This is the BEST cut out sugar cookie recipe! These cookies always hold their shape perfectly, bake up nice and soft, and have a delicious buttery and crisp edge. Perfect for decoring with my smooth royal icing. 
You can adapt this sugar cookie recipe to any holiday by switching out the vanilla and spices for other flavors like orange, almond, lemon, strawberry, etc. The options are endless! I've switched out ¼ of flour for cocoa powder to make them into chocolate sugar cookies!
This dough can easily be colored with regular food coloring to make fun Christmas cookies. Make a double batch and freeze your cookies to be decorated later!
What's In This Blog Post
Cut Out Sugar Cookie Ingredients
How to Make Cut Out Sugar Cookies Step-by-Step
Remember to bring your butter and eggs to room temperature so your dough does not split. Your butter should be soft enough that you can press your finger into it but not melted. I place my eggs in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes to bring them to room temp.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, place your butter, salt, and granulated sugar.
- Cream the butter and sugar on low using the paddle attachment. Creamed butter should be fluffy and pale yellow in color.
- Next, add the room temperature egg and mix it on medium speed (speed 2 on a Bosch, speed 4 on KitchenAid mixer) until it is fully incorporated. Scrape the bowl when necessary to make sure the egg incorporates.
- Then, add in the vanilla extract and mix it until it's just incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk your dry ingredients (AP flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg) together.
- Add in ⅓ of your dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix on low until incorporated. Scrape the bowl as needed to fully incorporate the ingredients. Continue adding the flour mixture in thirds until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Then, once the flour is fully incorporated you will add the milk. Continue to mix it on low until the dough becomes a solid mass.
- Scrape out the mixer bowl and then wrap up your sugar cookie dough in plastic wrap.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This gives the time for the flour to absorb the moisture which prevents your cookies from spreading. Chilling is the secret! You can even make this dough a day in advance if you want.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and give it a quick knead to soften it.
- Roll the dough out to about ¼" thick using a rolling pin and a dusting of flour.
- Use your desired cookie cutter to cut out uniform shapes.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet that's lined with parchment paper.
- Next, put the cookie sheet back in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to chill again. Chilled cookie dough will keep their shape in the oven and not expand or warp.
- Bake the chilled cookies at (350ºF 177ºC) for 10-14 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Cookies will be done once they are slightly golden brown on the edge.
Ready to decorate your sugar cookies? Check out my blog post on how to make the perfect royal icing for decorating cookies.
FAQ
You can, but it's the results will be different. Here's some advice:
When you make substitutions in your cookie recipe, you always have to remember that not all ingredients contain the same amount of moisture.
First, you have to consider if what you're replacing has the same properties. Because brown sugar has more moisture in it than white sugar, if you take out the brown and replace it with white, you might end up with a crunchier cookie.
If you're going for a light, puffy cookie you can try to use shortening or even margarine but cut back on the amount of fat you use. Add an extra egg and cut back on the sugar.
Another tip for a more puffy cookie is to use cake flour or pastry flour and use baking powder instead of baking soda.
Also, you'll want to refrigerate your dough before baking your cookies.
Baking powder is a two-in-one chemical leavening that combines a powdered alkali with a powdered acid. Since baking powder combines both of these, it eliminates the need for extra ingredients in your dough such as buttermilk, sour cream, or an acidic addition since no activation is needed when using baking powder. When it is added to a dough or batter, a chemical reaction takes place that produces carbon dioxide gas, inflating cookies.
If you forget the baking powder you'll probably end up with some very flat, hard cookies.
Make sure your chill your dough for two hours before cutting out your sugar cookies and then chill your cut out cookies on the sheet pan before baking. This keeps the butter nice and cold and helps the cookies to keep their shape.
Sugar cookies are great to store if you keep them in a cool, dry cupboard or pantry. Make sure these locations are away from sinks, stoves, and ovens though. They will keep for about three weeks. You can freeze them for up to three months. Just make sure you have a seal that is secure, you can even vacuum pack a few cookies per bag. No one likes the taste of freezer burn on his or her cookies.
Here is a little home tip for you that I do. I take a piece of bread (white is best because it doesn't transfer its taste to your cookies) and then place it in a container. Use one piece of bread per dozen cookies. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread, therefore, keep them from drying out. This will keep your cookies soft much longer.
More Cookie Recipes You'll Love
Marbled Valentines Day Sugar Cookies
Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies
Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Unsalted butter Room temperature
- 8 ounces Granulated sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 18 ounces AP flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Milk
- ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
Simple Sugar Cookie Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, place your room temperature butter and granulated sugar.
