Best Soft Sugar Cookies Recipe

I’m doing dishes in the kitchen when all the sudden I hear the saddest, most piercing cry come out of 4 month old Valentine. Slightly panicked, I ask 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. 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!

Make sure you have the following on hand. (Quantities 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. All purpose 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

I’m going to start with the basic overview below and then drill into the finer details with pictures further down. (Don’t worry; all the instructions are given in the recipe as well!) Sticky dough.

What thickness is best for cut out 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. 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.

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!

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 over bake 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. 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!

Remove your cookies from the oven and let them set up on the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Transfer cookies to a cold pan. Put the whole pan in the freezer for 1-2 hours Transfer the frozen cookies into a large food storage container. Store for up to 2 months if they are unfrosted. I would only do about 4 weeks if they are already frosted. More on that 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 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 are flat and rectangle and hold 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 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 to get 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 and tying with ribbon and 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.

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!

More frosted cookies you will love!

The Softest Chocolate Sugar Cookies « a chocolate version of this recipe Coconut Frosted Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Hearts « if you are desperate to make today’s recipe before I post the buttercream frosting on Friday, use this frosting. It’s amazing. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies « these are one of the top recipes on my site! 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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