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
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 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!).
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.
- 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.
1,333 Comments on “Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER”
Works well with bobs red mill gluten free 1 to 1 mix!
How many cookies on average can you get from this recipe?
I’d love to try this recipe this Christmas Eve but I don’t have a mixer. Will it still be successful if I hand mix with a wooden spoon?
I don’t usually leave reviews but I had to for these. I followed the ingredients to a T, even let my 4 year old help, we used cookie cutters and cut them thick. They baked perfectly in exactly 8 minutes. They tasted like and had the same texture and softness as a bakery cookie. They rose beautifully straight up (and not spread out and rounded like some doughs). I can’t rave about these enough. I shared the recipe with my friends and family. Well done!
Absolutely the best sugar cookie recipe to make! No chill time makes this incredibly quick and easy recipe.
The taste and texture of the cookie is great. Mine spread into blobs though. 🙁 I don’t know how I messed up. Maybe my scale is off? I measured the flour out to exactly 360 grams. I didn’t measure cups since I was weighing it. I should have known the dough was a little too soft. I’m going to try again tomorrow. Sigh!
I tried again today and measured out my flour this time to 3c. I weighed it as well and it was 432g. Maybe my flour is just heavier. Not sure. Either way the dough was more like play dough this time and the cookies didn’t spread when baked. Woohoo!
Hi Katrina,
This is my third attempt at trying to contact you to clarify the measurements. You seem to be responding to everyone else’s questions but mine. I’m a bit perplexed and disappointed. I had sent two inquires about the measurements…”The cups to grams do not convert properly according to my research on google. Please confirm the conversions (ie. 1 cup sugar = 175 gms; 3 cups flour = 427.5 gms)”. I am an avid baker so I do know what I am doing and therefore am reluctant to try this recipe. Did you have a chance to review yet? I was hoping on making these this coming weekend but am unsure since the conversions don’t seem to make sense. Please correct me if I am misunderstanding something.
Thank you.
The ingredients list above shows the 3 cups of flour to be 360 grams. That somewhat aligns to an internet search which shows 1 cup at at 130 grams, likely making it Play-dough consistency.
I use the King Arthur conversion chart for all purpose flour https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
Hi Katrina,
This is my third attempt at trying to contact you to clarify the measurements. You seem to be responding to everyone else’s questions but mine. I’m a bit perplexed and disappointed. I had sent two inquires about the measurements…”The cups to grams do not convert properly according to my research on google. Please confirm the conversions (ie. 1 cup sugar = 175 gms; 3 cups flour = 427.5 gms)”. I am an avid baker so I do know what I am doing and therefore am reluctant to try this recipe. Did you have a chance to review yet? I was hoping on making these this coming weekend but am unsure since the conversions don’t seem to make sense. Please correct me if I am misunderstanding something.
Thank you.
I don’t have any other comments from you. I use the King Arthur Flour conversion chart https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
Hi Lidia, measurements are a bit confusing as they can vary slightly online. Are u Australia or UK? Our cup/spoon sizes are slightly larger than in the US which is why your Google search may have come up with a different conversion. Also, using our measuring spoons for liquid ingredients may then require more flour than stated.
I’m going to try the recipe by weight, but will keep your experience of more flour working better in mind.
I made two batches of these cookies this year and both came out perfect! By far the easiest dough I have ever worked with 🙂 Thanks for an awesome recipe I can use with my grandkids
Just made this according to direction and the cookies came out perfect! Cooked nicely right at 8 mins, and the taste is great! Love this recipe, will always use now!!!
Why can’t the dough be chilled?
For some reason my dough was very dry and broke easily. I followed the ingredients to a tea. The cookies still tasted good but somehow seemed a little dry to me. I love that when my girls painted them with food coloring and evaporated milk that they kept their shape!
these are absolutely, without a doubt, the best recipe that works for me every time without any stress. thank you!
We just tried this cookie recipe and LOVE it! It is very delicate dough. We have medium/ small cookie cutters and tried baking for 8 and 10 min, we decided the 10 min bake time we like better. the cookies are not too sweet for our liking and are perfectly soft. We will definitely be using this cookie recipe in the future.
Soooo I had a stroke in May of this year. I have a family of 3 babies under 5 and I wanted to be able to bake cookies with them but directions and measurements are hard for me. I tried this recipe today on my own and it was a total success! So easy, the cookies came out perfect, and I am sure I can do it with the kids. Thank you!!
