Our soft Sugar Cookies recipe has that perfect texture and couldn’t be easier to make! They’re my go-to for holidays, cutting them into fun shapes, decorating with frosting and sprinkles.
My go-to Sugar Cookies for every occasion.
My go-to Sugar Cookies for every occasion.I am super particular about homemade cookies, but especially sugar cookies, which have to be thick and extra soft and chewy, to tempt me (and frosted, obviously!). These are as beautiful as Lofthouse sugar cookies but taste a million times better. They’ve been my family’s go-to sugar cookie recipe for decades.
I incorporate shortening in the dough because ir provides a much softer cookie that stays soft even after cooling and storing, but you can use all butter in the sugar cookies if you want. I like to gift the cookie dough to neighbors for Christmas with this cute printable label, and I also use this printable tag for gifting Valentine’s Day sugar cookies.
How to make Sugar Cookies:
Make Cookie Dough: Cream together the shortening/butter and sugar then mix in eggs, milk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture gradually and slowly until you have a large ball of dough. Add more flour if needed. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll Out: Dust counter with flour and use a rolling pin to roll cookies out to 1/2-¾ inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters, biscuit cutter, or even the mouth of a round cup to cut the dough. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8-11 minutes. Cookies should still be very light in color (not golden) and just set on top (not shiny). They will set up more as they cool, so be careful not to over-bake them. Use a spatula to transfer to wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Bake classic sugar cookies as instructed and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days unfrosted, or in the fridge if frosted. (I prefer to freeze them, frosted or unfrosted, if waiting longer than 1 day).
To Freeze: Stack baked, unfrosted sugar cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers. To freeze frosted sugar cookies flash freeze them first on a parchment lined baking sheet for 30 minutes, then transfer to a freezer-safe airtight container with parchment paper between each layer. Freezer sugar cookies for up to 3 months. Freeze sugar cookie dough in a freezer safe airtight container for up to 3 months. Remove dough from freezer and let sit at room temp for 2 hours, or until soft enough to roll out.
More Cookie Recipes:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Biscoff Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Hot Cocoa Cookies
- Turtle Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Creme Pies
- S’mores Cookies
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Recipe
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup butter or vegetable shortening* , or ⅓ cup butter and ⅓ cup shortening (123g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup milk (83g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes a great flavor )
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened, (113g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar (360-480g)
Instructions
- Mix shortening/butter and sugar In a mixing bowl until well creamed together. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla and mix.
- Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients–(flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet mixture until you form a large dough ball. Add a little more flour, if needed, but not too much.
- Chill dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge, or up to 3 days.
- Roll Out: Dust counter top with flour and roll dough ball out until ½ inch to ¾ inch thick. (Add a little flour as needed to counter, rolling pin and top of dough, keep dough from sticking). Cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters (or use a round drinking cup).
- Bake: Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 7-10 minutes. Cookies will be very light colored and just set, when you take them out. They will harden as they cool, so don't over bake them.
- Frosting: Add butter and cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat well until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Add more powdered sugar, as needed, until the frosting is desired thickness. Beaet for several minutes until very smooth and soft. (Stir in food coloring if desired.)
- Frost cooled sugar cookies and top with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe March 2013. Updated December 2020 and February 2025.
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As some other folks have commented on these, the cookies are very doughy and flour tasting. They miss the mark in the sugar cookie category.
I did the recipe exactly as stated and they came out doughy and bland and baked like stiff pancakes. it feels weird to even call what I made a cookie.
I made them with butter flavored shortening. These cookies are soft but the taste is very bland. I never frost cookies but for this recipe frosting may be necessary.
Did you use the cream cheese frosting?
This is my go to sugar cookie! It rolls out good and always comes soft.
These are by far, the softest, tastiest sugar cookies I’ve ever made. I did include the almond extract which I think helped even more. The dough was still a bit sticky after being refrigerated so it did make it a bit tough to handle the once we cut it out with the cookie cutters, but I just rolled the dough a bit thicker and added a bit more flour to my countertop and rolling pin and they were fine. They are fluffy and cake-like. Also, for the frosting, I only ended up using 2 cups of powdered sugar so as not to make it too sweet. Everyone that had one raved about them as well. I’ll definitely be making these again.
I followed the recipe exactly and the dough is sticky and fluffy. I refrigerated and rolled out and it baked fine, but the cookies are mediocre at best. They taste doughy and bland. They are fluffy, almost cake-like, whereas I prefer my sugar cookies to be more crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I won’t make this recipe again.
These taste good, but my dough after a half-hour of refrigeration was too mushy and sticky to cut with cookie cutters. I ended up rolling balls and flattening them out. I used shortening too. I am going to see if colder dough will solidify enough to roll out.
Very delicious recipes u make
We made these for my mom for Mother’s Day and they are perfect!
I followed this recipe exactly except for using butter instead of shortening and the dough came out super sticky and baked more like a bread than a cookie. They don’t taste like cookies – more like an oven pancake. I was very excited for these but they came out a huge disappointment.
That might be because you used butter instead of shortening! I tried a cookie recipe using butter instead of shortening, and it came out super sticky. But I made it again using shortening as required, and it came out amazing! I have yet to try this out.
My dough came out sticky as well. So I kept adding a bit more flour until I just ended up sprinkling flour on the top and scooped it away from the edges of the bowl to lightly coat the entire outside of the dough ball with flour. After refrigeration it rolled out & baked up Beautifully!