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.
These are my favorite sugar cookies with icing. I shared the recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction several years ago and published them in my cookbook as well. 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 7-8 ingredients. With so little ingredients, it’s important that you follow the recipe closely. Creamed butter and sugar provide the base of the cookie dough. Egg is the cookie’s 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! Flour is an obvious addition, 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 make chocolate sugar cookies too!
- 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 or just under 1/4 inch thick. If you have difficulty evenly rolling out dough, 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 shape. Chill the rolled out cookie dough for at least 1-2 hours and 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 12 minutes.
- Decorate. See my suggested icings below.
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 above.
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.) Don’t chill the cookie dough and then try to roll it out because it will be too cold and difficult to work with. I 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. Pick it up, put it on a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for two baking sheets in your refrigerator, stack the pieces of rolled out dough on top of each other.
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 TWO 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 1-2 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 awhile. 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.
The pictured hearts 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 I do with my 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 you can see this full 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 Stars
- 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.
PrintSoft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes (includes cooling)
- 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.
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 (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 or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*
For Decorating
- Royal Icing or Easy Glaze Icing (royal icing is pictured)
- Assorted sprinkles
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. 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 completely smooth and creamy, about 2 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 up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be a bit soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use 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 doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it—see me do this in the video below. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Arrange cookies on baking sheets 3 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate the cooled cookies with royal icing or easy cookie icing. Feel free to tint either icing 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 stick 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 for sending. Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months before rolling it out. Prepare the dough through step 3, divide in half, flatten both halves into a disk as we do with pie crust, wrap each in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the disks in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill rolled out dough in the refrigerator for 45 minutes – 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 it’s quickly and evenly mixed into the cookie dough.
- Flavors: I love flavoring this cookie dough with 1/2 teaspoon almond extract as listed in the ingredients above. For lighter flavor, use 1/4 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 or my easy cookie icing. See post above to read about the differences.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
This cookie recipe is delicious! I do have a concern though, I’ve been using your sugar cookie and royal icing recipe and I’m having butter bleed on some cookies, not all. Do you happen to know why this is happening? How could I prevent this?
Hi Amy, so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying this recipe! If the butter is bleeding/melting after the cookies have been baked, it sounds like the dough wasn’t completely mixed through. That’s likely from butter that wasn’t quite room temperature. For next time, make sure the butter is fully incorporated in the dough and large chunks are not visible before proceeding with chilling and baking. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. I’ll definitely try mixing a bit longer and hopefully not have the butter bleed on the icing.
I love cookie dough!
Absolutely love this recipe and will be making it again soon, along with the royal icing recipe!! The only thing I had trouble with was working with the scrap dough. I refrigerated the dough overnight and had no problem with the initial cookies I cut out but, after collecting the scrap dough (as quickly as possible) and re-rolling it, I found it was too sticky to work with. Maybe I need to put the scrap dough back in the refrigerator to let it cool down before using it again? Would appreciated tips!
Hi Michelle, we’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe! If the scrap dough is too soft to work with, you can certainly pop it back in the refrigerator for a short time.
Loved this when I made it before! Does it matter if I use salted butter if that’s all I have?
Hi Marley, If using salted butter you can reduce the added salt in the cookie dough from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
cornstarch isn’t needed for This recipe?
Hi Nicky, no, we do not use cornstarch in this recipe.
Do i have to wait for the cookies to thaw to decorate them with the royal icing or can they be frozen?
Also, made 2 batches two different days and the butter temp is KEY! 1st time it was too soft and i had to add a ton of flour for it to not be sticky. This 2nd time was perfect, maybe 1 tablespoon of flour and that was it. Thank you !
Hi Sara, we’d wait until the frozen cookies are thawed to top them with fondant. Glad you enjoy this recipe!
Hi Lexi,
do they have to be thawed to put royal icing on them not fondant
Hi Sara! It’s best to ice cookies at room temperature.
YUM!!
btw: did u know Kylie Jenner uses this recipe?! In her cooking cookies with stormi youtube videos, she says that she uses your recipe!
LOVE THESE ugh i made these and then cut them into circle and put strawberry hearts in the middle!! they’re so cute i love them :’)
so yummy!!!!amazing recipe. Worth the wait!
I love making these cookies so much, so easy and they always turn out perfectly.
Everyone I’ve ever made these for has loved them and they never stay in the fridge more than a day. I added 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and nutmeg and they made the perfect fall cookies.
Hello, can you tell me if this recipe would work with Gluten Free all purpose flour? Thank you!
Hi Amanda, we haven’t personally tried it, but many readers have reported success using 1:1 gluten free flour substitutes. If you give it a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
This is my go to recipe now! I love how soft and delicious they are. I pair them with a marbles fondant and like to personalise them with letter stamps!
Thanks so much for sharing such an awesome recipe 😀
Love these cookies. Really appreciate all the tips put into making this recipe turn out as good as possible! Thank you!
Thank you so much for making our recipe, Aimee! We’re so glad you loved them.
Loved the recipe! Turned out so good!
This recipe has been amazing just wondering I’m making a bulk lot. Am I able to make, chill, cut shapes and freeze for 2 days before baking? Or does it need to be frozen in half lot discs? Thank you
Hi Sharnie, freezing the cut out cookies should work just fine. You could also bake them through and then freeze the baked cookies, if that helps at all. Enjoy!
