Everyone needs an Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe! These are literally melt-in-your-mouth delicious and our go-to sugar cookie dough. It is perfect for decorating Christmas sugar cookies. 

We love festive holiday treats like melt-in-your-mouth Snowball Cookies, soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, and of course Baklava. These beautifully decorated sugar cookies are a beautiful addition to the Christmas cookie platter.

Sugar cookies recipe decorated on a platter for Christmas

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My name is Natalya and I run a food blog Momsdish. I love simple dishes that use minimal ingredients. During the holidays, I love baking but I hate making messes. This recipe for sugar cookies gives me the best of both worlds — perfect cookies and an easy clean-up. I’m so excited to share this recipe with you! 

Sugar Cookies

Whether you are planning a cookie making party for the holidays or whipping up a batch for a friend’s birthday, you need a sugar cookie recipe that you can rely on. These cookies taste amazing, keep their shape and are perfect for eating plain or decorated with frosting and sprinkles. Let’s get started! 

Sugar cookies decorated with frosting and festive holiday sprinkles

Tips For The Best Sugar Cookies:

Sugar cookies may seem simple, but there are a lot of bad recipes out there! After much trial and error, I feel confident that I have mastered the art of the sugar cookie. Here are all the best tips and tricks I have gathered throughout the years: 

Rolling Out Sugar Cookies Dough

Roll your dough out directly on a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper so you do not have to transfer your delicate shapes onto a baking sheet later. You can cut your shapes out right atop the mat and make your life a bit easier.

How Thick Should Sugar Cookies be Rolled Out?

Roll your dough out to about ¼-inch thick. This is the sweet spot. You’ll have cookies thick enough to keep their shape, while also thin enough to promote even baking. 

Sugar cookies rolled to 1/4-inch thickness

Avoid Crumbly Dough

Crumbly dough makes for misshapen cookies that are prone to uneven baking. To prevent this, don’t overmix your dough. You want the dough to be as smooth as possible. However, if you do get a crumbly texture, add ½ tbsp of water, or milk to the batter and incorporate it until it remoistens the dough.

Avoid Overbaking

10 minutes might seem like a very short baking time for cookies. But, trust me, do not overbake them! At around 10 minutes, the edges of the cookies should just start to turn golden brown. This is the time to pull them! If you continue baking, you risk compromising that signature tenderness of a perfect sugar cookie. 

How to make perfectly baked Sugar Cookies without over-baking

Storing Sugar Cookies

The great part about this recipe is that it can be made a couple of days in advance and the cookies will still retain their freshness. Below, I will share how you should store them and also how you can freeze your dough or baked cookies for later munching! 

Storing Cookies at Room Temperature:

Store baked sugar cookies on the counter in an airtight container. They will keep for up to a week. Remember, if you have decorated your cookies, it is best to store them between layers of parchment paper to prevent sticking and/or destroying your designs. 

Freezing Baked Sugar Cookies:

To freeze baked sugar cookies, first, make sure that you allow them to cool completely. Then, stack the cookies in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. Freeze cookies for up to 2 months. When you are ready to eat them, allow them to thaw in the fridge overnight. 

Baked sugar cookies ready for baking

How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough:

To freeze your sugar cookie dough, roll it into a ball or a log. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container or freezer bag. The dough will keep for up to 2 months before you need to use it. When you are ready to bake, allow the dough to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, make sure it reaches room temperature before you shape your cookies and bake them. 

How to Make Sugar Cookies

  • First, you will combine your flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set the dry mixture aside. 
  • Using a stand-up or handheld mixer, beat your butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until smooth and creamy.
  • Slowly beat flour into the butter mixer until it is fully incorporated. 
  • Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll out each piece to ¼-inch thickness.
  • Use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes or freeze your dough for later use. 
  • Bake the cookies and allow them to cool. 
  • Decorate the cookies as you please or gobble them up plain!

Step by step photos how to make sugar cookies by creaming together butter and sugar, adding flour, dividing dough and cutting shapes

How to Decorate Sugar Cookies:

To decorate sugar cookies, you can make your own homemade royal icing which makes a great sugar cookie icing, add food coloring, then pipe it on with a squeeze bottle or little zip bags (handy and inexpensive for cookie decorating parties), or you can purchase an icing decorating kit with pre-made frostings in a variety of colors which makes it really easy. Don’t forget the Christmas sprinkles and crushed candy canes.

Decorated Christmas cookies with sprinkles and frosting

More Holiday Cookie Recipes

These are our best-loved (and reviewed) Christmas cookies to fill up your holiday cookie platters. These are well-loved by all ages and you’re sure to find some new favorites in this list. Looking for more Christmas recipes and inspiration? Check out our Christmas archives here.

Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe 

4.99 from 563 votes
Author: Natalya Drozhzhin
Sugar cookies recipe decorated on a Christmas cookie platter
Everyone needs an Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe! These are literally melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I am positive these Christmas cookies will win you over. 
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 40 cookies

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 °F with a rack in the center. Whisk together flour with baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. 
  • Using a stand-up or handheld mixer, beat the butter together with sugar. To the mixture add vanilla extract and egg and beat to combine.
  • To the butter mixture, add flour in 3 parts until fully incorporated. 
  • Divide the dough into two equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll into ¼-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes. 
  • Bake cookies on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet at 350˚F for 10 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden.
  • Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely and decorating with cookie icing

Nutrition Per Serving

96kcal Calories12g Carbs1g Protein5g Fat3g Saturated Fat16mg Cholesterol17mg Sodium43mg Potassium1g Fiber5g Sugar148IU Vitamin A16mg Calcium1mg Iron
Nutrition Facts
Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe 
Amount per Serving
Calories
96
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
5
g
8
%
Saturated Fat
 
3
g
19
%
Cholesterol
 
16
mg
5
%
Sodium
 
17
mg
1
%
Potassium
 
43
mg
1
%
Carbohydrates
 
12
g
4
%
Fiber
 
1
g
4
%
Sugar
 
5
g
6
%
Protein
 
1
g
2
%
Vitamin A
 
148
IU
3
%
Calcium
 
16
mg
2
%
Iron
 
1
mg
6
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Course: Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: sugar cookies
Skill Level: Easy
Cost to Make: $
Calories: 96

If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen

Natalya Drozhzhin

Natalya is a food blogger who founded Momsdish.com to make cooking easier. Growing up on a farm in Ukraine, Natalya was inspired by the amazing dishes that were prepared using simple ingredients. Natalya is most notably known for making cooking approachable for any person.

Read more posts by Natalya

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Recipe Rating




Comments

  • Mary D.
    March 9, 2024

    Is it better to chill the cutout shapes before baking to help the cookie hold the shape?

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      March 9, 2024

      Hi Mary, you could if you’d like, but there is very little to no spread with this cookie recipe so chilling is not required, they hold their shape very well.

      Reply

  • Emily
    January 3, 2024

    Cookies came out wonderfully!!! These are light, airy, and tasty. My fist time making shaped sugar cookies. My shapes did hold well, but some cookies came out flat and even and some of them came out kind of puffy. What did I do wrong?

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      January 4, 2024

      Hi Emily! It’s hard to say exactly workout being there. Some common causes are uneven heat distribution (hot and cold spots in the oven) causing uneven baking. I highly recommend investing in an Internal oven thermometer (Amazon affiliate link) to check and see how your oven is heating. It may help to rotate the pans every now and then during the baking process. Be sure to space your cookies so there is room for air to circulate in between, you don’t want to over crowd the pan. Lastly, cream/beat the butter and sugar well in step 2 to ensure even distribution of fat/sugar in the cookie batter. It will look chunky and gritty if it’s under-mixed. I hope that helps.

      Reply

  • Tammie
    December 23, 2023

    Great recipe was so easy and came together perfect I added a touch of peppermint so delicious thanks for the recipe
    Merry Christmas

    Reply

  • Bethany
    December 23, 2023

    Do you have to use a standup mixer? All I have is a handheld mixer.

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      December 23, 2023

      Hi Bethany, yes, this will work with a handheld mixed. See this note in the recipe: “Using a stand-up or handheld mixer” I hope this helps! Merry Christmas!

      Reply

  • Annette Baker
    December 22, 2023

    Hi. I am gonna be doing these with my kids. Can self rising flour be used? Hope you can answer soon

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      December 22, 2023

      Hi Annette, I have only tested these with all purpose flour. Generally, for many recipes, you can substitute self-rising flour with little other adjustments. However, for sugar cookies, you’ll want to use just all purpose flour.

      Reply

  • Lauren
    December 18, 2023

    Hi Natasha! Do you have an icing recipe for these cookies that you love? I have read and re-read your recipe and I don’t see anything specific (besides the Amazon links). Thank you!

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      December 18, 2023

      Hi Lauren! I do not, I used premade Royal icing.

      Reply

  • Tammy
    December 18, 2023

    Hi
    I just wanted to say Thank you for sharing your recipe!
    I think it’s sad that some people can’t appreciate recipes and just cut them down. Sugar cookies are so good, but you need to frost them to get the full flavorful results. Most that cut down recipes make errors with their ingredients, I admit I have been guilty at that myself, but I learned from my mistakes and try the recipe again, it usually works. Nobody is perfect, so don’t cut down recipes that people take their time sharing with us. Plus, everyone’s taste buds are different so keep that in mind. Be Thankful!
    Thank you again.
    Merry Christmas!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      December 18, 2023

      Thank you for your kind works, Tammy! Happy Holidays.

      Reply

  • Nancy
    December 16, 2023

    OMG they really are easy to make, making for two young girls to decorate

    Reply

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