Update: Since posting this recipe years ago, I since tweaked the recipe and reposted a new, more comprehensive tutorial here. If you're looking for a dough that holds it shape a bit more, I recommend checking that one out!
Today, I'm sharing my family's favorite cut out sugar cookies. A soft, buttery, sugar cookie dough that is great for cut-out sugar cookies. I've actually posted this sugar cookie base recipe a time or two before with various decoration ideas, but because it really deserves a little more attention, I'm featuring it again in a little different way.
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So what makes this such a great cut out sugar cookie recipe?
Well, there are two factors that I think make cut out cookies "work." The first thing is the dough. You need a dough that isn't going to break, crumble, or stick while rolling & cutting. I've made plenty of cut out cookies in my day that turn into big blobs when they're intended to be Christmas trees.
They stick to the counter because the dough isn't sturdy enough, and just like that, your five-pointed stars turn into two-pointed cat ears. No bueno. This sugar cookie recipe cuts out perfectly so that you can ensure those gingerbread men don't lose their arms this holiday season.
Update: Since posting this recipe, I have a new cut out sugar cookie recipe that I like. (I'm keeping this one on the site because it's still great & a lot of people have tried and love it.)
- This Recipe: All powdered sugar, more butter = a buttery, slightly flakey texture.
- New Recipe: Granulated Sugar, Less Butter = a thicker, softer, more moist texture (better for more intricate shapes).
Be sure to check out my Christmas Cookie Frosting Guide for my favorite recipe, food coloring tips, and piping tips! And for EASY decorating ideas, check out my 5 EASY Christmas Cookies for Kids!
The dough is made with powdered sugar, which makes it super soft and a complete cookie-dough-eating-worthy-snack. I typically don't promote eating raw cookie dough (on public forums), but in this case, I don't think I hold back from telling you to try it.
It's crazy soft, has a hint of almond, and is just all-around addicting. If you don't actually have any left to make cookies with, I won't judge.
Rolling It the Perfect Thickness
The second thing that makes the perfect sugar cookie is how thick you roll out the dough (check out my guide on how to roll the perfect sugar cookie). If you roll it too thin, you're going to have a crunchy cookie that breaks easier when cutting them out. Roll them too thick and you're going to have trouble getting the cookie to bake evenly. My ideal thickness is ½” thick.
A few months ago, I came across The Cookie Thing, which is a simple tool for rolling out doughs to the perfect thickness. It comes with four sets of boards in different widths, letting you decide how thick or thin you want the dough. It's been sitting in my craft corner for a few months now and I was eager to try it out for holiday sugar cookie season.
I also have the Joseph & Joseph adjustable rolling pin and use it on the thickest ring (the purple one).
I'm more excited to bring this nifty tool home in a few weeks because it will relieve me of some of my cookie-rolling duties. Let's just say that some people in my house haven't quite mastered the perfect sugar cookie thickness, which results in crunchy cookies. With The Cookie Thing, all the guessing is over and the fam can finally stop asking me if they rolled the cookies thick enough.
You'd swear I was Martha Stewart with the demand of questions during the annual holiday baking weekend. Heck, the family might need this more than ever, because after 30 days of cookies, I may just take the year off and take a weekend-long nap instead of participating in our annual Christmas baking day.
I rolled the dough using the ⅜" thick boards, cut them out, and baked them on a parchment-covered baking sheet for 8 minutes. Depending on the size you cut them out, you may need to add or subtract a minute or two from the baking time. The smaller cookies are usually done in 8 minutes, while the larger ones are closer to 9 or 10.
The trick with these cookies is to take them out when you see a tiny, tiny bit of browning around the edges. The cookies may look underdone after 8 minutes, but they will continue to bake on the hot pan outside of the oven. This allows them to be fully baked on the inside, while still having a soft outside.
My Favorite Frosting Recipes
After cooling, these are ready to frost and decorate with your favorite frosting (I like using my sugar cookie buttercream for non-fancy decorated cookies or my easy sugar cookie icing for a smoother finish). Pop them on your favorite holiday plate or use these free printables for a fun holiday decorating idea to help gift the perfect DIY cookie tray.
Tip: For more royal icing or piping ideas, check out my guide on 4 sugar cookie icing without corn syrup.
How to Make The Perfect (Soft) Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (i.e. 2 sticks) softened (*Read Tips below)
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg medium sized
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda *See note below
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 recipe sugar cookie frosting
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the unsalted butter (1 cup, i.e. 2 sticks) and powdered sugar (1 ½ cups) together with an electric mixer.
