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
these cookies were sooo easy to make!!!!!!!! the only thing was that i had to use 2 eggs but other than that my family loved them thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Hi! I made these and followed the instructions to the letter! They worked perfectly!! You need to make sure your dough is really chilled before cutting or they will spread. I doubled the recipe so while I worked in a portion the rest stayed cool! Mt daughter was super happy that she was able to help me make these fir her class party for Halloween!
Question. I want to try the pumpkin spice flavour, do I add the extracts? What do you think about rum extract instead of vanilla or almond? How much would you suggest?
Hi Linda, we’d recommend including the vanilla extract with the teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (you can omit the almond extract). You can use other extracts in place of the almond extract, but we do recommend always including the vanilla. We’d recommend anywhere from 1/4 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon, depending on how prominent you’d like the flavor.
Thanks for the tip, I was a bit confused the way the recipe was printed. The first batch was with 1 tsp pumpkin spice and 2 tsp vanilla. My second batch is about to go in the oven, is with the almond vanilla extracts. There were zero cookies left from the first batch so I am guessing they were a hit. I didn’t love the finish on the cookies, some seemed to have a texture on top, but I noticed some of your cookies had the same look so I assume I didn’t do anything wrong.
Would it be possible to make this recipe without a stand mixer or hand mixer? Thanks!
Hi Jacey, an electric mixer is needed for properly creaming the butter and sugar together. You could try using a lot of arm muscle, but the dough will be very thick and hard to stir by hand.
Can I use self raising flour instead of all purpose? I went and got all the ingredients to make it and realised I got the wrong flour ♀️
Hi Georgia, it will be best to wait until you have all-purpose flour to use for these cookies. Hope you love them!
My favorite sugar cookie recipe. I always add the almond extract, but this time I’d like to try adding the pumpkin spice. Can I use the almond extract and the pumpkin spice?
Sure can, Marisa! You may want to reduce the almond extract to 1/4 tsp instead of the 1/2 tsp depending on which flavor you want to shine through the most.
Thank you!
So happy with this recipe! I followed yours steps exactly and they came out perfect! After trying a few other sugar cookie recipes with no luck, this is my go to recipe now! Thank you for sharing!
I have been been looking for the perfect sugar cookie recipe & after making your cookies today…I don’t have to look anymore. The cookies held their shape beautifully. There was no spreading. They are the perfect crisp on the outside & soft on the inside. Hands down the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever made!
Hi, I use icing sugar & a bit of water to ice my cookies…I’ve tried a drop of milk too.. after the icing is set I either put them in the fridge or freezer. The icing turns all blotchy and the cookies don’t look very pretty. They are fine if I leave them on the table and covered. It very frustrating…Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Gail, it could be the water that’s creating the blotches. I know you tried milk before, but what about half-and-half or cream? That may work better.
I’d like to make a batch but fall-themed. Would you recommend adding pumpkin pie spice to give them a bit of a fall/Chai flavour? Any idea how much I should add/if I need to reduce the almond or vanilla extract?
Absolutely! We love adding 1/2 – 1 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or a combination of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, etc.
Thank you!
I love all your recipes and am an avid baker but I recently moved to Colorado where i’m living at 7,000 feet above sea level and I am struggling to find my passion for baking like i used to have when i lived at sea level. Do you have any suggestions as to alterations for this recipe when baking at 7k feet?????
Hi Lindsey, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I am looking at making these and icing using fondant would this work ok?
Hi Megan, sure can, many readers use fondant on top of these cookies. Enjoy!
parties, and have accumulated quite a few different shape cookie cutters now, the only thing that I do differently from your recipe is that I DO NOT refrigerate or freeze the dough. I did the first time, but I’m used to making pie crust, and felt that the dough for me was actually easier to work with room temperature. I DO NOT have any trouble with my cookies spreading. I have had people come over after the party to gather up extra cookies they loved them so much! Just wanted you to know, and thank you so much for the recipe!
This is my favourite go-to Sugar Cookie Recipe! I love how almond extract tastes so I always add in an extra drop (or 3!) into the dough and it’s amazing with a glazed topping! I have found it best to get my butter to room temp and then throw it in the fridge for 10 minutes so that it’s colder than I think it needs to be, and I’ve never had issues with spreading at all!!
I’m so excited for this recipe! I do have one question: how would I utilize different flavor extracts? Would they replace the vanilla and almond entirely? Or would I keep the vanilla and just use the amount that I would use for almond? Thank you!
Hi SB! I would not leave out the vanilla, but feel free to reduce it down if you’re adding a strong extract and you don’t want vanilla to overpower it. I would leave out the almond and replace with 1/2 or 1 teaspoon of another flavor. (Almond is potent, so that’s why you use a little less.)
This recipe has been my go to! The flavour is 10/10. My question is.. Can I swap out the flour for gluten free flour to make gluten free cookies? Will I still achieve the same dough outcome with minimal spread? Thanks!
Hi Jessie, We are so happy you enjoy this recipe! We haven’t personally tried it, but many readers have reported success using 1:1 gluten free flour substitutes. If you give it a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
I tried this recipe and loved it!! Wondering what your recommendations are for preparing a large number of cookies and decorating for a wedding? Can I prep multiple batches at once or should I only do 2 at a time? I was planning on baking and freezing the cookies plain then decorating the day before the wedding. Should I pull the cookies out of the freezer the night before decorating and let them sit at room temp? I want them to stay nice and soft for the wedding and that would be 2 full days out of the freezer. Any tips on best process for this would be awesome! Thanks!
