What would you choose for dessert; a sugar cookie or a slice of chocolate cake? If you’re anything like me and those two items were in your home, the sugar cookies would be hanging around long after the chocolate cake was polished off.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like sugar cookies, but love them… Not so much. But trying to decorate chocolate cake to give as gifts – that wouldn’t work as well as sugar cookies do. Which leads me to the reason why I’m writing this post today – I’ve come up with a sugar cookie recipe by playing around with some favorite recipes. It’s definitely tasty, although it’s still not in the ‘chocolate cake’ category. If you try it out I’d love to hear what you think in the comment section below.
Before I get to the recipe, let me share a little introduction to the ‘Polar Bear Parade’ cookies with you.
When I saw this ribbon months ago at Michael’s Craft Store I just knew I had to make a cookie version of it. Pretty colors, a simple shape and such a cute little polar bear.
These were finished before Christmas, but I wasn’t able to post them in time. If you’d like to create these, you could make just the polar bear or substitute another object for the gift instead. It’d be a nice winter-themed cookie I think. The ribbon is probably on sale now too!
I used the KopyKake drawing projector to help me draw the image (believe me – I need it!), but you might be able to freehand as it’s a fairly simple shape.
Some of these are made of a new gingerbread recipe I found on-line, but I wasn’t entirely happy with the results (taste).
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been playing around with some of my ‘go-to’ sugar cookie recipes – a few of the main ones being Peggy Porschen’sand the NFSC (No Fail Sugar Cookie) recipe (from cakecentral.com), to come up with my own combination. The latter two are still favourites for me, but now I’ve got a third choice. This is what I’ve come up with (please also see notes at the bottom of the recipe):
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla extract *or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder *take this out if you don't want your cookies to spread
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated - for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
- Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again.
- Add liquid vanilla extract. Stir briefly. Alternatively, cut open your vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out. Add to mixing bowl and stir.
- Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour, baking powder and salt).
- Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel or two small tea towels between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won't escape. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the tea towels and observe the dough mixing; when it clumps around the paddle attachment it's ready. It's also important at this stage not to over mix the dough (the glutens in the flour develop and the dough can become tough).
- Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough further if you need to, and cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
- Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
- Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
Notes
A few notes about the recipe (also listed in recipe):
These have already been included in the recipe above, but just in case you didn’t see them, they are important to read, so I’ve included them again.
*Butter – The butter needs to be soft, or room temperature. I leave mine out the night before I do my baking. If you forget, you can grate the butter on the largest hole of your box grater, so that the sugar and butter will mix together better.
*Amount of Butter – I’ve noticed some people who’ve tried the recipe who live in a warmer climate have trouble with 2.5 cups butter, and although the extra 1/2 cup butter taste is nice, to make the dough easier to work with in any climate, I edited the recipe to say only 2 cups of butter. The printable version is uneditable, so still says 2.5 cups of butter.
*Baking powder – I hardly use any baking powder in my recipe because the dough will spread and rise more during baking, thereby making the shape of the cookie less crisp. The only time I use it now, is if I’m just making round shortbread cookies and I don’t care about the cookies spreading.
*Chill your dough if it gets too soft work with. It’s a softer, sometimes sticky dough (depending on your environment as well), but in my humble opinion, makes up for it in taste.
*Read these tips here on stopping dough from spreading.
*Added May 19th, 2019 – Clarification – the sugar used for the cookies is granulated sugar not icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar.
I’ll do an in-depth tutorial with pictures on making the sugar cookie dough in a future post.
Hope you enjoy this recipe!
xo,
Marian
Jessica says
Do I need use a clear vanilla or is that only important for the royal icing?
marian says
Hi Jessica,
Clear vanilla extract isn’t needed.
Happy baking!
kristin says
Is it ok to leave these in the fridge for about 24 hours before baking them? I’m trying to get things done a little ahead of time. Thanks, they look adorable!
marian says
Absolutely Kristin! Have fun!
