Soft sugar cookies with crisp edges and a buttery, almost melt-in-your-mouth quality to them, these really are the best cut-out sugar cookies ever. Perfect for using your favorite cookie cutter shapes for any holiday or occasion!
Not all sugar cookies are created equal. Too many are bland, too hard, too soft, to crunchy or dry, or spread too much. This easy sugar cookie recipe solves all those problems! These are the best sugar cookies with a moist, chewy texture that almost melts in your mouth with the perfect amount of sweetness. We make these every year for multiple occasions (or no occasion at all!) and always get requests for the recipe!
The ideal thickness to roll out your sugar cookie dough is about 1/4″–that way, they’ll be tough enough to be handled and decorated, but thin enough to stay a little crunchy.
Best Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe Tips
- Use cold butter. These sugar cookies start with the slightly unorthodox approach of beating the butter and sugar together while the butter is still cold. As long as you are using a stand mixer and cut the butter into chunks, this works really well and results in a better cookie texture than creaming softened butter together with the sugar.
- Dont overmix the flour. Once the dough starts to come together, it will be thick and similar to the texture of play-doh.
- Chill the dough. It helps the butter re-harden in the cut-out cookies before baking so that they dont spread as much. Sugar cookie recipes that do not require chilling the dough tend to be heavier on the flour, resulting in a cookie with a texture that is slightly more crumbly and not as light as this one.
- Let the dough warm a bit before rolling out. I find that leaving the chilled dough out on the counter for just 10 minutes before attempting to roll it out makes a big difference in how easy it is to roll these out evenly.
- Use the right tools. I have one sugar cookie specific tool that I HIGHLY recommend if you like making sugar cookies (besides fun cookie cutters, of course). Its a Joseph Joseph rolling pin (affiliate link) with adjustable rings that go on each end of the rolling pin to help you roll out your sugar cookie dough to an exact thickness, depending on which ring you are using. Its a game changer in getting consistent results in thickness and reliable baking times and worth the investment, in my opinion.
- Cut shapes close together. Once the dough is rolled out to your desired thickness, go ahead and cut out shapes with your favorite cookie cutters. Try to cut them close together to maximize the number of cookies you get before you have to squash the rest of the dough together and reroll.
- ¼-inch thick is my preference, but you can make these super thick sugar cookies if thats what you like. I made a couple of batches where I rolled the dough out ⅜-inch thick and they were certainly yummy. But in side-by-side taste testing of different thicknesses, we found that the sugar cookies rolled out ¼-inch thick have a better mouth feel and icing to cookie ratio. Thicker cookies tend to be even softer and need to be baked an extra minute or two longer than the ¼-inch ones.
- The key is to rolling out the dough is to let the chilled dough sit out on the counter for 10 minutes, then rolling it on a lightly floured surface using light pressure on the rolling pin .
- Dont be afraid to use flour to keep the dough from sticking either to the surface you are rolling it on or to the rolling pin itself.
- The secret to soft sugar cookies is slightly underbaking each batch. You do not want to overbake these cookies unless you are intentionally going for crispy sugar cookies. Size will factor in to how long to bake, as well as the thickness you choose to roll your cookies out at. Mine typically are done right around the 12 minute mark, but I make large, ¼-inch cookies. ⅜-inch cookies might take closer to 15 minutes. Small cookies might be done in the 9-11 minute range. The key is for them to look “set” because often, these wont even brown around the edges (although the bottoms of the cookies will be lightly golden when lifted off the baking sheet).
- Both the dough and the finished cookies freeze well. If freezing the dough, transfer it to the fridge the night before you want to roll them out, then let the dough sit out on the counter for 30 minutes before rolling it the next day.
- Use a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper on your pans so that the cookies dont stick.
- Frost with royal icing or buttercream. Or just press the unbaked cookies in sprinkles before baking.
- You can flavor the dough with a little almond extract or lemon zest, and I included amounts in the recipe notes. In my recipe testing, I experimented with each and liked them both (in fact, I was still on the fence between lemon and ended up photographing the batch with lemon zest, which you might notice in these photos), but when it came right down to it, I prefer the classic taste of a simple straightforward vanilla sugar cookie. If I really want a lemon sugar cookies, these double lemon glazed cookies are my favorite.
Cut Out Cookies Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Salted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Salt
EASY No Spread Sugar Cookies Recipe
FAQ
What consistency should a sugar cookie be?
Why are my sugar cookies thin?
Is sugar cookie dough supposed to be liquidy?
How thick should cutout sugar cookies be?
Texture: Crisp, ultra-light; roll them thin enough and they feel practically weightless! Tip: Roll the dough 1/8″ thick for super-light (though somewhat fragile) cookies; roll 1/4″ thick for sturdier cookies, better able to withstand the rigors of travel. We originally had two recipes for cutout sugar cookies on our site.
Is 2g of sugar a low amount?
2g of sugar is a low amount for a recipe or to add to the beverage. However, 2g of sugar for someone with diabetes is a high amount because they need to avoid simple carbohydrates.
Are sugar cookies hard or soft?
Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they’re just incorporated, and not a second longer.
How thick should sugar cookie dough be?
The perfect sugar cookie dough thickness is around a quarter-inch, depending on your preference for a crispy crunch or tender chew in a cookie. If you roll the dough too thin, your sugar cookies will come out brittle and breakable; too thick, and you’ll end up with a gooey, under-baked mess on your cookie sheet.