The only buttercream frosting recipe you will ever need to top your soft Sugar Cookies with! Two special ingredients make this frosting the most vanilla-y recipe you ever did taste. Originally posted March 17, 2017.
Table of Contents
- My tried and true Buttercream Frosting for Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Frosting Ingredients
- How to make Frosting for Sugar Cookies
- How to Frost Sugar Cookies
- How to store
- Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe FAQs
- More great frosting recipe to put on Sugar Cookies!
- Here are some more killer desserts with frosting!
- Cookie Frosting Recipe Recipe
My tried and true Buttercream Frosting for Cookies
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! What are you doing to celebrate Ireland getting all the snakes out of the land? Is that a myth? What is St. Patrick’s Day about again??
All I know is that I’m glad I’m not in school anymore, because I’m pretty sure I would be pinched within an inch of my life. I have ZERO green in my wardrobe right now. That’s because my wardrobe consists of 5 shirts. (Even after asking my friends on Facebook where to buy shirts and getting tons of suggestions, I still ended up buying all 5 shirts at Target, where I always buy my shirts. Because I’m classy and like to pick up my fashion digs and toilet paper all in one run.)
3 of my 5 shirts are the same shirt in different colors. (So if you see a blonde girl picking up toilet paper at Target wearing a black, red, or blue plaid button up, it’s me.) This is my uniform lately because I’m still working on getting that beach body back after having my 3rd kid (har har), and because I like to wear button up shirts because I’m still nursing.
The other day I get this text from my best friend Sarah:
“Ok so today we went to Muir Woods and Max [her 5 year old] saw a picture of someone standing next to a redwood tree. He said, ‘Why are Karen and Eric in that picture?’ I had no idea what he was talking about until I saw the person was wearing a red and black plaid shirt.”
These photos were taken on 2 different occasions at Sarah’s house. I can see why Max is confused.
Side note: When Sarah texted me, I sent her a picture of myself. Because I was wearing that exact same red plaid shirt. With my hair up in a bun. What is it with me?? Somebody call the fashion police.
I hope you guys saw my post earlier this week where I shared the recipe for the Softest Sugar Cookies! This frosting is the perfect compliment! This recipe is a classic buttercream: all butter, whisked together with a bunch of powdered sugar and cream. Typically for vanilla frosting all you have to do is add a bit of vanilla extract. But THIS recipe also adds in coconut and almond extract.
You might think it sounds overkill, but I swear it’s not. This is a copycat recipe for the frosting at The Sweet Tooth Fairy, which is an amazing bakery chain in Utah. Sweet Tooth Fairy has the BEST sugar cookies. The frosting is so light and fluffy and just has the most amazing flavor…now you know the secret, it’s a little touch of almond and coconut.
Trifecta of awesomeness.
Sugar Cookie Frosting Ingredients
Don’t wimp out on me and go with only vanilla as a flavoring. It’s so worth a trip to the baking aisle for these lesser-used extracts! I’m telling you!
- Salted butter, softened. Add ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt to the recipe if you are using unsalted butter.
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy cream. No, you’re not going to dump coffee creamer in your frosting! You’re going to head to the milk section of your grocery store and find a carton of delicious heavy cream (sometimes called whipping cream).
- Salt
- Vanilla. I love Mexican vanilla!
- Coconut extract
- Almond extract
- Gel food coloring
Tools needed
You can really go to town on decorating supplies, including buying a whole kit and sometimes even a whole caboodle! You really don’t need much for buttercream though. To start with though, make sure you have these on hand:
- Piping Bags. These are often sold in the baking or party aisles of a store. You can also use a sandwich bag and just snip off the corner!
- Piping Tips (or piping nozzles as they are also called). These come in all different shapes. Again, if you don’t have one, you can cut a small hole in the corner of a sandwich bag to mimic a round tip. You aren’t going to have as much control over your design though.
- Butter knife or thin spatula for spreading the frosting.
How to make Frosting for Sugar Cookies
Get ready for the FLUFFY! If you have a stand mixer, be sure to use the whisk attachment. It gets so much fluffier than when you use the paddle! I tested it both ways. Fluffy frosting=love. (All instructions are also given in the recipe.)
- Beat the softened butter until it is fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons cream. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and 2 more tablespoons of cream. Beat well.
- Add salt, vanilla, coconut, and almond extracts. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add remaining 1-2 tablespoons of cream, if needed.
- Add gel food coloring if you want to tint the frosting. Avoid liquid food coloring because it can mess with the consistency.
- Frost the cookies! Keep reading for decorating ideas!
You can frost these however you want, but I wanted to show you how to do this fun technique:
Aren’t these little scallops cute? It’s easy enough that even a frosting dummy like me could pull it off. Let’s get into the details:
How to Frost Sugar Cookies
Now that you have your supplies, you’re ready for all the fun!
First, fill your bag with frosting. Do you guys know the glass trick? It’s so much easier to add the frosting if the bag is draped over the edge of a glass. Or if you don’t have a piping bag you can use a sandwich bag and snip the end off like in the picture above.
Next, using the decorating bag with a round decorating tip, add dollops of frosting in a row at the top of the cookie. With your butter knife or spatula, smear the frosting, starting at the center of the dollop and dragging the knife toward the bottom of the cookie. Add a new row of dollops of frosting on top of the row of frosting smears. Repeat all the way down the cookie.
You can also do two colors if you want, like the yellow and pink one I did up there. Or how about a rainbow one! That would be so cute!
Poll time: ^^Sprinkles?^^ Yay or nay? I’m a total scrooge and hate sprinkles. Unless they are jimmies. But they sure do look festive! Don’t let my sprinkle-hating ways ruin things for you!! (This cookie was delicious after I scraped all those white balls of crunchiness off of my super soft cookie.)
