Sweet Tooth

With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft cut-out sugar cookies.

Overview: How to Make Sugar Cookies with Icing

1. Make cookie dough. You only need 7 or 8 ingredients. With so few ingredients, it’s important that you follow the recipe closely. Creamed butter and sugar provide the base of the cookie dough. Flour and egg give the cookies structure, and vanilla extract adds flavor. I almost always add a touch of almond extract for additional flavor and highly recommend that you try it too! Baking powder adds lift, and salt balances the sweet. So many *little ingredients* doing *big jobs* to create a perfect cookie.
2. Divide in two pieces. Smaller sections of dough are easier to roll out.
3. Roll out cookie dough. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick.
4. Chill rolled-out cookie dough. Without chilling, these cookie cutter sugar cookies won’t hold their shapes. Chill the rolled-out cookie dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
5. Cut into shapes. Any cookie cutters works.
6. Bake & cool. Depending on size, the cookies take about 11–12 minutes.

Have a little flour nearby when you’re rolling out the cookie dough. Keep your work surface, hands, and rolling pin lightly floured. This is a relatively soft dough.

How Thick Do I Roll Sugar Cookies?

These sugar cookies remain soft because they’re rolled out pretty thick. Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick or just under 1/4 inch thick. Yes, this is on the thicker side and yes, this produces extra thick and soft cookies.

Before I leave you with the recipe, let me suggest some useful sugar cookie tools. These are the exact products I use and trust in my own kitchen:

• Food Coloring
• Piping Tips/Squeeze Bottle
• Piping Bag
• Couplers
• Cookie Cutters

Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

•  Prep Time: 40 minutes
•  Cook Time: 12 minutes
•  Total Time: 3 hours (including chilling)
•  Yield: 24 3-4 inch cookies

Description

With crisp edges, thick centers, and room for lots of decorating icing, I know you’ll love these soft sugar cookies as much as I do. The number of cookies this recipe yields depends on the size of the cookie cutter you use. If you’d like to make dozens of cookies for a large crowd, double the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*

For Decorating

• Royal Icing
• Assorted sprinkles

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until the mixture is light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough should be soft. If it seems too soft and sticky for rolling, beat in 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
3. Divide the dough in half. Place each portion on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4 inch thick.
4. Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough portion, still on the parchment paper, on top of the first. Cover the dough tightly and  refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
6. Carefully remove the top piece of dough from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Gather the scraps, reroll, and continue cutting until all the dough is used. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you reroll.) Repeat with the second piece of dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
7. Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are very lightly browned and set. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
8. Decorate the cooled cookies with royal icing. Feel free to tint the icing with gel food coloring. See post above for recommended decorating tools. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting.

And Lastly enjoy and have fun with it!