[UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 24, 2016]
I have been fiddling with my sugar cookie dough recipe for the past couple months trying to find the best dough for decorating cookies. Trust me, there was nothing wrong with my old recipe. It is still a great sugar cookie dough, but I wanted to make a dough that kept its shape when baked but wasn’t as hard as a rock (you know what I’m talking about!). All it took was a couple tweaks to my basic sugar cookie recipe to make an even better cookie dough!
So what’s different? Well, there is no baking powder. I hate it when my sugar cookies grow in the oven, completely losing their shape. Even though the old recipe had very little of the leavening agent, they puffed up too much for me. So out it went!
The other change is the addition of powdered sugar. The powdered sugar makes the cookies lighter and smoother. Since I eliminated the leavening agent, I didn’t want the cookies to be so dense. While testing of the recipe, I tried making this dough with ALL powdered sugar, but I missed the texture from the granulated sugar. It was almost too smooth and way too sweet. The resulting recipe is a combination of both granulated and powdered sugars that still has a nice texture and is still relatively soft.
Now that I have all the changes out of the way we can get to making some cookies! I like to mix my butter and sugar together until it’s nice and fluffy. This takes about a minute on a medium high speed in my Kitchen Aid. Then I gently mix in the egg and extracts (my favorite combination is vanilla and almond). Next is the flour, which I mix in one cup at a time, again until it’s barely combined. The less mixing the better.
The tricky part about this recipe is that sometimes I add more or less flour. While 2 1/2 cups is what I used most often, there are times when I only add 2 1/4, or sometimes 2 3/4. Bakers will understand that sometimes you just know how a dough or batter should look or feel. I know what this dough should feel like when it’s perfect. For some of you, that is the worst thing you could hear! But don’t worry, I have an easy way to check the dough! I poke it!
In the first photo, I have only mixed in 1 1/2 cups of flour. See how the dough just sticks right to my finger? Not ready! So I add 1/2 cup more, still sticking to my finger when I gently press it into the dough. I add my last 1/2 cup and try again. It’s perfect! Hardly anything sticks to my finger, but the dough still feels a bit tacky. THAT is what I am going for. If anything were to stick to my finger, I would only add 1/4 cup at a time until I got it right!
Once the dough is formed, I turn it out onto some plastic wrap to wrap it up and put it in the fridge. Its good to let the dough rest and all the flavors to meld, but sometimes I don’t have that kind of time. Because this dough is pretty stiff, it can be rolled out immediately and does not need to be chilled first.
Speaking of rolling out the dough, I like to use rolling pin bands (or I found this cool rolling pin that does the same thing!) to make sure that my cookies are all evenly thick. I like my cookies to be as thick as possible, so I use the thickest band, about 1/4 inch.
One other thing that I didn’t actually demonstrate in the picture above, but I would highly recommend is to roll out your dough on some parchment paper using as little flour as possible. Because the dough is already pretty dry, adding more flour will make the cookies crack in the oven. I just sprinkle down enough flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking. This will ensure that your cookies are perfectly smooth and ready to ice!
After a quick bake, these cookies are ready to be enjoyed or to be decorated with royal icing. Not only are they the perfect canvas for some sugar art, they taste delicious. I personally love the taste of the almond extract, but of course, you can add whatever flavorings you like and make these cookies your own!
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I’m gonna have to try your recipe! ?
How many cookies does this recipe make?
It depends on the size of the cookies, I typically get about 18 to 24 cookies.
How long can this dough stay in the fridge? I want to make it a couple days ahead.
I will sometimes make the dough a week ahead of time and keep in the freezer. Just make sure it’s wrapped up really well and then let it sit on the counter for a couple hours to come up to room temp before you start rolling out. You can also bake the cookies and keep in the fridge for several weeks.
I do not know if I am doing something wrong but every time I make this, the cookies are super dry. The flavor is there but they practically just crumble when I break them. I added 1/4 cup of oil and an egg yolk but it was still drier than I like. Any suggestions? Could it be the almond extract or the powdered sugar?
It’s probably not the extract but the powdered sugar. Powdered sugar has corn starch in it that dries things out. I like the dough relatively dry, but if it’s crumbling on you then that’s too dry. Substitute some or all of the powdered sugar for granulated sugar next time.
Do you think this recipe would work the same with gluten-free flour? Any other suggestions? I was going to use a GF box mix but reconsidering after your Christmas cookie post. 🙂
Great question and yes you can! I have made this recipe with a GF flour mix (Trader Joes) before and it worked quite well. It is a little bit more crumbly, so I would recommend adding less flour. No more than 2 cups.
