A secret ingredient in this sugar cookies recipe makes these cookies the SOFTEST and most flavorful cookies of your life! And they even hold their shape after baking, so you get exactly what you want instead of sad blob cookies. (Frost them with The BEST Buttercream Frosting for Sugar Cookies or Royal Icing!) Originally posted March 15, 2017.
Table of Contents
- The best soft sugar cookie recipe I´ve ever tried
- Soft sugar cookie ingredients
- How to make soft sugar cookies
- What thickness is best for cutout cookies?
- How do you keep a Sugar Cookie soft?
- FAQ about this soft sugar cookie recipe
- What makes this sugar cookie recipe so soft?
- Can you freeze soft sugar cookies after frosting?
- How I mass produce this soft sugar cookies recipe
- Buttercream frosting versus Royal icing
- Cut out sugar cookie recipe for every holiday
- More frosted cookies you will love!
- Soft Sugar Cookies Recipe
I’m doing dishes in the kitchen when all a sudden I hear the saddest, most piercing cry come out of 4 month old Valentine. Slightly panicked, I asked Eric what happened, and he said, “I kissed her.” Oh, the drawbacks of having a beard. This actually happens all the time. Poor baby-faced Valentine!
I went running last week for the first time in a very long time (like, pre-pregnancy…) I ran for 20 solid minutes and probably only went a mile and a half. (Picture a slug glorping along on the sidewalk and you pretty much have an idea of me running.)
Anyway, when I got home both of my big toes were killing me, and since then they have developed dark bruises underneath my nails. You know what this means, right? Get new shoes? Learn how to run the right way? No. Listen, people, it’s a sign. The sign says DON’T EVER GO RUNNING AGAIN KAREN.
Instead, eat alllll the sugar cookies.
The best soft sugar cookie recipe I´ve ever tried
I’m super excited to share this recipe with you guys today! I’ve been working on this post for a while now. The recipe is adapted from my sister-in-law Sandi. I wrote it down in pencil in a notebook years ago and have been tweaking it ever since. They are good sugar cookies, for sure, but I was on the hunt for a secret ingredient that would make them next-level.
Here’s the thing. Sugar cookies for me MUST be super soft. No crunchy edges, please. I want a THICK cookie with a THICK layer of frosting. And please, none of this royal icing business. Give me the goods. Go buttercream or go home. (Update 2024: I stand by this sentiment in general, but have recently expanded my thinking 😂 Royal Icing can be easy, tasty, and such a fun project to do. Here is my Royal Icing recipe!)
So, here it is. A sugar cookie that is moist and soft and does not dry out or crunch! It’s magical! How is it done? Cream cheese. I know, what?? Didn’t our grandmas only use butter for sugar cookies? Why yes, yes they did, and guess what, their cookies were hard and crunchy ;)We are still using butter, oh yes. But we are replacing half of the normal amount of butter used in sugar cookies with dreamy creamy cream cheese. The resultant cookies are tender and soft and have a delicious flavor, with a tiny bit of a tang from the cream cheese.
I tested this recipe several times and didn’t make frosting every time. I enjoyed the cookies all by themselves. They are sweet but not overwhelming. (The buttercream frosting for cookies takes care of that.) They have tons of flavor from the butter, as well as the almond and vanilla extracts. Let’s dig into the details!
Soft sugar cookie ingredients
Make sure you have the following on hand. Don’t forget the secret ingredient: cream cheese!!! (Quantities are given in the recipe below.)
- cream cheese
- salted butter. (Unsalted butter will work just fine, but remember to add a ¼ teaspoon of salt for every stick (½ cup) of unsalted butter.)
- flour
- granulated sugar
- egg
- vanilla
- almond extract. (You can sub the almond for vanilla if you want. But I’m telling you, the combo of almond and vanilla is what makes this cookie.)
- salt
How to make soft sugar cookies
These cookies are soooooo good. You can literally make them for any holiday or occasion and people will love them. But there are a few key steps you´ll need to know so they don´t come out hard and overbaked. I also recommend you use silicone baking mats on your cookie sheets for baking. Silicone baking mats help with even heat distribution for perfectly baked cookies, which in turn helps keep these cookies extra soft.
Your dough will be sticky, which is good!
