Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER
This is the BEST sugar cookie recipe– no chilling the dough, cookies keep their shape when baked, soft and flavorful, perfect for decorating.
Every year millions of people print this Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER from In Katrina’s Kitchen. I have been using this recipe for over 25 years, and it has never failed me.
The texture is medium-soft, but you can bake them longer if you prefer a crisp cookie. This cookie is my absolute favorite, and I have spent many years perfecting it for friends and family.
Why is This the BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe?
The dough comes together quickly with simple pantry ingredients.
It does NOT need to be chilled.
The recipe can be doubled easily.
Cookies hold their shape with very little expanding when baked.
Baked cookies freeze well.
The recipe I am giving you makes a large batch of dough because I like to bake many cookies. Also, I like to roll and cut my cookies fairly thick…to hold a lot of frosting.
Incorporating the last cup of flour may look dry and look crumbly. Turn out the dough onto your countertop and work with wet hands and/or more flour until the dough is smooth and ready to roll.
Most asked Q and A about this Recipe
Butter questions
- It is most important to note that the butter does not have to be at room temperature. We do not recommend rock-hard butter but allow the butter to sit on the countertop for 10-15 minutes while you assemble your ingredients.
- If you can press your finger into the butter and you can easily make a deep indent then the butter is too soft.
- You should be able to press the butter and make a small fingerprint.
- A tip for mixing butter is to cut it into cubes (or just small pats) before creaming with the sugar.
The dough is sticky and/or crumbly. What can I do?
- The final dough really comes together and has a texture close to Play-Doh. Wet your hands if you need to. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Don’t be afraid to use more flour and incorporate it in while you are “kneading” it into a smooth ball.
- Forget everything you know about sugar cookie dough. Don’t be afraid of sprinkling more flour as you roll it out. Use the scraps! Mix them back into the unused dough and keep going.
Can I chill the dough? I want to chill the dough. Actually, I need to make these 3 days in advance, is that okay?
- If you need to make the dough in advance, you can chill it. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator.
- Bring the dough to room temperature before rolling and cutting. You may need to use more flour on the countertop.
The cookies look under-baked. Can I bake them longer?
- I almost always suggest pulling out these cookies and the 8-9 minute mark for large cookie cutters, and 6-8 minutes for small cookie cutters. They will continue baking on the cookie sheet for a few minutes while they cool and set.
- After cooling for about 5 minutes, I use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.
Can I omit the almond extract?
- You can omit the almond extract.
- If not using almond extract, replace it with an equal amount of pure vanilla extract.
- You can use any of your favorite flavorings in this cookie. I have used peppermint, maple, and lemon with great success.
How Do I Make these Cookies Gluten-Free?
- To make these the best gluten-free Sugar Cookie, swap out the flour for your favorite gluten-free 1:1 flour.
- I use King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure Flour
What is your favorite Christmas Cookie Frosting Recipe?
- I’m happy you asked! I like a soft, sweet frosting. Here is my favorite Christmas Cookie Frosting.
- Click here for my Small Batch Royal Icing recipe (it dries smooth and hard and is perfect for holding together gingerbread houses, too!).
- You could also try our Three Ingredient Chocolate Glaze
I hope you love this Best Sugar Cookie recipe as much as our family does! Merry Christmas!
Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup unsalted butter, 226 grams
- 1 Cup granulated white sugar, 200 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour, 360 grams
Instructions
- PREHEAT oven to 350° F.
- In the bowl of your mixer, CREAM butter and sugar until smooth, at least 3 minutes
- BEAT in extracts and egg. (PLEASE NOTE there is 1 egg in this recipe.)
- In a separate bowl, COMBINE baking powder and salt with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: If the dough looks crumbly keep mixing for 30 seconds to 1 minute longer. The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the mixer.
- If the dough still looks too dry or stiff for your mixer, turn out the dough onto a countertop surface, flour surface as needed. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
- DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches (2-3 chunks), roll out onto a floured surface, and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
- Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Troubleshooting Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
Scooping and dumping your flour may be the problem! Even with level scooping measurements can vary. Try getting a digital kitchen scale and adding your ingredients by weight.