- Cream the butter and sugar using the paddle attachment and mix it on low until it's smooth. Creamed butter should be fluffy and pale yellow in color.
- Next, add an egg and mix it on medium speed (speed 2 on a Bosch, speed 4 on KitchenAid mixer) until it is fully incorporated. Scrape the bowl when necessary to make sure the egg incorporates.
- Then, add in the vanilla extract and mix it until it's just incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk your dry ingredients (AP flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and baking powder) together.
- Add the dry ingredients into stand mixer about ⅓ of total dry ingredients at a time using a scoop. Mix it until it's fully incorporated. Start the speed on slow until the flour starts to incorporate, then turn up the speed to a medium speed setting. Scrape the bowl as needed to fully incorporate the ingredients.
- Then, once the flour is fully incorporated you will add the milk. Continue to mix it on slow until the dough becomes a solid mass.
- Scrape out the mixer bowl and then wrap up your sugar cookie dough in plastic wrap.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Knead the cookie dough, and then roll it until it is thin enough to cut cookie shapes.
- Use your desired cookie cutter to cut out uniform shapes.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet that's lined with parchment paper.
- Next, put the cookie sheet back in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to chill again. Chilled cookie dough will keep it's shape in the oven and not expand or warp.
- Bake the chilled cookies at (350ºF 177ºC) for 10-14 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Cookies will be done once they are slightly golden brown on the edge.
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients to avoid cookie failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
- Practice Mise en Place (everything in its place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
- After you prepare your cookie dough, ensure you wrap it up in some plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Chilled cookie dough will keep its shape in the oven and not expand or warp.
Lorrie Restall says
I just want to say, “thank you”. I have been a big fan of yours for a very long time. You have taught me how to use the reverse creaming method, faux Swiss meringue buttercream, and that a scale is a more accurate way to measure ingredients. As well, I have adopted so many of your cake recipes. For her last birthday, my granddaughter wanted a strawberry cake. You have a recipe that is made with real berries cooked down & no Jello. It was delicious. I use many of your other cake recipes, including your vanilla, chocolate, marble, Oreo, red velvet & Confetti cake recipes. I was asked to make a lemon cake for a friend’s birthday on December 26th. I went straight to your recipe & it was so delicious, I have made it twice since then - once as a cake & once as cupcakes. Who would have thought of having lemon cake in the middle of winter!
Once again, Liz, thank you so very much. I love baking, ingredients are crazy expensive but thanks to you, everything I bake turns out beautifully. ❤️
Ronee Carley says
The flavor was amazing. I just don’t know what I did wrong? I followed the directions to a T, but they were so crumble and kept breaking? I KNOW it had to be user error, any idea what it could’ve been that I did?
Elizabeth Marek says
Typically when this happens its because the user tried to convert ingredients to cups.
Rebecca says
Love this recipe turns out great every time and the cookies keep their shape! I wondered about playing around with different extracts to get different flavours almond, coconut, lemon. What are your tips for doing that?
sofia says
hi
miss
liz. First i wanted to say your awesome and i love all your videos. i followed the recipe exactly and even used scale to measure my ingredients and my dough is dry. i made it the night before. would you be able to give me a tip on how to fix? thank you!
Danielle Stafford says
Can I use gluten free "flour". My son requested sugar cookies. I love your recipes, and thought of look here first.
Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes a good one to use is cup4cup
amanda says
can you leave out the cinnamon and nutmeg?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yea sure!
Alexandra M says
Hi Liz,
I made 150 of these cookies last week and they were a hit! I just got an order for sprinkled or funfetti sugar cookies and I was wondering if it was possible to use this recipe without any adjustments other than of course adding sprinkles? If this recipe would work, when do you suggest I add the sprinkles? Should I fold them into the dough before I wrap it in plastic and chill in the fridge for 2 hours? If you don't think this recipe would work with adding sprinkles, do you happen to have a recipe for sugar cookies that would work with sprinkles inside? I still need to be able to cut the dough into shapes and I love that this recipe does not spread at all! Also, do you recommend a specific kind of sprinkles to use? I know nonparils can sometimes bleed and I wasn't sure if standard sprinkles, confetti sprinkles or if you have something else that would work. Sorry for all the questions. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thanks!! 🙂
Tracy Lorenzana says
I live by your recipes 🙂 THANK YOU!!
Denise Perez says
If I freeze the dough for later use, how do I thaw it when I’m ready to make cookies? Thank you!
Elizabeth Marek says
Just take it out of the freezer and leave it on the counter until you can roll it out
Ruth Q says
If it feels too dry and breaks when i spread it out, do i just add more milk?
Elizabeth Marek says
Its just too cold, let it warm up a bit