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This easy cutout sugar cookie recipe is the best! It makes soft cookies with lightly crisp edges. The perfect sugar cookie for decorating!
Sugar cookies are such versatile cookies – there’s one for every occasion! This recipe makes amazing sugar cookies for decorating. You can also try Brown Sugar Cookies and these Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies for more ways to enjoy this classic cookie!
Decorating sugar cookies was a holiday tradition for my family growing up. My mom is not a baker but every Christmas she’d get things ready to make Christmas cookies with my brother and I. These caramel clusters were made very year, along with cutout sugar cookies. We’d actually ice the cookies with a traditional buttercream, but I decided to use royal icing this time around.
My mom actually gave me the cookie cutters we used to use a few years ago, figuring I’d get more use out of them now. I used those cookie cutters for these cookies. 🙂
I also used the same recipe we’d use – with a few modifications. The original recipe actually spread quite a bit. Not really ideal for cutout cookies.
So I did some playing around with the recipe and got them just right! I’m not going to lie, they spread juuuusssst a tad. It’s really more that they rise a bit. I considered making them a touch thicker so they didn’t spread/rise at all, but honestly I love them just the way they are. Too thick and you end up with a less than appetizing, dry cookie. The spread really isn’t much and as you continue to work with the dough and re-roll it, more flour mixes in and by the time you’re done, there’s no spread at all. The cookies hold their shape great, even when they spread a tad.
You will want to make sure to accurately measure your ingredients for these cookies. The amounts of ingredients – especially the flour – really do need to be correct to ensure your cookies turn out correctly. Too much flour and you’ll have some hard cookies. Too little and they’ll spread too much.
To help with that potential problem, I’ve included weight measurements for those who have a scale. It really is more accurate.
If you’re using a scoop, just be sure not to pack in the flour. I pour my flour into a canister and then scoop it out of there, so it isn’t densely packed but is loose.
Make the Cookie Dough
To make the dough, start by creaming the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes. You should notice the color of the mixture actually get lighter in color and it should get fluffy in texture. Then you’ll mix in the egg and vanilla, then the dry ingredients. It’s a very simple and straightforward recipe as far as the ingredients and method.
The dough will actually be quite thick, even a little crumbly at first. If it doesn’t completely come together with the mixer, use your spatula or hands to press it into a ball.
These Are No Chill Cutout Sugar Cookies
You can definitely refrigerate this cookie dough and make it a few days ahead if you want, but it isn’t required. You can start rolling our cookies as soon as it’s ready.
Shape Your Cut Out Cookies
Sprinkle a little flour onto your surface (I used our countertops). Grab some of the dough – I start with about 1/3 of the dough – and roll it out. If you find your rolling pin sticks to the dough, sprinkle a touch of flour onto it. You’ll want the dough to be 1/8 to a 1/4 inch thick after being rolled out.
Cut out your cookies, making the most of the dough and squeezing in as many cookies as you can. My cookie cutters were fairly big, so I didn’t get quite as many cookies per roll out. Remove the excess dough and lift the cookies with a lightly floured spatula, then place them on a lined cookie sheet. I like to use my silicone baking mat, but parchment paper would work well too.
Bake the Cookies
The cookies bake for 7-9 minutes. You can wait until the edges are just starting to get golden, or remove them a touch sooner. The time might vary a bit between ovens, but 8 minutes was just right for me. Well baked, but not browned. I like mine a little softer.
Once you remove the cookies from the oven, you’ll want to let them sit for 4-5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. They will be fairly soft until they firm up a bit as they cool, so it’ll be easier to move them once they’ve cooled a bit.
Decorate Your Sugar Cookies
Once the cookies are completely cool, it’s time to ice them with royal icing. It’s really not as scary as it seems, it just takes a little time and you need the right tools. I liked these cutout sugar cookies best once I had the royal icing on them. The icing softens the cookie up a bit from the moisture and results in a seriously perfect decorated sugar cookie.
In fact, I took one with me to Chicago right after I made them so that my friend Julianne from Beyond Frosting could try one. She said it was the best royal icing cookie she’s had! A big compliment. 🙂
If you’re wanting to decorate your cookies with royal icing when they’re ready, check out my post on how to make, color and pipe with royal icing. There’s even a video!
