Julie Clark
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Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookies
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Tips on how to make easy cut out sugar cookies. Buttery and lightly sweet, this cookie dough holds its shape when you bake it. Perfect for Christmas cookies and other holiday shapes, this here is the best sugar cookie recipe!
Cut out sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas. Yes, rolled cookies are fun at Christmas time with the stocking, tree and bell shapes, but they can be just as festive in the spring with flowers, sunshines and bird shapes. And they are a must cut as hearts for Valentine’s Day.
This is an easy cut out sugar cookie recipe and we’ve been making it for years. Only 6 ingredients. A simple, lightly sweet buttery flavor. The shaped cookies remind me of shortbread texture and I could eat a whole tray of them even without any frosting.
If you’ve been looking for perfect sugar cookie recipe that hold their shape, look no further. Give this one a try!
Looking for a drop sugar cookie? Try our classic Pillsbury copycat cookies or ricotta sugar cookies.
Cut Out Cookies that Hold Their Shape
How do you keep cut out sugar cookies from spreading? There are 4 important things to remember:
- Use real butter. No substitutes! For even better results, use a high fat European butter.
- Don’t add leavening. Baking powder and baking soda both make the dough rise, causing the shapes to get out of proportion and not hold well. This sugar cookie dough is perfect without those ingredients.
- Fully mix the ingredients. If there are pockets of butter, they will melt during baking and cause the cookies to spread. Scrape the sides of the bowl often during mixing to ensure all ingredients get well incorporated.
- Refrigerate the dough. It’s sometimes a pain to wait for dough to chill, but it greatly helps sugar cookies keep their shape.
Ingredients for Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Butter. Use real butter, not margarine. The butter should be at room temperature, not at all melted. Just soft to the touch. Let the butter sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before mixing the cookies.
- Flour. Use a kitchen scale to measure the flour accurately.
- Princess Cake & Cookie Extract. I use this extract (get it on Amazon) for my sugar cookies. It gives a unique flavor and people try to guess what it is. Use vanilla or almond extract if you prefer.
✨ See the recipe card below for full ingredients and amounts. ✨
How to Make Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt with a wire whisk.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed until mixed well.
- Combine the two. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Mix just until combined, being careful not to over mix.
- Roll the dough. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out one piece of dough to 3/8″ thick. Use cookie cutters and cut as many shapes as possible, re-rolling the dough scraps and cutting again.
- Refrigerate the dough. Place the shapes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour.
- Bake the dough. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes, pulling the cookies out just before they start to brown. Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes, then transfer them to a flat surface to cool.
Sugar Cookie Icing
This easy cut out sugar cookie recipe holds frosting really well.
- They make a great base for royal icing cookies. If you need a royal icing recipe, try this one. We’ve used it before and it works well
- If you want something simpler, you can use a easy sugar cookie icing or simple powdered sugar glaze. Use a spoon to spread the frosting or dip the cookies. The color stays vibrant and the frosting sets well.
- If you’re looking for a fluffy sugar cookie frosting, try our vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. You can pipe this in swirls on the cookies or use a knife to spread it and then top with sprinkles.
Can you freeze cut out cookies?
Yes! This easy cut out cookie recipe freezes really well. Make these cookies up to a month in advance, wrap the cookies well in an airtight container and freeze them. Place parchment paper between the cookie layers. The cookies are soft and may stick together if you don’t. They keep in the freezer for up to 8 weeks.
Allow the cookies to defrost completely either in the refrigerator or at room temperature before you unwrap them. Doing this will help the moisture to stay in the cookies and not become dry.
Read all about how to freeze cookie dough here.
Other Sugar Cookie Recipes
- Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
- Refrigerated Sugar Cookies
- Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Bakery Style Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Rolled Chocolate Chip Cookies
You may also love our brown sugar butter cookies and soft pumpkin cookies.
Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Tips on how to make easy cut out sugar cookies. Buttery and lightly sweet, this cookie dough holds its shape when you bake it. Perfect for Christmas cookies and other holiday shapes.