Here’s the bottom of a baked cookie. It’s not browned at all and okay, okay, you may want to let it go a minute or two longer than this, especially if you plan to gift them to someone (as opposed to eating them over the kitchen sink, which was my plan for this cookie). Baking them longer makes them a bit more sturdy but also a bit more dried out (read: crunch). Do you see that dark spot in the center of the cookie? Perfectly underbaked. THAT’S the sugar cookie I want to eat. Yum.
What thickness is best for cutout cookies?
I researched sugar cookies for quite a while before landing on today’s recipe and method. One of the things I learned is that it doesn’t matter how great your sugar cookie recipe is, the rolling technique is where most people go wrong. Make sure you have a good rolling pin for this part.
This is 3/8 inch. Thiiiiick.
To get a THICK, soft sugar cookie, the dough needs to be rolled out, you guess it, MEGA THICK. We are talking about ⅜ of an inch, and yes I’ve provided an actual measuring tape for all you people like me who have a hard time with the maths. You can see in the picture on the left about how thick this is compared to my fingers.
When you are cutting the cookies, don’t forget to put some flour on your cookie cutters, especially if it’s a very intricate design. On the right: I use my finger to get the excess flour/dough off the outside of the cookie cutter. I used a knife to get it out of the corners of the shamrock. If you don’t do this, you won’t have sharp edges on your baked cookie.
I like to use a pastry brush to get the flour off the tops of the shaped cookies. The one on the right is already baked. It still looks like a shamrock!
Here’s another example. Snowflakes, not snow blobs.
On the left: this is half the dough rolled out. On the right: all the cookies from an entire batch. How many you get depends on what shape cookie cutters you use.
How do you keep a Sugar Cookie soft?
One of my biggest tips is to make sure you care for your final baked cookies! If you put the sugar cookies into a Tupperware right after they have cooled a few minutes on the pan, they will stay softer longer. Letting sugar cookies sit out is what makes them get dry and crunchy. Don’t do it! Put your treasure into a Tupperware or ziplock asap!
FAQ about this soft sugar cookie recipe
Absolutely nothing! If you use unsalted butter, your cookies will be exactly the same as if you had used salted butter, but they will have less salt, which will make them a little more bland. No thanks. Just add in an extra 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and you are good to go!
Want to keep your dough from spreading? Try humming Ice, Ice Baby the entire time you’re cooking. Or go ahead and rap it. You might have skills I lack.
COLD dough, people. COLD. Cold dough holds its shape in the oven, preserving the adorable shapes you so painstakingly cut them into. If you bake your cookies when the dough is not chilled, they will not hold their shape as well, and the texture of the final cookies will be wrong.
You will also notice that there is no leavening agent in this recipe. No baking soda, no baking powder. Just flour and eggs to help these cookies rise a minimal amount. This is on purpose! We do not want our sugar cookies rising, we want them to keep their shape. Chocolate Chip Cookies go into the oven in a ball, and the baking soda helps them rise and spread out. Exactly the OPPOSITE of what we want for cut out sugar cookies.
Cut the dough before baking. There’s pretty much no way to get a consistently clean edge if you bake first and then try to cut.
You know how most cookie recipes say to cook until the edges are golden? Just say no! No, I tell you! They’ll be hard and crunchy instead of soft, tender, and chewy. You do not want the edges or tops to brown at all.
The cookies should be barely browned on the bottom. When the cookies are baking, they will have a shiny surface on top. When they are fully baked, they will appear completely matte across the top, but not at all brown. Watch carefully! Overbaking is a death sentence for soft cookies.
What makes this sugar cookie recipe so soft?
I will only accept soft cookies. Soft!!! In case you’re skimming this post and haven’t been bossed around enough on SOFT COOKIE RULES, here’s the short version:
- Use cream cheese in the dough to replace some of the butter
- CHILL the dough!
- Roll out the dough mega thick, like ⅜ inch.
- Do not overbake the cookies! They should be just barely matte on top, but not golden on the edges.
- Transfer to a sealed container within minutes after cooling.
- Frost with Buttercream Frosting. I know I said earlier that you can use royal icing, but if you want truly soft sugar cookies, royal icing just is not going to cut it, my friends. The buttercream locks in moisture and makes your cookies ultra-soft!
Can you freeze soft sugar cookies after frosting?
Bless us all, yes! So much yes. You can bake all throughout November to get Christmas cookies ready, or bake weeks before that wedding you’re providing treats for. Trust me, I always do this!
After removing your cookies from the oven, let them set on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled, place the cookies on a cold pan and put the entire pan in the freezer for 1-2 hours. After they are frozen, transfer the cookies into a large food storage container. Unfrosted cookies can be stored for up to 2 months, while frosted cookies should be stored for no more than 4 weeks. More details on frosted cookies follow below.
