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.
2,091 Comments on “Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER”
My kiddos and I wanted to try a different sugar cookie cutout recipe this year instead of our tried and true… 😬😬😬 Not doing that again… All dry ingredients were weighed, wasn’t over mixed, etc – this recipe is dry. I let my kids play with the “sand” while I scrambled to regather the ingredients thinking maybe it was just me. Definitely not- was at least able to get it to bind by adding a second egg. I don’t have high hopes for taste at this point- I just needed to do something for the sake of Christmas eve traditions. Recipe as written needs more wet ingredients- literal sand without adding a second egg.
There is DEFINITELY not enough wet ingredients in this recipe… I had to add water to the dough as I was rolling it out because it was so crumbly. They taste pretty good, but They ce out so dry. I definitely recommend using 2 eggs instead of 1. I might try this recipe again with some modifications as I like that I don’t have to chill the dough, but I wouldn’t recommend following it as is.
I used 2 Cups of flour instead of 3 … it turned out perfectly.
My dough came out perfect. I used the tips noted in the recipe and it was fabulous to roll and cut. I did bake mine a couple of extra minutes. I rolled mine pretty thick though.
I followed every step and these cookies turned out perfect. My daughter and I had a blast cutting out the shapes. Great recipe!
Hi Ashley. I’m trying to roll out my dough and very hard to ans crumble. the extra egg worked for this problem?
These are wonderful…came out perfect. Very similar to recipes I’ve used in the past but I’ve always had to refrigerate the dough. I was a bit skeptical as the dough seemed like it would be too sticky but it wasn’t & I did not need to add extra flour to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.
made these for Christmas with my kids it was easy and tasty. I’ll be using again for sure😍
I followed all recommendations, exactly. I used a digital scale, my butter and eggs were perfect temp, and my oven and scale are calibrated perfectly. I dough was very wet I guess, like the consistency of chocolate chip cookie dough. I incorporated much more flour when rolling out the cookies. I think it would have been better to measure out the flour.
I did double the recipe because my cutters are bigger and I also like my sugar cookies on the thicker side. I would recommend reducing the butter if doing that, mine are waayy too buttery.
The cookies did poof quite a bit. They taste good though!
OMG!!! So easy to make!!! I’ve been making cut-out cookies for way too many years. This recipe was easy to assemble and cutting the cookies was a breeze!! My new “Christmas cutout cookie favorite!
This recipe is amazing!!!! I made them with my three and almost two year old and they were able to make shapes out of the cookie dough no problem. I used butter instead of shortening for the frosting and it was perfect! I never thought to add almond extract to the frosting, but it definitely took it to the next level! This will be my go-to sugar cookie from now on!
This is an EXCELLENT rolled sugar cookie recipe! I loved that I didn’t have to chill the dough. I weighed my ingredients because I have a scale that I use for bread making. The dough was perfect! Thank you for this delicious recipe! I won’t go back to any other…why mess with perfection!
First time sugar cookie maker here and I thought the dough was perfect. It’s thick for a handheld mixer but I just mixed the last bit of flour by hand. Don’t give up if it’s a little crumbly (and definitely be careful with your flour measurement) but if you follow her directions, it’s a great dough!
I’m not sure why there are bad reviews here, possibly people who don’t bake often? I mean I am no baker, in fact I usually only make cookies from scratch around the holidays, but this recipe is a go to. I’ve used it two years in a row. I follow it exactly as stated. The dough is a little crumbly after you’re done mixing and then you wet your hands and work it by hand. You don’t want a super wet dough for sugar cookies or your cookie cutters will stick. We have perfect sugar cookies following this recipe, the cookies hold their shape when baked and taste delicious with or without icing but we decorate ours! Highly recommend.
Could you let us know how to prepare the baking sheet? Got to the end of the recipe and now I have to look at someone elses to figure out how to do this
I have used this same recipe for several years and the cookies turn out perfect every time! If the dough is too crumbly in your mixer, combine with your hands and it comes together fine. My kids love making these cookies!
The dough was beautiful and silky and very easy to roll and cut. I didn’t need as much as the recipe gave me and I’m hoping that I can freeze the leftover dough without problems! Really lovely recipe. I used the weighted measurements as opposed to cups and 1 egg. It was perfect coming out of the mixer and like I said was like silk and rolled out perfectly!
This is so good. This year, I experimented with another recipe. Nope. I’m back. People who say, “it’s crumbly and dry,” have not finished working the dough. It’s truly a beautiful and silky recipe, but it takes some kneading to get the dough to come together. But it’s so worth it.
And do the 1/2 inch thickness. It feels wrong if you’re used to making a recipe that blows up in the oven, but this one won’t do that to you, and the thick cut cookies are so satisfying to eat later with coffee or milk.
Easiest Recipe for a first time homemade cookie maker!!!! Thank you❤️🎄🤍🎅🏼
making these as we speak, they look so good. the mixture was the perfect texture! I reduced the recipe as I’m only cooking for myself but it still worked out amazing! can’t wait to ice these. thank you Katrina and happy holidays!! 🎄 🙂
My daughter and I made these yesterday and we only had salted butter. It added great flavor! These tasted like shortbread cookies and they were super easy & stayed in their shape. We’ll use this again next year!
