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
Cookies turned out great. The recipe definitely does not yield 24, 4” by 1/4” cookies, more like half that. But tasty and perfect for decorating!
My cookies spread likes 5x times the normal
Size. I don’t know what I did wrong. Maybe over mixed?
Hi Nakia, the spread could be due to how soft the dough is when baking. One way to help is to chill the shaped cutouts before placing them in the oven. Also, be sure that they’re all the same thickness and that your butter isn’t too soft (here’s more on what room temperature butter really means). Hope this is helpful!
Tried these today. Unfortunately I 6 times the recipe in hopes of freezing them for an upcoming cookie bake. They were a complete flop. Not soft at all and didn’t make nearly as many as I hoped for. I’ll be starting over with my recipe I’ve used for years. Don’t knock what I did wrong
Hi Irene! Making 6 times the recipe is quite a large batch, we don’t recommend making more than 2-3x the recipe at one time. Also be sure to spoon and level your flour when measuring to avoid packing in the flour. Thank you so much for giving these a try, we would love to hear how they go if you try a smaller batch sometime 🙂
This cookie recipe is delicious! I do have a concern though, I’ve been using your sugar cookie and royal icing recipe and I’m having butter bleed on some cookies, not all. Do you happen to know why this is happening? How could I prevent this?
Hi Amy, so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying this recipe! If the butter is bleeding/melting after the cookies have been baked, it sounds like the dough wasn’t completely mixed through. That’s likely from butter that wasn’t quite room temperature. For next time, make sure the butter is fully incorporated in the dough and large chunks are not visible before proceeding with chilling and baking. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. I’ll definitely try mixing a bit longer and hopefully not have the butter bleed on the icing.
I love cookie dough!
Absolutely love this recipe and will be making it again soon, along with the royal icing recipe!! The only thing I had trouble with was working with the scrap dough. I refrigerated the dough overnight and had no problem with the initial cookies I cut out but, after collecting the scrap dough (as quickly as possible) and re-rolling it, I found it was too sticky to work with. Maybe I need to put the scrap dough back in the refrigerator to let it cool down before using it again? Would appreciated tips!
Hi Michelle, we’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe! If the scrap dough is too soft to work with, you can certainly pop it back in the refrigerator for a short time.
Loved this when I made it before! Does it matter if I use salted butter if that’s all I have?
Hi Marley, If using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
cornstarch isn’t needed for This recipe?
Hi Nicky, no, we do not use cornstarch in this recipe.
Do i have to wait for the cookies to thaw to decorate them with the royal icing or can they be frozen?
Also, made 2 batches two different days and the butter temp is KEY! 1st time it was too soft and i had to add a ton of flour for it to not be sticky. This 2nd time was perfect, maybe 1 tablespoon of flour and that was it. Thank you !
Hi Sara, we’d wait until the frozen cookies are thawed to top them with fondant. Glad you enjoy this recipe!
Hi Lexi,
do they have to be thawed to put royal icing on them not fondant
Hi Sara! It’s best to ice cookies at room temperature.
YUM!!
btw: did u know Kylie Jenner uses this recipe?! In her cooking cookies with stormi youtube videos, she says that she uses your recipe!
LOVE THESE ugh i made these and then cut them into circle and put strawberry hearts in the middle!! they’re so cute i love them :’)
so yummy!!!!amazing recipe. Worth the wait!
I love making these cookies so much, so easy and they always turn out perfectly.
Everyone I’ve ever made these for has loved them and they never stay in the fridge more than a day. I added 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and nutmeg and they made the perfect fall cookies.
Hello, can you tell me if this recipe would work with Gluten Free all purpose flour? Thank you!
Hi Amanda, we haven’t personally tried it, but many readers have reported success using 1:1 gluten free flour substitutes. If you give it a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
This is my go to recipe now! I love how soft and delicious they are. I pair them with a marbles fondant and like to personalise them with letter stamps!
Thanks so much for sharing such an awesome recipe 😀
Love these cookies. Really appreciate all the tips put into making this recipe turn out as good as possible! Thank you!
Thank you so much for making our recipe, Aimee! We’re so glad you loved them.
Loved the recipe! Turned out so good!
This recipe has been amazing just wondering I’m making a bulk lot. Am I able to make, chill, cut shapes and freeze for 2 days before baking? Or does it need to be frozen in half lot discs? Thank you
Hi Sharnie, freezing the cut out cookies should work just fine. You could also bake them through and then freeze the baked cookies, if that helps at all. Enjoy!