Mary Ellen says
Can you provide the ounces of flour you use? Your environment seems different than mine, but I would like a baseline and 5 cups of flour can be a huge difference in amounts when baking. Normally, my flour is 1 cup = 5 ounces. Thanks!
marian says
Hi Mary Ellen,
Absolutely, here are my conversions:
https://sweetopia.net/2014/11/baking-conversions/
Happy baking!
JBY says
So I suck at baking. Seriously, I’m a really good cook, but even my “break & bake” cookies come out all flat & weird! But since I was delegated to bring sugar cookies to my daughters preschool holiday party I scoured the web for tips as to why they always come out looking like an obese wheelchair bound whale instead of, say, a snowman. This is how I discovered your site. I tried your tips & recipe, with the local bakery on speed dial in case of emergency. I’m happy to say that they just came out of the oven, in their original shapes, and they are delicious (and I don’t even LIKE sugar cookies!!!!) THANK YOU!!
marian says
Seriously, that warmed my heart to hear that… So happy you like them and it went well JBY!
xo
Laura says
Marian.
My daughter hates gingerbread, and its such a disappointment that she won’t eat the house we make together, I checked, but didn’t see a previous comment, would it be possible to use this recipe for an alternative gingerbread house?
marian says
Hi Laura,
I haven’t done it myself, but I have seen others do it with this recipe (people have shared it with me on social media). Bake the pieces a little longer so that the cookie pieces are more sturdy.
Happy “gingerbreading”!
Wendy says
Hi Marian,
I love your site and every time I poke around I learn something new – THANK YOU! I live at 5322 ft, and some people don’t consider it high altitude until you’re at 7k. Would you recommend adding the extra 2 tbs (is it diff with 5 c flour?)? I plan to leave the baking powder out too, be pecause cookies spread and puff like crazy here.
Secondly, what do you think about using a straight butter cookie dough as a cut-out dough? Would it work or be too crumbly? We have a French bakery here that makes the most amazing cookies, and they’re not about to divulge!
Thanks!
marian says
Hi Wendy!
I’m sorry, I don’t know a ton about high altitude baking (that it makes a difference I have heard for sure), but I can refer you to Kelley which I would trust to ask:
http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/tag/high-altitude-baking-blog/
And I’m sure these tips on preventing cookies from spreading will help too:
https://sweetopia.net/2011/04/top-8-tips-on-preventing-cookies-from-spreading/
Kris says
I tried this recipe with Blue Bonnet…..EPIC FAIL!!!! Plus its really hot here in Belize. I need to find real butter. any suggestions as to what to do with the failed cookie dough? every time I roll it out it melts into a goo on the cookie sheet before I can even finish cutting out the rest. I refrigerated it another hour and still. so, what can i do with the cookie dough? trash it? or can it still provide some kind of edible snack? I am just laughing at myself as I write this…thanks.
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Kris,
Yes, baking can be finicky… Preciseness is key. No worries though… How about trying to add more flour to the dough? The other option, press dough into the bottoms of a greased muffin tin (or lined with cupcake liners) and bake. Good luck and please let me know how it goes. xo
Karen says
I made these sugar cookies and found them incredibly delicious and they disappeared way too fast! I barely had any left over to decorate!
I used 2 cups of butter and weighed my flour (136 grams per cup) and used 1/2 teaspoon of baking power; which I will omit next time. They rose and spread out too much for the detailed cookie cutter shapes I was using.
I found it hard to roll out my cookies after chilling the dough, so the tip previously posted about rolling it out then chilling it is spot on. That will make life SOO much easier.
Thank you for sharing your recipe! Merry Christmas!
marian says
That’s wonderful Karen! Happy New Year! xo
Christine says
I love your site! I wanted to see if this cookie recipe browns on the edges. My sugar cookie recipe is similar to yours, but the edges always brown. I see some of your pictures and the cookies are perfectly tan….no browning!! If it’s not, what recipe are you using.
