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
How long will these keep for after being baked? We are having a baby shower with cookie decorating REMOTELY, so I need to bake the cookies on a Tuesday, ship all over the country, and they will be decorated and eaten on that Sunday. So it will be 5 days between baking and consumption.
What a fun idea! Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. If you wish you can freeze the cookies and mail them out in freezer packs and have each participant thaw before decorating. Have fun!
Great, I think I will vaccuum seal before shipping and hope for the best. I guess worst case it will be a little more crunchy than chewy.
I love this recipe. I’ve been sending them to friends during lockdown! Thank you so much from Katie in Melbourne, Australia !!!!! Xxx
Hi Sally,
Thank you for the simple yet super tasty recipe. My first time baking cookies and it was a success, done 3 times now and the cookies were perfect everytime! Will attempt your royal icing next as I have been using fondant.
Thanks!
I’ve tried making a few and they’re superb!! I would just like to ask:
1. Is it okay if I make them thicker (say 1/2 inch thick). I like it thicker if ever.
2. Any suggestion on how to do a clear coat on the cookies and just put sugar on top as a topping?
Thank you and appreciate it!
Hi Moses, 1/2 or 1/3 inch is great for thicker cookies. Bake for a little longer–until the edges are lightly browned. You can sprinkle the dough with coarse sugar/sanding sugar before baking if you wish. Or if you are looking for more of a thin glaze on top you can make a very thin royal icing (or this easy icing) and brush the tops of the cookies with it instead of piping it on.
Hey sally
Have been using this recipe for 2 years now and I absolutely love it!
Although I’m finding I at times have a
Problem with the biscuit spreading too much which doesn’t help with my fondant siting flush to the cookie!
What is the reason as to why it would spread? I want to continue using this recipe but the spreading problem is a huge problem for me
Hi Bianca, I’m happy to help. Make sure the cookie dough is sufficiently chilled. There is plenty of flour to soak up the butter, so over-spreading shouldn’t be an issue unless the dough is not chilled OR the dough is rolled too thin. Make sure you keep it on the thicker side.
Hello, I was so excited to make these, as I have been looking for a good recipe. I was sadly disappointed i followed the recipe to the letter. They were very bland, not soft like the recipe stated and you can only taste the flour. I will keep trying even maybe add some more sugar to them. I really want this recipe to work.
Hi Rene, Thank you for trying this recipe. I wonder if there was too much flour in your cookie dough. If you decide to try again, make sure you are measuring the flour properly – spoon and level instead of scooping (or weigh it).
I really didn’t want to post a star review yet…just a comment. I haven’t tasted the cookies at this point. My issue is why roll the dough out first, before putting it in the frig? It required that I empty a shelf in the frig for a place to lay the dough flat. And then find a larger round platter to put the 2 doughs on so that it would lay flat. Am I missing something here? I keep rereading the instructions thinking I’m missing something. 🙂
Hi Mary Ellen, We don’t recommend chilling the cookie dough before rolling it out because it will be too cold and difficult to work with after it’s chilled. See the section in the post above called “The Trick is the Order of Steps” for details and tips!
I’ve made this recipe a million times, and it is my family’s absolute favorite. I include the almond extract that you recommend, which gives such a wonderful flavor. The recipe says you can get 24 4-inch cookies but I consistently get about 15 with my 4-inch circle cutter. I use rolling pin guides so I know I’m rolling to exactly 1/4 inch thick. Is there something I could be missing? Thank you!
Hi Heather, Are you re-rolling the scraps after you cut out your first 15 cookies? After you cut out your shapes, re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Sometimes I have to put the re-rolled dough back into the refrigerator before I cut out more shapes if it’s been sitting out for too long. I hope this helps!
Hi!! I just found this recipe and Im totally gonna do it tonight!
But is really necessary to have a mixer? Or can I do it just without it?
Thanks for sharing!!
Hi Paola, It is difficult to properly cream the butter and sugar in step one by hand. If you try it just be prepared to use a lot of arm muscle
AWESOME!! I’ve been baking for MANY years and these are the nicest, tastiest and easiest sugar cookies I’ve ever made. On to the icing…
I’m new to rolling out dough. What do I do if I accidentally roll it too thin? Can I ball it up and try again or does that ruin the dough?
Sure can! You can bring the dough back together then try again, using a little more flour if necessary.
Hi Sally! I’m so keen to make these today! I was hoping to make them with a pumpkin spice flavour. I have the spices all mixed together and ready but not sure how much to add. I was also worried it would change the consistency so I might need to omit some of a dry ingredient? Maybe some of the sugar? Any tips?
Hi Becca, Absolutely! We love adding 1/2 – teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or a combination of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, etc. No other changes to the recipe are necessary.
This recipe is great. This is the third one I’ve tried, I was surprised how many recipes are out there that aren’t that tasty! Anyways, this one is really easy and tasty! I used salted butter because that’s all I had from making a previous recipe, and just added half the salt, and that seemed perfect although it probably depends on how much sodium salted butter would have. Also I mixed everything by hand haha it wasn’t too terrible to do, I don’t have the paddle for my mixer and I didn’t want to mess it up somehow so I figured the only way I could prevent that is mixing by hand! I have another batch chilling now, and tried it with pumpkin spice! Which I added 1 tsp along with the vanilla and it tastes good so far!
Was maybe going to try to flavor the royal icing, wondering if you would recommend maybe adding maple, or pumpkin spice, or would that be totally funky?
Thanks so much for the easy, yummy recipe. Can’t wait to share these cookies!
This is an exceptional recipe! Came out perfectly! I did use your royal icing recipe, but I added some vanilla to it. Superb!