Watch How To Make Them
You might also like these cookie recipes:
Best Gingerbread Cookies (Soft and Chewy Cutouts)
Christmas Tree Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
White Chocolate Dipped Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Coconut Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
No Bake Salted Caramel Coconut Macaroons
Gingerbread Cookies with Eggnog Icing
Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
My favorite tools for making these cookies:
Silicone baking mat
Scale, for weighing ingredients
Parchment paper
Rolling pin
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: About 20 Large Cutout Cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy cutout sugar cookie recipe is the best! It makes soft cookies with lightly crisp edges. The perfect sugar cookie for decorating!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups (293g) all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Dough will be very thick. You might need to use a spatula or your hands to help it all come together.
- On a lightly floured surface and using smaller amounts of dough at a time, roll out dough to about 1/8 to a 1/4 inch. IF you roll them out too thickly, they might spread a little bit. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. See my notes about rolling out the cookie dough below.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out cookies, then transfer to cookie sheet. (If you want to be completely sure that they don’t spread even a little, put them on parchment paper and freeze them for 7-8 minutes before baking them.)
- Bake cookies 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven just before they start to brown on the edges.
- Allow cookies to cool for 4-5 minutes, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
The best way to measure the dry ingredients for this recipe to ensure your cookie dough isn’t dry is to measure them by weight. If you don’t have a scale though, be sure not to pack the flour into your measuring cup. I usually store my flour in a separate container from the bag I bought it in, then prior to measuring I use a spoon or other utensil to loosen the flour. I use a scoop to scoop out the flour, then level it with the flat side of a knife. Don’t tap the scoop to settle the flour or pack in the flour.
Rather than rolling the dough out onto a floured surface, you can also roll it out right onto parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then you don’t have to transfer them and move them around after cutting. I’ve started doing this, and also putting parchment paper over the cookie dough when I roll it out so I’m not flouring the dough several times or the rolling pin.
If you’d like to use it, here is my royal icing recipe for decorating the cookies.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 136
- Sugar: 10.1 g
- Sodium: 121.5 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.1 g
- Protein: 1.8 g
- Cholesterol: 21.5 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
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Can you freeze this dough and use a later time?
I would think it’d be fine, I just haven’t tried it to know for sure.
Just made these today and they’re probably the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made. I really appreciate you putting in the weight for the sugar and flour too. One question, how do you get them to be so smooth on top. I had a few that seemed to bubble and and get bumps after baking, but they looked fine after rolling and cutting. The only thing different from your method was that I used parchment instead of a silpat.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I’m not sure about the bubbling. It sounds like some extra air got trapped in some of the cookies. Was it a later batch after re-rolling the dough? Perhaps some air got in the dough that way?
Mine were smooth on top. And surprisingly flat. They must have raised a little but not much. But they were flat and not puffy and not rounded on the top. And perfect texture inside. I just had such a good experience my first time with this recipe yesterday!
I’m so glad you’re happy with them!
This seems like a really great recipe! I was wondering if I could double the recipe with the weight measurements for a bigger batch. Would that cause any problems?
I wouldn’t think it’d cause problems, but I haven’t done it.
I doubled the recipe, using measuring cups and not a scale, and everything came out perfectly. I use dry measuring cups for dry ingredients and do the loose flour “scoop up the flour, scrape the excess off with a flat knife” when measuring my flour, method. Everything worked out perfectly. I followed the ingredients and methods she listed as is. Rolled 1/8 to 1/4 inches and even the thinner cookies were still soft and chewy. Wonderful recipe. <3
this is wonderful ! i would like to try them but i’d to know if i may baked all evenly at max amount (enough to fit my 3 tiered rack in the oven ) do i use convection or just normal setting ? i get confuse every time on trying to get a well baked or an even bake sugar cookies.. 🙁
I’m not sure I totally understand your question. I could suggest the regular bake setting, not convection.
oh dear, im sorry for the confusion! i wanted to know if we should bake with only 1 tray in the middle at a time ? or is it safe for me to baked 3 trays at one time ? because i have tried baking before with 3 trays at 1 shot, using convection setting but it did not bake so well ;( Thus im wondering how do u normally bake your sugar cookies . 🙂
Oh I see. 🙂 Sorry! Yes, I’d recommend regular bake setting with one tray at a time. The heat should distribute more evenly that way.
wonderful! thnk you so much and i will try making them again soon 🙂
What size egg do you use? I usually only buy XL eggs. Thanks.