Thank you for your help! 🙂
marian says
Hi Christine,
Often I bake mine until the middle no longer looks wet, and the edges are not quite brown yet. It’s up to you as to what you prefer – the longer you bake them the browner they will look and the crispier they will be. Here is an example where I’ve baked them a bit longer and the cookies themselves are also quite thin. https://sweetopia.net/2012/02/faqs-for-cookie-decorating-kokeshi-decorated-cookies/
Hope that helps!
Christine says
Thank you! I like my cookies 3/8 inch thick, so I know this has something to do with it. I don’t want to compromise taste and my recipe is similar to yours. Iappreciate you taking the time to leave quick feedback.
Jeana Crump says
Hello, I made your sugar cookies and they were a hit!!! I’m now wondering if you have a recipe for peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate cookie dough that can also be cut out into shapes?
marian says
Hi Jeana,
Yes I do have cut out cookie recipes for chocolate and peanut butter. You can find them by clicking on the word recipes at the top of the blog… You’ll see the first 3 cookie recipes at the top… wait for the words “See More” below that to load, click on that, and you’ll find all the cut-out cookie recipes I have. Glad you liked this recipe and have fun baking!
Lori says
Hi! So I have recently moved to Germany and continuing my baking here on a learning curve! I am not sure if you or anyone is familiar with the different flour types here? There are about 10 different ones and I am trying to figure out which ones are best for cookies (550 or 1050?) and which are better for cakes?
If you have any advice on this I would be very grateful!
Thanks!!
marian says
Hi Lori,
I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with the flour there, but my friend Niner of ninerbakes.com, who lives in Hannover, Germany, might know.
April says
Hi! Just a note for you: The recipe above states 2c butter, but when I clicked for the “printer friendly” version, it states 2.5 cups. I’m not sure which version I used the last three years in a row (haha…eek!) but this is my go-to. Thanks 😉
marian says
Hi April,
I’d go for 2 cups to be safe. I’ve noticed those that live in a warmer climate have trouble with the added half cup butter, although the taste is nice!
Barbie's Buns says
Hi Marian
I’ve just made your cookies today – thank you for a fabulous recipe!! 🙂 They taste really lovely and just what I was looking for. I only made half a batch but that was plenty! My batch did still spread a little (even after omitting the baking powder and sticking them in the fridge as requested) but I used the same cutter on them as soon as they out of the oven and whilst they were still hot – they look fabulous – very clean and crisp. I’m so delighted with them I’ll be using the recipe again.
Thanks a million
Babs
Smita says
Hi there,
Just wanted to know if it is ok to make the dough ahead of time and freeze it. If so, How long would it stay in the freezer and what is the process to bring it back to room temperature and use it? I live in India so it is not cold, but currently not very hot either.
thanks,
Smita
marian says
Hi Smita,
Yes you can freeze it. I would roll it between two sheets of parchment paper so it’s already flat (easier than trying to roll out a hard ball of dough later), and wrap in saran wrap. When ready to use, take it out of your freezer and leave at room temperature. How long it takes to thaw depends on your environment, so poke it every once in a while to feel if it’s softening. Once you’ve cut your cookie shapes out, chill them again before you bake.
NextJenCakes says
Thank you for sharing this recipe, tried it today & they are perfect! Your tips were great too, they hold shape & the taste is melt in the mouth goodness! This will alway be my biscuit recipe from now on! Recommend people to try this recipe out, thank you once again for sharing NJC x
Marian (Sweetopia) says
That’s great to hear, NextJenCakes. Thanks for sharing!
Kellie Biggins says
I used this sugar cookie last week to make snowflake shape cookies for a “Frozen” Birthday party. They kept their shape perfectly, the definition on the cookie edge was just brilliant. I’m going to have this recipe on high rotation.
Thanks,
Kellie
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Yay! Happy to hear it Kellie. Thanks for commenting!
Dawn K. says
Did you omit the baking powder to keep them from spreading? Or did they hold their shape well even with it? 🙂
Kellie Biggins says
Hi Dawn K,
I left out the baking powder in mine. Worked a treat. Kellie
Zulala says
Hi Marian
Like smita I live in srilanaka… And the season here is pretty hot at the moment.
