A simple mixture of butter, sugar, and flour with a few additions, these sugar cookies bake up perfectly every time. They hold their shape, are the perfect texture, and have a delicious buttery vanilla taste.
Simple ingredients, a soft and chewy texture, and great flavor make this the best sugar cookie recipe.
I skip the parchment paper or silicone mat for this recipe. I find they hold their shape best on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Sugar cookies look best when they are baked just until very lightly browned on the edges.
Don’t skip chilling the sugar cookie dough. This allows for the butter to firm up a bit which will keep the cookies from spreading too much and looking flat. Chilling helps them to keep their shape.
Sugar cookies are one of the most popular cookie recipes for decorating. Feel free to have fun with cookie cutters, stamped rolling pins or simply cut them into circles.
To make Christmas sugar cookies, or any time of year cut-out cookies, ensure they’re completely cooled on a wire rack before decorating (or the icing will melt).
You can decorate with soft frostings like buttercream and embellishments, but our favorite is to use a simple sugar cookie icing that finishes shiny and firm.
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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{3 Ingredient} Easy Sugar Cookies
Quick and easy sugar cookies made with only 3 pantry ingredients and no egg! So simple and foolproof, you can whip up this sugar cookie recipe anytime. Sweet, buttery, and delicious!
Prep: 10min
Total: 40min
Yield: 34
Serving Size: 1 serving
Nutrition Facts: calories 90 kcal, Carbohydrate 10 g, Protein 1 g, Fat 5 g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 14 mg, Sodium 1 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 4 g, servingSize 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (, room temperature)
- 2/3 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (, divided)
- 2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (, spooned and leveled)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla ((optional, but recommended))
- rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils ((optional, but recommended))
Instruction:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat together butter and 2/3 cup sugar until combined. (It will be a little gritty – that’s ok.)
- Add in flour and blend well (then blend in the vanilla, if using.)
- Using a cookie scoop, roll the dough into 1-inch balls.
- Gently roll the balls in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar until lightly coated; transfer to the baking sheets 2 inches apart.
- With the bottom of a measuring cup or glass, press down on the balls to flatten. Sprinkle with some nonpareils (if using) and lightly press down again just so they stick. (The dough should end up being between an 1/8-1/4 inch thick, so 3/16 to be exact. They will look pretty small in circumference, but they will spread a bit to a normal size cookie.)
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until just slightly golden around the edges and on the bottom.
- Remove form the oven and let rest on the baking sheets for at least 10-15 minutes (don’t skip this step!) Then eat or transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
- TROUBLESHOOTING: see note below
Easy Sugar Cookies
Nothing says year-round holiday fun like baking easy sugar cookies and decorating them with family and friends.
Prep: 15min
Total: 264min
Yield: 48
Serving Size: 1 serving
Nutrition Facts: calories 80 kcal, Carbohydrate 10 g, Fat 4 g, Saturated Fat 2 g, Cholesterol 13 mg, Sodium 47 mg, Sugar 4 g, servingSize 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 3 cups all purpose flour (*see note)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instruction:
- Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
- Place butter and sugar in a bowl and mix with a handmixer (or stand mixer) on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add the flour mixture, a little bit at a time, with the mixer on low until the flour is incorporated. Continue mixing until the dough holds together, up to 5 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. While the oven is preheating, remove the dough from the fridge (if it has been in the fridge overnight, it may need to sit out 15 minutes before rolling).
- Sprinkle the surface with a light dusting of powdered sugar or flour to keep the dough from sticking. With a rolling pin, roll the dough to ¼” thickness (you don’t want it to be too thin) and cut shapes with cookie cutters.
- Place the sugar cookies 1-inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or just until cookies begin to brown on the edges.
- Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, transfer to a cooling rack, and cool completely before decorating.
- Once cooled, decorate with sugar cookie icing.
Easy Sugar Cookies & Sugar Cookie Frosting
My easy sugar cookie recipe yields tasty cookies that don’t spread! I also include instructions for a pretty and foolproof sugar cookie frosting. Recipe may be doubled!
Prep: 60min
Total: 190min
Yield: 40
Serving Size: 1 cookie (approximate, this will vary depending on size of your cookie cutters)
Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 cookie (approximate, this will vary depending on size of your cookie cutters), calories 130 kcal, Carbohydrate 21 g, Protein 1 g, Fat 5 g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 18 mg, Sodium 48 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 15 g
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened (226g))
- 1 cup granulated sugar ((200g))
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract ((see note))
- 1 large egg
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour ((Plain flour) (315g) )
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted ((375g) (weigh before sifting))
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk ((I use whole milk, but any kind will work))
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup ((see note))
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring (optional)
- Additional candies and sprinkles for decorating (optional)
Instruction:
- Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before decorating.
- Allow frosting to harden before enjoying, stacking, or storing (this took several hours for me and may vary for you depending on the consistency of your frosting).
Easy No Spread Sugar Cookies
FAQ
What are the ingredients for sugar cookies?
What’s the difference between a cookie and a sugar cookie?
- 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and more if needed.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder.
- ½ teaspoon salt.
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened.
- 2 cups sugar.
- 2 large eggs.
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.
- Royal Icing for Holiday Sugar Cookies.
How to make Martha Stewart’s sugar cookies?
Tough – For rolled cookies, your dough can become “tough” by adding too much flour to your pin or counter before rolling it out. To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough.
What makes sugar cookies too hard?