If your cookies seem to consistently need a longer or shorter baking time consider calibrating your oven with an oven thermometer.
Bake with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Invest in a small metal cookie spatula to transfer cookies.
If left on the counter top for about an hour your butter should be the right consistency- a finger pressed onto the butter will make a slight indent but not sink down into it. (Read more about room temperature butter in this post about XL Bakery Style Cookies.)
Whenever a recipe calls for room temperature butter you should use room temperature eggs. To take the chill off of eggs I place them in a shallow bowl of warm (not hot) water for 2-3 minutes. You can then crack them for use in your recipe.
Looking for more Christmas Cookies?
Try my Christmas Cookie archive for some of the most adorable and delicious Christmas cookies.
Some of my favorites are Grinch Cookies and Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookie Bars.
For something different, try Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies.
2,506 Comments on “Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER”
So I checked to make sure I had the ingredients but didn’t read further to see where it said do not chill. What can I do if I do need to chill the dough?
This recipe looks great !! A couple of questions, for the softer frosting (not the icing) does it harden? Could you stack your cookies with the fluffier frosting?
Also – lots of people are saying weigh your flour. I don’t have a way to weigh it, is it fine to just use the cup measurements? Thank you!
Yes, you can attach the softer frosting. It is a crisping buttercream. You can use the recipe as written in cups. Do not pack the flour in. Thanks!
Question? I live at high altitude is there any adjustments that need to be made? Thank you and can’t wait to try this recipe with my granddaughter’s!
I do not have experience baking at high altitude so I cannot speak to that.
I’m at 6200ft and use this recipe with good results. I weigh my flour heavy (5 oz per cup) and just use slightly scant spoons of the baking powder.
Worse dough ever !
I’m sorry that something went wrong.
A tablespoon of whole cream holds the dough together nicely and allows for better rolling. Happy cookie baking !
I’ve made these 4 times in 2 weeks. This is the Best Cutout sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever made. No chill, holds it shape and tastes delicious!
I read a lot of the comments and I’d just like to say, weigh your flour.
Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe.
The best by far!
Will these Tuen out with salted butter????
Yes! Whenever I use salted butter in a recipe I just simply omit the salt.
This has been my go to Sugar Cookie recipe since I came across it a couple of years ago.
followed the recipe to a T but they expanded and rose significantly which distorted their shape.
I’m sorry that something went wrong!
Just made these for the first time today and wow! They were incredible! Used your frosting recipe as well and these are seriously the best sugar cookies ever. They were so fun to decorate too! Thank you so much for sharing these recipes!
For everyone who’s finding the cookie dough too crumbly, it could be because cup measurements differ in different countries. Here in Australia, 360g of flour is barely 2.5 cups.
I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s turned out great, but using the weight measurements instead of cups.
I see you updated this recently and wondering if you made any changes to the recipe amounts. I’ve used this recipe for at least 5 years, but am baking at altitude so small changes could make a big difference and I don’t feel like the dough is ever as dry as you indicate so that part is confusing me.
Thank you for writing. The recipe did not change. I added a few new pictures and answered some common questions in the post. As far as the picture, I purposefully did not turn it enough in my mixer. The dough should pull away from the sides of the mixer before removing it. I seemed to be getting some comments saying that the dough was too dry, so I offered a solution/explanation. If the dough stays in the mixer for just an extra 30 seconds I honestly think these problems would go away!
Thank you for your reply! Very helpful and good to know. I too pretty much just let this go in the mixer until it comes together and then I make a few balls and throw into a gallon Ziploc to keep moist while I roll. I live in Colorado where dough dries out quickly. It works great at altitude, btw. I weigh my flour heavy (5 oz per cup) and just use slightly scant spoons of the baking powder.
I have made these cookies MANY times & every single time, they come out absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Thank you so MUCH Katrina for. sharing this wonderful recipe! They are really so easy if you follow the recipe.
