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
This recipe is a true winner! My cookies turned out so well and they’re delicious even without icing. I researched so much to find a gingerbread recipe that has no eggs, because my husband is allergic to eggs. But I had no luck, I even read through the comments to see if anyone used egg replacer. But I knew Sally’s recipes are reliable, and so I took a chance. I made this recipe exactly the way it is written except I replaced the egg with Bob Mill’s egg replacer. And to be honest, I was not sure how it would turn out. It was a hit! The cookies were soft and delicious. The spice blend is perfectly balanced. I’ve found my forever gingerbread recipe after many years of trying. Please keep this page forever!
This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe! The taste and shapes are amazing! 5 out of 5 stars.
I make 4 batches of cookies using this recipe every year – they’re the best! Don’t skip the almond flavor, it adds just the right something-special. Thanks for the recipe.
Hello Sally’s Baking,
Can this recipe be used for simple drop cookies too? Any alterations? Would I still need to chill the dough in flattened disks or can I leave it in a lump to chill ? Thank you.
Hi Teresa, This dough is best for cut out cookies, if you would like to make drop cookies, you may enjoy these drop sugar cookies instead.
Absolutely delicious. My favorite sugar cookie recipe ever. I make several batches to give out to everyone at Christmas. People have started asking for them.
I do have a question though. I want to get ahead of my baking this year so I am planning to freeze the dough. What is the reason for freezing in discs instead of rolling it out?
Hi Stacey! The disks are much easier to store – if you have a way to seal up the rolled out dough in an air-tight way, and have the space, you can certainly try it that wya.
This is a question about your almond flour cookies. I use Diamond almond flour which says finely sifted in the bag. Would that be fine enough for your almond flour cookies?
Hi Patty, yes, that should work perfectly!
Thank you so much Beth for your quick reply. So excited I can use the Diamond flour to make Sally’s such good sounding almond cookies.
Me and a friend had a sugar cookie baking marathon/competition. I brought this dough only knowing yours would be the best and my friend made three other kinds of sugar cookie doughs. We baked them all taste tested all four recipes and no surprise to me: this recipe was by far the best texture and taste! You never disappoint and I just love your cookie recipes! I’ve been defaulting to your expertise since 2012 when my husband surprised me with your book. ♥️
Thank you Sally for sharing this recipe!
My whole family loves these cookies! They’ve been our go to Christmas cookie recipe for several years now, and I recently made a couple of variations on this for my 4 year old’s birthday. The simplest one was to use maraschino cherry juice to make the icing. The other was to substitute the flavoring with 2 tsp of orange extract, 2 Tb of orange zest, and half a tsp of vanilla to make them nut free. Then use a chocolate royal icing with orange sugar on top.
Mine didn’t come out right. Not sure what happened.
Hi Jen, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. How did they turn out for you?
Hi! Can I make these vegan by substituting vegan butter and egg replacer?
Hi Ireland, we haven’t tested those substitutions to know the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
May I triple this recipe?
Hi Theresa, this recipe multiplies well, as long as your mixer can handle the volume.
First time baking cookies and they turned out AMAZING. I loved how easy to follow this recipe is! Thank you Sally!
I’m so confused why there aren’t more comments about how dry this cookie tastes! It was really not what I was expecting at all. Some mention adding butter but don’t say if it’s actually successful when they do it.
Suuuuuuper dry. Added the extra butter per one of the commenters and otherwise it wouldn’t even congeal enough to be dough.
Hi! Is it ok to precut the cookies from the shapes and THEN chill after?
Hi Jen, it’s best to wait and cut the shapes after the dough has chilled, because they will hold their shape better and be a bit easier to place/move on the silicone baking mat/parchment paper.
Hey could I use vanilla sugar instead of normal vanilla I tend to prefer it
Hi May, vanilla sugar would be wonderful in these cookies, but we still recommend using vanilla extract as well. Hope you enjoy them!
I’m adding this recipe to my growing list of winners from Sally’s site! They’re terrific! I’ve been baking cookies for 60 years, but it wasn’t until I recently watched your excellent video about creaming butter that I finally understood the importance and exactly how to get it just right. Thank you!
