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
- Watermelon Sugar 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
Just wondering if it would be ok to substitute almond emulsion for the extract? I’ve seen almond emulsion in other cookie recipes and have already purchased it… would it be a 1:1 substitution?? Thanks!!
It’s not usually 1:1 as emulsions have a more pronounced flavor. I would personally use the same amount since I love the flavor of almond emulsion, though you can just add a drop or so.
Sally!! I’ve been obsessed with your blog for forever but i can’t thank you enough for perfection this recipe!! I have been searching for a soft sugar cookie recipe that holds its shape for ages and your recipe just cam out absolutely perfect! you’re the best!!
LOVE THIS RECIPE! I always use this recipe for sugar cookies! Its perfect and cookies come out in great shape! I saved this wedsite link on my phone and unfortunantly last week at my parents house i didnt have this recipe nor could i remember the link! I used some recipe i found online on my parents computer and they had great reviews… but they DID NOT COME OUT GREAT!
These cookies though— YUM!!! I have tried a lot of different sugar cookie recipes and this recipe always comes out perfect!
Make sure your butter and egg are room temp! Really cream everything together! I rolled them out on wax paper and placed it in my fridge. Your area cant be too hot though as the cookies will stick to the paper when trying to lift them off for the oven. Overnight in the fridge is best for these but i usually just fridge them for an hour or two to make them nice and firm and bake them the same day!
These cookies taste great. I just made them for my son’s birthday party tomorrow, but they spread terribly. I’m so disappointed. I had made cookies before that didn’t taste as good but at least you could tell what they are.
I have been trying many sugar cookie recipe the past few days for a friend’s bridal shower in September and these are the absolute best and so easy!!! Thank you for sharing!!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
After so many failed attempts and different recipes, this one was perfect.
I just made my first batch of these, using a new set of butterfly cookie cutters. They are amazing! Look sooo good and taste great too, thank you for the recipe, will be making again! 🙂
I tried these a few weeks ago and they turned out perfect. Did a batch todyay and for some reason it was really sticky. I added more flour and it eventually became crumbly and sticky together. Managed to atleast get some cookies out of it, which cooked very fast but tasted like flour with a tiny hint of sugar… im guessing its due to the heat in my home. Very muggy and hot outside, even with 2 air conditioners on, my kitchen was very hot…
These are amazing!! Thank you so much. Big hit at my son’s second birthday. I am NOT a baker and I was able to follow the recipe and they turned out great!! Thank you!!
These are perfect! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! Just the right texture! I substituted lemon extract for the almond and they were perfect!
These are awesome! I have never made cutout cookies before, and wanted an easy, no-fail recipe. This is IT. I was concerned about not flouring the dough while rolling it out (again – never made cutouts before), but with just a bit of flour on the rolling pin, the dough rolled out just fine. I also made the icing that you suggested, and altogether, it was a great combination! I love how the cookies aren’t crunchy – I don’t like crunchy cookies. My sweet tooth husband LOVED THESE, and ate four in one sitting. 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe!
Just wanted to say thanks for an impeccable recipe–I followed it to the T and they really were just as you promised, and the cookies kept their shape beautifully! My three-year-old and I had a blast decorating them on Christmas eve. This is a keeper!
Hi Sally – Thank you for the Best Recipe for Christmas cookies, especially for cookie cutters. My daughter and I have a tradition for baking cookies at Christmas. The last 4 years she has been away and it was so special to continue our tradition and using your terrific recipe.
Very good recipe! I made this today during Christmas Eve, and made them Christmas cookies. They are lovely! The almond extract really makes them unique too. Thank you for the recipe 😀
I just made these for our Christmas cookies, and I love how they turned out. I shall be using this recipe again and again for years to come. Thank you for posting this!!
Sally, I would just like to thank you for sharing such a PERFECT sugar cookie recipe. They are tender and taste magnificent. My family cannot get enough! This is now my go to sugar cookie recipe! Thank you and best wishes from Savannah, Georgia!
Amazing. I just baked three dozen of these and they are just light and sweet enough to be perfect under royal icing. That almond flavor really shines. But blah blah blah great tasting cookies…..THE SHAPES. I have no words. I have tried a hundred different recipes that all resulted in fat snowflakes and three legged deer, hexagons turns circles…you name it. I swear I will never stray from this recipe EVER.
I attempted to make these last night and did a double batch so we’d have plenty of dough for Christmas cookies with my 5 and 3 year old. I’m a pretty seasoned baker and followed the recipe exactly. My cookies were pretty crumbly and bland tasting. I rolled it out before putting in the fridge and then just let it get a little soft to roll a tiny bit more. The dough just wasn’t that nice perfect flat dough I prefer, although they did hold their shape nicely. I was so disappointed in the flavor I ended up throwing them all away and starting over. Lesson learned don’t do a double batch of something new! Sounds like other people have had better luck, it’s probably just my personal taste but I didn’t care for these at all. I made a different recipe and frosted today – they turned out perfect.