How to store
In your stomach. That’s where all your cookies should be stored. Possibly your hips if you wait long enough. I’m telling you, one batch will be GONE. Two batches? GONE. Three batches? Fine. Maybe.
But seriously though. Even if you eat ‘em all, storage is ESSENTIAL for soft cookies. I’m not worried about your frosting, I’m worried about your cookies. As I explain in my post on the Softest Sugar Cookie of Your Life, (which you should absolutely check out because I mean the SOFTEST COOKIE!), you need to seal your cookies in an air-tight container within minutes of them cooling and only take them out to frost or eat them. Or photograph them, or maybe just to deeply inhale their scent. No judgment here.
Should frosted sugar cookies be refrigerated?
I say no. Buttercream frosting will keep on the counter for several days. (Although if they are sitting right there on your counter there is no way they will last that long!) Baked goods stored in the fridge dry out faster than they do at room temperature.
However, there are some people who really enjoy chilled sugar cookies, and I have to say that over the years I have come to appreciate a chilled cookie! Try it out!
Also, if summer is upon you and your house is hotter than room temperature, then refrigeration in an air-tight container is the best for these cookies. Buttercream frosting is made of (surprise!) butter, which can literally melt in warm temperatures. Otherwise, an air-tight container on the counter is fine. No letting them dry out! Now go forth and FROST!
Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe FAQs
More great frosting recipe to put on Sugar Cookies!
- Cream Cheese Frosting << This would be so good on sugar cookies!
- Maple Pecan Buttercream Frosting << This stuff is amazing on Carrot Cake. AMAZING.
- Fresh Lemon Buttercream Frosting from Spend with Pennies
- White Chocolate Buttercream from Comfortably Domestic
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting from White on Rice Couple
Here are some more killer desserts with frosting!
- Nana’s Famous Fudge Brownies with Fudge Frosting << You’ve GOT to try these. Famous for a reason.
- Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting << Yes, I said peanut butter frosting.
- The Best Chocolate Cake I’ve Ever Had (with Chocolate Buttercream) << No lie.
- Almond Sheet Cake with Almond Frosting << Have you tried almond frosting? It needs to get famous like vanilla. One of my favorite cakes!
- Ginger Molasses Sandwich Cookies << Cookies on the outside. Frosting in the MIDDLE?!?
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies with Lemon Frosting << Gooey, lemony, frosted, somehow still light and fresh!!
- Soft Pumpkin Cookies << You bet your bottom dollar these babies come with frosting. White, creamy, almost-drizzly frosting.
- Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Eighteen25
- Dark Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream from Taste and Tell
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Cookie Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 4 cups powdered sugar, divided
- 4-6 tablespoons cream, divided**
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla , I love Mexican vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- gel food coloring
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, use the whisk attachment* to beat the softened butter until it is fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Remember to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl!
- Add half of the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons cream**. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and 2 more tablespoons of cream. Beat well.
- Add salt, vanilla, coconut, and almond extracts. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add remaining 1-2 tablespoons of cream, if needed.
- Add gel food coloring if you want to tint the frosting. (liquid food coloring can mess with the consistency.)
- This is enough frosting to do about 2 dozen cookies, but that totally depends on your cookie shape. Frost the cookies (Here's the cookie recipe) and store in a tupperware on the counter for 2-3 days.
- Leftover frosting is great on graham crackers!
Hello! I can’t find coconut extract! Can it be kept out or substituted? Thank you!
Hi Valerie! You can leave the coconut extract out or just substitute a little extra vanilla. Enjoy!
Hi. I’m making the frosting ahead of time for a kid’s cookie decorating party. Can I make, add colour, and fill piping bags ahead of time, keep in fridge and bring up to temp for decorating, or will that not work because this needs re-whipping? Thanks!
Nope, that’ll work Demi! That party sounds super fun, you are amazing. Just be sure not to make the frosting more than a day in advance or the color can start to separate and pool at the bottom of the icing bag, obviously not what we’re going for. Good luck with your party!!
Thankyou. I appreciate the recipe
This looks amazing!! I’m so excited to try this! I’m also going to make your crisp sugar cookies!!! So happy to have found your site.
Thank you,
Steph
We followed the recipe for the buttercream frosting for our sugar cookies and I’m really bummed. It tastes delicious, however after a little while, it started separating horribly! Once we added the gel food coloring, it even got worse and separated into watery icing and chunks of frosting. What could we have done wrong? I wondered about using cream instead of milk. Had never heard of that before.
So sorry to hear that your frosting separated Trish! Sometimes buttercream frosting can separate if you use cold butter rather than butter at room temperature. Fortunately separated buttercream can be fixed! Simply warm the frosting a little (maybe 20 seconds in the microwave) and then beat it again – it will come together and be nice and smooth again. Hope your next batch of frosting turns out perfectly!
Hi, Please confirm how much butter is needed for these cookies as well as the frosting (since a stick of butter is a HALF of a cup, not a cup). I don’t know which one to go by – your cup measurement or the number of sticks of butter.
Thank you.
Hi Lynn! On the recipe card, you’ll see that it says “1 cup salted butter (2 sticks).” These are equivalent measurements since, as you say, 1 stick of butter is half a cup, and 2 sticks of butter are one cup. So you’ll want to use 2 sticks of butter (which is the same as one cup). Enjoy!
Is this buttercream like a cake frosting ? It doesn’t crust so cookies can’t be stacked ??
Hi JC! Yes, buttercream frosting is often used for cakes! Cookies cannot be stacked. Use a royal icing if you want to stack!