This makes me impossibly happy! Thank you and well wishes to you!
Thank you, Katrina! This dough is all that you say. Easy to manipulate, cutout shapes retain them, And, they don’t spread!
Delicious, too.
Oof, this was a struggle. I try not to be negative on reviews, but unfortunately this recipe failed me. As I was rolling the dough out, it kept ripping and tearing. From my research it was due to too much flour, and to add more butter/sugar to offset. I had to do this 4 times to get the dough to even be workable. I am going to try the recipe again to see if the dough produces the same results.
Hmm. Definitely something went wrong here! Did you weigh your flour? I’m guessing that there was too much initially. This dough should roll like PlayDoh consistency. Good luck and thanks for touching base.
These were absolutely delicious!!! I will definitely make this my go to sugar cookie recipe. Thank you so much for the recipe.
How long do they last after I have made them. Room temp or fridge?
Can I bake them 2 weeks in advance and stick them in a container at room temp?
That should work out.
exelente recipe, how I change the recipe for chocolate cookies? thanks!
You can find my chocolate cookie here https://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/best-chocolate-cut-out-cookie/
Love this recipe. It’s all I use now.
Anyone that may have a crumbly dough, try beating your butter first then add the sugar.
Thank you!
How long do these cookies stay good for after baking and decorating?
If they are frosted I would consume them within 1 week.
Although easy to make I found they had zero flavor and left a chalky texture in mouth.
Best sugar cookie recipe, it’s the fist time I do this recipe ,they came out wonderful .
Thank you so much for sharing the sugar cookies recipes. It was my first time baking cookies . They came out perfect, myself and my children loved them.
This is literally THE best sugar cookie recipe. I used it last year and this year but for some reason this year it tastes tangy…I don’t know why. I haven’t done anything different and my ingredients are fresh. What could I be doing wrong?
Try buying new baking powder and/or extract?
Hi Katrina,
I had sent an inquiry about the measurements…”The cups to grams do not convert properly according to my research on google. Please confirm the conversions (ie. 1 cup sugar = 175 gms; 3 cups flour = 427.5 gms)”. Did you have a chance to review yet? I was hoping on making these this coming weekend but am unsure since the conversions don’t seem to make sense. Please correct me if I am misunderstanding something.
Thank you.
Thanks for the suggestion but do I decorate with sugars before or after baking? Many thanks.
Hi Rosemary! You should decorate with frosting after baking, otherwise the colors can fade and the icing can melt. 🙂
This is the first recipe I’ve made that didn’t spread or over poof the cookies turned out perfect! I cooked a batch right away and then refrigerated the rest of dough and cooked the rest 2 days later . Both made perfect shaped cookies 😊❤️
I love this recipe so much! Use it every year…thank you for posting it! Can I double it? Or should I just do two batches one at a time?
I have doubled it with no problems, but I have a large mixer that can handle it without overheating. Keep that in mind!
These did not turn out well for me. They are far to soft, and have very little flavor. They’re more like a biscuit.
What do you do if you don’t want frosting — just colored sugars?
You could color the dough, use sugars, or glaze and top with sprinkles.
Hi Katrina,
The cups to grams do not convert properly according to my research on google. Please confirm the conversions (ie. 1 cup sugar = 175 gms; 3 cups flour = 427.5 gms)
Thank you.
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/
Hello! I hope this conversion site helps you ~ Allrecipes.com
Best sugar cookies ever. They sure were. Easy to prepare and no waiting as we didn’t have to
Chill the dough. Great consistency and my granddaughter was able to use cookie cutters easily. I didn’t use a beater just mixed by hand. Easy. Thank you.
Awesome! I’m impressed that you mixed the dough by hand!
Thanks for the recipe, looks so good! Can I make this with a electric hand mixer? First attempt at sugar cookies 🙂 TIA
The cookie dough didn’t come together for me; it resembled sand, and despite every trick I knew to correct this problem nothing worked. I had even read through the recipe several times before attempting, incorporated all of the various recommendations for success, and reviewed the many great bakers’ comments. However, that said, the dough was very forgiving, and although not my best cutout cookie effort, they did turn out edible enough (frosting fixes almost everything!). I will not be making these cookies again, and will return to my traditional “chilled dough” recipe. I’m just grateful in the end I didn’t have to discard them. That would have been a costly (time and money) disappointment. So sorry, wish I could give this recipe more love!
