These are my favorite sugar cookies! This recipe makes a simple, versatile vanilla sugar cookie; the dough is easy to roll and to work with and doesn’t spread when baking, so your cookies will always have sharp, defined edges! You can decorate these cookies with sanding sugar, or you can use my recipe below for a simple (and tasty!) pipeable vanilla sugar cookie frosting.
This is just a friendly reminder that Christmas is officially less than one month away, so if you aren’t freaking out yet about not having all of your Christmas shopping done, or even started, now is the time to start freaking out.
Wait. Breathe. Have a (sugar) cookie.
I’m trying not to freak out, but I have 1 husband and 7 family members (plus two birthdays before Christmas) that I need to buy for just on my side. They’re also aggressively hounding me to know what I want for Christmas, and my wish list currently has exactly two items: This gorgeously colored KitchenAid that I definitely don’t need because I already have one in an equally gorgeous color (affiliate), and like 6 of those robot vacuum cleaners (affiliate) (because three dogs!)… Affordable options for my 12 year old sister, right? If you have any baking must-haves that I need on my list, send them my way!
While my gift buying situation is not at all under control, I at least have the Christmas cookie situation locked down with this easy sugar cookie recipe. I started working on this recipe a long, long time ago, but made myself wait until after Thanksgiving to finally share it.
These are easy cut-out vanilla sugar cookies and are destined to be your future cookie platter staple. Sugar cookie dough always shocks me with its simplicity, it only calls for a few ingredients and no fancy techniques.
When you first make your dough, it will be a bit sticky and tough to manage so you are going to need to chill it before you can roll it out. I divide my dough into about two equal parts, wrap each in cling wrap and form it into a disk, then chill for 2-3 hours (though you can certainly chill it overnight, or even make it several days in advance).
I know, I know, chilling is a pain. I played with some no-chilling-required recipes, though, and this recipe that required chilling beat out all of my no-chill sugar cookie recipe versions, so trust me when I tell you that the wait is worth it! It also makes your dough very easy to manage when it comes time to roll it out, simple and frustration-free.
For the frosting for these cookies, I did not use a royal icing, which I know is popular. Truthfully, I don’t really love the taste of royal frosting, and I know many of you don’t keep meringue powder in your cabinets or feel comfortable making egg white frosting.
Instead, I used the same frosting that I used for my Galaxy Cookies, it’s easy to make, easy to pipe, and dries hard for stackable cookies. This recipe uses light corn syrup (which is not the same as high fructose corn syrup!) for a nice shiny frosting.
I frosted my cookies and then topped a few of them off with colored sugars, but if you want to skip the frosting you can sprinkle your cut-outs with sanding sugar just before baking. This is the way my mom always makes her sugar cookies, they still taste delicious!
Tips for making perfect sugar cookies:
- When cutting out your sugar cookies, make sure to keep your cuts as close together to get as many cookies out of your dough as possible. You will want to re-roll any scraps so that you use all of your dough, but with each re-roll you’re adding more flour into the dough, so you want to get as much as possible out of that first roll.
- Bake cookies that are about the same size together. Otherwise the small ones will burn and the large ones won’t finish baking.
- For thinner, crispier sugar cookies: Roll cookie dough thinner (about 1/8″) and look for the edges of the cookies to be turning golden brown to know that they are done.
- For thicker, softer sugar cookies: Roll dough to about 1/4″, and watch for cookies to be just beginning to turn lightly golden around the edges. Let them cool completely on the cookie rack as they may break if you try to move them while they’re still warm.
- When making the frosting: It’s hard to mess this one up, because if you make it too thin, just add more powdered sugar, and if it’s still too thick, just add more milk!
Alright, that’s how you make perfect, easy Sugar Cookies from scratch. Hopefully you guys love cookies as much as I do because I have so many more coming up this month that will be great for your holiday cookie platters (especially excited to share my gingerbread cookie recipe — coming soon!).
Enjoy!!
If you like my sugar cookies, make sure to try out my chocolate chip cookies!
Easy Sugar Cookies & Sugar Cookie Frosting
This is a great and easy recipe for Sugar Cookies and a sugar cookie frosting.
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract**
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (315g)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Sugar Cookie Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (375g)
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring optional
- Additional candies and sprinkles for decorating optional
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
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Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-combined.
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Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.
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In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
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Gradually add dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.
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Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer approximately half of the dough onto the wrap (dough will be quite sticky at this point, that's OK!).
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Cover with clear wrap and mold into a disk. Repeat with remaining cookie dough in another piece of cling wrap. Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for at least 2-3 hours3
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Once dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Generously dust a clean surface with flour and deposit one chilled cookie dough disk onto the surface. Lightly flour the dough and roll out to 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies). Continue to add flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn't stick.
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Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet.4
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Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-10 minutes5, or until edges just begin to turn lightly golden brown.
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Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before moving and frosting.
Sugar Cookie Frosting
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Combine sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. If frosting is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached.
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If coloring the frosting, divide into bowls and color as desired at this point.
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Transfer frosting to a piping bag with a piping tip (I used Wilton 5), or place in a Ziploc bag and snip a small piece of the corner off (not as neat, but this will still work, just take care that the frosting isn’t so thick that it breaks open the seam of the bag when you are squeezing).
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Pipe frosting on cookies and decorate with decorative candies, if desired.