How I mass produce this soft sugar cookies recipe
Everybody’s got their way of doing things, right? When I need a ton of sugar cookies, here’s how it goes down:
- Day 1: Make the dough and chill for at least 2-3 hours, if not overnight. (You can freeze the dough in a ziplock for up to 3 months at this point! Let thaw in the fridge)
- Day 2: Roll out the dough and bake ALL the cookies. Immediately remove cookies from the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely.
- If you are freezing before frosting: Immediately after cooling (don’t let them dry out! Time is of the essence!) transfer all the cookies to a large food storage container, the kind that is flat and rectangular and holds about a gallon. You can leave these in the freezer for about 4 weeks.
- If you are frosting and then freezing: Once the cookies are cooled, frost as desired and place them back onto a baking sheet. Cram on as many as you can without messing them up. Flash-freeze the cookies for about an hour until the frosting has hardened. Then transfer the frosted cookies to a large food storage container. I like to line them up on their sides so that the frosting has less of a chance of getting messed up. Pack ´em in like sardines.
- At this point, you can leave the cookies in the freezer for up to 4 weeks.
- On the day you want to serve them, take them out of the freezer at least two hours beforehand. Make sure you move them to a flat surface before the frosting gets to room temperature, otherwise all the cookies will start sticking to each other.
- CHRISTMAS: When I am putting together cookie plates at Christmas, I add frosted sugar cookies to the plates completely frozen, along with any other cookies, fudge, or candy that is going on the plate. By the time I’m done assembling all the plates, wrapping them up in cellophane tying them with ribbon adding name tags, and taking them out for delivery, the cookies will have thawed, but all the jostling and wrapping happened when they were still quite chilled and stiff.
Buttercream frosting versus Royal icing
I’ve figured out my absolute favorite buttercream frosting to top these cookies with! This simple recipe has a few secret ingredients that give it the best, most nuanced flavor. I love it and it will always be my favorite!
BUT. This is a January 2024 update. I recently decided to try out Royal Icing, just to see if it was as scary and hard as I always thought. Guess what, it’s not! It’s definitely a project, but can be a really fun one, especially for a group. And I added a few special ingredients to my icing to make it a bit more like my favorite buttercream (and to pair perfectly with these cookies!) It’s really good!
So the choice is yours:
- Make Buttercream if you are looking for a rich, decadent cookie that you have to treat a little bit more like a cupcake (because the frosting is sticky), or
- Make Royal Icing if you want a delicious frosting that is super fun to make intricate designs with, and hardens into a candy-like shell, meaning you can stack or ship your cookies easily.
Cut out sugar cookie recipe for every holiday
I’ve had this sugar cookie recipe on the blog for years now, and I’ve been surprised at the level of traffic on this recipe for EVERY holiday. People just want sugar cookies for every occasion! They are a classic!
I’ve picked out a few of the holidays and linked to cookie cutters that would work for each one, just in case you’re looking for some cute ones. Sugar cookies are so fun to make all year long!
- Valentine’s Day cookie cutters
- St. Patrick’s Day cookie cutters
- Easter cookie cutters
- 4th of July cookie cutters
- Halloween cookie cutters
- Thanksgiving cookie cutters
- Christmas cookie cutters
To be honest, though, I often don’t even make shapes with my sugar cookies, especially if I’m making a massive amount for my kid’s class parties or Christmas gifting. I just use a circle biscuit cutter and have fun with colored frosting and sprinkles.
And that’s it, folks! The best, softest sugar cookies of your life, with no sinister crunching going on. Make it! Love it! Repeat for every holiday! (PS If you want to play with holiday shapes but want a more dainty, sophisticated-looking cookie with a shortbread-like texture, go check out my post on the Perfect Linzer Cookies!!)
More frosted cookies you will love!
- The Softest Chocolate Sugar Cookies >> a chocolate version of this recipe
- Pariserwafiers (Swedish Cream Wafer Cookies) >> these are the tiniest, most delicate buttercream sandwich cookies of your life. Try to eat fewer than 4 in one sitting, I dare you!
- Coconut Frosted Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Hearts >>the most perfect Swig-style sugar cookie
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies >> these are one of the top recipes on my site!
