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
If I had a nickle every time I saw a recipe that says “best cookie recipe ever.” But believe this, THIS IS THE BEST SUGAR COOKIE AND ICING EVER! Follow her exact instructions from start to finish. Do not just mix the dough and take off. They will be perfect!
So glad you enjoyed these sugar cookies, Lori — thanks for your positive feedback!
I love to bake and cook, yes both but have always been intimidated when it comes to sugar cookies; Both with the cookie and frosting them.
Here I am getting ready to leave for Colorado from IL and I decide “you know what I am going to make Sally’s Sugar cookies”! Like I don’t have enough to do to get ready to leave because I am coming back on 12/19/2021 and will have a ton of stuff to do to host Christmas.
Well I did it anyway…. I was so thrilled and happy. The cookies came out perfect! I will freeze them ad when I return home will try my hand at frosting them with Royal Icing!
My intimidation has turned in to excitement!
Thank you
I make a ton of your recipes but this one was a struggle. The dough was so soft the first time I rolled it out (from cold) it just turned to mush and stuck to my floured marble table. In the end I kept it in the fridge for a day and then rolled it out on flour-dusted parchment paper.
I don’t understand why it’s so soft. Perhaps it is the butter here in France.
I have made this recipe with Irish butter and it just does not work, the fat content is too high.
Agreed. Irish butter is too soft to bake cookies with, at least the way that I like them.
Would this recipe work well for cookie cutters that also stamp into the surface?
Hi Stephanie, yes! If you stamp the cookie dough, chill the stamped cookie dough shapes right before baking– they’ll definitely hold their shape. We suggest chilling the shaped cookies for 1 hour prior to baking. We’ve used this recipe to make stamped cookies before and they came out beautifully!
This looks so good! I want to try these cookies with my toddler who enjoys baking. We have egg allergy and wondering if you have any recommendation for egg substitute. I have tried many things in the past w/o success. Do you have any thing eggless sugar cookie recipes?
Hi Namita! Eggs are a key binder in this sugar cookie recipe and we haven’t tested any replacements. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated to be egg-free. Here are all our naturally egg-free baking recipes!
Hi I made these once and they turned out great. I want to host a cookie decorating party and would like to prep. Can I make the dough and chill it before rolling it out? I’d prefer not to have a long piece of flat though in my fridge because it will take up too much space. Thanks!
Hi Jessica, you can chill the dough in discs, just allow it a bit of time at room temperature before attempting to roll it out. Have fun with your decorating party! If it’s helpful, we just recently published this post on how to host a cookie decorating day.
Hi Sally. Can you use oat flour instead of white flour?
Hi Gayle, we don’t recommend it. The taste and texture will not be the same and further tweaks/recipe testing would likely be necessary. If you do decide to do any experimenting, let us know how it goes.
I’ve made these a few times and used it as a base for other recipes, it’s amazing.
I now have a giant stand mixer and so I was wondering if I could double or even triple this recipe? I have a ton of cookies I need to make a give out for Christmas. Thanks!
Hi Ben, you can double the recipe! We find that when attempting to triple (or more) it’s easy to overwhelm your mixer.
Thanks so much for replying, this helps a ton.
A note for others making this gluten free, I just used a 1:1 gluten free substitute flour and they come out great.
Hi Sally! We love your website and recipes, especially the cookies. These cutouts are delicious but the last couple of times I’ve made them, they are spreading more than I’d like in the oven. I’ve followed the instructions to chill the rolled-out dough, so don’t think that’s the problem. I have been measuring my ingredients all to the gram weight you’ve noted in the recipe. If I spoon-and-level the flour, it is usually more than the 281g noted. Should I use the spoon-and-level method and ignore the grams for the flour? Maybe my dough is too sticky without the extra flour? Thank you!
Hi Amy, is the dough sticky right after preparing it? If so, a little extra flour wouldn’t hurt OR you can use more flour when rolling out the dough. (Coating it heavily.) Feel free to increase to 300g total in the dough. A little extra flour will always help reduce stickiness. Or, what I sometimes do, is chill the shaped cut-out cookies in the refrigerator as the oven preheats. This helps them hold shape better too.
I tried to find the a nutrition chart for these sugar cookies, but could not. Would you please lmk if there is one on this site?
Hi Albert, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Hi Sally. I made these last years and they are so good! Could you please tell me if I can substitute spelt flour or whole wheat flour and also what kind of butter can I use that is very low in saturated fat? We are trying to steer away from white flour and butter
Hi Gayle, we don’t recommend using whole wheat or spelt flour in these cookies. The substitution would likely result in dry, dense cookies. If you want, try a batch first with 1/2 all-purpose, 1/2 whole wheat flour and see how you like the taste and texture. Then, you can adjust accordingly for future batches. Hope this helps!
I absolutely loved these cookies. Super simple and very soft and flavorful! My new favorite sugar cut out cookie by far! I did roll out the dough and instead for sake of time put the dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes and it worked well.
