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
This is the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever made they are so good! Thanks Sally!
this is the best sugar cookie recipe ever.Iv’e made this recipe soooooooo many times and they’ve always turned out great.thanks so much Sally for sharing this recipe.All your recipes are good.
Even soft days later!! Love these cookies thank you made for My daughter’s bday
Okay so, I usually love your recipes and the detail you write in and the outcome! BUT for the life of me I cannot get the dough to not stick!!!! It’s so sticky even though I’m following the recipe exactly. I read the comment above about adding a total of 300g flour to the mixture next time, which I will try. But if that doesn’t work, what can I do? I keep sprinkling flour over it while rolling it out and it gives it an overly floured taste. I also tried cooling it before rolling out which helped a bit but can’t do that’s not the way the recipe goes. Please help!!!!
There is a fix! The butter you’re using to cream with the sugar may be too warm, making the dough too sticky. Make sure the butter is cool to the touch. You could even try removing it from the refrigerator just 20 minutes before beginning.
Love them! One question I made them the other day and somehow I had a few that had cracking. Also some were really fragile where I broke them while transferring them. They seemed pretty thick not sure what I did wrong?
Hi Aimee! Were they quite soft and falling apart? They could just need a few more minutes in the oven next time.
Hi Sally,
I followed the recipe exactly but when it was time to mix the dry ingredients with the butter and sugar mix, it was very crumbly. I had to add a bit of water to get it to stick together. I let the dough chill and once I rolled it out, it just fell apart? Any suggestions?
Hi Lauryn, How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Thank you Sally and Company for sharing this recipe and instructions! I used the sugar cookie and royal icing recipe for my future daughter in-law’s bridal shower and the cookies were a hit! Everyone raved about the flavor and decorations of the cookies! LOVE THIS RECIPE! THANK YOU AGAIN!!
Hi can I use spelt flour for this recipe?
Hi Riki, We have not tested it but we don’t recommend using spelt flour in these cookies. The substitution would likely result in dry, dense cookies.
Have you tried freezing these cookies once cut out? If yes would you defrost before baking?
Hi Anna, you can definitely freeze the cut out cookies. See recipe note #1 for freezing instructions! Enjoy.
Hey can i substitute shortening instead of butter on a one to one scale?
Hi Lisa, you can use shortening in place of butter, though the taste will be different.
how different will it be….i dont want them to taste awful…if i do sub shortening for the butter is there anything else i would need to change to ensure they taste good
Hi Lisa, you’ll miss the rich butter flavor. For best results we do recommend sticking with butter!
Absolutely love this recipe! However I notice sometimes even when following the recipe exact the cookies sometimes spread, I chill for ages and am always sure to not over mix. Any advice?
Hi Lana, Make sure you’re starting with room temperature butter – it’s much cooler than most think and can have a big impact on cookies spreading. Here’s more on room temperature butter. The best tip is to make sure your dough is cold going in the oven, if it’s getting warm while cutting out the shapes, just place your cut out cookies back in the refrigerator before baking.
I need help! My cookie dough was so sticky I couldn’t even roll it out. I added flour and mixed. Then I turned out dough. Still sticky. I sprinkled flour and kneaded it into dough —A lot! I finally was able to cut them out but this can’t be right. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Trisha! 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.
Hi! Wondering what the shelf life for these cookies would be if heat sealed? Thanks in advance!
Hi Elizabeth, we’ve never tested heat sealing these cookies but let us know if you do!
These cookies are AMAZING!! Sally – do you have any suggestions how to make this recipe without the egg? I would like to make the sugar cookies for an event and it’s a requirement that the cookies be dairy and egg free. Thank you!
Hi Leanne, We are so happy you enjoy this recipe! We’ve never tested these cookies with an egg substitute but please let us know if you do!
Hey! I love this recipe! It’s the best one by far.
I wanted to make only 6 cookies and don’t like the thought of freezing the dough until I next need it.
Are you able to provide a recipe for 6 cookies please?
Hi AK! We haven’t tested a small batch of this sugar cookie dough but let us know if you do! Freezing the dough really works great here.
When freezing the dough do you recommend I freeze the dough in its pre cut cookie shapes?
Hi, these turned out decent after a lot of effort due to the fact that the dough wouldn’t combine when mixed with both the dry and wet ingredants, it just stayed as this crumbly mixture even after mixed together for at least 15 minutes.. do you have any ideas on why this happened??