- Homemade Oreos with Cream Cheese Frosting >> probably the easiest, fastest cookies ever
- Pumpkin Cookie Recipe (Soft Cookie with Brown Butter Icing) >> super soft, fluffy, and THICK pumpkin cookie that just melts in your mouth
- Peppermint Meltaways from 5 Boys Bakers
- Frosted Gingerbread Cookies from Baker by Nature
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies from Dessert Now Dinner Later
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Soft Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup salted butter, softened (1 and 1/2 sticks)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 & 3/4 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups flour, spooned and leveled
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it is soft and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the softened cream cheese and continue to beat for 1 minute, until well incorporated.
- Add the sugar and beat well, 1-2 minutes, until fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. This is my spatula that I love and use for every baking project.
- Add salt and flour and beat until just barely combined, scraping the sides and bottom again. Do not stir too much or you will make your dough tough. The dough is pretty sticky!
- Scrape the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap (or into a ziplock or tupperware). Cover or wrap tightly and put it in the fridge for 2 hours (or overnight) or in the freezer for 1-2 hours. (If I am in a hurry I will split the dough in half and wrap separately so that it will chill faster.)
- When the dough is completely chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line 2-3 baking sheets with silpat baking mats or parchment paper.
- Prepare a work surface with a light dusting of flour.*
- If you have not already split the dough in half, do so now. Put any dough that you are not working with in the fridge.
- Use floured hands to flatten out the dough a bit, then use a rolling pin to roll it and smooth it out a little bit. Don’t go too crazy here, remember we want the cookies to be THICK, about 3/8 inch. I actually busted out the measuring tape for this step. No crisp cookies, please.
- Lightly dust your chosen cookie cutters with flour. Press firmly into the dough, utilizing your space wisely. Use your finger or a knife (depending on the shape) to wipe away the excess flour/dough on the outer edge of the cookie cutter before pushing them out onto the pan. This helps you get clean lines.
- Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet. If you are using multiple cookie cutter shapes, bake all of the same shape on the same pan. Otherwise your smaller cookies will get over baked. Leave at least 1 inch in between each cookie.
- If you’ve taken long enough that your shaped cookies are no longer chilled, place the baking sheet in the fridge or freezer for a couple minutes.
- Scrape together the excess dough and knead it together once or twice (as little as possible), then roll it out again to 3/8. Don’t overwork the dough! (It will get tough.) Continue until the dough is gone. Refrigerate the dough as necessary. They should go into the oven cool.
- Bake the shaped cookies at 350 for about 9 minutes for smaller cookies, and about 10-11 minutes for larger cookies. Do NOT over bake. You do not want the edges or tops to brown at all. The cookies should be barely browned on the bottom. See photos.
- Leave the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then immediately transfer to a large tupperware and cover until they are completely cooled and you are ready to frost.
- Frost cookies with The BEST Buttercream Frosting for Sugar Cookies or with Royal Icing!
Absolutely delicious recipe! Thank you!!
I found the cookies too sweet (even before the frosting), which I know by definition sugar cookies are sweet. Next time I may cut back the amount of sugar. I also thought the almond flavor overpowered the vanilla so may adjust that next time. However, the soft texture was perfect!
Have the dough cooling in the fridge (I doubled recipe), next time I’ll use half amount of almond extract as it overpowers the vanilla IMO
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I almost made an entire new batch because of the almond extract over load but the texture was divine
Hi Sarah
Can I add m&m’s to the dough?
Hi Gigi! We haven’t tested these with mix ins, but you could try mini M&Ms. I bet those would help the dough hold together best. Another option would be making these Monster Cookies, they’ve got thick dough just made for holding tons of M&Ms (of course, for the holidays you could use the red and green M&Ms and omit the candy eyeballs). If you try adding M&Ms, come back and let us know how they turn out!
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your response and suggestion. I did use the sugar cookie recipe with the M&Ms and they turned out oh so good, that’s why I don’t have any photos to share lol. However I will try making the monster cookies as well because I enjoy baking cookies anyway. Thanks again and have a Blessed and Happy New Year 😊
Hi! I love these so much. They’re my new go to! Do you have advice if I don’t have enough time/patience to do individual cookies and instead do a giant cookie sheet bar and cut them into squares later? I bet I’d have to bake longer but I’m not 100 sure how long! Thanks!
Great news for you Rob, we’ve already got your sugar cookie bar recipe right here! Try these out and let us know what you think. Enjoy!
