Cut-out Sugar Cookies are THE cookie of winter! This Sugar Cookie Recipe is not only award-winning, but it is also the EASIEST you will ever use. Who doesn’t love baking and decorating these fabulous cookies with friends and family? No doubt, this is my favorite Christmas sugar cookie recipe of all time. It’s just plain delicious. If you love sugar cookies, I also have sugar cookie fudge you will love! (Want more Christmas Cookies? I’ve got you covered!)
Sugar Cookie Recipe
When you pick a sugar cookie recipe for your decorating, it’s important to find a recipe that not only holds up well when baked but that tastes great. My spritz cookies and butter cookies are also wonderful options when it comes to decorating cookies.
Sugar Cookie Christmas Wreath Recipe
This Sugar Cookie Recipe:
- Does not need to be refrigerated.
- Can re-roll dough with no issues.
- Creates sharp cut-outs that hold their shape.
It is practically a magic sugar cookie!
Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Icing
And not to be ignored, the best glaze icing recipe you will ever find paired with a sugar cookie. This recipe works the same as royal icing but tastes better (IMO) and pipes so beautifully, even for intricate design. When I started my baking blog back in 2009, this was the only recipe I used.
Why I love Glaze Icing for Sugar Cookies
- It pipes beautifully.
- It tastes amazing.
- It hardens, but not as hard as royal icing. It gets just firm enough to stack the cookies but you won’t break a tooth!
SUGAR COOKIE GLAZE RECIPE HERE.
Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookies (the ORIGINAL!)
Buttercream for Frosting Sugar Cookies
This is my favorite buttercream recipe for sugar cookie decorating. It pipes beautifully, accepts food color wonderfully, and crusts ever so slightly after a couple of hours. Love that it holds its’ shape so well! (You can make it as stiff or as creamy as you want depending on how much liquid you add.)
Sugar Cookie Recipe Troubleshooting
Here are a few tricks that I hope will help ensure you have PERFECT Sugar Cookies, every time!
- Use a strong, balanced recipe. I happen to know that the recipe below is perfect every time!
- Chill your dough. (If needed. The below recipe doesn’t.) If you run into your cookies spreading you can try this method: Roll out the dough, cut out shapes, then place them on a cookie sheet. Then place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. If you are doing lots of cookies it’s easy to just have them in a rotation.
- Calibrate your oven. I bought an oven thermometer at Target for under $5 and it has been fantastic. Sometimes cookies can spread if your oven temperature is too low.
- Bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Some people swear by silpat but I have found parchment works very well and is fairly inexpensive. Not having to grease your cookie sheet also means less potential spreading. Make sure your pans are LIGHT in color, not dark. The dark the pan the more heat is absorbed and the faster your cookies will brown on the bottom and sides.
- Use FRESH and a good quality baking powder and baking soda. Both are inexpensive even when you buy the best quality. If your baking soda is expired it can affect how your cookies rise or spread. I prefer double-acting baking powder, which is what is sold in most grocery stores.
Tips for Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Just a few reminders for best practices when making sugar cookies. ๐
Sift Dry Ingredients โ Sift dry ingredients like flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and even cocoa powder to combine and aerate them helps make for fluffier cookies. To sift, simply combine your dry ingredients and pour them into a fine-mesh strainer. Tap or shake the strainer until everythingโs in your bowl. (Feel free to throw away big or hard pieces.) You can also use a whisk in the dry ingredients for 30 seconds to fully combine.
Cream Butter and Sugar โ Unlike stirring or mixing, creaming isnโt about combining ingredients, itโs about aerating them. Creaming creates air pockets that expand in the oven, making the dough tender. When you add sugar, that process is more effective. Sugar crystals are formed and the air is efficiently added to the butter and sugar mixture. Butter beats up fluffiest at room temperature, or when slightly softened.
Eggs โ Eggs should be added at room temperature. They add moisture to the air pockets and flavor to the dough. To quickly warm eggs, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. After the eggs have been added you should also add the vanilla extract or sometimes milk (also room temperature) if the recipe calls for it.
