The BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe
Every Christmas growing up my family and I would decorate sugar cookies. It was my absolute FAVORITE time of year, with my favorite people, doing what I loved most – baking. To this day it is some of my favorite memories. My love of sugar cookies came so naturally – but I never knew it would someday lead me into my future career. And for that I am most thankful 🙂
Fast forward to when I was 18 years old I started selling sugar cookies to friends and family in my hometown. It snowballed way faster than I imagined. Before I knew it I had an industrial sized rolling rack in my bedroom and I was baking and decorating cookies every spare second I had while working a part time baking job. This venture only lasted about 2 years. While I loved every second of it, it is extremely hard to profit off individually hand decorated sugar cookies that take days to make without wanting to charge a ridiculous price per dozen. Then of course you factor in the cost of ingredients, packing frill, boxes, stickers, individual bags, etc. None the less I am still decorating sugar cookies often today and now find the most joy in sharing my knowledge and experience – this recipe being one of them.
So as you would have guessed, sugar cookies hold a very special place in my heart. I joke that I’ve made this sugar cookie recipe so many times that I could do it blindfolded. And all that really means is that I have the most confidence in anyone who tries this recipe. They contain everything you want in a sugar cookie; they are delicious, slightly crisp on the bottom but so soft and pillowy in the center, they hold their shape perfectly, and are the perfect canvas for royal icing.
Tips For Success
The key to getting these cookies slightly crisp on the bottom while keeping that soft texture in the middle is the width that they’re rolled out to. Keeping the thickness to 1/4″ will ensure that the cookies keep that ideal texture. To help achieve a smooth 1/4″ thickness all around, I use a guided rolling pin with adjustable rings on each side. You can view the exact one I use here on my Amazon Storefront.
Rolling out the dough before chilling seems to bring up a lot of questions since most recipes will have you form the dough into a disc then refrigerate. When cookie dough is rolled out after chilling, it is worked with more and becomes warmer faster. Cutting out your cookies with cold dough ensures that they will hold their shape much better when transferring from parchment paper to cookie sheet. If you are preparing this dough ahead of time to bake at a later time, be sure to wrap the cookie sheet of rolled out cookie dough in plastic wrap so that the rolled out dough doesn’t dry out. If at any point while working with this dough you notice it warming up and getting harder to work with, just throw it back in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Royal Icing Tips
You can find my Royal Icing recipe below but for a more in depth tutorial to get the BEST Royal Icing, click here. Nothing compliments this cookie better than royal icing. Be sure to follow me on social media to catch a glimpse at all of my other creations as well as some sugar cookie content to help give you a boost of inspiration for taking on this recipe.
The BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe
12-15
servings2
hoursKeep the screen of your device on.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 egg, room temp
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions
- Using a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and confectioner’s sugar on low speed until smooth. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula throughout this recipe to make sure that everything is being evenly combined.
- Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix for about 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. About 1 1/2 minutes.
- Transfer the cookie dough on top of parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and roll the dough out to about 1/4″ thick. The key to getting these so soft in the center is the width. Rolling to 1/4″ thickness is what you want.
- Once the dough is rolled out between two pieces of parchment paper, place onto a cookie sheet and let chill in the fridge for at least one hour. If you plan on preparing the dough ahead of time and will chill for longer, wrap the cookie sheet in plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out.
- Now that the dough has chilled and is nice and firm, use cookie cutters to cut out all of your shapes. You can ball of the scraps and re roll the dough to use all of it up.
- Place the cut out cookies on a cookie sheet fit with parchment paper about 2″ apart. Let sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes before baking.
- Bake the cookies at 400 degrees F for about 8-9 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter you may need more or less time. Judge the doneness of the cookie based on the bottom side of the cookie – we want a nice golden color.
- Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before decorating.
- Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @thesqueakymixer on Instagram! I love to see what you all create.
