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
These really are the best! I have made them numerous times and love them every time!
I’ve used this recipe countless times and all my friends and family love it! Question, do you think I could freeze the cut (raw) cookies? Would they thaw and bake well? I have 3 events that need cookies in September.
Hi Lindsay, Yes! You can absolutely freeze the raw cookie dough cut into shapes. Bake them directly from the freezer – no need to thaw – just add an extra minute to your bake time. Enjoy!
I like to make both the white and chocolate cookies! But I like to frost between the cookies! I start with a white cookie and frost it with chocolate ganache and then put a chocolate cookie on top! This way I have the best of both kinds! These cookies are totally supper in every way! Good job Sally!
I’ve tried other sugar cookie recipes and this recipe is by far the best. The shape remained intact and the flavor is amazing! I will definitely use this recipe again!
I just made these again. I made the chocolate sugar cookies as well. This is my go to cutout sugar cookie recipe. Everyone who eats them LOVES THEM! When I make them, I have to bring them to work or I would eat the whole batch! LOL Thank you for your yummy recipes! Your flaky biscuit recipe is also my go to!
Tried this recipe and the biscuits were deeeelicious :)!!!
Epic fail for me on this. Everything was perfect until I tried to take one sheet out of fridge. The two layers stuck together and had to break apart in pieces to get separated. Letting soften now to hopefully re-roll. Did I miss a step to not put in fridge on top of each other with parchment in between??
Oh no! So sorry you experienced that, Carol. I usually stack them with parchment in between. Was the dough particularly sticky?
Kimberly, I had that issue the first time I made them (last year). This time, i had 2 pieces of parchment between the layers. It was parchment, dough, parchment, and the same for the next layer, etc. I didn’t have any problem with the layers sticking together this time.
If you have problems with the pieces sticking together in the fridge, after you’re done rolling, sprinkle flour or powdered sugar on the top of the bottom piece. The flour/sugar seals in moisture so it doesn’t stick!
Hi , is All purpose flour ‘Plain flour’ or ‘Self raising flour’
Thanks
Hi Alicia! Plain flour.
Had a craving for sugar cookies in June and wanted to test out the snowflake cookie cutters you used on your sugar plum fairy cupcakes (which I plan to make later this year). Easy. Tasty. Perfect. Going to have a blast making sugar cookies with my toddler come the holidays. Thanks!
Hi Sally!
If I wanted thicker cookies, could I roll them out to be 1/2 an inch, or 1/3 of an inch instead of the 1/4 inch? Could I just bake it for longer to achieve the same crispy outside/soft inside? Thanks Sally! Never baked cookies before but definitely going to give it a shot!
Hi Betty! 1/2 or 1/3 inch is great for thicker cookies. Bake for a little longer–until the edges are lightly browned.
Loved these! I could eat them plain for days!
Sally,
This is my go-to recipe for cut out sugar cookies. I’ve been baking more recently since I started getting serious about decorating the cookies with royal icing. With the warmer weather, I am getting some spread. Can I eliminate or decrease the baking powder?
Hi Ruth! I’m so glad you enjoy these sugar cookies– thank you! I don’t recommend reducing the baking powder in the dough. Adding 2-3 extra Tbsp of flour will help. Also, make sure those shaped cookies are cold going in the oven.
Hi, Will these cookies work as well if I use gluten free flour for this recipe?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Jodie! I don’t have any experience baking with gluten free flour but other readers have reported back that they use it successfully in cookie recipes. Let me know if you try it!
I made these for the first time today and they turned out amazing. However for the party I’m making them for nut allergies are a concern. If I take out the almond extract should I add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract or just take it out completely
You can either add vanilla extract in its place or leave it out completely.
I have made these cookies several times and they’re always a hit! So delicious!! I do feel like the puff up a bit and lose their shape somewhat. Do you have any idea what could be causing this? Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoy them, Ashley! Make sure that your dough is cold going in the oven. You can place the pan of cut out shapes in the fridge before baking them to make sure they are cold after you cut them!
That did the trick! Thank you!!
Love these cookies!
I was looking for a recipe to make spring cookies with my kids and feel so lucky to have found this one – thank you Sally!!
Rolling out the dough before putting it in the refrigerator to chill is genius! I had to work a small miracle in my ‘small’ German fridge to fit it in but it was totally worth it: the kids could get right to cutting out shapes without first watching Mom attack a solid monster of cold dough with a rolling pin!