- Add the egg (1 large), vanilla extract (1 teaspoon), almond extract (½ teaspoon), and baking soda (1 teaspoon) and continue to stir on medium speed. Once incorporated, turn the mixer down to low speed and add the all-purpose flour in one cup portions (2 ½ cups total).
- When the flour disappears, turn off the mixer and transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough until it forms a solid ball. If dough is sticky, add additional flour while kneading (do not be afraid to add ¼-1/2 cup more flour while kneading if sticky).
- Next, on a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to ⅜ to ½ inch thickness. The thinner you go, the faster they will bake & the crispier they will be. I like them to be thick and soft, so I keep them around ⅜ inch thick and use a 2.5 inch circle cookie cutter or wine glass rim to cut them out.
- As you are cutting them out, transfer them to a parchment paper covered cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them (to allow them to spread). Cover and refrigerate cut out cookie dough for 1-2 hours. (For more intricate cut out shapes, I highly recommend this refrigeration step. For regular circle cookies, refrigerating is not as important, but will result in a cookie that does not spread as much. For intricate shapes, I cut out the cookie shapes first and then refrigerate the entire trays. This helps so you do not have to work with a cold chunk of dough.)
- Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. Do not worry if they look underbaked, as they will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after it comes out of the oven.
- Cool and frost with a vanilla icing of your choice. Have fun with colors & decorations to make these match any occasion.
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Notes
Nutrition
Do you have a go-to sugar cookie recipe that you stick with every year? Since doing 30 Days of Cookies, I have a few other ones that would foot the bill, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to convince the family to branch out from this one. But I guess now that they can make these themselves with the new rolling pin gadget, I may just let them do all the sugar cookie dirty work while I go take a two-day nap under my heater blanket. Hibernation season has officially begun.
Need a easy homemade cream cheese buttercream recipe? Check out my favorite Sugar Cookie Buttercream recipe.
Or want a smoother finish? Try out my Easy Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe.
Need some fun sugar cookie decorating ideas?
Easy Reindeer Sugar Cookies
Jenna says
Is the almond extract necessary?
Melissa says
Hi Jenna! The almond extract is not necessary, but does add a nice flavor that sets these apart from other sugar cookies (in my opinion).
Lisa says
Yes, this really IS the perfect sugar cookie recipe! Thank you! The dough was amazing to work with. I will be making these all year long. :)
Lisa says
Forgot to say that I did chill the dough for three hours...again, perfection!
Sierra says
Hiya! Your recipe sounds delicious and I'm planning to try it out today! I haven't personally ever made cut out sugar cookies before so I'm hoping they turn out! Will be making a different kind of frosting though as the royal frosting doesn't look that yummy and isn't as traditional.
Jenie says
I have been searching for YEARS for the perfect sugar cookie and I believe I have found it!! Thank you for sharing!!
Terri says
P.S. Doubled the recipe; no problemo. Also, make sure you leave plenty of room on the cookie sheets because these puppies DO spread. And that's a good thing, IMHO! :-)
Terri says
THANK YOU for sharing this recipe! I was almost in tears last night after a frustrating day having my 'old' recipe's dough stick. And stick some more, and stick again. I am not a novice baker, so tried flour, chilling, voodoo charms (just kidding) and finally gave up completely and tossed the dough in the trash. I saw your adorable pic on Pinterest, and thought I would try it. WOW! I did chill it overnight, and today: PERFECTION! Followed your recipe to the letter, got it out of the fridge, and it rolled like a dream. Just the tiniest amount of flour on the pin... Did I mention it is PERFECTION?! Anyway, my new go-to sugar cookie recipe. It even passed my 17 year old son's 'sniff' test, and he was skeptical when he saw me get out the almond extract. :-) Highly recommended, and thanks again! You rock!
Kristina says
I also had trouble with this recipe. After reading comments I am upset cause no one else had this issue. I followed the recipe to a T but instead of forming dough, all I have is a giant sticky blob. Is there a certain amount of time it takes to knead to form dough? I added more flour, but do not want to add too much and have them taste floury.
Melissa says
It sounds like you need to add more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. The size of the eggs you used & how soft your butter is can make the dough require more flour. Put the dough on a floured surface and add 2-3 tablespoons of flour at a time (while kneading) under the dough is no longer sticky. I've added 1/4 - 1/2 cups more of flour while kneading the dough at times, depending on how dry the air is and how large the eggs were.
