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 would like to double the height on these to 3/8 or 1/2″. Any suggestions on baking times for the thicker cookies?
Hi Jane! We’re unsure of the exact baking times needed. Look for lightly browned edges.
These cookies spread. What did I do wrong?
Hi Kristene, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. 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. If it’s getting warm while cutting out the shapes, just place your cut out cookies back in the refrigerator before baking. Also, if your oven has hot spots, rotate your cookie sheet about half way through bake time to promote more even baking. Hope these tips help for next time!
These cookies turned out so crispy and flavored my family loved them!!!!
These sugar cookies are amazing!! My grandbaby is picky about cookies, and these were a hit! The cookies are thick and a bit soft (my grandbaby does not want crunchy cookies) and you can taste the butter! I am definitely making these again for my grandbaby – and maybe a batch just for myself!
Are they supposed to rise? I rolled mine out to 1/4” and they didn’t rise. I know I put the baking powder in.
Hi Jane, As long as you follow the order of the steps (roll then chill) and make sure your dough is cold going in the oven they will NOT rise and will hold their shapes beautifully.
It might not be ideal, but would i be able to replace the butter for veg oil or veg shortening? Thank you
Hi Brittany, for this recipe, the best substitution would be butter flavored shortening.
If I want half the amount of cookies, should I just half the recipe?
Yes, you can halve this recipe. The best and most accurate way to halve an egg is to crack it, beat it together, measure the amount, the use half.
I am going to be making the dough 7 days before I bake them. will the dough be ok in the refrigerator? My students love these cookies from years past but I can’t bake them right away.
Hi Dawn, we would freeze the dough to make it that far ahead – see recipe Notes for details!
Would this dough work as a slice and bake? Thought I could chill the dough as a log then slice into 1/4″ and bake…thoughts?
Hi Cathy, you can use them for a slice and bake cookie.
Could you use lemon extract instead of almond extract?
You bet! See recipe Notes.
Hi Sally – I’d like to make seasonal cut out sugar cookies for my son’s class (and I loved this recipe when I made it before – thank you!). the challenge is that a classmate has an egg allergy so nothing with eggs can come to the classroom – could a “vegan egg” be used in this recipe and still have the chemistry work? Thanks!
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!
These were so great!! I will absolutely be making these again. Just make sure they’re chill when you put them in the oven because they start to spread. I was working in a warmer kitchen so just be mindful! Try these!!!
Love this recipe! My wife helped me decorate. I used a small pumpkin cookie cutter and your royal icing recipe and we had so much fun using candy googly eyes and trying out different designs! On one, she put googly eyes and a handlebar mustache! We used toothpicks to try out feathering. I watched your decorating video and successfully filled 3 sections, let them set, and then added the last 2 sections! It looked so great! Our friends were very impressed! And they tasted great!
I have made these cookies many times. Everyone love them. Recently I’ve been asked if I can make them gluten free. Can I make them using gluten free flour?Please suggest.
Hi Ruchika, we haven’t tested a gluten free version of this recipe, but some readers report success using a 1:1 gluten free flour blend. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Hi how many severings?
This recipe yields 24 3-4 inch cookies.
Hello! I have a question, how long are these cookies good for if they’re heat sealed and decorated with royal icing?
Hi Aimee, 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.
Love these cookies, I find myself always coming back to the recipe for certain holidays to make cutout sugar cookie. They are fairly simple to make with few jngredients, and the cookies actually taste amazing. Thank you for the recipe and I will be coming back soon.
Sally you are my hero! Hands down the most beautiful and tastiest ever sugar cookies. Next challenge: Royal Icing!!
This is my go to recipe for sugar cookies! Delicious every time!
Hi! I made this dough for some Halloween cookies and they came out delicious but when the dough got warm it got really sticky to use, how could I fix that problem?
Hi Bria! If the dough starts to get sticky as you’re working with it, you can re-chill the dough. And make sure to use a little flour when rolling out the dough.
love this recipe but what is the serving size?
Hi Kiana, this recipe yields about 24 3-4 inch cookies.
The family loves every recipe of yours. We’re just wondering why my family recipe calls for similar ingredients/quantities but triples the amount of baking powder. Thoughts?
We find these ratios to be these best! More baking powder would yield a fluffier cookie that spreads more. Let us know if you give this recipe a try.
My toddler wanted to make “ghost cookies” so we made these with our ghost cookie cutter and used a simple glaze recipe. These turned out so good! I usually avoid cutting cookies because it feels tedious, but these didn’t feel that way at all. I’m counting this as our go-to sugar cookie recipe from now on!
I love your recipes! I’m looking for a sugar cookie recipe that emulates a bakery sugar cookie. You know those lovely big round cookies?
Hi Beth! We love these sugar cookies, and consider them to be the best cut-out sugar cookies. We also love these drop sugar cookies (you can make them without sprinkles).
Hello! Love this recipe and always use it for my sugar cookies.
How long will the dough stay good for when chilled and before rolling? I have some extra dough left over from a few days ago and wondering if I can still use it to make cookies?
It’s been wrapped in cling wrap and in the fridge for 3 days. Thanks 🙂
Hi Hayley, we’d recommend using within 2 days, but a third day should work okay.
Do you recommend chilling the dough scraps again before re-rolling?
We don’t usually, if anything, you could chill the re-rolled dough before using the cookie cutters on it.
Do you ever add corn star h to your cookie dough
Anxious to try out the recipe. Looks delicious.
Hi Michaela, We do not add it this recipe as the cookies are very soft as written without spreading. We do add it to other cookies like our chocolate chip cookies to keep those extra soft!
Amazing! I absolutely adore this recipe and use it regularly for Halloween cookies Christmas and many more!
Two things:
– Room temp butter is not ‘cool to the touch’ it is whatever the temp of the room is. So if it’s 90 degrees out that butter gone be soft. It is a really weird detail in your recipe.
– It would be practical to include how many biscuits you baked with this recipe because otherwise the baking time you provide is meaningless
Hi Indria! You can read more about room temperature butter in this post. It is cooler than most think and cool to the touch. This recipe yields 24 3-4 inch cookies, as stated in the recipe card above. Let us know if you give these cookies a try!
I have been using a different sugar cookie recipe for years and years but tried yours on a whim. My new favorite! One thing I liked is rolling between parchment paper and chilling that way. No need for extra flour then which can make the cookies dry and tough. And no mess! I made a quadruple batch for my son’s college athletic cross country team to decorate and they all said the cookies were so yummy. For the gluten free members of the team, in their batch I swapped out a/p flour with the King Arthur GF cup-for-cup substitute. They tasted fantastic! No problems rolling and cutting as long as the dough is chilled for these cookies. Thank you!!
Were they gritty? I find the KA 1:1 flour sometimes is gritty in recipes.
Great recipe. I made the cookies with the almond essence in and also added finely grated orange zest for a subtle orange flavour tone.
We made the recipe but it ended up salty??? We used unsalted butter and, less salt but we followed it to a tee