Hi Sally! Ive been using this recipe for several months now for my business
It tastes really good and really fool proof. However, last night some of my cookies shrunk while baking. Im trying to figure out what I did wrong for this particular batch . Has this happened to you ever? Thank you!
Hi Maria! I’m so glad to hear how much you love this sugar cookie recipe. I’ve never had them shrink before– are you using a different brand of butter perhaps? Any other changes? Perhaps an overly humid day?
Loved how they were soft But still crumbled in your mouth! My son and I made a batch in just a few minutes and were not disappointed!
Absolutely delicious! They were really cute, though some were a little crunchy because I rolled the dough to thin. (These ones were still great!) since I did not have merengue powder, I use a different icing. This is definitely my go to sugar cookie recipe!
These are definitely my go to cookies!!
Absolutely perfect! Thank you for the recipe!! I followed your recipe to the dot and they turned out spot on. I had some ready made fondant which i rolled out, coloured and marbled, being able to use the same cookie cutter as the cookies didn’t spread at all My only question is has anyone tried with gluten free flour? My nieces are coeliac and I’d love for them to have these, as they are delicious!!!!
The cookies took forever to bake and the dough was way to crumbly. When the cookies finally were done, they were bland.
Delicious with or without icing! YUM!!
I make these cookies all the time! They are a huge hit! One thing I do is roll them out thicker than 1/4 inch. It doesn’t yield as many cookies but it does help them retain their moisture and helps hold the amount of frosting I typically use to decorate them. I can attest to freezing them and how amazing they taste even when they are saved in the freezer for a few months. My favorite part is that they retain their shape perfectly. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Sally! This is seriously so soft and delicious! How long do sugar cookies last with fondant on them?
Hi Melissa, Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. Fondant doesn’t usually do well in the refrigerator depending on how it’s used, but you can refrigerate these cookies up to 10 days for longer storage.
These are great sugar cookies!!! Really hit the spot, thanks for sharing!
I love these cookies!! They are always a hit when I make them. I’d like to branch out with new flavors. If you were to make these lemon flavor, would you omit the vanilla extract? Or just add lemon extract? Also, how much lemon extract would you recommend?
Thank you!!
Hi Sara, You can! See recipe note about lemon flavor.
Hello!! HELLOOO! I can’t contain my excitement!! Your recipe tastes great!!! I live in a relatively hot and humid country and it’s summer right now in the Philippines so I was expecting to fail this recipe. Guess what, THEY TURNED OUT REALLY GREAT!!
The dough was easy to roll (i just used an empty water bottle). And they held their shapes really well. I made small stars (those 5-point ones, the really pointy kind) and I was expecting them to ‘spread out’ in my oven but they retained their shape really well. It’s crunchy outside and chewy inside!
You mentioned placing the cookies in the baking sheet 3 inches apart. I think we don’t have to do that. I made my cookies about 1/4 inches thick and I just placed them very close to each other in the cookie sheet, barely a gap between them, because my oven is small (I’m using 18L convection oven). The cookies didn’t stick to each other. I just made sure to work in smaller batches so the dough won’t melt and left the rest of the batch in the fridge. I placed them in the fridge for 5 minutes before baking them. I dunno if that matters but I just wanna be sure because the weather is hot here.
I was really scared to make sugar cookies because I might fail but it worked really well. I felt like leaving a comment here because PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THAT YOUR RECIPE IS PERFECT.
THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!
Wonderful recipe! I intend to bake the cookies for my wedding and add the names of my guests as a placeholder cookie. I am wondering how many days in advance I should start baking and how long the cookies can last for?
Hi Sharon, I’m thrilled you enjoy these cookies! What a creative and delicious placeholder for your wedding 🙂 See recipe note #1 for make ahead instructions. Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months so you could get started several days/weeks in advance. Let us know how they turn out!
What can I add to this recipe to make chocolate sugar cookies ?
Hi Susan, Here is the recipe for Chocolate Sugar Cookies!
Hi Sally!
I just got done making these cookies for National Sugar Cookie Day but they seem to be a bit on the dry side. I added 1 tbsp more flour b/c my dough was sticking to my rolling pin on the ends and that was the only difference. I chilled them for 2 hours and once I took them out, they were cracking and not very easy to peel off my silicon mat. Would you be able to help me? Thank you!
I will try this again though, hopefully with a much better chance!
Hi Marge! It sounds like the cookies could have been over-baked. The time really does depend on the exact size of the cookies, but once you see the edges very lightly browning, the cookies are done. They’ll continue to set as they cool, but the centers will be nice and soft.
Sally – your recipes are my first “go to” when I’m looking for something new. Your attention to detail with the ingredients to make richer, more flavorful, and superior final products is something I really appreciate! I wanted to tell you that I added 2 TBS lemon juice, 2 TBS lemon zest and 1 TBS fresh chopped rosemary to your sugar cookie recipe and they turned out a-ma-zing!
Hi Sally! This is the best recipe ever! I do have a question. In the “not for decorating” surface, they have been lately getting small holes… can they be from the flour I put in the sheet? Because when I take the out of the oven, the front surface looks awesome, but the back looks like a little bit like a cake. Hope you can answer me! Thank you so much!
Hi Nicole! I’ve had that happen before– makes zero taste difference– and it’s usually from excess flour during the rolling/shaping step.
Hi Sally, I find whenever the measure the flour in grams I only end up with 2 cups of flour and my dough is too sticky and sticks to the parchment paper. Should I just add 2 and a quarter cups of flour even though when I measure this it is significantly more than 281grams? I want dough that’s easy to work with but worried about the cookies being too dry.
Also what are your thoughts on eliminating baking powder all together to help prevent spreading?