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.
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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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
- Almond Snowball Cookies
- Meringue Shell Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Madeleine Cookies
- Meringue Shell Cookies
Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, (large)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, (measured correctly)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
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
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
How do you get your icing so red? I buy the gel but it never seems to get that deep bright red like yours?
Hi Krista, you can purchase an icing decorating kit with pre-made frostings in a variety of colors which makes it really easy.
Is it ok to freeze the dough to make later ?
Hi Diane, I answer that question actually in the recipe. Check out the portion, How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough
I absolutely love your recipes.
I was wondering if I can use almond flour instead of regular flour?
thank you and keep up the great job. your recipes are the best!!!!
Hi Claudia! I’m so happy you’re enjoying our recipes! I haven’t tested this with a gluten-free/ almond flour substitution, but I would love to know how you like that if you happen to experiment.
Hi Natasha,
I have tried many of your recipes, they have come out perfect! thank you!
Can I bake the cookies a week and a half in advance and refrigerate until ready to decorate with royal icing?
Thank you, Sam. You can check this portion in the recipe How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough as there are tips in there.
These cookies turned out amazing!! Kept their shape beautiful and tasted great!!
That’s just awesome, Nanci! Thank you for that wonderful review!
Hi Natasha! I stumbled upon this recipe awhile ago and it has become my go to! I am selling gift baskets with baking theme. I wanted to include my favourite sugar cookie recipe. Would I be able to include your recipe if it is credited to you and your site as the source?
Hi Ashley, I don’t see any problem with that since you’re going to be making it just following the recipe. Crediting us would be awesome!
Can the dough be frozen? Sorry if it was already answered in comments.
Hi Rimma, I answer that question actually in the recipe. Check out the portion, How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Dough
I made these sugar cookies this afternoon, and I am very happy with how they turned out. These have a nice chew to them and are not dry. I’m always skeptical of sugar cookies, as I find they rarely come out the way I want them too. These were great, thanks again for the great recipe!
Hello Nadia, that makes me happy! Thank you for your awesome feedback, I’m glad you enjoyed these cookies.
Hi Natasha,I’m from SriLanka love all your receipes would like to know how to make hard glazed icing for the cookies.Sana
Thank you so much for sharing that with me & thank you for that suggestion!
Yes, me too!
This was her answer to the same question above:
We ran out of time to publish a royal icing for the cookies. I would suggest googling for a Royal Icing. A couple of varieties out there are 1 with egg whites and 1 with meringue powder (no raw egg whites). Both work well; it just depends on preference or if someone may be allergic to egg whites.
Hi natasha
I love you recipes, I just wanted to know if you can give me a recipe to make my own gingerhouse for Christmas please.
Thank you, Chanelle. I don’t have a recipe for that yet but thanks for your suggestion. I’ll take note of that for my future recipes and videos.
Hi!
I am a big fan of your recipes and have made many of them.
Could you please post how to make the icing for the sugar cookies?
Thank you!
Jyothi
Thank you, Jyothi. We ran out of time to publish a royal icing for the cookies. I would suggest googling for a Royal Icing. A couple of varieties out there are 1 with egg whites and 1 with meringue powder (no raw egg whites). Both work well; it just depends on preference or if someone may be allergic to egg whites. You may try this frosting recipe that I have here.
Thank you so much. I will try the buttercream link you mentioned.
Looking forward to seeing more recipes from you.
You’re welcome!
I made cookies based on this recipe and it was amazing. Everyone loved it! Thank you
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for sharing that with us.
No salt in this recipe?
Hi Kim, that’s right, no salt for this recipe.
I absolutely love your recipes and I wish I could just print them as I used to do with other recipes in the past. Saves time in writing and its neat so I can just pop in a notebook. But now I can’t look through a recipe without being slammed with bloody ads!!!! I hate ads and I feel like they are everywhere. Don’t you own this site to where they can be eliminated! Ads dont make me want to buy what they offer. They make me not want to view the recipes anymore therefore not make what looks good. It’s inconvenient to take a screen shot, edit, take another screen shot and edit again until I have the full recipe that now I have 2-4 pages. Not worth the trouble.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi Natashia !
I am making these for the kiddos at church/community to decorate. I will paint some of them with food coloring so the little ones can decorate with success. Thanks Ever So for what you do
Yum! That sounds amazing Jami!
Hi, after cutting out the shapes, should it be chilled before baking? I have heard that chilling the dough is integral to sugar cookies. Thanks in advance
Hi Sarah, this recipe doesn’t’ require any chilling!
Thank you so much 🙂
You’re welcome, Sarah! Happy Thanksgiving!
Is the baking powder 1 T correct? Love all your turorials. So much fun while we’re learning!
1 Tbsp baking powder
Dear Natasha please may have your creamy pumpkin pie recipe my grandsons partner has a birthday Sunday she is here in NZ cant see her family in the States Covid!! And pumpkin is her favorite..
Hello Jill, sure. Here is my Pumpkin Pie recipe. Enjoy and I hope you love it!
I hate when sometimes people will give a recepie 5 stars but still adda nd subtract the ingredients. So, Now I think I found the best so far. I followed receipe exactly as it was. Cookies turned out amazing. I however did use cookie press thingamigiggy. Thank you Natasha . All the best !!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
Do you have a royal icing recipe that is as glossy as the one on these cookies?
Hi Alicia, thank you for that suggestion. We ran out of time to publish a royal icing for the cookies. I would suggest googling for a Royal Icing. A couple of varieties out there are 1 with egg whites and 1 with meringue powder (no raw egg whites). Both work well; it just depends on preference or if someone may be allergic to egg whites.
No salt?!? Surely salt is needed for flavor!?
Hi Karyn, that’s right! No salt for this recipe!
Hi Natasha! will you please share butter cookies recipe…….Thankyou
You’re welcome Maryam!! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!