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
Hi! I made this recipe and, I will be honest, I didn’t expect much in the way of flavor. But believe me, I have been SHOWN! I should never have doubted you! I do have one question, the first few cookies that I frosted turned out great (royal icing, your recipe) but the next few were so globby and hard to work with, and then the frosting spread out WAYYY too much and fell over the sides! I don’t know what I did wrong!
Hello– I plan on trying this recipe for a party. I was wondering how long they stay good.
Meaning, how long in advance of the party can I make them?
They look delicious!!
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. For freezing instructions see the recipe notes!
These cookies (and your recipe for Royal Icing) completely transformed our holidays! I usually make my great-great Grandmother’s sugar cookies (with cream of tartar) but they aren’t good for making shapes or for icing. I made your recipe for the first time for Christmas this year and they were perfect! They even survived a plane trip from the Midwest to California without breaking, and the flavor was spot on. I cannot wait to try your other recipes!
I used this recipe for the first time this Christmas. These were fantastic! I did add a little of the almond extract. So yummy and will definitely be my go-to recipe for sugar cookies now. Thank you!!
This look so so so so good.
I love sugar cookies the flavor of a suger cookie is so AMAZING.
When I eat a cookie I think of so many thing like the thickness, or softness.
And the flavor I can’t wait to make this
THANK YOU SO MUCH SALLY FOR HELPING ME GET THROUGH 2019 AMD NOW 2020 WE ARE ALL GOING TO LEARN NEW THING THIS YEAR OF 2020 FROM SALLY
Thank you Sally
Will this recipe also work for stamped cookies/will the cookie keep the impression or will it just rise and bake out?
Thank you!
Hi Tiffany, I used this recipe to make stamped snowflake cookies and they came out beautifully! You can see them in my post on Sugar Plum Fairy Cupcakes (I used the cookies on top of the cupcakes).
Thank you, Sally.
Delicious cookies!
I had trouble with the icing, maybe being too thick, but with practice, I’ll get it and the taste of the royal icing was great too.
I just made this cookies omg they are perfect my husband loved it , great flavor awesome .!! Thank you very much Sally
This is definitely what I was looking for in a sugar cookie.
Stays soft and moist and flavour is amazing.
I’ve been making these for the past couple weeks! A couple things: yes, roll out dough first; I make mine a little thicker about 1/4”—I find the faster you cut then cold and get them in the oven the better!!!! I bake for 14 mins exact and they are tender and crisp on the edge. The frosting is best applied the next day as I store the cookies over night in the cookie tins lined with wax paper.
These are truly the best sugar cookies I have ever made and eaten! Good job Sally!
Hi Sally! I love your site and how you teach. I am commenting specifically about the videos and the number of commercials. I am not sure that you realize just how many are being shown. During your 5 min cookie recipe video and your 3+ min frosting video, 12 ads popped up, interrupting your instruction. I know ads are probably necessary in keeping your content available, but I do not think you intend it to overwhelm and take over your mission.
Thank you so much for your great recipes! Blessings to you!
Marta Nelson
Hi Marta! Are you watching on Facebook? I have no control over how often those ads are circulating at this time. On my website, however, there is only 1 ad that plays and there should always be a Skip Ad button that displays shortly after it begins. Where are you watching them? Thank you so much!!
Thank You Sally
I have been trying to make sugar cookies for many, many years. Always a disaster! 2019 is the year of the sugar cookie xoxox
This was the best recipe. Perfect cookies. PERFECT SHAPES hahaha. It was all about rolling out and refrigerating. I’m 51 so this has been long overdue. merry Christmas
Thank You Sally
I have been trying to make sugar cookies for many, many years. Always a disaster! 2019 is the year of the sugar cookie xoxox
This was the best recipe. Perfect cookies. PERFECT SHAPES hahaha. It was all about rolling out and refrigerating. I’m 51 so this has been long overdue. merry Christmas
Sally did it again! These are the best sugar cookies! I love the extra flavor from the almond extract. I just frosted them using the “my favorite royal icing” recipe and they look great! I kept my dough in overnight because it wasn’t ready at the 2 hour mark.
