Sugar Cookies Recipe
These Sugar Cookies are one of the most craveable cookies on the planet - 10X better than your favorite bakery! They’re thick, soft and chewy, infused with vanilla and almond extract and are spectacular plain or decorate them for any festive occasion. This sugar cookie recipe is shockingly easy-to-make without rolling out dough and requires only 30 minutes of chilling time!
Servings 16 large cookies
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 2½ cups (318 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
FOR ROLLING
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
FROSTING (OPTIONAL)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at a cool room temperature
- 4 cups (375 grams) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- Food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Dry ingredients: In a large liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar: Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. (May use hand mixer.)
- Combine: Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and almond extract and beat until just combined. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients, don’t overmix.
- Chill: Cover the dough with plastic wrap pressed to its surface and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, up to 72 hours. If refrigerated longer than 60 minutes, let the dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop. Meanwhile:
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line half baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper.
- Make dough balls: Using a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, roll the dough into balls. Roll the dough in a small bowl filled with the 1/3 cup granulated sugar to coat all sides.
- Bake: Transfer 6 cookie dough balls to prepared baking sheets, evenly spaced apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers are barely set. Do not over bake. TIP! If the cookies aren't as uniform as you'd like, as soon as they come out of the oven, invert a glass over one cookie at a time, and move the glass in a circular motion on the pan around the hot cookie for a few seconds. It will transform into the perfect circle before your eyes!
- Cool: Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost only when completely cooled.
Frosting
- Beat ingredients together: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (recommended), beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low to combine, then increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 additional minutes, adding additional cream if needed. Beat in food coloring, if using.
- Adjust as needed: Add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin or more cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- Decorate: Frost and decorate cookies as desired!
Video
Notes
Tips for Success
- Don’t pack the flour. It is important you measure the flour correctly because too much flour will result in denser, drier sugar cookies that won't spread. It's best to measure flour with a kitchen scale (this is my fav). If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, scoop it into the measuring cup and then level; as opposed to scooping the measuring cup into the flour which can cause the flour to compress.
- Butter should be at cold room temperature. The stick should not be greasy or melty. It should only give slightly when pressed with your finger, AKA 67 degrees F.
- Room temperature eggs hack. Add warm (not hot) tap water to a bowl then add eggs (still in their shells) for at least 20 minutes.
- Don’t over-mix the dough. After you add the eggs, mix the dough as little as possible, to avoid overdeveloping the gluten. Overmixing can lead to a tougher cookie.
- Chill the Dough. While you can chill the dough for only 30 minutes, refrigerating the cookie dough longer develops more flavor, makes thicker cookies (because the dough spreads less), and crispier outside with a more tender inside.
- Make large cookies. Using a 3 tablespoons cookie dough scoop creates larger cookies that spread to the perfect thickness and ideal texture with crisp exteriors and chewy soft interiors.
- Don't skip the sugar roll. Rolling the cookies in granulated sugar before baking creates a lightly crispy exterior as the sugar helps to draw moisture out from the surface of the cookies while they bake.