I always use large eggs. 🙂
Have you ever tried freezing this dough? Was thinking about making a small batch and freezing the remainder. Thoughts?
I haven’t tried it, I’m sorry.
I have made very similar doughs and they freeze well. Nigella Lawson makes a sugar cookies that’s almost the same and she encourages freezing.
Hello! I’ve made this recipe twice now, the cookies are just delicious. They definitely spread, so I wouldn’t recommend using this recipe with intricate cookie cutters (which I did the first time). But the second time I did a basic heart and flower shape for Valentine’s Day and they turned out great. One small note I would like to make; when I doubled the recipe I found it just a tad salty with 1/2 tsp of salt. So next next if I double the recipe I’ll keep the salt at 1/4 tsp. But with the icing I put on top they were still perfect. Thanks for sharing!
The recipe only calls for 1/8th of a teaspoon
Mine may taste a tad salty too as I accidentally put extra salt in it (in my defence, I forgot to check if my butter was unsalted or salted
If you use salted butter, you don’t need the salt called for in the recipe itself
Tried your recipes this weekend for the Super Bowl. Cookies turned out great. One batch with salted butter and no added salt and one batch with unsalted butter. Both excellent! What I really enjoyed was that the cookies didn’t spread!!
Great cookies! I made these tonight for a decorating party tomorrow and easily got 6 dozen 2-2.5″ cookies. I loved that I didn’t need to chill them and they taste wonderful!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you liked them!
Fabulous recipe! Thanks so much! I made the icing too and love it. Think I used a little too much water so will use a little less next time but I’m so pleased to have a reliable recipe and look forward to trying your other recipes 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Hi..I want to thank you for sharing your recipie..I am so not a cookie baker..but your way was soooo simple..my only challenge now is the decorating piece. Thanks again!
Awesome! I’m so glad you are happy with them!
How thick did you roll your cookies?
Between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch.
Do you really add 1-1/2 tsp baking powder? Does that much make the cookies spread or puff up? I’m new to your site but enjoying reading. Thanks for the recipes and baking tips.
Yes, I do. It doesn’t contribute to spreading, but will help them puff up just a bit.
Hi Lindsey, I wanted to know what recipe you used for icing the cookies?
Hi Claudia, here is the recipe and a tutorial for the icing.
Thank you so much!!! This was the most easiest cookie ever!!!! ????????????????
I’ve tried a few different sugar cookie recipes this month…this is by far the easiest/quickest…my favorite part? No dough chilling! That always keeps me from making cutout sugar cookies, and now I have a go-to recipe! Soft, yummy and sturdy, so great for decorating! Thanks for sharing, and Merry Christmas!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you are happy with them! Merry Christmas!
What kind of flour? Would whole wheat work? Thanks!
It’s all purpose flour. I haven’t tried whole wheat flour, but am quite certain it would not work in this recipe.
Do you use self-rising or all-purpose flour?
all purpose
Just made these for a birthday party yesterday. They were perfect. Followed the recipe, even learned from that picture in article about what that attachment for my kitchenaid mixer was used for. They rolled out easily. Didn’t raise when baked- they stayed pretty close to what I rolled out, and then didn’t burn or crisp. I cooked mine 7 min and pulled them out and let cool. They are very vanilla-ey in a goid way. And soft and chewy. Everyone loved them at the party and the next day, my sister had taken a few plain ones home without icing, said, “Those sugar cookies were perfect Jade.” I agree. I think it’s in the methodology because I have made other sugar cookies many years in a row but never creamed the butter and sugar for 4 minutes until this one. But there must be science happening because these were perfect. <3 Also, everyone in my family loves your vanilla cake recipe that I’ve been making now for birthday parties and I just made the mini cheesecakes and they turned out great too! And now these sugar cookies! I can’t wait to try other recipes on this site!
Awesome! And I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed some of the other recipes as well!