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
I have been using these recipes for all my sugar cookies. Everyone loves the taste! I always double the batch because I usually have to make lots of it. I use both vanilla and 1 tsp of almond.
I can’t seem to get 24 cookies when I don’t double the ingredients. Is it because I’m making them bigger? I always have to double it in order to get 2 dozen.
Hi Patty! We’re so thrilled to hear that you love these cookies. Cookie size will play a direct role in how may cookies this recipe will yield.
Hi Sam! Feel free to reduce or leave out the almond extract next time if you don’t enjoy the flavor. Thanks for giving these cookies a try!
My son asked for lemon sugar cookies. Can you use juice from a lemon instead of extract?
Hi Kelly! To get a lemon flavor that comes through without extract, you would have to add quite a bit of lemon juice which would throw off the texture of this dough. We suggest sticking with extract. You could try some zest as well, or add some lemon juice to your icing – let use know what you try!
Kelly, I subbed 2 tablespoons of lemon zest for the almond extract, plus a little lemon juice in the icing. The flavor is perfect. Lemony and bright.
I make this recipe with Cup4Cup (best) brand all purpose gluten free flour for holiday cookies. It’s expensive but they come our brilliantly, no one can tell they are GF. I have also used King Arthur cup for cup (better) and Bobs’ red mill 1:1 (Good). It’s important NOT to use any old gluten free flour mix for a good result- you need to use one designed for substituting in standard recipes.
This was an amazing cookie. Perfect for the holidays, or just a nice dessert. Usually, sugar cookies are for aesthetic viewings, and more like because of the decoration, but these truly were great tasting! However, I did have one problem. When making the dough, it was very dry and crumbly. To fix that, form a ball with the dough in your hands, then mix it again and add a splash of milk. Overall, they tasted great-, especially with the almond extract. Nice touch! Would make it again, just have to watch out for consistency.
Would vegan stick butter work?
We haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using vegan butter (like Earth Balance). Let us know if you give it a try!
How far in advance can I make these cookies. Planning for a party this weekend.
I made this recipe already and it truly is the best!! The taste, the softness, the icing. All on point.
Hi Dani, Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days. Or, see recipe notes for longer freezing options.
I’ve always wanted to make sugar cookies and decorate them, but was intimidated. Christmas 2020, being on Covid lockdown and bored I said what better time to try! I found this recipe and followed to a T. I used lemon extract and zest to flavor my cookies (allergic to almond) and they were wonderful and icing was so much fun! Everything came out great and can’t wait to make these cookies again this weekend! I also made your gingerbread cookies last year and they were wonderful! thank you!!
For many years I have followed the same sugar cookie recipe but it just never worked well enough for me. So I started looking for a new one and found this one and omg it’s amazing, they taste amazing not to sweet with a nice buttery taste. All my kids and husband love them. They didn’t spread out when cooking and kept there shape. They take well to adding food colouring. One little thing I did change was I added an extra 4grams of flour as they were to wet for me. Thank you for sharing this recipe, this is one I’ll definitely use again.
Help , I followed the recipe to the T. And it came out very sticky.. I add a little more flour and it’s still sticky.
And suggestions
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 we sometimes do, is chill the shaped cut-out cookies in the refrigerator as the oven preheats. This helps them hold shape better too.
Made these & decorated with your royal icing for the first time last year as Christmas gifts for my co-workers. I got so many compliments on how yummy they were. I even had one girl ask if I could make some for her nephew’s birthday party (unfortunately it was that weekend and I just didn’t have time to make & decorate). So these are definitely now my go-to sugar cookie recipe. Getting ready to make them again for Christmas gifts.
Thank you very much for the recipe! I used gluten free flour since my daughter can not have gluten and they turned out just perfect.
Well here I go.
My first attempt at Christmas cookies with Royal icing.
I’m scared to be honest.
The recipe for both look amazing !
I tried these cookies on a whim for a Christmas Party last weekend. They were a hit!! They held their shape great and were perfect for decorating. I’m usually not one to leave reviews but I was so happy with these I had to! Thanks Sally!
