How to Make the Best Sugar Cookies
Butter, cream cheese and cream of tartar make soft cut-out sugar cookies that hold their shape, plus a simple royal icing for decorating.
Sugar cookies go wrong in two ways. Either the dough spreads into a shapeless blob in the oven, or the cookies bake up dry and crumbly. This recipe fixes both problems in the mixing bowl.
Cream cheese goes in with the butter, and cream of tartar goes in with the flour. The cream cheese keeps the crumb soft for days. The cream of tartar keeps the cookies from spreading too much, so your stars and snowflakes keep their points.
The dough needs two hours in the fridge, minimum. That wait is the whole trick. Cold dough holds its shape, warm dough puddles. Plan for about 2 hours 42 minutes from start to last cookie, and most of that is chilling.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Cream butter and sugar
Beat the softened butter, sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for about 5 minutes. It should look pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl halfway through.
2. Add eggs and extracts
Beat in the egg, the two yolks, the vanilla and the almond extract until smooth. Scrape the sides again so nothing dry hides at the bottom.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients
Add the salt. Sift the flour, baking powder and cream of tartar into the bowl, fold a little in so it doesn't fly everywhere, then beat on low just until the dough comes together. Stop there. Overmixing makes tough cookies.
4. Chill the dough
Press the dough into a flat disc, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. It keeps up to 3 to 4 days, so you can make it ahead.
5. Heat the oven
Set the oven to 350F (180C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Roll and cut
Let the dough sit out a few minutes to soften slightly. Roll it on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch (6mm) thick. Dip your cutters in flour and cut out shapes. Gather the scraps into a ball, chill them until firm, then re-roll.
7. Chill the shapes
Arrange the cut cookies on the lined sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes. This is what keeps the edges crisp and the shapes sharp.
8. Bake
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just barely start to turn golden. Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
9. Make the royal icing
Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl and stir in the salt. Add the vanilla and pasteurized egg white to one side of the bowl, then whisk the sugar into the liquid from that spot, pulling in more as you go. Working this way keeps lumps out.
10. Color and adjust
Whisk in gel food coloring, dividing the icing into bowls if you want more than one color. At this point it should pipe a border that holds its line. For flooding or dipping, add water a tablespoon at a time until it flows and settles smooth.
11. Decorate
Pipe borders first, let them set a little, then flood the centers. Let the icing dry fully before stacking the cookies.
Tips & Tricks
- Cream the butter, sugar and cream cheese for the full 5 minutes. Stop when the mixture looks pale and fluffy and feels less gritty between your fingers.
- Chill the rolled-out shapes for 20 minutes before they go in the oven. Cold dough spreads less, so the edges stay sharp.
- Pull the cookies when the edges are just barely golden. The centers will still look pale and slightly underdone, and that's correct.
- Re-chill your scraps before re-rolling. Warm scraps make a sticky mess and a tough cookie.
- Cool completely before icing. Even a little warmth will make the icing slide off.
How to Store How to Make the Best Sugar Cookies
Refrigerator
Keep baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. Undecorated cookies stay fresher than iced ones. Raw dough keeps tightly wrapped for 3 to 4 days.
Freezer
Freeze cut shapes on a sheet until solid, then bag them for up to 2 months and bake straight from frozen, adding a minute or two. Baked cookies freeze well too, but ice them after thawing.
Reheating
No reheating needed. If cookies soften from humidity, a few minutes in a 300F oven crisp them back up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why did my sugar cookies spread in the oven?
Warm dough. Either the butter was too soft when you creamed it, or the cut shapes went in without a chill. Twenty minutes in the fridge before baking fixes most of it.
Q: Can I skip the cream of tartar?
You can, but the cookies will spread more and lose some of that faint tang. There's no perfect one-for-one swap, so if you leave it out, chill the dough longer and expect softer edges.
Q: How do I know the cookies are done?
Look at the edges. They should just barely start turning golden, usually at 10 to 12 minutes. The centers will still look pale. If the whole cookie is brown, it's overbaked.
Q: Do I have to chill the dough for the full 2 hours?
Yes, for cut-out shapes. The dough is too soft to roll before that. You can chill it up to 3 or 4 days, so make it the night before if that's easier.
Q: Can I use regular liquid food coloring in the icing?
Gel or paste color works much better. Liquid drops add water, which thins the icing and can keep it from setting cleanly.
Q: Is royal icing safe to eat raw?
This version uses pasteurized egg white, which is treated to be safe uncooked. If you'd rather avoid egg white entirely, use a meringue powder icing instead.
Q: How many cookies does this make?
About 36, depending on the size of your cutters. Small cutters will give you more, large ones fewer. One baker who doubled the batch counted 124 cookies, so size really does swing the number.
Make the dough tonight and bake tomorrow. The chilling does the hard work while you do something else.
Best Sugar Cookies Recipe – Soft Cut-Out Cookies
Butter, cream cheese and cream of tartar make soft cut-out sugar cookies that hold their shape, plus a simple royal icing for decorating.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1Cream butter and sugar — Beat the softened butter, sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for about 5 minutes. It should look pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl halfway through.
- 2Add eggs and extracts — Beat in the egg, the two yolks, the vanilla and the almond extract until smooth. Scrape the sides again so nothing dry hides at the bottom.
- 3Mix in the dry ingredients — Add the salt. Sift the flour, baking powder and cream of tartar into the bowl, fold a little in so it doesn't fly everywhere, then beat on low just until the dough comes together. Stop there. Overmixing makes tough cookies.
- 4Chill the dough — Press the dough into a flat disc, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. It keeps up to 3 to 4 days, so you can make it ahead.
- 5Heat the oven — Set the oven to 350F (180C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 6Roll and cut — Let the dough sit out a few minutes to soften slightly. Roll it on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch (6mm) thick. Dip your cutters in flour and cut out shapes. Gather the scraps into a ball, chill them until firm, then re-roll.
- 7Chill the shapes — Arrange the cut cookies on the lined sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes. This is what keeps the edges crisp and the shapes sharp.
- 8Bake — Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just barely start to turn golden. Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
- 9Make the royal icing — Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl and stir in the salt. Add the vanilla and pasteurized egg white to one side of the bowl, then whisk the sugar into the liquid from that spot, pulling in more as you go. Working this way keeps lumps out.
- 10Color and adjust — Whisk in gel food coloring, dividing the icing into bowls if you want more than one color. At this point it should pipe a border that holds its line. For flooding or dipping, add water a tablespoon at a time until it flows and settles smooth.
- 11Decorate — Pipe borders first, let them set a little, then flood the centers. Let the icing dry fully before stacking the cookies.
Questions or cooking notes?
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