Hi! I am very excited to try out this recipe after all the positive comments! I was wondering, is it possible to add things to it, like toffee bits, or cinnamon or would that ruin the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Valerie! Adding a little cinnamon (or another ground spice, like nutmeg) should be just fine. This recipe hasn’t been tested with adding little bits in, but if you try it, please come tell us how they turn out!
What kind of cream cheese ? Brick style or reduced fat – spreadable?
Hi Kate!! Brick style! Full fat! enjoy :)
Hi. I’ve made these before and they are wonderful. Have you ever made them with only vanilla flavoring and no almond? Just wondering if it’s worth give it a try.
oh absolutely, Nurse Nikki! My brother thinks almond extract tastes like old ladies and refuses to eat anything with it (he’s an idiot 🤣) but yeah, just substitute vanilla! enjoy!
I haven’t made these yet. Going to make them for my sons school. When using only vanilla extract, would you use 2 3/4 tsp?
Yes Brandi, that’s right! Hope your son’s school loves them :-)
I made these cookies last weekend. Soft as promised and very delicious! Easy recipe! I will definitely keep this recipe for sugar cookies. And I love the almond-vanilla duet! Yum!
Hello, I am wondering how to store the cookies after baking? Can they be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or are they better left at room temperature? Thank you
Hi Kat, these are pretty flexible! If you’ll only be storing them for 3-4 days, the counter is just fine. After that, frosted cookies can be refrigerated or frozen as you prefer. Enjoy!
Hi. I’m freezing the dough. About how long do you defrost in the fridge and how long do you leave at room temp once they are defrosted before you roll them out? Thanks!
Hi Demi! Frozen cookie dough can take up to 24 hours to fully defrost in the fridge. Once it’s chilled in the fridge, don’t bring it to room temperature at all before rolling it out: chilled cookie dough is best for making nicely shaped cookies that don’t spread. If it takes some muscle to roll out, you’re doing it right (ok, maybe it just takes muscle if you don’t work out enough, like me).
Do you have any recommendations for doubling the recipe?
I made these for last Christmas and we wished there were more to go around!
Hey Melissa yes you can totally double it, i do it almost every time i make it! Nothing changes really, just double every ingredient. you need to mix well all the way to the bottom when you put the flour in! And chill longer because there is more dough. so glad you are loving these!
I noticed you don’t use any leavening agents – is this so the cookies don’t spread while baking?
Yes exactly Marsha! They don’t spread and lose their shape. Enjoy!
Ive used your recipe for so many sugar cookie decorating parties, it never disappoints!! I’m now known for your sugar cookies! I am curious how far in advance you’d say we could make these? I always make the day of, but it would be amazing if I could make them a bit earlier. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe and techniques!
Oh Caitlin I do this all the time! The trick is to clear out some space in the freezer. These cookies really are best day-of. But if you make them and freeze them right away, they are completely fresh when you thaw them! I’m so happy to hear you are such a boss with these cookies!! You’re amazing!!
What do you store the baked cookies in when you place in the freezer?
Hi Kaci! Flat storage containers like these work great. You can place sheets of parchment or waxed paper in between layers if you want, but as long as the cookies are completely cool it’s not necessary. Cookies cut from the same cutter stack particularly well.
My boyfriend said these are the best cookies he’s EVER had! I have to agree.
I’ll be making these again and again!!
I have never made sugar cookies before until now. Figures my first time I needed to make enough for a big cookie decorating, community event for my daughter’s team. Your sugar cookie and butter cream recipes were my saving grace. I followed the excellent, thorough instructions and everything turned out great (teenage daughter approved)! My daughter and I are not sugar cookie fans, but these are addicting and by far the best sugar cookies we’ve ever had. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
I love this so much! What a champ you are, making sugar cookies for the whole team when you aren’t even that into them! Mom of the year right there. So happy it was a success and you were able to create these fun memories for all the girls. Way to go mom!! Thanks for taking the time to review, you are so sweet.
I have refused to put the effort into making sugar cookies for years, because all the recipes I’ve found resulted in the crispy kind. THIS is worthy! I’m not a baker as I don’t like precise measurements. Oh, I can, but I don’t like it. But if this recipe yields soft sugar cookies, I will try once again…..after years, probably decades. And thanks for the buttercream frosting recipe. That’s the only proper frosting for sugar cookies. Maybe I’ll consider the Royal Icing at some point, but right now, I’m good. THANK YOU!
My only fear is that someone may ask me to make them again. It’s worth the gamble.