Update: This Sugar Cookie Recipe was BEST SUGAR COOKIE from the LATimes!
Some days just call for obnoxiously big cookies covered in pink frosting and sprinkles. Plus it’s easier to stick to a resolution of eating just one! 😉 We are huge fans of cookies around here and love sharing a variety of recipes. If you want more Cookie Recipes, click here!
Giant Sugar Cookies
I have been fighting the impending-winter-blues. It’s almost a brain sabotage if you will. The summer has been so lovely with so many blessings and so many adventures and I just can’t seem to enjoy the beauty in the moment, I have to go and dwell on winter coming. Darn my silly tendencies and inability to just relish the moment!
Anyway, in a somewhat pathetic attempt to live in the moment and make amazing memories with my babies, I made these cookies. Well, we made these cookies. They (my sweet kiddos) are quite good at the art of sugar cookie dough, and even better at licking the spoon.
That is the true reward, right?
Tips for Making Giant Sugar Cookies
If you don’t happen to have a 4 or 5-inch cookie cutter, you can use a small side-plate or a small bowl as a template.
Keep an eye on them in the oven. I prefer sugar cookies to not have burnt edges, so often remove them before that happens. (But make sure the cookies are done!)
I used my favorite (and seriously amazing) sugar cookie recipe and then a new recent love, this Cherry Frosting.
The combination is, it’s… well.
I need a moment.
Done.
It’s amazing. I love it. I want to eat all of it all the time ever.
And then head back to school for grammar lessons because, well, obvious.
When I was a teenager I went to visit my aunt in Idaho and there was a bakery in the mall there that sold a cookie like this. It was a sugar cookie with pink frosting. I cannot remember the exact flavors, other than it was sweet and wonderful and brilliant. I was trying to recreate that feeling and look, and just happened to recall that lovely pink cherry buttercream , so went with it.
I honestly had no intention of covering these in sprinkles, but it just seemed right.
Can sprinkles ever be wrong?
Giant Sugar Cookies with Pink Buttercream
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 1/2 c butter or 3 sticks I use unsalted
- 2 c granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. almond extract
- 4 c all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
Cherry Buttercream
- 3 c powdered sugar confectioners sugar
- 1/2 c 1 stick butter
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/4 c maraschino cherry juice
Instructions
Cookies
- In a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add in 3 eggs, the extracts and mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly (about a cup at a time) add flour to butter mixture and combine. (You can use a mixer or not, just depends on how strong you are.)
- I usually just mix ingredients until they are combined, if you over-mix this dough it will get tough.
- Put dough in some Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. (If your dough is sticky, add more flour, up to 1 cup.) When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. (325 for convection)
- Roll dough out, use a 4-inch round cookies cutter to cut out cookies, and bake for 6-8 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet. The cookies are better when slightly under-done, not golden around the edges.
Cherry Buttercream
- In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Add almond flavoring and cherry juice continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more juice if needed for spreading consistency.
- Top with Rainbow Sprinkles.
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.
Holy mother of sugar cookies, these look wonderful…and PINK!! I can’t wait to make them 🙂 one question though..is there something I can replace the maraschino cherry juice with? I don’t have any, but could I replace it with strawberries or something? (In liquid form somehow hahaha) I want to keep the buttercream pink!
Yes! You can swap out the liquid with whatever works best for you. 🙂 Concentrated strawberry juice is a great option!
I am going to try grenadine syrup.
Can I use regular butter as apposed to unsalted butter…
WOW!! These are the BEST sugar cookies I have ever made. They’re very similar to the Lofthouse cookies–soft though these are create at holding their shape. I roll them out to 1/2 inch and cut cookies out of it. These are fantastic. I have to make them in small batches or else my husband will eat all of them.
Want too buy giant cookies wholesale i have small business with. My daughter who i just love. Write me so i can add giant cookie to gifts. Have nice day joany
EVER THOUGHT ABOUT AN ALL NATURAL ROUTE USING CONCENTRATED BEET JUICE FOR COLOR AND A MORELLO CHERRY BRANDY FOR FLAVOR? I KNOW THE BEET WORKS BECAUSE I’VE DONE IT BEFORE, BUT CAN’T SPEAK FOR THE LIQUEUR.
how many cookies do you get out of this receipt? sounds delicious 🙂
Approximately 12 giant cookies… or 3 dozen smaller cookies.
What can I sub for the almond extract? Vanilla? I have a nut allergy.
Imitation almond extract.
Does the frosting harden or does it stay soft?
This frosting crusts over. 🙂
how thick is the dough to be rolled?
1/4 to 1/2 inch
How thick do you do you make the dough? is it 1/4 inch,, 1/2 inch 1 inch?