Hi Sally, I made these sugar cookies last year for Christmas and they were a huge hit. Thank you ! I do have a question how long would the freezed cookies last once they are thawed? And do you have to wait to decorate them once thawed or can you decorate once you take them out of the freezer?
Love the texture of the cookies. But how can I make the cookies less sweet, because the icing is sweet and the cookies are sweet.
Hi – how long do they keep for in sealed bag? Im making a big batch for a wedding next Saturday but struggling for Time next week so If I make the dough today/ chill and then back tomorrow and Saturday – decorate on Monday with royal icing will be they be okay till
Saturday ?
I would like to adapt this recipe for Christmas and perhaps add peppermint extract. How much extract would you recommend I add? Also, can I add crushed peppermint candy to the icing?
Hi Maria, you could add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract to these cookies (or our chocolate sugar cookies, too!). You could also top the icing with crushed peppermint candy, yes.
So Good definitely recommend it to all looking for sugar cookies❤️❤️
Not sure what went wrong. I measured everything exactly, but the dough was way too sticky. Had to add more flour.
Delicious recipe! Crispy on the outside but still soft and chewy on the inside. My family loved it – this is my new go-to sugar cookie recipe! And they taste even better the next day.
Hi Sally! I am planning to make these cookies this weekend and for the design I am planning to make requires circular cookie what do you suggest is a good size for a circular cookie?
CAN U JUST SPRINKLE THE TOP OF THE COOKIES WITH SUGAR AND CINNAMON?
Hi Grace, we can’t see why not. Try sprinkling the cinnamon sugar on before baking the cookies. You may want to even gently press it down into the top of the cookies (with the back of a spoon) to make sure it sticks. Or, you can also add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon directly to the dough. Hope you enjoy these cookies!
This is, by far, the best cut out sugar cookie recipe I have ever used. I wish I could attach a pic to show how nicely they turned out. I used just a smidge less (1/8 tsp) of almond extract because it’s too overpowering for me in general. I normally decorate cakes and wanted to try my hand at this again. Great recipe! Thank you!
So this may sound like a silly question…but when you are making cookies of 2 different sizes (i.e. a snowman vs a candy cane), would you need to bake these separately (all candy canes at once, and all snowmen at once) to ensure proper cooking times? Thank you!
Hi Chris, that’s a great question! If making cookies of different sizes, you can certainly bake them separately to ensure smaller ones aren’t over baked and larger ones aren’t under baked.
Hi, I love this recipe and am making a huge batch of dough for my daughter’s class. One kid has a dairy allergy. Can I use lactose free butter?
Hi Emily, We haven’t tested this cookie recipe with a butter replacement, but let us know what you try!
Hi Emily,
I too have a dairy allergy and make these all the time with the vegan butter. I prefer the earth balance in the yellow box (not the tub). The key is to bring the butter to almost room temperature. If it gets TOO soft it will separate in the dough. Otherwise, treat it as normal! I use the same butter for my vegan “butter cream” too and no one knows the difference. Remember if you make royal icing to either use water or dairy free milk (I like oat or cashew personally).
Thanks Becca! I was just thinking I didn’t want to try these and ruin a batch if I used vegan butter! Super helpful. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Hi Sally,
Thank you for sharing! I’m yet to make these cookies however I am curious if they will be as tasty if I were to use fondant icing? I prefer fondant icing as I’d like to emboss on them icing. If so, do you have a recipe recommendation for fondant icing?
Hi Christine, we haven’t personally made these sugar cookies with fondant icing, but many readers have with success. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Sally,
First of all, I’ve baked a number of your recipes very successfully so thank you for all the great ideas and delicious desserts.
I have a question about the sugar cookie recipe. Do you think they would make good cookie cups? And if I wanted to add 3tbs or more of strawberry puree, should i just add a few tsp of flour to counter the additional wet ingredients?
Thanks!
Hi Samantha, for cookie cups, we’d recommend our drop sugar cookies recipe instead (you can omit the sprinkles from that recipe if you’d like). We haven’t tried adding a puree to these cut out cookies, but it would take some recipe testing to ensure the dough doesn’t become too soft and spread. You could add an extract flavoring (see recipe notes for details) or you might enjoy our raspberry sugar cookies (which uses freeze dried fruit and can easily be substituted for strawberries!).
Can I freeze the cookie after baked (just plain) and then thaw them and decorate them later on when it’s closer to Christmas? Or is it best to decorate prior to freezing? Some of my decorations will be ornate and I don’t want them to jest jostled in the freezer.
Hi MaryRuth, You can freeze just the sugar cookie. Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months.
I only have salted butter?
if you only have salted butter use around half the salt in the recipe!
I cut them into shapes and then chilled them and it worked good
Hi sally, tried your recipe and i love it❤️thank you so much for sharing your recipes.