My babies birthday is on the 30th of this month(March) and I need to make the dough ahead of time… Cz I have a party to put together… For how long can I keep this dough in the freezer?
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Zulala,
You can keep the dough in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Kellie Biggins says
Hi,
Just wondering would I simply add some cocoa to this recipe to make a chocolate sugar cookie?
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Kellie,
I do have a similar chocolate version of this cookie here:
https://sweetopia.net/2013/12/chocolate-sugar-cookie-recipe-cut-out-cookies/
Happy baking 🙂
Sandra says
I’m a home baker and I do some orders for my friends and some family members, next may I have an order for some confirmation cookies my question is how much in advance can I do the cookies and when it comes to royal icing how long do they dry bc they’re going to be the favors for the events and they will be in clear baggies.
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Sandra,
Here is a post for you on cookie shelf life:
https://sweetopia.net/2012/02/how-long-do-decorated-cookies-stay-fresh-what-is-the-shelf-life-of-decorated-cookies/
Angela says
Made these cookies the other day. rolled out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and froze it. Took out the dough and let it warm up just a bit, enough to cut with a circle cutter. Refroze the circles completely and then baked them frozen. It took 22 minutes to bake them all the way through, with a golden brown edge but still soft in the middle. They taste a bit salty, so with my next batch I’ll cut the salt to 3/4 tsp, to see if that is better.
Otherwise, a VERY nice cookie for decorating, or snacking on without icing. 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Frustrated says
I followed this recipe exactly and I had the worst time making these cookies. I’m not sure if all of the other posters are friends of yours and are trying to be encouraging, but the dough was way too soft for me to do anything with. It stuck to the parchment paper even after 4 hours of refrigeration. My cookie cutters are covered in dough, my hands are covered in dough. I thought maybe I should add more flour but even that did not help. I will not be using this recipe again. I do not mean to be negative on your blog but if I have never had this issue baking before. A first time baker would not be successful with this recipe.
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi there,
I’m sorry you had that experience. I don’t know 99% people who comment on my blog, so no, their comments are not made up that the recipe worked well for them. Perhaps the measurements you made were off? Adding flour to any dough, as you mentioned, should always help make a dough less sticky, so I’m wondering why that didn’t help yours. Were you working in a very warm environment?
Also, please read the notes at the end of the blog post above.
Juan Corredor says
Mine worked perfectly…
ps. im not his friend
Donna says
Try putting flour on your cookie cutters. It works for me every time I bake something. Also put flour on your workspace so it doesn’t stick to the counter/table.
Rani says
Hi, sorry you had a bad experience. I have made this recipe on three occasions and another batch is chilling in the fridge right now. It’s summer here and it’s warm in my house but the dough is still perfect. I followed the recipe to the letter every time with outstanding results. This cookie holds its shape yet is still tender. I do not know the author, but I express my sincere thanks to her for sharing a recipe that makes me look like a professional baker!
sara says
Hi,
are these soft sugar cookies? i am not a fan of the hard crunchy ones 🙂
Melissa says
Hi there, I’m wondering the same thing. Will be doing these for favours at a baby shower next month and I’m wondering if I leave the baking powder out does that leave me with a very hard cookie? Thanks! 🙂
marian says
Hi Melissa,
One would think so because it’s a leavening agent, and although the cookie is slightly less “fluffy”, the cookie is not hard if not over baked. The longer you bake the cookie the crispier/harder it will get. Have fun baking and let me know how it goes. 🙂
marian says
Hi Sara,
The longer you bake the cookie the crispier/harder it will get. These will be soft if you bake them juuuust until they get a light golden edge to them. Happy baking!
Balbina says
Hello 🙂
I am planning on making these for a baby shower and I waswwas wondering how much ahead of time should I make them? In other words, how long do they stay fresh and soft for? 🙂
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Balbina,
Here is a post for you on that:
https://sweetopia.net/2012/02/how-long-do-decorated-cookies-stay-fresh-what-is-the-shelf-life-of-decorated-cookies/
Natalia says
Could I use egg replacer for the eggs, I need a egg and nut free recipe?
