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 can I freeze the dough for a couple days until I am ready to bake them? Or do they need to be baked the day I make the cookie dough?
Hi Julie, yes you can. See the recipe Notes for freezing instructions.
Trying this recipe with my 5 year old today to make cookies for santa! Would I adjust the cook time for smaller cookies?
Hi Shaelyn, if you’re making small cookies, then yes, the bake time will be a little less. Keep an eye on them. Enjoy!
Thank you! Also, I forgot the salt, is there a way to fix this?
I just wanted to thank you for posting this recipe so many years ago. I have been using this recipe for our annual Christmas cookies for years. This recipe has created the best traditions for us. Thank you!
Followed the recipe word for word. I have made millions of cookies, my sugar cookies call for cinnamon which a certain person is allergic to so I opted to find another recipe. Hands down I can fully say these are the worst sugar cookies I have ever made, first they needed significantly more flour than what was called for to just roll out and cut. Now that they are baked they are bland and the texture is not great. Now I am going to make my icing that I know works and is good and pray that the icing will make them edible. Additionally, I never write review, and have never wrote a review regarding a recipe but I feel that others should know that these by far are not the best sugar cookies ever!
I’m a novice baker and made these for the first time. They came out as completely flat discs, well, 1/4″ high. I used a hand mixer and did not have a paddle attachment. Multiple times, all the dough (fairly hard) clumped around the mixer blades and I had to slowly scrape it off. I used your exact ingredient measurements, spooned the flour into the measuring cup before adding it to the bowl, and waited until the butter was close to 65 degrees before creaming it, and chilled the dough for 24 hours. Are these cookies supposed to rise? If so, do you think the problem is I didn’t cream it correctly? I’m not exactly sure how to do that, despite reading about it online. Thoughts?
Hi Judy, these cookies are supposed to stay flat (but still that 1/4-inch thickness) and hold their shape so you have a nice smooth, flat surface for decorating. Are you looking for more of a drop-style sugar cookie?
Hi, I’m just wondering if you’ve ever tried to make these with plant based butter?
Hi Kristen, we haven’t tested it ourselves, but several readers have reported doing so with success. Your results may be different, but let us know if you give it a try!
Just made them with plant based margarine (1:1 ratio swap). They are delicious and hold their shape beautifully. I think they came out a little more dry than they would have with regular butter, but icing will fix that! Thank you!
This is the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever made. The dough is so easy to work with, if you follow directions. Taste great too. I haven’t iced my yet, but I will.
Love this recipe! I was wondering though if I were to cut my cookie shapes out with the dough and leave it the freezer can I bake them from frozen?
Hi, can I use gluten free flour instead?
I wish I could figure out how to upload a picture. I’ve never had sugar cookies keep their shape. These look amazing!
Used double acting baking powder. Woops. Shapeless fat cookies instead of trees
Hi Sally,
I’m getting ready to make this recipe. I always weigh my ingredients when baking. Your recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups or 281 grams of flour. My flour weighs 30 g per 1/4 cup, which would make 2 1/4 cups weigh 270 grams. So, should I use 270 grams or 281 grams?
Hi Gini, we would stick with our weights. The 10g shouldn’t make too much of a difference here even if it is slightly different.
All I have is self rising flour. Can I use this for the cookies. Thanks
Hi Judith! We don’t recommend using self rising flour in this recipe. It would take additional recipe testing to ensure accurate results.
I have a question on your recipe for My Best Chocolate Sugar Cookies. I’d like to add a hint of peppermint to either the royal icing or the cookie icing. What would I use and how much of it would I add? Thank you.
Hi Dawn, you could add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract to these cookies or our chocolate sugar cookies! You could also add a bit of peppermint extract to the icing or top with crushed peppermint candy. Let us know what you try!
Thank you! How much would you add to the icing if I go that route? Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
I added the peppermint extract to the cookie dough and it came out delicious!!! They taste like Thin Mint cookies. So good. I will definitely be making these cookies next year. Thank you!
can you use salted butter?
Hi Ann, if using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Enjoy!
LOVE these cookies. Everyone in my family love them. They don’t spread and they taste awesome. I was wondering: if I baked and then froze them as per your instructions, when thawed can they be iced and decorated as if they were not frozen?
Hi Jennifer, yes, absolutely!
Can I add sprinkles into the cookie dough, and if so how much?
Thanks!
Absolutely! We recommend beating in 3/4 cup sprinkles after you mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
So i love this recipe and use it all the time but this time i chilled for 2 days instead of overnight, and re-rolling dough it was very dry and hard to squish together. Is there anything i can do for this?
Hi Melanie, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the dough. If it still seems too hard, you can let it rest at room temperature for a bit to soften up before rerolling.
Hi Sally! I’ve followed you for a long time and just love your recipes! This sugar cookie one is an all time favorite. And all your tips and suggestions are great. Plus your royal icing recipe/video is perfect for beginners like me and I’ve done some great cookies!
This recipe is definitely a winner. We made these for a cookie party and they won an award that was voted by the kids at the party for their favourite cookies (and the plate got emptied very quickly!).
They cooked slightly quicker in my oven but I’m used to used to this being the case so checked after 10 minutes and got them out in time.
Hi Sally! I love this recipe, but my son can’t have dairy anymore. Would this recipe work with a dairy-free butter?
Hi Kathy, we haven’t tested a dairy-free version of this recipe, but let us know if you decide to do any experimenting. We’d love to know how it goes! And if you’re interested, here are all our dairy-free recipes.
Do you want to fold the cookies to make layers, or no.
Hi Ady! No, just roll out the cookie dough. We don’t need to fold like we do when making pastry dough.
How many cookies does this recipe yield? Typically?
Hi Ashely! About 24 3-4 inch cookies.
Can I make these cookies without a mixer, and mix it with a fork?
You can certainly mix it by hand if necessary, but it will take quite a bit of arm muscle! Particularly when it comes to properly creaming the butter and sugars. We find a sturdy wooden spoon works best. Let us know how it turns out for you.
Hi! Could I add the seeds from a vanilla bean pod to this recipe?
Hi Juliana, yes, absolutely! You can use in place of the vanilla extract or use in addition to the vanilla extract for even more flavor.
I was wondering if there’s any reason I couldn’t sprinkle colored sugar on them prior to baking instead of using icing?
You absolutely could, Jan! That’s how my family decorated cookies growing up 🙂
I love the cooooooookies!
Such good instructions!
love this recipe but 11 minutes was too long for my oven. the first time i made them they were too hard and dry. i only cook for 8 minutes. i also make sure they are thick. this way they are soft in the middle but still hold their shape.
I love these cookies and make them every Christmas! My kids love them so much! Definitely recommend this recipe!
Can I bake these thicker without affecting the end results?
Hi Karyn, you can make them a little thicker! Bake time will be slightly longer.
I’ve made this very excellent cookie is the past and rolled and used cookie cutters. Will chilled dough stand up to cookie stamps?
Hi Jim! This recipe should work with a cookie stamp, 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 stamps come out perfectly.
I use a snowflake stamp with this dough and they come out beautifully. I lightly flour the stamp and tap off the excess in between cookies. No need to chill again, they hold their shape just fine.
What if I only have salted butter ?
Hi Maggie, if using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon.
Hi, Can I refrigerate this cookie dough for a few days before rolling it out and baking it?
Hi Deva, the dough can be refrigerated up to two days.