We are still in the process of baking and making the glaze, but got the chance to try one and it was sooooo good! Thank you Sally! I’ve been obsessing over your page <3
These + your royal icing were PERFECT! I have never gotten the royal icing right in the past, but this was the year!!
These were delicious!! THANKS!
Hi! Just wondering if I could add some cocoa powder to the dough to make marbled cookies?
Thanks!
Hi Sarah, Cocoa is a complicated ingredient and it’s not an easy swap with flour, so I don’t recommend just adding it to this recipe as is. I do have a chocolate sugar cookie recipe that you can make then marble the two doughs together – that would be really fun!
Fantastic!! Thank you
Hi Sally, we followed the recipe exactly (and added the extra flour) and the dough is still much too soft and sticky to roll. Any idea what we did wrong? Thanks!
Hi Joanna! Make sure your butter isn’t too warm. If so, the dough will be too sticky. (Check out this post.) You can add a little more flour so it’s easier to roll or you can chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling out and chilling again.
Absolutely love this recipe!! I made a double batch and used a 3” round cutter. Made 4 dozen.
This recipe is going in my Christmas Cookie Book.
Thank you!!!!!!??
Hi,
I am making the cut out sugar cookies and I would like to know which will make the cookies turnout better, using crisco or butter? I want the cookies to be soft. Need Help!
Hi Kay, For the best results stick to the recipe and use unsalted butter. Be sure to roll your dough out to 1/4 inch thick (thinner cookies will not be as soft) and don’t over bake. They are very soft cookies!
Hi Sally! After chilling the dough, do you need to let it warm up a bit before cutting the shapes? I tried another recipe before, and after chilling, the dough kept crumbling when I tried rolling it out.
If it’s crumbling then yes, just a few minutes on the counter should warm it up just enough!
I used this recipe and I am getting people messaging me like crazy asking how I made these cookies. I also used a cookie press to make small holiday shapes which worked out really nice. I had to use full cup of butter instead of a 3/4 cup because the dough was too think to pass through the press. Let me clarify, I used a FULL 1 cup of butter for this recipe in total. I didn’t add an ADDITIONAL cup of butter. 🙂
My boyfriend was very pleased with this taste, and he hates almond extract and he didn’t even know I put 1/2 a teaspoon! Delicious!
My son really wants to make Santa shaped cookies for Santa. I think he’d prefer buttercream-type frosting instead of royal icing so he can decorate with sprinkles. Which of your frosting recipes might you recommend, and how much should I make to go with this sugar cookie recipe? (If this was in one of the comments and I missed it, I apologize!) Thanks!
Hi Susan! I recommend my vanilla buttercream. 1 batch will be enough for this amount of sugar cookies.
I’m not much of a baker but these were so easy to make and turned out fantastic! They only spread a little, and were crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy in the middle. Just perfect!
This recipe is great ! My cookies are amazing ! Store bought quality ! Loved it !
Hi Sally,
These cookies are A M A Z I N G! I love them and try not to make them too often… I have a hard time eating just one. Haha
Thank you!
Sally,
When I creamed the sugar and the butter together, it did not come out creamy. It was fluffy but lumpy. Can I melt the butter before creaming? I have a feeling its why my dough came out dry.
Thank you.
Hi Susan, make sure your butter is softened to room temperature and not cold– keep beating the sugar and butter together until the mixture is creamy and relatively smooth. Also, make sure you’re spooning and leveling the flour. Your dough could be dry because there is too much flour and/or because the butter is too cold. I do not recommend using melted butter.
Hi Sally!
Can I use salted butter in this recipe if I’m out of unsalted?
Thanks!
Sure can! Make no other changes to the recipe– keep the added salt. 🙂