This is the Sugar Cookie recipe you have been looking for! This recipe produces perfect Cut-Out Cookies that hold their shape, yet bake up soft and are full of flavor.
These Cut Out Sugar Cookies are delicious plain, perfect for icing with Sugar Cookie Icing, can be made ahead, and even freeze well. This truly is the BEST Sugar Cookie recipe!
The BEST Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
This simple Cut-Out Sugar Cookie recipe will beat ANY sugar cookie recipe you have ever used in the past.
- The best flavor. Sugar cookies tend to be bland. However, this recipe produces sugar cookies that are rich and buttery and have notes of vanilla and almond. Even served uniced, these cookies are delicious.
- The best texture. These sugar cookies are buttery and soft--just like you get at a bakery.
- The Cut-Out Cookies hold their shape perfectly when baked. You don't have to worry that these cookies will turn into unrecognizable shapes after baking. If your cookie is supposed to be a Christmas tree it will look like an actual Christmas tree.
- The dough is forgivable. Even after rolling and re-rolling, and re-rolling some more, these Cut Out Cookies turn out tender and perfectly baked.
- They can be made months in advance and frozen for future use.
Notes on Ingredients
- Butter: Use unsalted buter so that you can control the level of salt in the cookie. And pure dairy butter is BEST. Do not substitute margarine or vegan butter.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is best for sugar cookies. You can use unbleached or bleached with the same results.
- Extracts: I use almond and vanilla extract in these Sugar Cookies. I typically shy away from almond extract, but the tiny bit added to this cookie dough makes a world of difference!
- Powdered Sugar: While granulated sugar is used in the cookie dough, I use powdered sugar to roll out the sugar cookies. I know most recipes call for using flour to roll out cut-out cookies, but powdered sugar works just like flour in the fact it helps keep the dough from sticking to surfaces and it gives the cookies a nice taste, instead of leaving notes of raw flour on your sugar cookies--yuck!
How to Make Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Before you begin preparing these cookies, be sure to use room temperature butter and eggs. Room temperature butter and eggs will cream together easier allowing air to incorporate into your batter, which creates a smooth batter and lighter cookie. You will know your butter is at room temperature when you push on it and it easily squishes.
- Cream butter with sugar. Cream together the butter and sugar until they are light in color and fluffy. This is when the air will be incorporated into the batter and will help give the cookie its structure and texture.
- Once the butter mixture is light and fluffy, add in the eggs and extracts and mix until well combined.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Mix or sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the egg and butter mixture. This will ensure the ingredients are evenly distributed in the batter.
- Combine dry and wet ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture, beating on low until just combined. Be careful to not over-mix the dough. Over mixing flour, activates gluten, which can produce a tough cookie. But hear me out--this dough is forgivable. I let my kids mix in the dry ingredients and they don't do it perfectly or gently and the sugar cookies still turn out delicious.
- Roll the dough before refrigerating. It can be a workout to roll out the chilled dough. And by the time you manage to roll the dough out, the cookie dough is warm--which means the butter is not cold, which means the cookies may spread in the oven. Avoid this pitfall by rolling the dough out into ¼ inch thick disks before chilling. Do this by placing about 1 cup of the dough onto parchment paper or wax paper that has been dusted with powdered sugar. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar and cover with an additional sheet of parchment paper. Roll out to ¼ inch thickness and place in a sealed storage bag or large covered container. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Refrigerate sugar cookie dough for at least 12 hours. Thoroughly chilled dough will hold its shape better when baked--which is crucial when it comes to cut-out cookies.
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies. Lightly dust cookie cutters with powdered sugar and cut dough as desired and then place on cookie sheet.
- If desired, add sprinkles to you unbaked cut-out cookies.
- Bake Sugar Cookies. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 400 degrees. Bake until the tops of the cookies are just set. Don't let the bottoms brown too much, or these cookies will lose the softness they are known for. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking tray for 1 to 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
How to Decorate Cut-Out Cookies
You can opt to add sprinkles to your cut-out cookies or ice your sugar cookies.
If you would like to simply decorate your sugar cookies with sprinkles versus icing, add sprinkles to your unbaked cookies AFTER cutting them out into the desired shapes. The sprinkles will bake into the cookie, adhering to the dough. If you tried to add the sprinkles after baking, they would fall right off the surface of the cookie.
To ice your cut-out cookies, allow your cookies to cool fully before icing. I recommend using my favorite Sugar Cookie Icing for the best-iced sugar cookie. Keep in mind you if you do not let the cookies cool fully, the icing will melt off the cookie, and not set properly. So be sure your cookies are at room temperature or chilled before frosting.
The Best Way to Store Cut-Out Cookies
Once the cut-out cookies have cooled completely, place them into an airtight container. If iced, store in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. If uniced, store at room temperature for up to 5 days. It is important to note, that it is best to store cut-out cookies in an air-tight container, NOT a storage bag, as you want to protect the cookies from breaking.
You can also freeze sugar cookies if desired. While possible to freeze both ice and un-iced sugar cookies in the freezer, keep in mind that iced cookies will not retain their flavor as long when stored in the freezer as plain sugar cookies do.
To freeze uniced cut-out cookies, bake as directed and allow the cookies to cool fully. Place the cookies into a freezer-safe container, separated by layers of parchment or wax paper, and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove from the freezer and allow the cookies to come to room temperature before icing or eating.