Any ideas
Thanks
Marian (Sweetopia) says
I’m sorry, I’ve never tried this recipe with an egg replacer, so I can’t say for sure. xo
Jenna says
I know this is well past when you posted this but if you are looking for egg and nut free recipes I would order the Divvies Bakery Cookbook via Amazon or the Divvies website. She has a great sugar cookie cutout recipe you can find here https://www.facebook.com/divvies/notes. It’s tricky to substitute eggs sometimes because your substitutions change depending on what you are making. For cakes I always use white vinegar. It sounds weird but it works perfectly with no hint of a bitter taste. Anyhow, I hope maybe this helps someone out 🙂
Danyel says
is this all purpose or self rising flour?
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi Danyel,
All purpose flour.
Kasie says
I’m planning on making these for my sons birthday. Could I roll and cut the cookies before chilling? Or do they need to be in the fridge before cutting?
Roger Newswanger says
Hello Marian, I search the net for sugar cookies all the time and give them a try if I find one that sounds good so when I came across your recipe I saved it to give it a try later, well this recipe gives very good results and will save to use for a change.
I think that when you find a recipe thats new to you, try ahead of time so you have time to either use or to keep using your tried and true recipe. so keep that in mind. Thank you for sharing this recipe and I will use as a change up.
Recipes don’t always work for others, so give it a try before you plan on using this for others.
Allison Traylor says
Help! I just made this recipe and I’m pretty much 100 percent positive that I made it before but am now having a brain lapse. When mixing the dough and its crumbly looking (like baked cake mixed up). Its in the fridge I mixed it up more, and I’m pretty sure it will be okay but when i took it out of the bowl should it be crumbling at all? Did I mix too long or not long enough?
marian says
Hi Allison,
If it’s crumbly your measurements may be off. It sounds like it needs moisture. What size eggs did you use? Did you use the full lb (pound) of butter? 1 pound is one block of butter. It’s also possible there was too much flour.
Marjan says
Hi ,
I hope your recipe works fir me my buscuits arent flat so make trouble for decorating
clary says
I want to make a bunch of cookies. Can I cut them out n then freeze them and if so how long can I freeze them for. Also how many days in Advance can I make them before my party?
Else says
Hi,
I am just a beginner to making baked goods. Can you please tell me how may grams of butter this recipe is? As I think I will have difficulty making sure I have exactly 2.5 cups of butter?
Thanks
marian says
Hi Else,
Here is what I use for conversions:
https://sweetopia.net/2014/11/baking-conversions/
Elizabeth says
Marian i use your recipe ALL the time. I live in Australia so often have humidity and warm weather issues but your tips make all the difference in ensuring a great bake with good shape. This is by far the best recipe, as I’ve tried a few of the other popular cookie bloggers as well. Your chocolate version is just as good and super rich, i live it. Just wanted to say well done and thank you for sharing your passion and wealth of cookie knowledge with us all!
lani says
Hi! I was wondering if you have rolled out these cookies to 1/2″ thickness and if so, what temperature and how long did you bake them for? I found that when I roll them 1/2″ thick, mine takes longer to bake at 350 and the edges brown darker than I like. Should I be baking them at a lower temperature and a longer time?
Jk says
Hi Marian,
Any idea why the grease on the cookies got slip into the icing? Anyway to prevent it?
Thanks!
Ann says
Lovely cookies, too sweet for my liking but I will just decrease the sugar amount the next time. Nice and smooth.
Lina says
Hello there!
I’m about to try these, but I only have salted butter at home. When using salted butter, should I leave out the 1 tsp salt all together? Also, when you say 3 tsp vanilla, do you mean vanilla extract?
Thanks!
Rachel says
I made this recipe today and my husband can’t stop eating them. It’s great to watch because he never eats sweets, especially sugar cookies. I posted some pics on my blog, although mine are very simple and not nearly as beautiful as yours.