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’ve made two batches of these cookies and they both seem crisp. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Kaci, simply reduce the bake time if you try the recipe again. For how long did you bake them?
Can I use almond flour instead of almond extract?
Hi Mary Lou, we don’t recommend almond flour in this recipe. You can leave out out the almond extract if you don’t have it.
These biscuits taste amazing but I can’t get them to hold their shape.
The second time I tried, I added 1/4 teaspoon of corn flour, made sure the butter was room temp, chilled the dough and even popped some of the cut outs in the freezer for 10 mins before going in the oven to see if this made a difference. Some spread and some spread slightly less. I only did 4 to a tray. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason why some spread and some didn’t spread as much but none held their shape totally unfortunately. I really want to do these as my wedding favours as the biscuit itself is absolutely delicious, but they need to hold their shape to match the fondant cutout going on top.
Hi Olivia, 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. The best tip is to make sure your dough is cold going in the oven, like you mention. We also recommend sticking to the recipe as written for best results. The addition of corn flour may be impacting the spread. Finally, it’s possible your oven has hot spots that cause some to heat more/less than others. You can try rotating the sheet half way through bake time to ensure even baking. Hope these tips help for next time!
My daughter has a dairy allergy? Can I swap in the dairy- free butter sticks I usually use or are there special considerations? Thank you!
Hi Nicole, We haven’t tested this cookie recipe with a butter replacement, but let us know what you try!
Hi Sally. So, I have a order for 48 dz cookies due next week. I prep my dough, and froze my unbaked cookie cutouts.On my last batch, I noticed pigments of butter in my dough and I also forgot to add the salt and baking Powder in that last batch. Will that batch be a waste? I placed them in the freeze safe containers wrapped tightly with saran wrap and foil. Will I have to throw that batch away?
Hi Sonja, Since that batch is already made and cut out, it wouldn’t hurt to bake one cookie and try it for yourself to see how it turns out.
Hi, can I use salted butter instead ?
Hi Sarah, If using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
Oh, thank you for the explaination ! I will make this yummy cookie !
I made 115 of these cookies for my mom’s retirement, and they were a hit! I pop the cut out cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking, and I haven’t had any issues with spreading.
How many batches of dough would I need to make 100 cookies, circles, roughly 8cm diameter.
I’m excited to give this recipe a try!
This recipe did not work for me AT ALL. I usually use another recipe for sugar cookies, but decided to try this one instead. The dough was so soft and sticky that even after adding tablespoons and tablespoons of flour and chilling the dough, it still was unusable. My measurements were to the gram but all in all a disaster
Hi Sarah, thank you so much for giving our recipe a try. 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.
Do you have to roll out before refrigerating? Can you wrap the fresh made dough, refrigerate and then roll and cut when ready to bake? Some kids will be baking and I wanted them to be involved in the rolling of chilled dough.
Hi Amy, you can do that, just allow the dough to warm up a bit outside of the refrigerator before attempting to roll. Otherwise, it will be too hard.
I made this cookies for my birthday but was wondering if you could add food colouring to the cookie itself and what step you would add it! the cookies I made turned out delicious and only lasted the first 30 min! thanks for the recipe!
Hi Annabel, definitely, you can add a few drops of food coloring to this dough at if desired. You can add it after you add the dry ingredients in step 3. We recommend gel food coloring for best results.
Lovely recipe! I added a little lemon zest and they came out delicious!
Also for the second half of dough, I cut out all my shapes and then froze them (initially on a cookie sheet but transferred them to an airtight container) I’ve just baked a batch from frozen at 160°c for 15 mins and they’ve come out perfectly!
Thanks for the recipe Sally, this one’s a keeper!!
This recipe was great! I do have a question though. when I mixed the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients it was to dry. I ended up adding a bit of milk. Any tips for next time? The cookies still turned out great though. Thanks
Hi Kiwi, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level, or use a food scale if available, to ensure just the right amount of flour. Even just a bit too much can dry out baked goods. Thanks for giving these cookies a try!
These are fantastic perfect crisp and softness. I do have a question you probably gets asked frequently. I don’t buy unsalted butter for the most part. I just use salted butter I have on hand and don’t use salt. I’d like to know your opinion on this. Thanks
Hi Susann! You can read more about salted vs. unsalted butter in baking. Glad you enjoyed these cookies!
