill my dough before baking and they held together and did not spread. They are soft and have good texture, but I felt like they were missing “something”. Tasted better with icing. 350 for 8 minutes was perfect timing in my oven.
Rolled out like a dream. Thank you so much!!
Hi Sally! Can I make these thicker, 3/8 inch? If so, how much longer would I need to bake them? (I’ve made these before and they’re delicious!)
Hi Francesca, You can roll the dough out thicker if you prefer! Bake time for thicker cookies will be a little longer–until the edges are lightly browned.
I’d give it 0 stars if I could. This dough gets stuck to everything even parchment paper and I put extra flour. I couldn’t even cut out my cookies it was so sticky. You’d think with it being so sticky it’s stick to itself but funny enough it doesn’t it instead it sticks on my fingers
Hi Justine, Thank you for trying this recipe. Did you chill the cookie dough? Chilling the dough after you roll it out is imperative for this recipe – at least 2 hours but overnight is even better. It shouldn’t be sticky after chilling.
I’m super disappointed and I’m not sure what went wrong. First, when combining the ingredients in my mixer the cookie dough was super soft and sticky. So, I did what was suggested and added a bit flour. I rolled out and refrigerated as instructed. After chilling when I used a cookie cutter the cookies started to crumble and none took shape. What did I do wrong?
Hi Melissa, I’m sorry you had trouble with this recipe. Did you change anything about the ingredients at all? It’s odd that the dough was so sticky and then crumbled after chilling. I wonder if, after chilling, the dough was simply too cold. If it’s too cold and crumbling, let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or so. The butter in the dough could need time to soften up again so the dough is pliable and easier to shape.
Question, if I wanted to save space in my fridge (because I have like 3 other cookies I’m chilling tonight too) could I roll out the dough after chilling it or does it have to be before. I plan make the dough tonight and bake tomorrow.
Hi Shariesa, We highly recommend rolling this dough before chilling because it will be too cold and difficult to work with after it’s chilled. To save space in your refrigerator you can definitely stack the dough between sheets of parchment paper after it’s rolled out.
We make Christmas cookies every year and include sugar cookie cut-outs. My wife most often used the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. I knew the recipe would be easy and I did not want you to buy premade dough with simple ingredients we have in our home. So my search for “best sugar cookie recipe” popped up Sally’s recipe. Her description and less butter use in the recipe sold me so I gave it a shot and followed the exact instructions. Simple! I rate it 5 stars! The KitchenAid mixer we received from my siblings for a wedding gift made mixing much easier. (Side note…a great gift for a new couple.) When the dough is wrapped around the paddle, the mixing is done. I made the recipe twice including the almond extract; just had to given Sally’s recommendation. :o) I rubbed my wooden roller with flour to help prevent the dough from sticking. Now there four rolled-out cookie doughs layered in parchment paper in my refrigerator. My wife, children, and I will cut out and bake tonight with festive holiday tunes and libations. I will return for the taste review, but I am very optimistic this recipe will be a hit! Thanks, Sally! Happy holidays to all! Brighter days ahead in 2022!
Hands down THE best cut out cookies I have ever had. The almond extract is a must ! Don’t leave it out !
We added 4 tap of orange zest, and even my luckiest eater was begging for more !
I’m looking for a good sugar cookie recipe, but I don’t want to ice the cookies. I have colored, granulated sugar I want to use. Will this recipe work well with just the decorative sugar? And if I do go with the decorative sugar, do I decorate while the cookies are warm, so the sugar will stick? Or do I sprinkle the colored sugar on the raw dough and then bake?
Thanks for your help, Linda
Hi Linda, You can definitely decorate the cookies with sanding sugar! It’s best to add the colored sugar before baking. If you are making them round (drop cookies), you may enjoy these Christmas Cookie Sparkles.
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I’m using cooking cutter so I’m sticking with this recipe. But I’ll have to try those other cookies some other time.I tried your pumpkin pie recipe for thanksgiving and my family has let me know I am now obliged to make it every thanksgiving and Christmas.I’m also going to try your coconut custard pie recipe.I’m really enjoying your recipes!
Will the recipe work if I double or triple it?
Hi Kristine, You can double the recipe! I find that when attempting to triple it’s easy to overwhelm your mixer.
This is my new favorite cut out cookie recipe. And I also tried with almond extract and it was outstanding!!! Always add the almond extract. Perfect in every way!
well…we just made and ate batch 4 (since thanksgiving). I used to use another blogger’s “fancy” cookie recipe but found it lacked flavor and got hard…these are soft and stay soft but hold their shape.
Love this sugar cookie recipe. I made it for the first time and the cookies came out amazing! The cookie held it’s shape, crispy on outside but soft on inside and that’s the way I love my sugar cookies. Highly recommend this recipe.
Hi Margaret, we would recommend using our Chocolate Sugar Cookies recipe instead!
Thanks I’ll do that recipe some other time. I added a little more just 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon of Ground Ginger, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of lemon except, 1 tablespoon of flower and 1/2 tsp of zest to your recipe. And on bach 2 i just added 1/4 tsp of ground cloves ,1/4 of ginger and 2 tsp of vanilla. Not sure how it’ll turn out though.
Tured out really good!! Love them. Very Delicious. 😛
Will be making these cookies & royal icing this weekend, with my twin teenage granddaughters. I was so pleased when I asked if they wanted to bake/decorate Christmas cookies and they seemed excited! At their age, I never know for sure what will interest them at any given moment, lol!
My question is, if I use almond flavoring in the cookies, will it be too much to also use in royal icing? What would be your suggestion?
Hi Debbie, The cookies won’t actually taste like almond, so you can use some in the icing also and it wouldn’t be too much. I hope you all have fun together!
My daughter and I just made these and our dough is a dry crumbly mess. It hardly holds together. What did we do wrong? Help!
Hello! The flour may have been over-measured. This is a slightly crumbly dough, but comes together when you roll it out. Make sure you spoon and level the flour instead of scooping (or weigh it). The more you work with the dough (re-rolling scraps) the more it comes together. Hope this helps!