Hi Michelle! This dough recipe multiplies well as long your your mixer can handle the volume. It may be best to stick with a double batch. See recipe notes for our recommended freezing instructions. Happy baking!
I made this recipe with no substitutions but also no almond. I used cookie cutters that include a press on design and the cookies came out perfectly! No spread at all. They tasted like the Pillsbury cookies they sell at the store that you bake yourself but much better and far less spread.
Instructions for freezing?
Do you just prepare and freeze the dough? How long can you keep it in the freezer and what are the instructions for thawing?
Hi Robyn! You can find those details in the freezing instructions in the recipe’s Notes. I hope it’s helpful!
Hello,
Can I use unsalted sweet cream butter instead? Trying to avoid a trip to the store to fetch reg. Unsalted butter. Is there even a major difference in baking between these two?
Hi Vivienne, yes, you can use the unsalted sweet cream butter. In the U.S., sweet cream butter is the most common form of butter found in stores and used in baking. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
This is my new go to sugar cookie recipe! The dough was so simple to make and didn’t spread at all! I can’t wait to try out some of your other flavors with this dough. Thanks so much for sharing and explaining things in detail to give us these delicious cookies!!
These sugar cookies are so amazing. They are so chewy!!
I did a trial run of this recipe for an in-home date night I have planned with the hubby at the end of September to kick off halloween month and these came out perfect! I did add 4 teaspoons of brown sugar to get a more chewy texture since I didn’t have molasses on hand and only cooked them for 6-8 minutes (my oven runs 25F over the preset temp) and they turned out perfect! Sturdy enough to decorate and hold any icing you put on them but so soft and chewy even a few days later.
Any recommendations to make these egg free? I can’t find an egg free cut out cookie recipe that compares anywhere. Thank you! I absolutely love your recipies.
Hi AS, we haven’t tested these cookies with an egg substitute, but there are many out there you could try. Please report back with your results if you try something! You could also try making these shortbread cookies, which are egg free and have a similar flavor.
I have made these cookies multiple times and have based my small home cookie business off this recipe as it has not failed me once! They are delicious and soft and stay soft for days after! (They usually don’t last more then a couple days though ) I use salted butter as unsalted butter is so expensive these days I’d need to sell a limb or two but I just reduce the amount of salt I put in. Other then this though I follow the recipe to a tee.
These are my GO-TO cookie! Better than any other sugar cookie on the planet.
Question: what would you recommend if I wanted to make this a pumpkin spice cookie? Maybe pumpkin isn’t possible because of the moisture, so maybe just a spice cookie? 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp each of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger?
Hi Brooke! A teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice is excellent in these cookies. Let us know if you try it!
Hi Sally!
If I use salted butter do I add salt?
Hi Rosemary, If using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
What a wonderfully easy and delicious recipe! Our 3 ½ year-old granddaughter and DIL were coming for a visit and we wanted to create special moments with Grandma and Grandpa as well as foster the love of baking. This recipe didn’t disappoint! She loved cutting out cookie shapes and we decorated the cookies with edible writing pens. Of course, she wanted to eat all the cookies immediately but we said she could eat the broken cookies and the rest would go home with her. At first I was baffled why several cookies kept breaking. Did I do something wrong with the batter or baking? After a minute or so, we caught on. She would take a cookie, hold it under the kitchen table to break it and then show us it was broken so she could eat it! We all had a good laugh! Thank you for helping us create wonderful family memories with these cookies!
What a precious story to have shared. You gave me a good laugh too! Got to love how smart those little ones can be.
Can you add cranberry , nuts to this recipe ?
Recipes like this one, where you chill and roll out the dough, don’t take solid additions like nuts or dried fruit very well as they tend to fall out with the dough is being rolled flat and mess up the shape of cookie cut with cookie cutters. Drop cookies, like a chocolate chip cookie recipe without the chocolate chips or even just a generic drop cookie recipe would probably be a better fit with those additions.
Absolutely the best (of many) recipes I have tried. I follow as written, taking care to slightly underbake. By the time they cool they are perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
My first batch was beautiful, so I went ahead and made a giant double batch of the mix with expensive ingredients, unfortunately this batch spread like crazy, I don’t know why -I follow the recipe to the letter, room temperature butter, everything. These just spread completely out of shape, and here I am weeping into my beautiful 3-D printed Custom Cookie Cutters. They taste nice, but not OK for ice biscuits.
Did you chill the dough long enough? I like to chill it for several hours. This gives me time to clean up all the mess and relax for a bit before I start the cutting and baking process. I have made 5-6 double batches and never had any that didn’t hold their shape. They should go into the oven pretty cold.
Yes I did, I think maybe it’s because I’m at high altitude. But they really spread a huge amount.
Ok, I’m trying this again. This will be my sixth try. I’m going to slightly reduce the baking powder as I am at altitude .
(About 5700ft above sea level)
willing to keep trying because they taste amazing.
I’m also at a higher altitude. How did reducing the baking powder work for you?
These cookies are delicious and were a hit at my party! We used the almond essence. Do you think I could try using honey? (For a Winnie the Pooh theme)
Hi Melissa, we haven’t tested these cookies with honey, but one thing you could try is making the easy glaze icing with honey instead of corn syrup, and using that to decorate the cookies. Let us know if you try it!
I had your cookie recipe at a birthday party. We all loved them. I am making them for a party. I’m using a 3inch cookie cutter. I need 20 cookies. Would one recipe be enough? Or should I do two batches?
Hi Alexis, this recipe yields about 24 3-4 inch cookies, so one batch should be enough. Happy baking!
Thank you!