One note on these cookies: Since they don’t spread, they don’t have to be 3 inches apart if you’re in need of room on the cookie sheets. Two inches worked fine for me.
These cookies turn out amazing! I love them with the buttercream icing. I was wondering, if I chill the dough then cut them into shapes is it okay to freeze the cut cookies before baking them?
Hi Allison, that should be just fine!
In looking at the photo of the cookies on your baking sheet, they do not appear to be 3 in apart. Is the recipe correct in that they need to be that far apart because it means I can only fit eight on my standard cookie sheet?
Hi Noreen! 3 inches is best practice, but sometimes we squeeze them a little tighter.
Sally,
Love your site and recipes. My original sugar cookie includes cream of tarter. Why was that in there? And why don’t you have it in yours? Curious Ol Baker:)
Patti
Hi Patti! Cream of tartar adds tangy flavor and works with the raising agents, but we don’t use it in our recipe. We do love cream of tartar in snickerdoodle cookies!
We moved and I got rid of my Betty Crocker cookbook. So I tried this. The dough was so dry and crumbly I added another half stick butter then it looked normal. Hope they turn out ok.
When you say salt as an ingredient, do you mean table or kosher? And if kosher, Diamond or Morton’s?
Thanks!
Hi Matt, we use table salt in all of our recipes unless otherwise noted.
Why can’t you cover and store this dough in an airtight contain for up to 3 days, like some other recipes?
Hi TT, you can prepare the dough and refrigerate for up to 2 days until you’re ready to bake the cookies.
I used this recipe to make cookies for my daughter’s grad student friends during their finals week. She was going to go buy the refrigerated in a tube kind I didn’t have any almond extract in the pantry but I added a couple teaspoons of lemon zest. I didn’t have time to chill for 2 hours, so I did an hour & 15 minutes & they held their shape! I’m saving this recipe for sure.
Can I make the cookie dough 2 days in advance and keep in the fridge until I’m ready to bake?
Hi Maryanne, yes, you can refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days.
I have a quick question, I have made these for quite some time and it is by far the best recipe for sugar cookies especially in combination with royal icing. I did not expect the almond extract to add that little bit of flavor I’ve been missing over the years.
BUT, I do not remember having to chill the dough for 2 hours after rolling it out. Has this part of your recipe been changed in the last year or is my memory failing me(or did I just straight up ignore it)? If I were to not do the chill time, will these cookies still mostly hold their shape? I swear that I did no chilling last year and they were still wonderful but I’m not known for my stellar memory.
Hi Sam, we’re so glad these are a favorite for you! Yes, the chill time has always been there and is crucial for the sugar cookies to keep their shape. We don’t recommend skipping it, or your cookies could over spread and lose shape.
I am a huge Sally’s Addiction fan! Anything I need to bake I come here first! But the sugar cookie recipe was a huge flop. I am a scale baker, always have room temp butter and eggs. The dough is crumbly, won’t gather, would crack in half when I tried to use a cookie cutter, and the dough doesn’t regather for a second cutting. I think I got 6 semi usable cookies out of this whole recipe. Sad Christmas cookie decorating day at our house
Has anyone made these with gluten free 1:1 flour? As good as the original? Were any adjustments needed?
Hi Marsha, we haven’t tested a gluten-free version of this recipe, but some readers report success using a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend such as Bob’s Red Mill without any other changes. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Sally is right. These cookies hold their shape during cooking. Heed her advice about the 2 hour chill time. Don’t overbake, and be sure to use her royal icing for decorating. Delicious!
I am just getting ready to bake the sugar cookies. I used the recipe last year and the cookies were wonderful. Thank you for all your spectacular recipes so easy, but so good.
I have tried many different sugar cookies recipes, hunting for the right one, and these are by far the best. They hold their cut out shape beautifully, are soft, and taste delicious! Out of all the different recipes I’ve tried, this would definitely rank as my perfect, classic sugar cookie.