These cookies are so good sweet and just a perfect combination!
The taste was great and not as sweet as most–kids loved them–I had a lot of broken cookies and they still enjoyed them but I was making these batch of cookies to give away for a Girl Scout cookie exchange. I like the idea of rolling out prior to cutting and the cookies held their shape extremely well. BUT, when I tried to get them off the baking sheet, so many broke, although they were about 1/4 inch thick! Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Colleen, we’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Were you using either parchment paper or silicone baking mats to help prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet? It’s also possible that they were slightly over baked if they were breaking (or under baked if they were “folding” more) — for next time, feel free to tweak the baking time accordingly. Hope this is helpful!
Can you use this sugar cookie recipe as drop dough instead of rolling it out and cutting into shapes? I’ve been searching for a nice, soft sugar cookie recipe but I’m not currently in a position to use a rolling pin so I’ve been trying to stick to something I can just roll into balls.
Hi Abbey, for drop sugar cookies, we recommend following this recipe instead (you can leave out the sprinkles if you’d like). Enjoy!
cut out sugar cookies have been my (White Whale) I have tried many recipes that say they are the best only to disappointed .I can say with this one I love the flavor ! These are the best . Thanks so much…
Hi Margaret, We are so glad you love them!
Hi Sally! I love these cookies! I’d like to give the dough wrapped in parchment as gifts for the holidays. Would this be a good recipe for that or would your drop cookie recipe be best? Thanks so much for all your wonderful concoctions!
Hi Sarah! Either recipe would work well for gifting, just be sure to follow the make-ahead/freezing instructions found in the recipe notes of either recipe to ensure freshness.
I have tried a few different sugar cookie recipes over the years and I just gave these a try this year. I have to say, they are great! I think I found the recipe I am sticking with moving forward!
I have always struggled with my sugar cookies spreading but this recipe works. The cookies retained their shape.
Can I use salted butter?
Hi Anita, If using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
Best sugar cookie recipe I’ve used.
This recipe is perfect. It’s full of flavor and way better than a lot of sugar cookies I’ve tasted. I tried your royal icing recipe as well. It worked perfectly and looked beautiful on the cookies. The combination was amazing. My cookies are a hit every time I make them. Thank you so much!
The best sugar cookies,I return cookies to frig after cutting and have no problem with spreading. I bake ALOT for Christmas so my family has had many different sugar cookies and they all loved these
I found the dough dry and crumbly and hard to work with. The cookies didn’t end up soft, but more crunchy. The flavour was good, but the cookies didn’t turn out the way I had anticipated.
Hi Jenna, How are you measuring your flour? Make sure to spoon and level to avoid packing too much flour into your measuring cups. A crumbly dough can still be workable – try to bring it together with your hands. It should also come together as you roll it out. Baking for a minute less can also help keep the cookies softer. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
now I will always come to this recipe it is so yummy and so fun to make and I AM ONLY 11
So far so good…haven’t baked them yet but the dough at this point is perfect.. as to the comment on Alton Browns recipe… no thank you..I will let you know how they turn out.. it’s so close to my recipe that I’ve been using for years but I think I use less flour.. I like this one much better.. I will be using more of your recipes as I do alot of baking for Christmas.
I have no idea why I didn’t try this recipe sooner! For years I’ve stuck with a recipe from a famous baker but the dough was fussy and spread despite my repeated trips to the fridge! These are perfectly soft and yummy! I added extra almond extract (my fave) and loved your advice of rolling out the dough before the initial refrigeration–genius!!! A million thanks!!
Lori.. me too.. and I also added almond extract.. followed recipe to a T.. now waiting for them to chill.. I am going to make some stained glass out of them too.. can’t wait!!!
Wonderful recipe! I’ve made it many times without any issue. I am planning to use this recipe for a kids cookie decorating party and freezing the plain cookies to be decorated at a later time. Hope that it works out okay!
Awful recipe. I followed instructions very carefully and chilled the dough prior to baking. Cookies still spread during baking process. Will stick to the Alton Brown sugar cookie recipe.