The Best Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe! This fool proof sugar cookie recipe is perfect for any holiday! Adorable, delicious and easy to make!
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My Gram’s Cut Out Sugar Cookies are pure nostalgia for me. We’ve made them for every holiday for as long as I can remember and they truly are the most delicious simple cookie!
These cookies have a rich, buttery flavor that goes perfectly with the sweet crunch of the sugar on top. They're soft in the center and crispy on the outside, making for the most delightful texture!
Why you'll love this Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Delicious: They are buttery and sweet! Soft in the center and crispy on the edges.
- Easy to make: You only need 7 ingredients!
- Customizable: Use whatever cookie cutters or sprinkles you like. These cookies are great for any occasion. Perfect for royal icing, classic icing, or sprinkles!
- Stores well: Last for weeks/freeze well! See below for how to store them.
- No chill! (who wants to wait for cookies?!)
Cut Out Cookie Recipe Ingredients
You will only need 7 basic ingredients to make these cut-out sugar cookies.
- salted butter
- white sugar
- egg
- milk
- vanilla extract
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- food coloring (optional)
How to make the dough for Sugar Cut Out Cookies
- In a bowl cream softened butter & sugar.
- Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Add food coloring if using. Stir in flour and baking powder until combined.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough to ¼ - ⅙ inch thickness.
- Use your favorite cut out shapes to cut out the cookies. Use a thin metal spatula to transfer cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles if you like.
- Bake at 400° for 5-8 minutes until browned on edges. Cool on the sheet for 3-4 minutes until firm, then move to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
How to roll out Sugar Cut Out Cookies
Use flour when rolling out the dough. Make sure to flour your work surface and the top of the dough/rolling pin very well when rolling out the cookie dough. Otherwise, the dough will stick/be difficult to transfer the cut out cookies onto a baking sheet.
Roll the dough to ⅙ inch thickness. We love this rolling pin to help control the thickness. You can roll the cookies thicker for softer ones or thinner for crispier ones.
Once you roll the dough/put your cookies on the sheet – gather your scraps, form them into a ball, and re roll.
How to decorate this Cut Out Cookie Recipe
You can decorate these cookies however you'd like. Here are some suggestions
- Food Coloring- You can keep the cookies white and add sprinkles, or color them with food coloring.
- Colored Sugar - We used classic colored sugar on these cookies
- Sprinkles - You can use regular sprinkles on these cookies
- Royal Icing- We don't use royal icing but you can! Here's a link to a royal icing recipe.
- Powdered Sugar Icing: Mix powdered sugar and milk until it's thick. You can dye it with food coloring and use a piping bag (or ziploc bag) to ice. 1 cup of powdered sugar to 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Add more milk until it's thick but only add a TINY bit because it gets thin quickly!
- For the Holidays: Get inspiration from these Easter Cut Out Cookies and St. Patrick's Day Cookies!
Best way to store Cut Out Sugar Cookies
How long do sugar cookies stay fresh? : You can store these cookies for up to a week in an airtight container at room temperature.
Freezing: You can freeze these cookies for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw completely before enjoying.
Freezing Cookie Dough: We don't recommend freezing this cookie dough.
Substitutions for these Cut Out Cookies Recipe:
Cookie Cutters: You can use this recipe with any cookie cutters you like. We use both big and small ones, and this recipe is great for any holiday. Check out these Easter Cookies and St Patrick's Day Cookies. If you don't have cookie cutters, try our Classic Sugar Cookies.
Food Coloring: You could add a few drops of food coloring to this dough to dye it. This is the food coloring we like.
Sprinkles: Use any sprinkles you like on these cookies!
Butter: We always use salted butter when baking. You can sub unsalted butter but it won't be as tasty.
Doubling: This recipe can easily be doubled, but it makes 6 dozen as is - so that's a lot of cookies if you're doubling it!
Gluten Free: We haven't tried making these gluten free, but I think it might work with 1:1 flour. If you try it, let us know.
Butter/Sugar: We can't offer substitutions for butter or sugar for this recipe. I don't recommend swapping with any ingredients.
Tools for Cut Out Sugar Cookies
There are a few tools that will help you to make the best sugar cookies ever!
Rolling Pin I HIGHLY recommend this rolling pin. It has little wheels on the side that allow you to control the thickness of the dough. No guessing or rolling some cookies out too thin or too thick. It's about $20 on Amazon.
Thin Baking Sheets- My gram always bakes cookies on thin sheets. They conduct heat faster! I personally like the thicker ones, but either work
Parchment Paper-I always bake all cookies on parchment paper, while my gram uses greased cookie sheets. It's up to you!
Colored Sugar- Any sprinkles or colored sugar will work with these cookies. This sprinkle brand is our favorite.
Food Coloring - This is the only food coloring we recommend. This recipe doesn't require food coloring but you can dye the dough if you'd like!
Piping Bag (only for icing) If you want to ice the edges of these cookies you can use a piping bag or even a plastic ziploc bag with the corner cut very small.
Sugar Cookie Recipe Cut Out FAQs
Cut out Sugar Cookies and Drop Sugar Cookies are very different. Cut out sugar cookies are rolled out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Drop sugar cookies are scooped, rolled, and baked for a circle-shaped cookie.
The best thickness for cutout cookies will depend on the recipe. ¼- ⅙ inch is usually good.
Your cookies can be spreading for a number of reasons. Here are some tips to prevent cookies from spreading: Put cookies on a COOL baking sheet, never put them on a hot baking sheet. Use parchment paper instead of a greased baking sheet. Sometimes the grease on the sheet can make them spread more! Chill your dough- You can put your dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour before rolling to prevent your cookies from spreading.
No, you don't need to refrigerate cut out cookies before baking! If you are having a problem with them spreading too much, you can though.
A sugar cookie is typically sweeter and softer while shortbread cookies are drier and crumbly.
Other delicious cookie recipes:
- Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies
- Spritz Cookies
- Lemon Cool Whip Cookies
- Lemon Drop Cookies
- Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Raspberry Linzer Cookies
Sugar Cookie Cut Out Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter softened (2 sticks)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 4 drops food coloring optional - may need more
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 and prepare a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.
- In a bowl cream softened butter & sugar.
- Add egg, milk and vanilla extract. Add food coloring if using.
- Stir in flour and baking powder until combined.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough to ¼ - ⅙ inch thickness. We recommend this rolling pin for perfectly rolled cookies.
- Use your favorite cut out shapes to cut out the cookies. Use a thin metal spatula to transfer cookies to a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles if you like.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes until browned on edges
- Cookie Baking Tip: Add a piece of scrap dough to your cookie sheet. You can lift this scrap piece to check if the bottom of your cookies is golden brown rather than damaging one of your perfect cut out cookies!
- Cool the cookies on a sheet for 3-4 minutes until they’re firm, then move to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks for freshness!
- Note: Once you roll the dough/put your cookies on the sheet - gather your scraps, form into a ball and re roll. Don’t waste!
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