Jen says
I don't know what I did wrong but this recipe did not work at all for me. It never would make a real dough and was extremely crumbly and wouldn't roll out and hold it's shape. I tried adding more butter thinking maybe it was just too dry or had too much flour but it didn't help. When I finally got something I could put in the oven I cooked it 3 times longer than the recipe said and it still was just a mushy shape. It's hard to explain but even though the edges browned it still wasn't set - it stayed mushy. :(. I followed the recipe as exact as I can tell....so what in the world happened? Cause my end product can't be called a cookie.
Melissa says
Hi Jen! Without me being there, it's hard to say what happened but my first guesses would be either your butter was not softened (too cold) or you didn't use the correct amount of butter. Did you use 2 sticks of butter (1 cup) like it called for? Was your flour fresh and did you measure the flour correctly (level off the top with a knife before pouring into bowl)?
I've made these cookies dozens of times without the problems you are mentioning (just made them a few hours ago!), so I'm also curious what may have gone wrong for you!
Izzi says
Never thought about using powdered sugar instead of regular granulated sugar...can't wait to try it! Thanks for the recipe..kids are going to have a lot of fun Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa!!
karime says
Hi! can I store the cookies for 3 days without freezing them? with aluminum foil inside a plastic container?
Melissa says
That should be just fine! We have stored them for up to a week. After 3-4 days, they aren't as soft but are still tasty!
Patty G. says
The recipe does not say whether you still use the electric mixer when you start to add the flour. I read all the comments and saw that in one of your comments you implied that you are still using the mixer when obtaining the final dough. Just a suggestion to add that into the instructions for overly detailed people like me. lol I can't wait to make these in a couple days. My husband asked if I could make softer Christmas cookies this year. He is going to be happily surprised. Also, I am not heavily experienced using parchment paper. The couple times I did it also had you butter the pan first and butter the parchment paper. You say just line the cookie sheet with the parchment paper alone, correct? Thanks so much!
Melissa says
Hi Patty - thanks for the feedback! Yes, I still use the electric mixer (on the lowest speed) when adding in the flour. For the parchment paper, I don't personally butter or grease the pan first. I just lay the parchment down and place the cut-out cookies right on top. Hopefully this helps! Be sure to report back to let me know how you like them!
Joni Hafner says
HI!
I can't wait to try these soft cut out sugar cookies.... I have to ask though, do you
personally use royal icing? I've never tried it... I have a love for cream cheese icing.... but I know Royal icing holds it shape and is better for shipping etc.
I always imagine the harder than a rock icing found on cookies shrink rapped at the checkout counters of restaurants... ugh
Can't wait to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Melissa says
Hi Joni! I've used royal icing a few times, but I actually prefer using cream cheese frosting or canned (gasp!). We like the flavor of these best, although you're right in the fact that they don't hold up as well for shipping. I'd much rather have taste over presentation, so I usually stick with canned/cream cheese over royal icing (which doesn't really have much taste to me!).
Stella says
Hi, Melissa! Thanks for sharing this recipe...I can't wait to try it! I'm not a big fan of "plain" sugar cookies so think that I'll love the addition of almond extract in your recipe and am thinking of trying the addition of nutmeg as one of your commenters suggested. If they turn out well for me, I imagine that I'll end up trying the lemon zest/juice substitution for a change of pace as well. My question...after freezing the baked cookies, how long does thawing take before you can frost them? Thanks in advance and hope that you & your family have a wonderful & blessed holiday season! :)
Melissa says
Can't wait to hear how you like them! The almond truly makes them irresistible - not to mention a dangerous munching dough ;) The cookies usually thaw out rather quickly after freezing (I'd say an hour or so), as long as you have them layered in parchment so they don't stick together! We sometimes freeze them after icing too (when we just do a simple frosting) and they're also really good half-frozen. But that might just be me and my weird love for half frozen baked goods, haha!
AJ says
I have now baked these five times, they are simply the easiest cookies ever and always come out amazing! I have a bunch of lemons so I have been omitting the almond and putting in the zest of one lemon and about a tablespoon of juice. Needless to say I am getting rave reviews. I am NOT a baker - if I can make these anyone can!!!
Melissa says
Thanks so much for sharing, AJ! Glad you love them as much as we do. I'm totally going to try that lemon switch out this year - sounds fabulous!
Jodie says
These are the best sugar cookies I have ever made! I have tried a few different recipes and last year was a disaster, the one I tried was to soft so the cookies just lost there shape when baked, but these were amazing the perfect consistency and they taste delicious (my husband loved them). Thanks for the recipe :)
Kristen says
Excellent recipe! Easy to follow for a first time sugar cookie baker and they came out great! Thanks for sharing!