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Allow frosting to harden before enjoying (this took several hours for me and may vary for you depending on the consistency of your frosting)
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Keep uneaten cookies sealed in an airtight container at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
*Yield varies greatly depending both on how thick you roll the dough and the size of the cookie cutters that you use. This recipe can be doubled.
**You may also cut the vanilla extract down to 3/4 teaspoon and add 1/4-1/2 teaspoons of either almond or lemon extract (or just about any other extract you'd like!)
(3) You may chill this dough longer, overnight or even up to several days. If the dough is too firm to roll out and starts to crack, let it rest at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before continuing to roll.
(4) If you don't intend to frost your cookies, then you can just sprinkle them with sanding sugar for decoration at this point.
(5) My cookie cutters were about 3" in length, if you're using smaller cookie cutters you will need to bake for less time, keep an eye on the edges of your cookies to know when they are done.
I like to use Americolor gel food colorings. This kit (affiliate) includes the "Red Red" and "Leaf Green" colors that I used
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase anything through these links I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please view the disclosure policy for more information.
I filmed myself making these cookies LIVE on my Facebook page 11/30. Here is the re-play!
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Libby S says
Your cookie recipe was amazing! We made these when my nephew and his girlfriend came to visit and decorated them one night and they were so soft! They were so good even days after. Soft and tasted really good! Thank you for sharing! Cheers!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for telling me how they turned out for you, Libby!! 🙂
Mary says
Frequent baker but never made sugar cookies before—very happy with this recipe! Quick and easy, handles well, no spreading, and good crumb and flavor. Used golden syrup instead of corn syrup because that’s what we had on hand, and result was good. Icing easy to apply (I piped and my 3-yr-old used a spoon) and dried well.
Sam says
So glad you enjoyed it, thank you for coming back and letting me know how they turned out, Mary!
D says
Hi! What’s golden syrup? Like pancake syrup?
Mary says
It’s a product from the UK, used in flapjacks (like oat bars, not pancakes). Not actually sure what it’s made of.
Joanny Cunningham says
these made wonderful Valentine cookies. I just added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough.
Joanny Cunningham says
these made wonderful Valentine cookies. I just added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough. I have pictures but can’t figure out how to download them here.
Sam says
I love the addition of cinnamon! I wish I had a way for people to upload pictures here but unfortunately I don’t. I have a “Baker’s Club” on Facebook where I encourage people to share pictures of their baked goods, if you’re on Facebook I’d love it if you’d join and share there! Here is the link: Sugar Spun Run Baker’s Club
Hannah says
Hello I’m hoping to try them out:-)
I wanted to use a stamp on the icing (saying happy birthday) would this work as it starts to harden or would you recommend writing it on? (Not so great at this)
Hannah says
Also how long before can you make them?? Thankyouuuu
Sam says
I’ve made the dough several days in advance (I’d say up to a week would be fine) and then just kept it refrigerated wrapped tightly in cling wrap. You will need to let the dough sit at room temperature for a bit (like 15-25 minutes) before you’ll be able to roll it out easily/without cracking but you can definitely make it in advance 🙂
Sam says
Hi Hannah! I haven’t used a stamp before but I think that it would probably work if you let the icing harden completely and then lightly stamped the frosting.
Lacie says
would these freeze well? wanting to make them ahead of time and then apply the icing the day before!
Sam says
I haven’t frozen them before so I’m not certain, hoping someone else has tried and will chime in!
Susan says
Definitely! They freeze well.
Ashley says
Hello! I made these cookies a few days ago and I’m thinking i didn’t do something right. After I took it out of the fridge it was still really sticky. Way too sticky for cookies cutters. I know the measurements were right. Could it be maybe i didn’t flatten it out enough before I put it in the fridge?
Sam says
Hmm I don’t think that flattening it would be the issue, usually the dough is pretty dry for me… adding more flour to the dough as you roll it should fix the problem but it’s hard to be sure why it came out sticky for you
Jennifer says
About how long do these cookies last after baking and icing? Would I be able to make and ice them a week in advance and freeze them or keep them in an airtight container?
Mary says
I just made the dough.. its really buttery I am hoping that means I did my portions right?
Arturo Encinas says
Very happy with this sugar cookie/icing recipe!
One if the best I’ve found so far , Thanks !
Kenny G says
does a hard boiled egg work?
Sam says
I’m afraid not
Nicole says
Just made these for a special day tomorrow and it’s great! Will use this recipe the rest of my life for sugar cookies:) thank you! 💙💚💛💜
Sam says
I’m so glad to hear that you loved the recipe, Nicole! Thank you so much for commenting!! <3
Jen R says
Since there is milk in the frosting, do iced cookies need to be refrigerated right away? I made the cookies and iced 2 days before the party I need them for. TIA!
Sam says
Nope, no need to refrigerate! They’ll be fine at room temperature thanks to all of the sugar! 🙂
Rachel says
In Australia, so think measurements of ingredients maybe slightly different. First batch was possibly a bit dry and had to let warm up again after chilling. Second batch used standard butter package size here of 250g which seemed better. Having said that, they seem to have turned out just fine in taste test. They are for a party in a few days time. This was the best explained recipe I found. Will use again.
Trisha says
I love baking, but this was my first time making sugar cookies and these turned out so well! Held the shape perfectly and tasted delicious too. Thanks for the recipe. I’ll be using this one again and again!
Sam says
I am so happy to hear that they were such a hit for you, Trisha!! Thank you for commenting! 🙂