To freeze iced cut-out cookies, place the decorated cookies onto a cookie sheet and place them into the freezer. Freeze until solid and freeze until solid, about 1 hour. This will keep the icing from sticking to other cookies or parchment paper. Once the icing is hard to the tough, transfer cookies to a freezer-safe container, being sure to place a layer of parchment paper or wax paper in between layers of cookies. Iced cut-out cookies will last in the freezer for 4-6 weeks.
How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough
Whether you would like to get a head start on baking cookies for the holidays or just keep cookie dough on hand for when the craving strikes, you can freeze sugar cookie dough for up to 3 months.
To freeze, prepare the cookie dough as directed. Divide the sugar cookie dough into 3-4 sections and place each section on parchment paper. Cover each section of dough with another piece of parchment paper and lightly flatten the dough into an even disk--this helps the dough thaw out quickly and evenly. Place the sugar cookie dough into a freezer-safe bag, tightly seal, and freeze for up to 3 months. To use frozen dough, place the dough in the refrigerator the night before to thaw. Roll out and bake as directed.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. This step is crucial in achieving a Cut Out Sugar Cookie that holds its shape. If you want your candy canes to look like candy canes, and your stars to look like stars--not blobs, chilling the dough is essential.
First, be sure your dough is well-chilled and re-chill your scraps after they get warm before cutting into more shapes. You also do not want to grease your cookie sheet. Use parchment paper or a nonstick pan instead.
I strongly suggest you use powdered sugar instead of flour for rolling out the sugar cookie dough. The powdered sugar works to keep the dough from sticking to your work surface just like flour, but the powdered sugar dissolves into the cookie when baked. Meaning, no raw flour taste or cookie coated in white dust.
To roll out sugar cookie dough, I think it is best to roll out your cookie dough before refrigerating. It is MUCH EASIER to manage. To ensure the dough is even when rolled out, my tip is to use wooden spoons on either side of the cookie dough. These wooden handles work as a guide so that your dough will be rolled out to the same depth as the handle, about ¼ inch-evenly across the parchment paper or working surface.
Do not be tempted to over-bake sugar cookies. They should be very blond in color and just set to the touch. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes to continue cooking a bit after removing from the oven and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Sugar cookies will go from perfectly cooked, to very crispy and browned in a matter of a minute or two and will lose the soft texture they are known for.
After you cut out as many cookies as you can, place the scraps together to form a ball of dough and roll out the sugar cookie dough again and cut out additional cookies. After that process has been repeated, place the 2nd batch of scraps together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and roll out the sugar cookie dough one final time. That is a total of 3 times for rolling out sugar cookie dough. Any additional rolling after that will result in an overworked cookie that will be tough and burn easily.
You can prepare the dough in advance and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months.
More Cookie Recipes
- Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Neiman Marcus Cookies
- Reindeer Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
If you enjoyed these Sugar Cookies I would love for you to leave a comment below and share your experience.
The BEST Cut-Out Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups butter softened
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 5 cups unbleached flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), beat together butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Add eggs, one at time with mixer running on low. Turn mixer up to medium and beat until well combined for about 2-3 minutes. Add extracts as mixer is going.
- Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture, beating on low spped until just combined.
- Place about 1 cup dough mixture onto parchment paper or wax paper that has been dusted with powdered sugar and cover with an additional sheet of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out to ¼ inch thickness and place in sealed storage bag or large covered container.
- Repeat until all dough has been rolled out.
- Place the rolled dough into the refrigerator, sealed well, for 12 hours or overnight. (If you are not planning on using all the dough right away, freeze in well sealed storage bags in the freezer.)
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Lightly dust cookie cutters with powdered sugar and cut dough as desired and place on cookie sheet.
- Re-roll scraps to cut more shapes.
- Bake for 6-7 minutes, when cookies look JUST set, not at all browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit on cookie sheet on a cooling rack for 2-3 minutes and then gently remove cookies from the tray and allow to fully cool before icing.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- For best results, be sure to use room temperature eggs and butter.
- Re-roll sugar cookie dough scraps up to 3 times (refrigerating dough in-between if the dough becomes warm and squishy)
- If using sprinkles, it is best to put on the cut out cookies before baking.
- If icing these cut out cookies, let the cookies cool completely before icing.
- Sugar Cookies will keep in an airtight container for 5 days. Be sure to store in the refrigerator if cookies are iced and let them come to room temperature before enjoying for best taste.
- To Freeze Baked Cut-Out Cookies, allow cookies to cool fully and then place into a sturdy freezer-safe container and freeze for 2 months.
- To Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough, Place dough on parchment paper in flattened rounds. Place the dough into a freezer-safe bag and tightly seal. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the dough out in the fridge the night before baking. And then roll out and bake as directed.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published in November 2017 but was updated in November 2020 with more tips. The recipe remains the same.
Karen Gatwood
Very happy, always used Marys sugar cookies in the past.
Judy Palermo
Can you half this recipe and it still come out as good as a whole batch? I used this recipe during the holidays and they were delicious! Thinking of making them for Valentine's Day but I don't need a whole batch. Thanks!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Judy! I love hearing you enjoyed the cookies! I half this recipe all the time with great results.
Kimberly Holloway
I don't know what we did wrong. Used powdered sugar as well. They all spread out to unidentifiable shapes & ran together. They taste great but are not cut out cookies like I've made in the past
Kristen Chidsey
Oh no! We have never had this issue. Did you chill the dough for a full 24 hours before baking? That is really important so that the cookies keep their shape. And to clarify--you used powdered sugar for rolling, but regular sugar for baking, correct.