These easy cutout sugar cookies are soft, thick and they hold their shape very well. I like my sugar cookies to have square edges so they look professional for decorating.
Making decorated sugar cookies is one of my favorite holiday memories as a child and a core memory I want to give my children.
Learning to make these bakery-style sugar cookies is a bit of a commitment, but once you know the basics, you’ll be able to make beautiful cookies for any holiday or party—year after year. Simply put, they are worth the effort!
Related: My easy royal icing recipe.
Perfect Sugar Cookie Dough:
I tested several recipes to find a dough that keeps its shape without freezing the cutout cookies. This saves a lot of time and makes the process more seamless. This dough is easy to work with and holds its shape when baked.
After you mix the dough ingredients, you will need to chill to dough for at least one hour (and as long as overnight). This recipe is best done in three separate phases:
- Making the dough is first. Be sure to make a double batch if you want to make a lot of cookies.
- The second phase is cutting out and baking all the cookies.
- The third phase is icing.
You can easily split these steps into different days if that works best for your schedule. The icing part is the most nostalgic (and cutest part) if you want to prep the first two parts and only include your children in the “fun part.”
Once you have baked your cookies, they will still taste amazing for up to a week. These cookies last a long time, so that is another reason I sometimes do the baking and icing on separate days.
How To Make Sugar Cookie Dough:
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) in a bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together your butter and sugar. It is not necessary to warm the butter—straight from the fridge works very well. Next, add the egg and vanilla extract.
- Slowly mix in the flour.
- The dough should not be sticky, so if if it is, add a bit more flour. If your dough is not sticky, you will not need any additional flour when rolling and cutting, so this is important.
- Divide your dough into 2-3 flat round discs (like a slightly flattened ball) and chill in a covered bowl for a minimum of one hour, up to 24 hours.
How To Roll and Cut Cookie Dough:
- I roll my dough on a piece of parchment paper. There is no flour needed on the counter to roll the cookie dough (I find this creates a better finished cookie). If your rolling pin is sticking at all, add a second piece of parchment over the dough and roll on top of it. I usually do not find that necessary.
- The best sugar cookies are thick. I like my cookies to be ¼” to ½” thick. The thicker your cookie is, the longer it will stay soft. Make sure all the cookies on your sheet are at the same thickness for the best results.
- Cut out shapes. Choose your favorite cookie cutters. I collect holiday cookie cutters, basic shapes and alphabet cookie cutters.
- This recipe doesn’t require freezing the dough before baking, but if your dough ended up sitting out a long time (if if feels very soft to the touch), you may still want to pop the entire baking sheet into the freezer for 7-10 minutes before baking.
How To Bake Cookies:
- If you don’t want to ice your cookies, you can add sprinkles before baking.
- Bake your cookies at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. I like to bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The edges should not be brown.
- After you pull the cookies from the oven, let them cool on the baking sheet 3-5 minutes before transferring with a thin metal spatula. If you are doing cookies with breakable parts (for example, the alphabet), let them cool on the sheet completely before transferring. The highest risk of breaking your cookies comes from transferring them when they are still very hot.
- If your family is anything like mine, make lots of extra cookies!
How To Prevent Spreading + Get the Perfect Texture:
-Most importantly, don’t let your chilled dough get warm while rolling and cutting.
-You can reroll your scraps one time, but you will need to chill the dough again if you you can’t pick up a cut shape and transfer to the pan without misshaping. Keep any chilled dough you are not currently rolling in the fridge until you need it.
-If your sugar cookies have brown edges, they are overcooked and will become very crispy. Some people enjoy very crispy cookies, but that’s not how this recipe is intended to be.
-Don’t roll your cookies too thin. If your cut shapes are difficult to transfer by hand, they may be too thin. ¼” is the thinnest I recommend. Making them thicker makes them softer, more delicious and last longer.
Learn how to make royal icing in our recipe post. Royal icing is beautiful, fun to decorate with, and extremely versatile. You will open up a whole new universe of baking just by learning these two easy recipes!
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Get the Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup butter (salted)
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) in a bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together your butter and sugar. It is not necessary to warm the butter—straight from the fridge works very well. Next, add the egg and vanilla extract.
- Slowly mix in the flour.
- The dough should not be sticky, so if if it is add a bit more flour. If your dough is not sticky, you will not need any additional flour when rolling and cutting, so this is important.
- Divide your dough into 2-3 flat round discs (like a slightly flattened ball) and chill in a covered bowl for a minimum of one hour, up to 24 hours.
- Roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper. There is no flour needed on the counter to roll the cookie dough (I find this creates a better finished cookie). If your rolling pin is sticking at all, add a second piece of parchment over the dough and roll on top of it.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. The best sugar cookies are thick. I like my cookies to be ¼" to ½” thick. Make sure all the cookies on your sheet are at the same thickness for the best results.
- Bake your cookies at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. I like to bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The edges should not be brown.
- After you pull the cookies from the oven, let them cool on the baking sheet 3-5 minutes before transferring with a thin metal spatula. If you are doing cookies with breakable parts (for example, the alphabet), let them cool on the sheet completely before transferring. The highest risk of breaking your cookies comes from transferring them when they are still very hot.
- Once cooled you can decorate with royal icing.
Notes
- This recipe doesn’t require freezing the dough before baking, but if your dough ended up sitting out a long time (if if feels very soft to the touch), you may still want to pop the entire baking sheet into the freezer for 7-10 minutes before baking.
- You can reroll your scraps one time, but you will need to chill the dough again if you can’t pick up a cut shape and transfer to the pan without misshaping. Keep any chilled dough you are not currently rolling in the fridge until you need it.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I’m excited to try these. Would you make a post with all the necessary cookie decorating tools? I want to learn but I’m overwhelmed by what tools are needed. I’d say I’m a very experienced baker, so my kitchen is well stocked with the normal baking things.