These Cut Out Sugar Cookies are a must make treat during the holidays, and all year long. They’re soft cookies with a lightly sweet flavor, that holds their shape so nicely, making them perfect for decorating for so many occasions.
Our new cut out sugar cookie recipe is the best recipe when you want those crisp edges on your shaped cookies for decorating. The cookies are made with one less egg, and no baking soda to keep them from spreading a little less. And you only need to chill the cut out cookies for about 15 to 30 minutes before baking, so the dough is super easy to work with and the cookies are done in less than 1 hour.
These cookies are soft, and delicious with a nice buttery flavored cookie, that is lightly sweet on its own, or even better with a little buttercream frosting or icing on top.
Why make this Recipe
- Only a Few Ingredients – Only 7 ingredients in this recipe and you probably have all of them in your pantry or fridge right now, so you can make these any time you want!
- Minimal Chilling – Instead of chilling the dough for an hour before cutting out the cookies we’re going to roll out the dough, cut out our shapes and chill the cookies directly on our baking pan for only about 15 minutes before baking. That means the cookies are baked and ready in less than 1 hour.
- Crisp Edges – These cookies have a couple changes to the recipe to help them really hold their shapes and keep their nice crisp edges making them perfect for decorating.
Ingredients Needed
This is a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.
- unsalted butter – I always use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt in my baked goods, but if you buy salted you can cut the added salt in half
- granulated sugar – not too much sugar for these cookies, keeps them sweet, and soft, but also helps them not to spread
- egg – just one egg which helps the cookies not to spread as much
- vanilla extract – added for flavor, but you could also add other extracts for fun
- all purpose flour – just regular flour here
- baking powder – helps the cookies rise just a bit to keep them soft, without spreading
- salt – just a bit for flavor
How to make Thick Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar. You’ll mix them together for about 2 minutes to get the mixture light and fluffy. Then add in the egg and vanilla.
Step 2: Add in the dry ingredients. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt, the dough will look dry at first, but continue mixing until it comes together and can form a soft ball (similar texture to playdough).
Step 3: Cut out the cookies and chill. Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to be 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the shapes, using as much of the dough as you can, and place them onto a lined baking pan about 1 inch apart. Place the whole pan in the oven to chill for about 15 to 30 minutes, while you preheat the oven.
Step 4: Bake the cookies. Bake the cookies until the tops are no longer shiny, and barely look set. This will depend on how big your cookies are, but could be anywhere from 5 to 6 minutes for tiny cookies, 7-8 minutes for medium cookies (this is what mine usually are), or 9-11 minutes for larger cookies. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to continue cooling. (They may break if you try moving them sooner). You can frost the cookies once they are cooled.
Tips and Tricks
- Chilling – You can bake these cookies straight after making the dough, but your edges might be a little less crisp. Since its a minimal chilling process already, I usually just chill them, but if you’re in a hurry you can skip that step. They’ll still taste and look beautiful.
- Watch Closely – The cookies bake in just a few minutes, so you want to watch the last minute or two of baking time to keep them from baking too long in the oven. The tops of the cookies will look just set when you remove them from the oven for a soft cookie.
- Crisp Cookies – The cookies are soft as is, but if you prefer a crisp sugar cookie you can bake them for about 1 extra minute. Watch closely because you still want your cookies to be light in color, they only need a little extra time to crisp up a bit.
- Re-Roll the Scraps – You can scoop up and squish the cookie dough scraps back together and roll them back out into a flat surface to make even more cookies. This will keep you from wasting any dough, unless you want to sneak a bite and eat some before baking 😉
Storage Instructions
Once cooled you can store the cut out sugar cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 or 5 days. The unfrosted cookies can be stacked in the container. Once frosted you should let the frosting set then they should still be able to be stacked with layers of parchment paper between them.
The cookies can also be frozen. They can be frozen undecorated, or decorated. If decorated flash freeze the cookies in a single layer for about 1 hour, then transfer them to a freezer safe bag and place parchment paper between the layers of cookies. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.
These cute cut out sugar cookies are such a fun, and delicious treat. They can be made into so many different shapes for different occasions, and are perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, summer parties and more!
More Cookie Recipes
- Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Peppermint Kiss Thumbprint Cookies
- Coconut Shortbread Cookies
- Drop Sugar Cookies
- Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
If you try this Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe, please leave a 🌟 rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (slightly softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour (spooned and leveled or weighed)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl (the bowl of a stand mixer), or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. 1 cup unsalted butter , 1 cup granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined, scraping the edges and side of the bowl as needed. 1 large egg, 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined and you have a nice soft dough. (It will look crumbly at first then will start to come together). 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
- Roll the cookie dough out on a lightly floured counter top to be 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut the cookies out into desired shapes.
- Place the cookies onto a lined cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Place the cookie sheet in the fridge to chill for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Continue rolling and cutting out additional cookies, pressing the scraps of dough together as needed.
- Place one pan of cookies into the oven at a time and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, for 2 to 3 inch cookies, or until the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny, and the cookies look set.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes to chill.
- Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy unfrosted, or frost and decorate as desired.
Notes
- Chilling – You can bake these cookies straight after making the dough, but your edges might be a little less crisp. Since its a minimal chilling process already, I usually just chill them, but if you’re in a hurry you can skip that step. They’ll still taste and look beautiful.
- Watch Closely – The cookies bake in just a few minutes, so you want to watch the last minute or two of baking time to keep them from baking too long in the oven. The tops of the cookies will look just set when you remove them from the oven for a soft cookie.
- Crisp Cookies – The cookies are soft as is, but if you prefer a crisp sugar cookie you can bake them for about 1 extra minute. Watch closely because you still want your cookies to be light in color, they only need a little extra time to crisp up a bit.
- Re-Roll the Scraps – You can scoop up and squish the cookie dough scraps back together and roll them back out into a flat surface to make even more cookies. This will keep you from wasting any dough, unless you want to sneak a bite and eat some before baking 😉
These are my granddaughter’s favorite cookie. I always need to anticipate when she might want to make them because they do take a bit of a chill time and she doesn’t want to wait. But they are perfect to roll out. Make great shapes of any season or kind. We have been know to make Christmas shapes in the summer. They bake in just a few minutes. Delicious with frosting and sprinkles (you can’t have too many sprinkles according to my granddaughter). Love this recipe.