Thanks for this answer. I’m also looking to bulk make. I found by freezing the baked cookie and then eating it doesn’t taste as fresh and doesn’t have that crisp texture. Is there any way to get around that? (Perhaps putting them back in the oven for 5 minutes?) thank you!!
Hi Jo, keeping the baked cookies wrapped tightly so that no moisture can get in should help to keep them fresh. Allow them to thaw completely before enjoying. You can try putting them back in the oven if you’d like, but they will continue to bake and brown. Hope this helps!
These are delicious thank you so much!! Is it possible to quadruple the recipe (time it by 4 or even 5) to make big batches at once? Thanks again 🙂
Hi Jo, You can double the recipe! We find that when attempting to triple (or more) it’s easy to overwhelm your mixer.
Loved making these! Great recipe, I will deffinetly be using again. BTW very well instruscted.❤ insta? Willing to follow.
Hi. I would like to use this recipe for a party. Can I make the dough 3 days in advance and freeze it? Should I still roll it out then freeze ? What are your recommendations with baking in advance ?
Hi Megan, see recipe notes for a few different make ahead and freezing options — hope the cookie are a hit for your party!
i’ve used this recipe millions of times and it is perfect! All of Sally’s recipes are!
I love these so much i want to eat them all the time. Wonderful website and instructions/tips. I love it! Well done!
Hi! Love the cookies but I’m finding my dough is too crumbly. I am following the measurements exactly. I must be doing something wrong…
Any advice?
Hi Mary, A crumbly dough can still be workable (don’t add water!)– try to bring it together with your hands. It will also come together as you roll it out. Make sure to spoon and level your flour when measuring in the future as well.
The cookies are really delicious but I was wondering if you have a recipe using banana extract. I tried this exact one using 1 tsp of the banana extract but the flavor was too strong. Is there any way I can cinnamon and or nutmeg to give it a better flavor?
Thank you
Hi Valeria, for next time, try reducing the banana extract a bit to 1/2 teaspoon (keep the vanilla extract in, too). Then, you can also add a teaspoon of cinnamon or 1/2 cinnamon 1/2 nutmeg. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi I’m using exact measurements and physically measuring my cookie cutter(4in wide x4in long) and 1/4in thick and I’m only getting 12 cookies instead of 24
Hi Brittany, exact yield can depend on the shape of the cookie cutters, too. For next time, this recipe can be easily doubled if you need more dough to work with. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I am having the same issue. Watching the video, I get half of what she gets from the measurements above. My entire yield is one of her half balls of dough that she rolls out.
Hi there, can I simply add a half recipe to this so my total amount of dough is 1 and a half? Or do I have to make the regular batch and the half batch separately? Kinda like doubling the recipe but adding a half recipe instead! I think because it’s so simple, not like a yeasted or complicated recipe, I could just do that, but I wanted to be sure.
You can absolutely 1.5x this recipe. Enjoy!
Not a good recipe I found a better one. This dough is way too crumbly I tried to bake it and the cookie fell apart easily. I’ve been baking for years now so I knew something wasn’t right. Maybe add more butter or less flour.
Hello I’m going to try these out! Does it matter if I cut the cookies out or not? And do they spread?
Hi Maria, these cookies do need to be cut out into a shape — they will spread over so slightly. If you’re looking for a more traditional drop cookie that can be made in balls and spread while baking, we recommend our drop sugar cookies (with or without sprinkles) recipe instead.
Thank you so much!
Hello! I am excited to try this recipe for the 1st time. The cookie cutters I will be using are approximately 2”x1”. Do you still recommend 1/4” thick dough or should I roll it thinner? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there, we still recommend 1/4 inch thickness regardless of the size of the cutter — you’ll just get more / fewer cookies depending on how big they are. Hope this helps!
Thanks Lexi!
Thank you so much for your reply! I will definitely try your recommendations because I love this recipe so much (and I have tried many others) that I would recut them right after baking before I used another recipe! I will update you have I try it to let you know my results
This recipe is the BEST! I do get about 1/4 to 1/2 inch spread and it isn’t consistent. Do you have this issue? I have a project coming up that needs all the cookies to be the same size, so NO spread. Am I doing something wrong or can I make an adjustment so that it doesn’t get any spread without making the cookie dry?
Hi Diane, the spread could be due to how soft the dough is when baking. One way to help is to chill the shaped cutouts before placing them in the oven. Also, be sure that they’re all the same thickness and that your butter isn’t too soft (here’s more on what room temperature butter really means). Hope this is helpful!
Hi Sally! I’ve used this recipe countless amounts of times, and it’s a big hit with all of my family and friends. The first time I used this recipe, was for a party and they made more than enough cookies, and it swept everyone off their feet. I’ve used it hundreds of times after that, because they’re so simple, yet delicious!
This recipe is delicious! If i wanted to roll the dough 3/8 of an inch thick, how many additional minutes should I add to the baking time? Thanks for your help!
Not much
Maybe 2 minutes. Depends on your oven. You could test a couple to see.
Hi, about how long does it take total to make these cookies?
About 4 hours including chilling baking and cooling.