I used very soft but not melted butter and substituted baking powder with 1/4 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 tsp of vinegar for each teaspoon the recipe required and my cookies came out AMAZING. The dough was not crumbly at all and extremely easy to work with. They didn’t spread at all and tasted fantastic!
This has been my go-to Christmas sugar cookie recipe for probably over 5 years. They’re soft, deliciously tasty, and the fact that you don’t have to refrigerate is the best! People request these from me every year!
These worked perfectly! What an awesome new recipe to try with my toddler. No chilling made it easy to keep his attention. No issue whatsoever and the cookies taste great!
These came out perfect!! Thank you for making Christmas Eve special for our family!
By far, 100% the BEST sugar cookie recipe. I follow it exactly and it comes out PERFECT year after year. The flavor is AWESOME- the almond flavor is perfect. These things disappear SO FAST- I now double & triple the recipe. I leave 1/3 of them without icing because they are so tasty alone. I think this is my 5th year making them. Love love!
This was an amazingly simple recipe turned out amazing!
Easy and actually has good flavor
very good recipe. Easy to work with the dough and are scrumptious!
I have a family gathering after a four hour car ride; Ive teeter to bring pre-made dough. I usually use your recipe but not sure what you would recommend in terms of make ahead since this is a “no chill” recipe?
needs 2 eggs. not enough with one to bind together and hold structure
Hey Ash, if you’re willing to try the recipe again…try using less flour. Depending on climate, humidity, etc where you live and if you didn’t use a large egg and 1.5 tsp of extract…all that can effect how the dough comes together. I definitely recommend getting a food scale and take note of how many grams is perfect in your area. You can definitely use 2 eggs…may just need to increase flour. Best of luck in finding a good balance of ingredients. ☺
Hi Ashley. I’m trying to roll out my dough and very hard to ans crumble. the extra egg worked for this problem?
Extremely crumbly dough. It was very hard to work with. The end results were fine. It tasted like a sandy sugar cookie. I’m sure it’ll be fine with frosting but will not be using this one again.
Every time we had a question about the recipe while making it, your recipe foresaw that and answered it. This was the most straightforward recipe ever, thank you <3
My kids and I just made these. They are easy and tasty! They also look great! The tips are very helpful.
any change for high altitude?
I love this recipe! I have tried so many different sugar cookie recipes to make shapes out of but they never turned out right. They always grew too much and looked like blobs. These have turned out beautiful and my kids are so excited to share them with Santa. Thank you!
This is my go to sugar cookie recipe for cut-outs. Easy and absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Made these with my daughter for Christmas so simple and it was so nice not to have to chill or do anything complicated the dough was so easy to work with and roll.. this is our new go to sugar cookie recipe!!
This recipe did not work at all the dough was way to crumbly and dry?
Just made these. They are delicious and I love the almond extract in them. They baked beautifully. The dough was crumbly at first but mixed for an extra minute as suggested and they were perfect ! Now on to the frosting.
This was the best cookie recipe! This will definitely be my go to recipe for sugar cookies! I love the almond flavor.
Great Christmas cookie recipe!
I did the mixing by hand, because I don’t have a food processor. It was a little difficult and had me a little bit nervous, but once I did the rolling, cutting and baking; they came out perfect in shape and taste. I did bake them 10-15mn, because I like my cookies crisp. The taste was wonderful and buttery. I used whole wheat pastry flour.
Followed directions as written and the cookies came out great. Dough was easy to work with and cookies had tons of flavor.
made two batches before we found a different recipe. super crumbly and hard to work with. wouldn’t recommend sorry ..
These are THE best sugar cookies. I’ve been making this recipe for almost 6 years now and I’ll never stop. So good! Definitely bake them thicker as they get the perfect softness in the middle.
This dough was easy enough for my little ones to work with. Thank you for a sugar cookie recipe that I don’t dread having to make!
I’ve made these twice with my two year old grandson and they are wonderful! He loves to help with every step. We used only vanilla extract and needed to pat dough with water to stick together. Thanks for the suggestions. I’m hoping this cookie making time will continue to be our tradition! Fun and tasty! ( the cookies don’t make it to the icing stage..maybe one day he will wait to eat them!)
Great recipe!
I don’t have a food processor, so it was difficult to mix the butter and sugar, than add the flour mixture, by hand. Other than that, my cookies turned out great, against all odds. I would recommend baking longer, 10-15mn, rather than 6-8mn. My first batch came out soft. I was using 3″ wide cookie cutters. Than I used 2″ wide cookie cutters and baked 10-15mn. They came out crisp and buttery.
Thank you for a great recipe.
I followed this recipe exactly and my dough was just a dusty crumbly mess. There was no ability to knead it together because it was not wet enough. I added around a cup of water and was able to make it work well. These cookies are definitely more sugar biscuit like and I had to add about 6 more minutes of cooking time but they are tasty and I didn’t have to refrigerate the dough.
If you are questioning making these, do it! This recipe has been my go to for a few years now ever since I tried it. If you follow the instructions they come out perfect and have a great taste! Seriously the best and easiest without having to refrigerate.