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
My sugar cookies and ginger bread cookies are fabulous, but they seem to break, they are the correct thickness any ideas?
Hi Susan, How thick are you rolling the dough? We suggest about 1/4 inch thick, but if you have very delicate shaped cookie cutters you may wish to roll it a bit thicker to help the baked cookies be more sturdy.
I use 1/4″ wooden dowel rods on the sides of the cookie dough. But I also sandwich the rids and the dough between two pieces of parchment paper top and bottom. The tolling pin stays clean too!
I am getting half the cookies it says it should make. I doubled and got 26 3.3-3.5 inch cookies. The first time I made them 1/4 inch thick. Second time I made them 5/16 not a big difference. I just keep getting half of what it says I should which is frustrating bc butter is pricey. I re-roll the excesss as much as I can. Help!! I love the recipe otherwise.
Hi Ashley! The exact yield will depend on the exact cookie cutter shape. You can try rolling the dough a *bit* thinner if you prefer. Glad you’re enjoying this recipe!
Hi Brenda, did you spoon and level the flour (or weight it)? If the flour is packed into the cup, you may be using more than necessary which would give you a thick, crumbly dough.
Is it possible to make them plain (without painting them with icing)? Would they still have enough taste?
Yes, definitely!
I have failed at making sugar cookies for so long, and THIS is the recipe I needed. I left the flattened dough (which is probably the key here) in the fridge overnight. It made a word of difference!
My first time baking – EVER! Great instructions and the video helped too. Delicious! Thanks!
Hola Sally soy española y me gustaría hacer tu receta pero no me salen las cantidades. Sería posible pasármela a gramos. Estoy deseando hacerla. Muchisimas gracias
Do these cookies spread when you cook them? TYIA
Can I use a substitute for eggs? My daughter has an egg allergy. Thank you!
Hi Emily, 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 used rum extract and it tasted delicious .
I used this recipe to make sugar cookies for the first time. The tips and tricks help, and the cookies turned out lovely.
Hi! I was wondering how many cookies would this recipe make? An estimate is ok too! I just need to make around 24 cookies and im wondering if i need to double or even triple the recipe.
Hi Chantal, This recipe will make 24 3-4 inch cookies.
Hi I wanted to know can I use self raising flour instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Racheal, We don’t recommend using self raising flour here. For best results, stick with the all purpose/plain flour.
I have made these several times at 5280 and they turn out great with no adjustments. Because it’s baking powder, not soda.
Made these today and did the cut outs for Xmas and they are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made. I topped them with a salted caramel butter cream and sprinkles.
Thank you for the amazing recipe!
I do have question regarding making a bigger batch. Would I just double the recipe to make twice as much or would I have to make some reductions to the baking powder?
Hi Alex, this dough recipe doubles well as long your your mixer can handle the volume. You’ll want to double each ingredient. Enjoy!
Great recipe and wear very popular amongst my friends and colleagues! This has become my go to recipe for sugar cookies!
Hi! Can I double this recipe and use a stand mixer, or should I make two separate batches?
Hi Kathryn, this dough recipe doubles well as long your your mixer can handle the volume. Enjoy!
This is my go-to recipe! I do have a question though since I usually cut shaped but I need them for work… would I be able to roll the dough into a log and then refrigerate and slice? I’m assuming it would work but wanted to ask anyway!
Hi Nakita, yes, that should work just fine. Enjoy!
Hi there! I stupidly over-softened the butter, and rather than placing it back into the fridge to cool/harden it, I forged ahead… I additionally bumbled my extract, and splashed in far more than i should have… Not shockingly, the dough is definitely a bit sticky. Will chilling for a bit extra time correct this? If not, should I add more flour?
See what the texture is like when rolling out – if it’s a little sticky, you can definitely be generous with the flour when rolling.
I’m not sure what I did wrong I have used many of your recipes and love them all….I followed this one exactly and I ended up with sandy dough that never molded together. Going to try again. My butter was perfectly soft not sure what was wrong.
Hi Kristin! 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. 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.
my butter cold from the fridge, can i soften it in the microwave to use immediately?
Hi Suzanne, Here is exactly how to soften butter quickly.
Hi Sally and team,
Do you have a cookie or cake recipe for matcha powder? I’m hoping to you have one or plan to develop one. I’m sure what you have or will develop will be great.
Thanks,
Sam
Hi Sam, we don’t have nay matcha recipes at this time but let us know if you find any you love!
Can’t wait to try these this weekend. What’s the best way to store the cookies once baked? (Besides in my mouth)
Hi NB, in an airtight container works best! You can use layers of parchment paper between the cookies if stacking with icing.
I am the house cookie baker and we needed to make sugar cookies for a cookie exchange, we made this recipe as a test and we were blown away. The perfect sugar cookie!
Another of your recipes that’s amazing! 65 degrees F is, yes, perfect for the butter as you said.
I doubled this recipe and used Fiori di Sicilia instead of the almond extract. Loved how these turned out and they held their shapes beautifully after chilling. Thanks for a great recipe!
I was wondering if I could replace the butter with plant butter and the egg with flax egg? I ask because the little one I babysit is dairy free and allergic to egg. I absolutely love your recipes but I was hoping I could sub the 2 ingredients so he can have something for his class for Christmas
Hi Kira, we haven’t tested these cookies with those substitutions so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you give it a try! If you’re interested, here are all of our dairy free and egg free recipes.
Kira I have done these dairy free for my daughter. Turns our amazing! I use smart balance, original(green tub) for the butter and I use Bob’s red mill egg replacer. Note: If you use the egg replacer for any frostings the frosting will not come out white but it’s OK if you’re using food color for different colors
I am making these today to bring to work tomorrow, I’ve used so many of your recipes and they ALL turn out great! I have one question, how do you get that teal color that’s shown on these cookies? I am making snowflake-shaped cookies in shades of blue and turquoise with white sanding sugar for some sparkle and would like to have as many colors of blue as I can. Thanks fir such a great site!
Thanks so much, Julie Ann! For the pictured blue cookies, I used 1 drop of gel food coloring in sky blue.
THANKS! I used the gel blue and they came out the perfect hue! I have to say, your recipes have turned me into a baking addict! My co-workers are always excited to see me walking in with the cookie carrier. We work staggered schedules so whenever I make something for the Mon-Wed folks, I also have to make something for the Thu-Sat folks and believe me, they talk! We did a secret Santa thing this year and the name I got was a guy who I dubbed “The red-headed Cookie Monster” yep, he’s getting a box full of your cookies! Thanks so much for all the recipes, the awesome helpful tips and bringing joy to Indiana farm country!
Gel seems to be the best for dye. Easy to find teal color. I’ve also seen it labeled “Tiffany blue.”
The butter sticks we have in Canada are 113 g’s each. and they are 1/2 a cup. 3 sticks would be 1.5 cups and 339 g’s. So it’s it in fact 3/4 cups of butter??
Hi Mandi, you need 3/4 cup of butter for this recipe, which is 1.5 sticks. (1/2 cup, which is 1 stick + 1/4 cup, which is half of a stick.) This is about 170g.
I loooove this recipe. I’ve used it for two years now. I’m going to attempt gluten free ones for my mom this year using the cup for cup gluten free flour. Do you bake the same amount of time?
Hi Amanda, we haven’t tested it, but the bake time should be similar. Let us know how they go!