I have a question about this recipe… I was super inspired by one of the more recent Mandalorian episodes to make some yummy blue space cookies, so how does putting in safe food coloring affect the recipe?
I would put it in when you add the egg and vanilla. You will get the most vibrant results with food coloring gel rather than liquid. You can see an example of the dyed cookie dough here https://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/patchwork-winter-mitten-cookies/
Made this recipe for the first time! Love that you don’t have to wait for them to chill in the fridge. Easy to roll and very tasty.
The recipe says don’t chill! Soooo why would you all chill! She said you could do it but if a recipe is normally a no chill – and you need one that is, skip this one. Man oh man you ladies are some thing else.
Absolutely horrible! This recipe produces the driest cookies, I swear. I added an excess amount of oil and the cookies are still crumbly. Very disappointing.
If you had added a bit more milk they would have worked out. They are the best sugar cookies ever done properly. I searched far and wide for these as I remember from childhood.
I’m curious why you added oil? The recipe doesn’t call for it. It also says to weigh your flour.
This is the best recipe if done correctly.
These were delicious! My children and myself had such a good time baking and decorating!
No!!! do not chill!! Big mess as another reviewer said “ like corn meal” and not going back together. Would ve been ok without chilling but I believed you.. very disappointing. Thankfully I have time to make more dough before grandkids show up . I think I’ll use another recipe😡
I’m sorry that something went wrong.
Why would you chill the dough when it says not to?
Seems like you didn’t do what the directions told you to and the cookies didn’t turn out.
No need to give a 1 star because you can’t follow directions.
How long will they keep ?
Going to try recipe today.
Just tried this recipe this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. They keep there shape, taste great and are perfectly soft. So good! Thank you the the recipe!
I’ve never made sugar cookies. Tried today first time and absolutely loved them. Thank you for the recipe.
I’ve had a Pinterest account for YEARS and never take the time to do a rating. These cookies (and frosting) are PERFECT. I ran into absolutely no issues making these. Came out so perfect. Hands down one of the best cookies I’ve ever had. And I’m not a frosting/sugar cookie person. I’m having trouble staying away from these- they’re THAT good!
I made these for the first time last week absolutely awesome recipe. The cookies hold up and they are delicious
I’ve never made sugar cookie and this year plan to use this recipe to make gifts for my family. How many days in advance can I bake the cookies? (I’m a nhs worker so will be working all over Christmas) also how do you freeze and defrost them please?
These turned out amazing and tasted great! I was highly surprised of the cookie because this was my first time. But, they turned out great.
Hi, I am new to baking cookies, so when you say “wet your hands”, do you mean with water? I’m confused.
I was frustrated at first but eventually got the dough to work. The taste is really good. It’s likely operator error on my part. Will make this again.
Can you use powdered sugar
I don’t understand all the positive reviews. This was super crumbly, even after adding the flour mixture a bit at a time. And even with super-sweet frosting, the cookies tasted “meh”. Chilled dough works so much better. Will not try again.
Omg, this is the best recipe!!! So easy to roll! Love them!!!!
This was absolutely the worst sugar cookies I have ever tried to make. I’ve been baking for 45 years these were like cornmeal even after mixing for 30 minutes. There’s too much flour in these cookies. After trying to make these cookies I was afraid to try to do the Sugar cookie icing. I would not recommend this.
I’m sorry that something went wrong. I have never mixed a cookie for 30 minutes!
These cookies are by far my most favorite cookie. I have made them 3 years now. Turn out beautiful with buttercream or royal icing tho with royal I bake an extra 2 minutes so won’t get too soft.
THE best Sugar Cookie recipe that I have come across!
I followed the exact recipe, (room temp butter and eggs) and even easily doubled this recipe.
Make sure to cream the butter and sugar for the 3 min.
Dough was mixed in my Kitchenaid stand mixer with no problem and when it came out to rolling it, it was like smooth Play Dough.
This will now be my “go to” recipe for all cut-out cookies!
Although these were easy to make, they held their shape, easy to roll and look great. The taste was just not there. They were very bland.
