The Best Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe Ever! This recipe is a no-chill dough. It’s soft, tender, and moist even after a couple of days.
It’s a pretty strong statement I’m making here, But I’ve had my fair share of testing recipes over the years, and I can truly tell you this is it. This is the one!
I didn’t grow up with the classic Christmas memories of decorating cookies with my grandma or my mom and having generational recipes given to me. It was truly a trial and error over the many years of my baking experience. But I love decorating sugar cookies, my children love decorating them and we all just simply enjoy eating them.
Fun Fact: A person eats about 300 cookies a year!! That’s a whole lot! Better double this recipe!
This sugar cut out cookie recipe is soft, tender, and moist. It’s an easy sugar cookie recipe that uses only butter and egg yolks! It’s perfectly sweetened so it pairs well with delicious royal icing, without it being too overwhelmingly sweet.
Why you need to make this Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe
- No Chilling time required. You can make and bake this cookie in under 25 minutes.
- It tastes great with icing, not overly sweet.
- Still delicious after 5 days of sitting out.
- An easy recipe with simple ingredients.
Sugar Cut Out Cookie Ingredients:
- All Purpose Flour: No substitutions have been tested
- Baking Powder: Just a tiny amount will lift the cookies and not make it so dense
- Salt/Vanilla Extract: A must have ingredient for full flavor
- Unsalted Butter: Only real butter please
- Sugar: Lightly Sweetens the cookies
- Egg Yolks: Do not replace the 2 yolks with one whole egg
These classic sugar cookies use just basic ingredients to create the perfect Sugar Cut-out cookie.
How to make the best Sugar cut out cookies:
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer beat the room temperature butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy.
Add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl to make sure the butter is evenly mixed. On low speed add in the dry ingredients and then increase to medium speed. It will not come together like dough instead the consistency will be almost like a shaggy pie crust where you have to knead it to come together.
On a lightly floured surface knead the dough together until it forms a ball. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to 1 /2-inch thickness. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use your favorite cookie cutter and cut out the shapes to create cutout cookies.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake cookies at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. The bake time will vary depending on the size of the cookies and oven. The cookies will not be golden brown they may look even underbaked but pull them out of the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to allow them to fully cool. Continue to roll and cut the remaining dough until finished. Allow the cookies to completely cool before decorating.
Easy Royal Icing:
Add the powdered sugar to your stand mixer. In a small bowl add corn syrup, meringue powder, and clear vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the mixture to the powdered sugar and mix on low for 15 seconds and then medium to high speed for 5 minutes. Slowly adjust the consistency of the royal icing by adding more water. Divide the royal icing into medium-sized bowls and add gel food coloring
Piping Bags:
Cuff the piping bags over a tall cup and pour the royal icing into each bag. I like to divide up the colors into 3 or 4 small bags, so everyone gets their piping bag. You can get technical and add a coupler and a piping tip too if you want to decorate them nicely.
Quick Easy Sugar cut out Decorating:
Outline the sugar cut out cookie first with the color desired.
Fill in the cookie with the royal icing using the tip to spread the icing as you go.
Add sprinkles and have fun!
Storage:
Allow the cookies to fully set and harden on a wire rack before storing or packaging. Store them in a single layer with sheets of parchment paper in between in an airtight container. Cookies will stay moist for up to 4 days at room temperature.
Sugar Cut Out Cookie FAQS:
What can I freeze?
- Royal icing: just let it thaw out in the fridge the night before using. Rewhip in a stand mixer if needed.
- Iced Cookies: Bag the cookies individually and then place them in freezer bags. Just allow the cookies to thaw at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before enjoying.
- Baked Cookies: Arrange baked cookies in a single layer in an airtight container with parchment paper in between each layer
- Frozen Dough: Wrap the sugar cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap. The dough can be 3 months in advance and frozen.
Freezing is a great way to get ahead if you are making a lot of these sugar cut out cookie especially during the busy holiday season.
Cookie dough isn’t coming together what did I do wrong?
This can happen due to too much flour. To get the best results I always recommend measuring with a scale for precision. When using measuring cups, you may end up with too much flour if you inaccurately measure your ingredients. With it being such a busy time of the year, I hate having to remake a batter just because I didn’t measure something correctly. To ensure accurate flour measurement I like to fluff up my flour with a large spoon and then scoop my measuring cup into the flour and with a chopstick or butter knife just level it off. If the flour is too compact you can add too much flour to your ingredients making the dough dry and hard.
Sugar cut out cookie-Is it ready?
The cookies will not brown. The top of the cookies should almost look matte but will still look a little wet. I’ve baked these cookies numerous times and they don’t taste the same when they are baked to golden brown. After 8 minutes of baking time and after the cookies have cooled, if you flip the cookie over the cookie will just lightly and barely be brown. You want it to look this way to ensure they stay moist and buttery.
If you loved this recipe, take a look at my other Christmas cookie recipes:
- Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies
- Buttery Thumbprint Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies
- How to make Linzer Cookies
The Best Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe Ever
Ingredients
Sugar Cut Out Dough
- 10 tbsp Unsalted Butter Room Temp
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Royal Icing:
- 1 LB Confectioner's Sugar
- 3 tbsp Meringue Powder
- 1 tbsp Corn syrup
- 2 tsp Clear vanilla extract
- 4-10 tbsp Water
Instructions
Sugar Cut Out Dough
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer beat the room temperature butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy.
- Add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl to make sure the butter is evenly mixed. On low speed add in the dry ingredients and then increase to medium speed. It will not come together like dough instead the consistency will be almost like a shaggy pie crust where you have to knead it to come together.
- On a lightly floured surface knead the dough together until it forms a ball. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to 1 /2-inch thickness. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use your favorite cookie cutter and cut out the shapes to create cutout cookies.
- Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake cookies at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. The bake time will vary depending on the size of the cookies and oven. The cookies will not be golden brown they may look even underbaked but pull them out of the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to allow them to fully cool. Continue to roll and cut the remaining dough until finished. Allow the cookies to completely cool before decorating.
Royal Icing
- Add the powdered sugar to your stand mixer. In a small bowl add corn syrup, meringue powder, and clear vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the mixture to the powdered sugar and mix on low for 15 seconds and then medium to high speed for 5 minutes. Slowly adjust the consistency of the royal icing by adding more water. Divide the royal icing into medium-sized bowls and add gel food coloring
- Cuff the piping bags over a tall cup and pour the royal icing into each bag. I like to divide up the colors into 3 or 4 small bags, so everyone gets their piping bag. You can get technical and add a coupler and a piping tip too if you want to decorate them nicely.
- Store decorated cookies in a single flat layer in an airtight container. The cookies will stay moist for up to 4 days at room temperature. Individually seal and wrap cookies and freeze for up to 3 months.
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