Just tried this recipe! Great success. Clean cut out lines, delicious and so very soft. Definitely a keeper for the recipe book. I LOVE that there is no need to wait for dough to chill, and it uses cold butter so I don’t need to have anything ready beforehand. Great recipe! 5 stars for sure.
Amazing recipe! I sifted the flour and then slowly added until it was perfect consistency. Rolled out and just used a lid to do standard round cookies. They were PERFECT! My 5 year old and I ate about 5 😬😬 but unfrosted and still warm. Held shape amazingly
Terrfic Sugar Cookie recipe! I personally would add a tad less sugar, as these cookies are very sweet, but the best Sugar Cookie I ever made!
Help my first time making the cookies gluten free for the grandkids. I used almond flour and OMG I had to keep adding more and more flour. The almond flour says it’s Equal to regular flour but jus t didn’t tool out as expected. The taste and texture is differently not the same. Does anyone know of the coconut flour would have been a better choice?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Grandma Mary
I’m not really sure but this might help
One suggested conversion when using almond flour as a substitute: 1:2 ratio (i.e. ¾ cup all-purpose flour = 1 ½ cups almond flour)
Hope it works out better next time! 😊
(I have never used almond flour in any recipe, so I’m not sure if this will help. I hope it does)
I have made these cookies every year gluten free using King Arthur’s gluten free flour and they come out amazing every time! Hope that helps
Thanks Maddison I decided to spend the extra money and bought Gluten Free flour , not sure why I used the almond flour 😩 but the husband ate way too many so guess they were not that bad?
Would I still use 1 egg if I were to half the recipe?
I found a possible way to help
You can break the egg, whisk it and weight it. Then take out half of the egg. Another way is after whisking it you can take out 1 1/2 table spoons which is supposed to equal to half. I am not sure if these will work since I have never tried. I hope your cookies turn out great 😊
Hi Katrina,
Can the cookie dough be frozen? I’m trying to prep my Christmas cookie baking in advance and getting my batters ready.
Does this cookie dough recipe work well in a cookie press?
thanks for the awesome recipes. can hardly wait to try! have a safe and happy holiday! elizabeth from Kitchener ON
This looks delicious but how many cookies would this make. I am making some for a party and I need to know how many batches I need to make. Thank you!
The recipe yields 2-3 dozen cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
I’ve used this recipe for years and it is so nice! It almost reminds me of shortbread cookies except they stay together and are a little sweeter. It’s hard to not eat the raw dough it’s THAT good.
Delicious recipe. I would say near perfect!! This now the only sugar cookie recipe I am making. I received lots of compliments on the cookies I made!
My family, relatives, friends, neighbors all love my cookies I make with this recipe. It is now my only one I use. We recently came to have gluten intolerance in our family and our omitting refined sugar as well. I am trying this recipe to his recipe for my family with Cup for Cup flour and Swerve granular sugar. I will comment back on how they come out. I also am using Swerve confectioners sugar for the frosting. If I could give more than 5 stars I definitely would!
This really is SUCH a good recipe! I was able to make 40 perfect Christmas cookies so fast and easy.
Hi Katrina,
I’m confused on the amount of flour needed. I googled how many cups is 360 gms and got just under 1 1/2 cups. 3 cups is 750 gms. 1 cup of butter is 250 gms and 1 cup sugar is 250 gms. The conversions are so different between the grams and cups. Can you please clarify? Also, I had an older recipe of yours that I did a screen shot of and it did not include the salt. Can it be omitted or is it beneficial to add it?
I use the King Arthur Flour conversion chart for cups to grams measurements. There are differences between different kinds of flour. 1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 grams. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
If using salted butter you can omit the salt in this cookie recipe. I have found that it is preferable (at least to me) to use sweet cream butter and then to measure it the salt. I hope that helps!
Unfortunately mine came out crumbly so I must’ve done something wrong. Should you melt the butter before mixing it with the sugar? I did, is that maybe my problem? Would love any other suggestions. I tried the water and more flour but somehow it kept getting worse…I think I might’ve overworked it by the third or fourth attempt at rolling it out.
This recipe does not call for melted butter–unfortunately that might be where the problem started? Possibly also too much flour?
Just made these cookies for the holidays. A much better recipe than what I had before. Easy, great tasting and the kids liked the better. I will definitely put this in my go to cookbook. Thank you