Thanks,
Jane Bree
Hi Jane, How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
I am actually shocked how good these are. Often when I make cookies from the internet they turn out so bland. I made them for my mom and her husband and they loved them. We’re actually kind of obsessed? Keeping this recipe forever.
So glad you loved this sugar cookie recipe, Kim!
These are honestly the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made. I’ve made this recipe three times using exact weights and here’s some tips. Definitely plan to add extra flour because the dough is quite sticky when you finish putting it together. I have found that it’s much easier to work with if you chill it before rolling it out instead of rolling it first. Also, due to the softness of the dough, you may have to put it back in the refrigerator to harden up as you’re using the cookie cutters. I put it into the freezer twice for 10 minute increments while I was cutting the shapes. I rolled it onto wax paper which made it very easy to pull the shaped dough apart by pushing it away from the paper. The first time I used this recipe (early this fall), I was taken aback by how soft and difficult it was to work with but once baked, I realized why. This is the only sugar cookie recipe I’ll make. It’s similar to the cookies you’d buy in the grocery store bakery and worth the work.
I just made this for valentines day and it was a success. It’s buttery soft with little crunchy of royal icing not overly sweet just right amount with icing
I had problem with cookies spreading in the past but her method fixed it without compromising the taste.
I highly recommend this recipe with royal icing recipe I will use this recipe again for Christmas cookies
This recipe rocked! I used a kitchen scale it it came out perfect! Thank you!
I tried this recipe twice, both times the dough was way too dry! I followed the recipe exactly, not sure what the problem is??
Hi R! Make sure to spoon and level the flour (or use a kitchen scale) when you measure instead of scooping. It’s also possible that you used too much flour to roll out the dough and you are tasting the flour on the outside of the cookies (which is an easy fix for next time!).
This is my go to recipe for the decorated cookies I sell! I substitute the vanilla extract for vanilla bean paste and it is amazing! I love all of Sally’s recipes! Just a warning though, if you refrigerate your dough on a sheet pan, put a silicone baking mat underneath. I used parchment paper and the dough stuck together. Normally I put mine on a large cutting board but didn’t have it handy.
My son wanted to make Valentine Cookies. He made the cookies and I helped frost them.
I rolled out the dough and have it in refridge to make cookies tomorrow. I just took a peek and the dough seems too hard to cut cookies. Do you have to leave out for a while before using a cookie cutter?
Great recipe. I usually dislike sugar cookies but these came out really well!
For the latest batch I made, I added 2 tsp. of cinnamon (with the flour) for my partner because he likes cinnamon, and both of us thought there was the perfect amount of cinnamon in it.
Sally and company, did you know this recipe was featured by Kylie Jenner! I have long used your site as a baking go-to and I was excited for you when she credited you with the recipe she used in a baking video on YouTube. https://youtu.be/tmJe-ty_jpk Thanks for this amazing site!
I tried all kinds of sugar cookie recipes over the years, including tasty’s, and yours was my favorite! i thirded the recipe as i wanted a small batch and they came out so good! perfect amount of crisp and softness… I also used your royal icing recipe and they turned out so pretty
These are hands down the best sugar cookies out there! My son and I do a lot of baking together and your recipes always turn out so incredible!
this recipe is great! the dough was so soft and easy to cut out. The taste is delicious too.
I just noticed that my cookies got bubbles on the top the day after, any idea why this happened ?
Hi Karenina, We find this happens with cookie cutter cookies when you over-beat the cookie dough after you add the egg. Only mix the wet ingredients until the egg has combined. Then once you add the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Do not over-mix. You could also try reducing the baking powder, too. Though over-mixing is likely the issue. Hope that helps!
Can you refrigerate already cut out cookies instead of roll out dough?
Hi Ola, 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.)
it was so good
Hi! Love the cookies for the most part but why do mine taste a little like flour?
Hi Dee! Any chance you made any ingredient substitutions or changed the recipe in any way? Make sure to spoon and level the flour when you measure instead of scooping. It’s also possible that you used too much flour to roll out the dough and you are tasting the flour on the outside of the cookies (which is an easy fix for next time!).
Really great recipe- came out a success multiple times
Instead of flour to roll out the dough I use powdered sugar helps it to not taste so flour-y.
I added the zest if a lemon and the juice from half then rolled the dough a little thinner and used a small 2″ heart cutter for my daughters Valentine’s day party at school. They are crispy lemony little wafers that my wife said she could eat a bag of.