Love, love, LOVE this recipe!! Perfectly shaped every time.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It is GOLD. My niece told me that she doesn’t normally like sugar cookies, but she really likes these ones. My son loves that we can skip all the waiting that comes along with refrigerating the dough and get right to decorating. They turned out so great and didn’t require me to purchase any extravagant ingredients. I’ll be using this recipe for years to come. Thank you so very much.
This recipe was a disaster. Kneaded it, decided to refrigerate absolutely did not work. Waste of time.
These cookies are fabulous! I read through the entire post and followed the directions and suggestions given. I got 35 cookies from the recipe. The dough was so easy to work with and they baked up nice and soft with just a very slight crunch to the bottom. I made a simple powdered sugar and water glaze and colored it with food coloring and let my 2 year old granddaughter brush it on the cookies with a pastry brush and then add sprinkles to the top. She loved decorating them and we will definitely be using this recipe to make them for other holidays! I also shared this recipe with my sister and sister in law!
I’ve been making this exact recipe for over 5 years and it’s always a winner. The idea of not chilling dough was scary to me but in my experience this has been better the warmer it gets. Thanks for the great recipe!!!
These turned out perfect. They taste amazing. I have made these three different times now and each time with baking them at 8 minutes came out perfect.
Excellent recipe! I searched for a sugar cookie that doesn’t spread out and you have to chill forever. This is the one!! Comes together easily, rolls wonderfully, and tastes great! Also, I never comment on blogs or anything else but this is such a great recipe I felt the need to let you know. Thanks for posting it!
Got excited when I saw this recipes because it said no chilling needed. I looked into the ingredients and method and it is not that different from most cut out sugar cookies but I gave it a try anyway today. First, it was quite hard to cut and lift the cookie when the dough was room temp but I managed. However, it swelled so bad and lost the sharp edge. I rolled and chilled the rest of the dough before cutting it out. It was easier to cut but it still swelled. I think there was too much baking powder here. I could taste it in the cookie.
I had the same experience… I think I will only use 1/2 tsp baking powder next time.
So I actually forgot to add the egg in, and I kept wondering why it was SO crumbly. But then I remembered that she said it would be crumbly and to just wet your fingers. I managed to “roll” out some of it and cut some shapes and bake them, and they turned out fine to be honest. I then went and added a half of an egg to the rest of the dough and it really came together well! Could be made vegan I guess if you needed it. Tastes great
Question: I generally don’t care for any of the Christmas Cookies I’ve baked with my daughter in the past. But we do it anyway because she loves baking and cutting cookies! So I always look for new ideas and recipes. We all like lemon, so I thought of adding that (as your article mentioned it). How would I go about doing that? Replacing the vanilla with the lemon? Or the almond extract?
Made these today and they turned out exactly as you said. Rolled out easily and held their shape and didn’t have to chill the dough. Also, tasted great.
This will be my go to from now on.
I would replace the almond. You could also add some fresh lemon zest.
Hi. If I use salted butter do I still add the salt needed?
I’m using salted butter since it’s what I have and am not going to add the salt. If you ever want to add salt to unsalted but you use 1/4tsp per 1/2cup butter. So…. what this recipe called for is the equivalent. I’m hoping it won’t make a difference! Good luck to you.
Recipe sounds very good, but for simplicity, (good for children who like to cook)—
2 cups flour, 1 stick butter, 1/2 C powdered sugar. You may add flavor as well as color the dough. This makes about 2 dozen cookies. I often double the recipe and use small cutters and get quite a lot. 350 degre3s fir 10 minutes.
I never, ever comment on Pinterest recipes, even when they work because I never have ever time! LOL! But, I have made the exception for these! O. M. G! I’ve searched for YEARS for a good sugar cookie recipe that actually works and doesn’t take hours to prepare. So thankfully I stumbled upon your recipe! My grandson and I made these and had the best time. Normally I can’t let him help me cut them out because they fall apart and can’t stand up to his four year old hands. Lol! These look professional and taste amazing and were so easy to work with. These will be my go-to, no fail Christmas cookies from now on. Thanks for sharing!