Hi there! In a bind this morning because I couldn’t find my “go to” sugar cookie recipe and I came across your website! Baking for a cookie decorating party tomorrow and these cookies came out PERFECTLY! Followed the recipe verbatim, with the exception of doubling, and the dough has the perfect consistency! I can’t have gluten however the taste tester (my six year old son) claims they are the best cookies I’ve ever done! You are now to new “go to”! Thank you!!
Sally, I made these cookies for a family Hannukah party this weekend, and they were a huge hit! Even my MIL was impressed! My girls (aged six and two) and I had a blast making them. Thanks so much for a terrific recipe!
I did make two substitutions, I used margarine instead of the butter (so they wouldn’t be dairy), and didn’t use the almond extract (just used extra vanilla). Came out great!
I made these cookies today, and the dough was easy to make and was easy to work with. My 5 year old son had fun helping me. Tomorrow…we frost! (I haven’t made icing yet) Thank you for this recipe – it really is great – and easy!
I made these cookies last night with my two girls. They came out EXCELLENT! I have been searching for a go-to sugar cookie recipe for Christmas cookies, and this is it! And the almond adds such a nice subtle but distinctive touch. I think we ate half the dough and cooked the other half!
I just have to tell you how much I appreciate the work you put into developing this recipe and thank you for sharing it. Not only sharing your recipe but sharing the tips and your experiences. To say I am a beginner is giving me to much credit. I have never baked (other than a cake from a box a couple times which wasn’t very pretty either) I do not bake and barely cook so I was nervous about making cookies for my whole family to decorate. I researched many receipts online and on youtube but after I reading your receipt and everything that went into it I decided that if you put this much time and effort into it that it must be good. I have to say it was amazingly easy and the cookies came out perfect. The only thing I will change next year is to times the receipt by 4. I did double the receipt but still did not have enough dough to make 12, 6 inch, gingerbread men. I did make the dough thicker when I rolled it out but I wanted substantial pieces for the kids to decorate. They were perfectly happy with the small cookies any ways. Which is what I made instead of the big ones since I didn’t have enough dough. I just wanted to thank you for all you time and hard work you put into this receipt and thank you for sharing it with everyone. I will use it for many years to come. Thank you again for making me look like a real baker to my family.
This is an amazing recipe. I usually don’t bake often, but I had to this year. I states away from my mother the baker, and didn’t want my kids not having baked treats for the holidays. I tried a package of sugar cookies from the store, it turned into a pan wide cookie pancake. So, I found this, and I must say these are better than any that my mother ever turned out. My kids love them. Do you happen to have a ginger bread cookie recipe? I don’t like the one I used very much.
Love, love, love these cookies! I had never made sugar cookies before. These were amazing, loved the subtle almond flavor. I am going to make them again next week for my 2nd graders at school to decorate. Thanks for sharing:)
Sally, I made your soft cut out sugar cookies today and they are THE BEST sugar cookies I have ever eaten. Super easy recipe to pull together. Very impressed. Thank you!
Every year for christmas I look for a different cut out cookie recipe. I started early this year and I stumbled upon this recipe. I have to say…. These were the best cookies I have ever made!!! They were soft not only the day I baked them but also the day after and the day after that…. I think my search for the perfect cut out cookie recipe is finally over!! These are definitely my favorite!! They taste great, the recipe was easy to follow and they didn’t come out too hard or too soft. Just perfect!!!
This is, hands down, the greatest cut-out sugar recipe EVER. Seriously … ever.
I’ve tried a ton over the past week (I bake for a local orchard) and so many of the recipes that I’ve tried have been SO temperamental. But alas, I’ve found the PERFECT recipe. I didn’t have to make any adjustments, I made them just as the recipe calls for. Which, by the way, the almond extract is a fabulous touch. They turned out great and kept their shape amazingly. I ended up getting just short of two dozen cookies (22 to be exact). Oh, and I didn’t roll them out and chill because I didn’t have the room in my fridge. I had to chill the dough as a ball, but they turned out just fine.
Eek, I’m so excited. Thanks for sharing!!!
Sally, your technique and recipe was by far the best and easiest way to achieve a crispy soft sugar cookie I have ever tried! Your directions and descriptions were spot on. Thank you! I truly enjoyed making them and now look forward to making a huge batch of “T-shirts” for my daughters field hockey team.
Made these last night and they turned out amazing! My husband loves them. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.