Servings 36
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Chilling Time 1 hour
Total Time 37 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour 520 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 grams
- 1 1/2 cups salted butter (room temperature) 12 ounces
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 300 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 10 grams
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt with a wire whisk. 4 cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed until mixed well. 1 ½ cups salted butter, 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Mix just until combined, being careful not to over mix.
- Divide the dough in half. On a floured surface, roll out one piece of dough to 3/8" thick. Use cookie cutters and cut as many shapes as possible, re-rolling the dough scraps and cutting again.
- Place the shapes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes, pulling the cookies out just before they start to brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes, then transfer them to a flat surface to cool. Once the cookies are cooled, decorate as desired.
Video
Notes
- The butter should be stick butter, not tub butter…and not margarine! Use 100% real butter sticks. And make sure the butter is at room temperature, not fully softened or melted at all. The butter should just give slightly when you press into the stick of butter.
- The amount of cookies you get will greatly depend on how thick you roll the dough and how large your cookie cutter is. I’d say you’ll get anywhere from 3-5 dozen cookies with this recipe depending on those factors.
Nutrition
Calories: 155kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 104mg | Potassium: 20mg | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.7mg
I usually have bad luck with sugar cookies. I make them and the dough crumbles everywhere or it’s too sticky. This was perfect! I hope it wasn’t a fluke. I made these with my four and six year olds and they loved them too! They tasted light and delicious!
Can you freeze the dough if you only want to make half of the dough?
The PERFECT sugar cookie Recipe!!! Hands downs the best. They look amazing and taste even better! So easy to make. Thank you!
Made these with my 10 year old daughter. Followed recipe to the ‘t’, cookies turned out perfect! In hindsight, we were not prepared for the sheer amount of flour mixture and needed to change bowls a couple of times, and had a few moments of panic when it did not seem the dough would come together. In the end we used our hands to help it form before chilling. Did not find the dough sticky at all. Delicious with icing, and without! Ended up with roughly 45 Easter cut-outs.
I saw some discouraging comments up there that made me nervous but let me assure anyone reading, if you follow the instructions, there’s no mess. To be clear, I’m recently self learning. So my skills are lame. These came out beautiful!! This one is A KEEPER!! Well done ladies!! 💜💜
Hey! These are yummy and easy to make. I made them today and my toddler helped too :).
One thing – I did exactly 3/8” and only got 20 cookies. They seem really thick. I probably could have got more like the expected amount if I had them at 1/4 inch. Or maybe I just have big cookie cutters.
Thanks, I enjoyed making these with my girls.
AMAZING!! I just made this with my boys ( 10,6) I used unsalted butter as that is what we use at home and I reduced the sugar ( 1/4 less) and added another 1/2 teaspoon or so of vanilla ( my son’s idea ). When you take them out the oven they need to be very lightly golden around the edges ( bottom ) and they mill still be semi-soft while hot until they cool off and harden. The cookies turned our amazing, kept their shape, and tasted so good we couldn’t stop sampling them. Thank you so much for… Read more »
Like this recipe a lot. I worked in small batches, keeping the dough chilled, i cut out the cookies, returned them to the refrigerator to chill again before baking, this prevents cookies from spreading out while baking.
Lightly dusting the table with flour before rolling out, prevents sticking.
I made these heart shaped and they turned out perfect! To the people who say they are sticky to work with, using a lot of flour when you are rolling them out helps them stay together very well. Hopes that helps!
Just made this with my girls. It is perfect!
I had great luck with this recipe. I didn’t use a rolling pin. I only used my hands to flatten the dough. When that warms the dough, I stick it back in the fridge a minute to cool it again before cutting out the shapes. The fam loved these cookies, esp with almond flavored icing (from another recipe). Thanks!!
My 13 year old daughter made these all by herself and they were the best. We are now throwing out our prior sugar cookie recipe and using this one going forward. She divided the dough into tow balls and refrigerated just like you indicated and had no problems.
Wonderful recipe! I followed the instructions to the letter. I didn’t even have time to ice them as the family ate them right out of the oven! I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanks!!
This is the perfect Christmas cookie recipe! They cookies are delicious yet sturdy enough to decorate. Perfect!