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
Sorry if it’s been asked already but can you emboss these? With an embosser? Iv never tried embossing or making these before so just wanted to check. Thanks so much!
Hi Laura! This recipe should work with a stamp/embosser, as we’ve done something similar with snowflake “stamped” cookie cutters for our sugar plum fairy cupcakes. We recommend chilling the shaped cookies (after cutting them) in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes right before baking. This will help guarantee the faces come out perfectly.
I just made these last night as well as your chocolate chip cookie recipe. Both turned out perfectly. Thanks again for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed both recipes, Valerie!
This was the best cookie and came out beautifully! Will be making more for an upcoming bridal shower. They look like they were made from a bakery, that’s how pretty and delicious they were. I followed the recipe and watched the videos, so impressed how great the cookies came out!
Hey team!
Is this dough okay in the refrigerator for any longer than 2 days?
I made some but haven’t had a chance to roll it out yet! It is day 4. Can I still use it?
Hi Priscilla! That’s entirely up to what you’re comfortable with in terms of food safety. We recommend refrigerating for up to two days and freezing for longer storage.
Four hours and 45 minutes to make 24 cookies!!!! You’ve got to be crazy!!!!
Hi Judith, the total time includes chilling the dough and cooling the cookies. Let us know if you give them a try!
If I want these round do I have to chill and cut them still? Will the turn out well and spread dropped on a pan with a cookie scoop?
Hi JJ, this dough works best as a cut out style cookie. Here is our drop sugar cookie recipe instead.
Can you make the royal icing ahead of time and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to ice the cookies? If so, how long is it good for?
Hi Lindsey, Icing is fine at room temperature for up to 3 days. After that, it’s best to refrigerate it.
Hi, would this recipe work with cookie cutters that have a stamp in them?
Hi Mona, this recipe should work, as we’ve done something similar with snowflake “stamped” cookie cutters for our sugar plum fairy cupcakes. We recommend chilling the shaped cookies (after cutting them) in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes right before baking. This will help guarantee the faces come out perfectly.
Best sugar cookies I’ve ever made hands down. Thank you for such incredibly detaed instructions
This is my go to sugar cookie recipe. I also add 1/4 tsp almond and 1/4 tsp of orange extract, and it is the best flavor I’ve tasted in a sugar cookie. Easy recipe to put together, love it!
Absolutely fantastic! I used this recipe to make cookies for an activity at our museum and they went down a treat. Highly recommend. I did have to add a bit of milk to make the dough a little less crumbly but it was only about a teaspoon and almost certainly my fault!
Hi! I only have salted butter on hand. WIll this work okay?
Hi Janelle, if using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
I’ve made this recipe maybe 5 times and love it. I have an issue with the re-rolled dough puffing up when baking, though. The first round of cookies are always baked perfectly flat, but then the second round of cookies always are puffy/uneven. It makes the surface harder to decorate nicely. I’ve tried re-chilling the scrap dough, using only room temp cookie sheets, poking holes with a fork, and still no luck. Any ideas?
Hi Rosemary, does the rerolled shaped cookies become extra soft? Sometimes I find the rerolled and shaped dough is much softer, which makes sense since it’s been handled more. What may help is to refrigerate the shaped rerolled cookies for 15-20 minutes before baking.
Looking for a sugar cookie recipe to use for this weekend; another one that I have seen utilizes corn starch to help the cookies not spread. Thoughts on what that does to the texture/taste of the cookie?
Hi Tresa, I’m sure it makes a softer, less crumbly cookie. I don’t find it necessary here; the cookies are quite soft if they aren’t over-baked.
Love this recipe and I’ve made it several times. How can I incorporate freeze dried fruit without changing the texture of the cookie?
Hi Helen! You can reference our raspberry sugar cookies recipe. Happy baking!
My dough after combining wet & dry is texture of wet sand kind …almost like cheesecake crust is it supposed to be wetter? I’m unsure please & thanks
Hi Bre! Sounds a bit too dry. You can reference the video tutorial as well for a visual. 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.
Delicious and pretty easy! Chilling the dough makes cutting the shapes out so easy. So soft and great classic sugar cookie flavor.
These cookies are to die for….
I love this recipe, I’ve made it multiple times before! Is there any way I could make them thicker than 1/4inch?
Hi Michelle, so glad you love it! You can roll the dough out thicker if you prefer! Bake time for thicker cookies will be a little longer–until the edges are lightly browned.
Hi Sally I’ve been making your sugar cookies for years. And I love them. So I made a mistake I put a cup of butter instead of one and 3/4. Should I throw the dough out and start over again
Hi Luci, I wouldn’t toss out the dough. You may need extra flour for the dough to roll out nicely. Did you already finish the dough? If not, you can add a couple more Tbsp of flour and sugar. Should be fine.
I have made these multiple times. I think they taste great & my mom loves this recipe. This is my go to sugar cookie.
Made these today, using orange extract in place of the almond. So good! My husband said best sugar cookies ever. We did ice with my buttercream frosting (which I always use Almond Extract in). Thank you, will be making these again.
hi sally! can these be converted to chocolate? if so, how much cocoa would you recommend? or do you offer a chocolate cut out recipe? thank you
Hi Sonny, here is our chocolate sugar cookies recipe!
Hi sally Thanks for getting back to me I saved the dough I made Then Ididn’ hava to add flour
I’ve been following you for a long time love all your recipes. And you have taught me so much. Thank you
I made these cookies yesterday and they baked so well! I don’t make sugar cookies often and these just turned out perfect. Everyone in my family tried them and all agreed that they were really good. They were nice and soft and I left them out overnight so they can dry. And they were still perfect and I didn’t cover them.
Does this recipe keep the cookies from spreading out, rather than keeping their cookie cutter shape?
Hi Sally,
Just wondering if the cookies should be covered while the icing is drying? I’m worried about them not staying soft if they are left uncovered for 24 hours.
Hi Toni, you can leave the cookies uncovered while they are drying—they’ll still be nice and soft once ready to eat.
i was wondering if anyone knew the calories per serving?
Hi Hannah, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Great tip on rolling out dough.
I’ve made this recipe about four times now, and it’s always worked, even though I’ve never made sugar cookies before! A problem that I encountered on my first batch though was that I didn’t own a baking mat or parchment paper! So, I put some olive oil on the regular oven tray, and have been doing it every time I bake these, and the cookies just glide off the tray. I also added a tiny bit of cinnamon in my two latest batches, which also helped the flavour. I would recommend preheating the oven for as long as possible, because a super hot oven gives the cookies a cute brown bottom.
Hi just wondering how long these might last with fondant on them? And how you would recommend storing them to keep the longest?
Hi Alisha, many readers have reported success using fondant with these cookies. Fondant doesn’t usually do well in the refrigerator depending on how it’s used, but plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature.
What are your thoughts on cutting the shapes and then refrigerating the cut out shapes? Instead of putting the whole sheet in the fridge.
Hi Liz, you can certainly give it a try, but we find the dough is a bit too soft at that point, so it will be hard to reroll the scraps cut more shapes. It really does benefit from that initial chill!
Great recipe, add sprinkles for a wonderful rainbow inside ❤️
Just wondering if fondant icing would work on top of these cookies? We have cookie stamps we want to use for my sons birthday but not sure what icing is best to hold the prints!
Hi Liz, sure can, many readers use fondant on top of these cookies. Enjoy!