Only had one small problem: I had stacked two sheets of rolled dough on baking paper and when I took them out they were stuck pretty well to the baking paper. I couldn’t get the top layer off without risking a breakage so we had to carefully cut out shapes from the top layer while it was still sitting on the other one. A little tricky, but we managed.
I don’t know if it’s my baking paper that was the problem, or that I had to leave it in overnight, but next time I will also put a layer of plastic wrap between them. 😉
Delicious and easy cookies!!
Have you ever used Crisco or other fat rather than butter? I’ve got a friend with a dairy allergy kid and I’m hoping to find a recipe she can eat!
Hi Claire! You can use shortening in place of butter. Some readers have even used Earth Balance brand vegan butter with great results.
Hi Sally,
I made this recipe twice already and it came out amazing both times! I don’t usually like sugar cookies and I enjoyed these. I was wondering if You think I could add some spices like cinnamon or something to change it up a little?
Absolutely! I love adding 1/2 – teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or a combination of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, etc. Coconut extract or lemon extract are wonderful too!
One more question lol. Did you think an orange flavored marshmallow fondant would taste good with the cookies if I added the cinnamon? Or is that weird? Thank you
Easy to work with dough, great flavor, and held shapes perfectly. Will use this recipe every time for cutouts:)
This has been my go-to cut out cookie recipe for a couple of years now…LOVE them (and the chocolate version too]
I just needed to comment to say these are by far the best, most fool proof cut out sugar cookies I have ever made. I offered to make cookies for a bridal shower over the weekend, and since I swear by Sally’s chewy chocolate chunk cookies (best chocolate chip cookies ever) I decided to try this one. About 30 seconds into creaming the butter and sugar the motor on my hand mixer died. I freaked out because I knew I didn’t have time to remake another (double) batch after buying a new mixer the next day. It took a lot of elbow grease but even mixing by hand these came out amazing! Everyone loved them… so thank you so much for this recipe. It is now added to my list of go-to’s 🙂
I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe! I know there have been some questions about freezing the dough but I didn’t actually see instructions. Is it better to roll out and freeze the raw dough cookie cutouts without baking? I thought baking, freezing, and then defrosting might change the texture. I’d like to make the dough now and then bake next week but didn’t know how best to make these ahead of time.
You can freeze the cookie dough before rolling for up to 3 months. Then allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Then roll and continue with the recipe as directed.
This recipe is by far the best sugar cookie I have ever made. They keep well. I bake ahead and freeze then frost when I need them. I always double it because they disappear so fast
Thanks for the quick reply, Sally! Will tell you how they turn out!
Hi Sally! These look really good and I am hoping to make them soon in the next week; I was wondering if I could add a little cinnamon to the dough? I thought that might give a great addition of flavor! And if I wanted to do a white chocolate glaze, how much white chocolate should I melt down to ice the total amount of cookies in this recipe? Thanks! Love your recipes and blog!
Yes, cinnamon is an awesome addition to this dough. I do it all the time for extra flavor. I recommend 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, like I do here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/animal-cracker-cookies/
For a white chocolate drizzle or topping, I recommend about 8 ounces of white chocolate, melted.
I have made these sugar cookies several times and we LOVE them. Really delicious. Have been thinking of trying to substitute part white whole-wheat flour for all purpose flour. Do you think that would work?
I tried using whole wheat flour when I made this dough into mini animal cookies and it unfortunately didn’t work at all. Let me know if you give it a try!
Could I add chocolate chips to this? How much would you suggest?
Hi Mallory, you could add mini chocolate chips to this dough before rolling it out. (Do not use regular size as they are too large.) We recommend beating in 3/4 cup after you mix the wet and dry ingredients together. You may need to use a little arm muscle (or very sturdy cookie cutters) to cut through the mini chips. Keep that in mind when shaping. Enjoy!
I have made these cookies multiple times and always get rave reviews! I follow the recipe exactly and they are amazing! Thank you for a great recipe!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. These are awesome, came out perfect. Great tasting, kept their shape perfectly, and soft. No need to look any further, this is my go to sugar cookie recipe for life!
Hi Noaya! If you stamp the cookie dough, then chill the stamped cookie dough shapes right before baking– they’ll definitely hold their shape. I suggest chilling the shaped cookies for 1 hour prior to baking.