Easy Cutout Sugar Cookies

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

the perfect sugar cookie recipe that won't spread

Prep Time2

Cook Time12

Total Time2 12

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cookies, sugar cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 121kcal

Author: Elsie Larson

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