I don’t usually leave reviews but I felt I needed to in your case. I’m also a lifelong avid baker and have many tried and true recipes but I’m always looking ideas to better. Usually when I try recipes. I have to tweak the ingredients or instructions but not in your case. I’ve been following your blog for about a year now and I have found your information to be thorough, accurate and achievable. I always bake something when I’m going to an activity where I can share the goodies (so I don’t eat them all myself!) and your recipes ALWAYS receive high praise. Thank you for being a source of dependable deliciousness.
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Julia! 🙂
Love the recipe, how long can the dough be stored in the fridge and safely used?
Glad you love it, Kate! We recommend chilling the dough up to two days. For longer storage, the dough freezes perfectly – see recipe notes for details.
Hey Sally, I’m a big fan. I made these cookies over Christmas and they were wonderful.
But last week I tried again and the dough was completely different! It was way too sticky and when I took it out of the fridge after a day of chilling, it stuck to the parchment paper (which was floured like crazy) and was so crumbly I couldn’t make it work.
I tried again yesterday and got the same result. I feel like a baking failure.
The only thing I can deduce is that it is quite warm in my kitchen now (as opposed to around x-mas time). Would that affect the dough to such an extent that it’s so sticky I can’t roll it out? (Or when I do roll it, most of the dough sticks to the roller and I have to scrape it off)
Do you have any additional tips as to what to dough when the dough is extremely sticky? (A Tablespoon of flour does not do the trick in my case).
I’d like to redeem myself.
Hi Mads! Are you starting with proper room temperature butter? It will likely be much cooler than room temperature in the summer – you can read more about that in this post. It makes a big difference!
I’ve made this recipe 4 times now, each time I get amazing compliments! A few people asked me if I’d sell cookies and decorate for events (mind you, I only ever bake simple things for fun and for family). I declined but I still make these any chance I get! Decorating with the royal icing recipe was very easy and turned out great! I add homemade vanilla extract to the cookies and the homemade really makes a difference. I also add a tiny bit of salt to the icing to balance out the sweetness a little. It’s still sweet, but not hurt your teeth sweet. I know I can always trust the recipes on Sally’s Baking Addiction to produce an amazing product the first time, every time!
Love this recipe and I am attempting to make a 3D cookie by draping cut out dough over backside of muffin tins. do you think this dough will withstand this?
Hi MB, we haven’t tested it ourselves but it seems like that should work. Let us know what you try.
Sally, I’m not trying to make you feel better but this recipe is absobloodylutely amazing. The way you explained is like you’re speaking in person.Its the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever seen.
Just completed my cooking session, all turned out really well, very pleased as hate wasting stuff, even got enough to go in the freezer, thanks x
Can this recipe be tripled? Or is that too much?
Hi Mary, you can double the recipe, but we find that when attempting to triple (or more) it’s easy to overwhelm your mixer.
Hi. Can I use margarine instead of butter???
Hi Kassi, we don’t recommend it. Margarine has a different makeup than butter. If you do want to use margarine, we recommend using a recipe that is specifically formulated to do so. Let us know if you give these cookies a try!
I use margarine for this all the time due to allergies and it always turns out great!
I have rolled the dough but due to family emergencies, not sure if I have time to even cook the cookies. Was wondering if you’ve ever froze the dough, then thawed later to make the cookies (wrapped tightly, of course)
That shouldn’t be an issue, Alana!
Will this royal icing be ok made in humid conditions in Texas? Or does the recipe for it need to be tweaked in any kind of way. Thank you!
Hi Robin, the royal icing may take longer to set in humid conditions – just keep that in mind! No changes needed.
Quick question: Can I halve this recipe? I am making star-shaped cookies for my son’s Court of Honor ranking to Star in Scouts, but I don’t need a TON of cookies. If I must, I can freeze half of the dough, but I would rather make half at a time. Thank you! I am a devotee of Sally’s Baking Addiction, so there is no other recipe for me!!! 🙂
Hi Amma! Yes, you can halve this recipe. Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes!
Amazing cookies! How long will these stay fresh after baked/decorated?
Hi Janice! 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.
I LOVE this sugar cookie recipe! I have 1 question – Can I double the recipe?
Yes, you can definitely double this recipe!
Wow, the best cookies in the world
Wow, the best cookies in the world
I love this recipe. I do have a question. How long is the dough good for if you leave it in the refrigerator?
Thank you!
Hi Ashley, you can leave the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Thank you. So if it was in the fridge wrapped for 5 days I should throw it away?
Have made these a couple of times now. They are good and the results are professional. The first time I made the mistake of adding more flour during mixing because it seemed too moist but that resulted in dry cookies. Second time I didn’t do that and they were great.