Thanks for this answer. I’m also looking to bulk make. I found by freezing the baked cookie and then eating it doesn’t taste as fresh and doesn’t have that crisp texture. Is there any way to get around that? (Perhaps putting them back in the oven for 5 minutes?) thank you!!
Hi Jo, keeping the baked cookies wrapped tightly so that no moisture can get in should help to keep them fresh. Allow them to thaw completely before enjoying. You can try putting them back in the oven if you’d like, but they will continue to bake and brown. Hope this helps!
These are delicious thank you so much!! Is it possible to quadruple the recipe (time it by 4 or even 5) to make big batches at once? Thanks again 🙂
Hi Jo, You can double the recipe! We find that when attempting to triple (or more) it’s easy to overwhelm your mixer.
Loved making these! Great recipe, I will deffinetly be using again. BTW very well instruscted.❤ insta? Willing to follow.
Hi. I would like to use this recipe for a party. Can I make the dough 3 days in advance and freeze it? Should I still roll it out then freeze ? What are your recommendations with baking in advance ?
Hi Megan, see recipe notes for a few different make ahead and freezing options — hope the cookie are a hit for your party!
i’ve used this recipe millions of times and it is perfect! All of Sally’s recipes are!
I love these so much i want to eat them all the time. Wonderful website and instructions/tips. I love it! Well done!
Hi! Love the cookies but I’m finding my dough is too crumbly. I am following the measurements exactly. I must be doing something wrong…
Any advice?
Hi Mary, A crumbly dough can still be workable (don’t add water!)– try to bring it together with your hands. It will also come together as you roll it out. Make sure to spoon and level your flour when measuring in the future as well.
The cookies are really delicious but I was wondering if you have a recipe using banana extract. I tried this exact one using 1 tsp of the banana extract but the flavor was too strong. Is there any way I can cinnamon and or nutmeg to give it a better flavor?
Thank you
Hi Valeria, for next time, try reducing the banana extract a bit to 1/2 teaspoon (keep the vanilla extract in, too). Then, you can also add a teaspoon of cinnamon or 1/2 cinnamon 1/2 nutmeg. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi I’m using exact measurements and physically measuring my cookie cutter(4in wide x4in long) and 1/4in thick and I’m only getting 12 cookies instead of 24
Hi Brittany, exact yield can depend on the shape of the cookie cutters, too. For next time, this recipe can be easily doubled if you need more dough to work with. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I am having the same issue. Watching the video, I get half of what she gets from the measurements above. My entire yield is one of her half balls of dough that she rolls out.
Hi there, can I simply add a half recipe to this so my total amount of dough is 1 and a half? Or do I have to make the regular batch and the half batch separately? Kinda like doubling the recipe but adding a half recipe instead! I think because it’s so simple, not like a yeasted or complicated recipe, I could just do that, but I wanted to be sure.
You can absolutely 1.5x this recipe. Enjoy!
Not a good recipe I found a better one. This dough is way too crumbly I tried to bake it and the cookie fell apart easily. I’ve been baking for years now so I knew something wasn’t right. Maybe add more butter or less flour.
Hello I’m going to try these out! Does it matter if I cut the cookies out or not? And do they spread?
Hi Maria, these cookies do need to be cut out into a shape — they will spread over so slightly. If you’re looking for a more traditional drop cookie that can be made in balls and spread while baking, we recommend our drop sugar cookies (with or without sprinkles) recipe instead.
Thank you so much!
Hello! I am excited to try this recipe for the 1st time. The cookie cutters I will be using are approximately 2”x1”. Do you still recommend 1/4” thick dough or should I roll it thinner? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there, we still recommend 1/4 inch thickness regardless of the size of the cutter — you’ll just get more / fewer cookies depending on how big they are. Hope this helps!
Thanks Lexi!
Thank you so much for your reply! I will definitely try your recommendations because I love this recipe so much (and I have tried many others) that I would recut them right after baking before I used another recipe! I will update you have I try it to let you know my results
This recipe is the BEST! I do get about 1/4 to 1/2 inch spread and it isn’t consistent. Do you have this issue? I have a project coming up that needs all the cookies to be the same size, so NO spread. Am I doing something wrong or can I make an adjustment so that it doesn’t get any spread without making the cookie dry?
Hi Diane, the spread could be due to how soft the dough is when baking. One way to help is to chill the shaped cutouts before placing them in the oven. Also, be sure that they’re all the same thickness and that your butter isn’t too soft (here’s more on what room temperature butter really means). Hope this is helpful!