How to Store Sugar Cookies
When stored in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag, sugar cookies can last over a week. (Some readers have suggested 2 weeks!) If I am making a big batch, I will often store the decorated cookies in multiple smaller containers and the cookie layers separated by wax or parchment paper. Because air is what dries out cookies, you can ensure cookies will stay fresher longer if you aren’t opening up the same container multiple times. Check out my Guide to Freezing, Baking, and Storing Cookies for more helpful tips.
How to Freeze Sugar Cookies
You can freeze the decorated cookies if you are decorating with the glaze icing. (They can be stacked.) You want cookie icing to be completely dry (about 24 hours) before stacking.
To freeze, place cookies into an airtight container or freezer-safe sealable plastic storage bag in a single layer. Using a piece of wax or parchment paper between each layer, stack as many layers as your container will allow. Label and date. They will stay fresh for about 6 months in the freezer.
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยฝ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar. Cream on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes, or until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the baking powder. Then, add the flour, ยฝ cup at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Remove bowl from mixer and drop dough onto a floured countertop. Roll out into a flat disc, about โ -ยผ inch thick.
- Cut the cookies out in the desired shape and place onto the lined baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes. (Keep an eye on them! You don't want burnt edges and every oven is different.)
- Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
This is amazing!!!!!!
Hi Amanda!! Next time you make it, would you dump your flour on a scale and let us know how much it weighs? I tend to be a dipper and scooper and i fear I add too much!! Thanks!
Amanda- fyi, just made them with 18 oz using the 4.5 oz per cup rule. total failure, spread way too much. and i baked them from fridge….
Amanda, I made these cookies for Christmas and they were amazing. Very, very delicious! I was very hesitant to try the frosting and although it takes a little longer to dry the flavor and shine are amazing! I will be using the recipe every time I make sugar cookies, thank you so much. You are so talented, thanks for sharing with all of us and for getting back to me when I had a question! Happy New Year!
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I’ve just emailed you but I don’t know which way will get to you fastest so I decided to leave a comment here too. Gorgeous cookies! Would the icing be appropriate to put into a bag and pipe onto cookies? Also, how many cookies does the recipe make?
Thanks!
These recipes are AMAZING. Thank you so much for sharing. ๐
I linked this page in my new baking blog! I made these today and they rock!
How frustrating, I’ve attempted this recipe 3x in the last year and Amanda’s cookies come out cutter-perfect whilst mine always turn into nearly shapeless blobs (tasty, yet shapeless), in spite of paying such close attention to the recipe. I have other sugar cookie recipes that turn out relatively well, and they are pretty similar. Wish I could figure out what’s going wrong. No one else seems to comment about this.
So sorry! That has got to be so extremely frustrating for you.
Here are some things you can try:
Freeze your dough after you have cut out the cookies and placed them on the cookie sheet. Do this for 10-15 minutes.
Are you at a different altitude? Has it been humid where you are, or is your home humid? Is your oven calibrated correctly? What type pan are you using, is it dark metal or light? Is your baking soda or baking power expired?
There are many factors that contribute to a spreading cookie and unfortunately I cant pinpoint it when I am not in the kitchen with you.
But I hope this at least lets you know there is hope!
Blessings-
Amanda
Amanda,
How incredibly sweet of you to take time out of your extremely busy life to help! I have a good recipe that I don’t have trouble with keeping shape, but they still don’t come out as sharp as yours, so I wanted to try yours. I have always frozen them after cutting. Baking powder and soda are brand new. It IS very humid right now, and the pan I’m using is light. I am in Texas, so my altitude is a tad bit lower than yours. I haven’t played with those two factors before, so I am glad to have something else to test. I will let you know if I figure it out!
Again, thank you!
Kate
I had the same problem. Even frozen I could only get a couple crisp cuts before things went all gooey. Taste great, but I gave up using cutters and just going to make normal cookies out of the rest of the dough.
I just made these literally 10 minutes ago. The dough is very soft. Not doughy at all. I’m wondering…hoping that it will firm up overnight in the fridge. I live in Hawaii so maybe the humidity & heat affects it, but it’s not firm at all after being mixed. Crossing my fingers because I do need these for Friday treats.