Hello! So i found your recipe here doing alot of research on how to get perfectly shaped sugar cookies, ive never made my own cookie dough before and this recipe is the best! Ive used it twice now.. but the first time i used my cookies to decorate my cake, people were in love and after one girl saw them, she just asked me if i could make 150 cookies for her.. how do i know how much ingredients ill need for that many? I need to start doing the math like asap to give her a price, they will be due in a month and she wants some pretty elaborate stuff, so i also need to know how far in advance i can start on these, how long cookies are good for and how long royal icing can sit on a cookie.. but for right now im just worried about how much of everything i will need.. i also use your royal icing recipe too.. if there is anyway u can help me, i would GREATLY appreciate it.. im kinda worried lol.. thank you in advance!
Hey Katherine! So glad the recipe worked for you! First of all you are a saint for agreeing to make 150 cookies. Second, I am more than willing to help you with the rest of question but my answer may be long. Shoot me an email and I’ll send you more details than you need. 🙂 lindsey@followtheruels.com.
Do you think you can send me the ingredients as well ? I need to make a lot of cookies and it would be a lot of help ?
Haha! I wish I could. My best advice is to work in stages. When I have to make a lot of cookies, I make the dough one day, then put it in the fridge. Then I roll out and bake the next day, then store the cookies in the freezer or in a zip top bag on the counter. Then the next day I decorate. It helps spread out the work. 🙂 Good luck!
Hello, the oven temperature is this C of F? Thanks ?
Its in Fahrenheit.
Will this double well?
Yes! I double and triple it all the time. Sometimes I find that I need to add a touch more flour. Like 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup. I don’t like the dough too sticky.
Hi!
Can you use food coloring in this recipe to make the dough festive?
Absolutely you can! Ive dirs it all sorts of colors. I would recommend using a gel food coloring if you have them available. If not, liquid is fine.
Hello,
I made cookies using your recipe tonight and they are just divine! I was wondering have you ever made these with orange or lemon zest?
Oh great! I am so glad! Yes, I absolutely have added orange and lemon zest to my cookies (as well as lots of other flavors) to switch up the flavors. I tend to use lemon a lot in the Summer. In the Fall, I will switch up the flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice.
Hello,
I so can’t wait to try your recipe.
I was just wondering if I could substitute the almond extract with more vanilla, or should I just leave it out?
Thank you ?
Hi Amy! Yes, you can do either! If you don’t want the almond flavor, the leave it out for a subtle vanilla flavor. If you want a stronger vanilla flavor, you can double it.
When you are letting the frosting dry do you keep the cookies out on the counter or do you cover them? I want the frosting to look nice but want the cookies to be fresh too. Thanks!
Hi Rose! Great question. The cookies are actually pretty resilient and they don’t go stale very quickly. I do not worry about letting the cookies sit out overnight. So what I typically do is let the icing dry completely, then later in the day (at least 4 hours later) or the next morning I transfer them to a zip top bag or I individually bag them in these cellophane bags. If I want to store them longer than 5 days, I place them in the freezer. They can store in the freezer (iced or uniced) for a month or longer.
I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong. I followed your guide in terms of how much flour to use. At 2 1/2 it was a little too sticky so I added 1/4 cup more flour and it seemed to be just as you described the perfect consistency to be. However, it wasn’t rolling well. So i put it in the fridge for about 30 min. It rolled better but after a few min it was like mush and didn’t hold its shape when I cut my them. I just put the dough back in the fridge and decided to leave it overnight and try again tmw. Is it possible I didn’t use enough flour or do you think it just needs the chill?
I am so sorry this dough is giving you trouble! It sometimes gives me trouble, too. Especially during the summer when the dough warms up a lot more quickly. My suggestion would be exactly what you described above: chill the dough. I typically chill the dough for about 1 hour before I roll it out so that its pretty firm when I actually start rolling.
If the dough does start to get soft again, there are some things to remedy this. Either place it back in the freezer/fridge to chill for a few minutes. Or you can roll out the dough on a piece of parchment, transfer the parchment to a baking sheet, and place the entire sheet of rolled dough to the fridge to chill. Then cut out once the dough is nice and firm again.
Also make sure you are using a little flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface.
Thank you so much! After the dough chilled overnight it was so much easier to work with! The cookies came out delicious! I am making them for my daughter’s baptism! Thank you for the help and the great recipe!
I plan to try your recipe out of pure curiosity because every great cookie recipe MUST be tried!
That said, thought I would share with you my favorite recipe. I’m not sure its really a sugar cookie – butter cookie maybe? Shortbread? I use it like a sugar cookie to decorate either way. Its the perfect creamy, tender melt in your mouth texture, and holds its shape perfectly. It is 3 ingredients – 2 C Flour, 1/2 C Powdered Sugar, and 1 C Butter (4 if you like to add a little salt, as I do). Like your recipe, they hold their shape perfectly. They are yummy plain, but they aren’t too sweet – so when you ice them, there is the perfect marriage of cookie and sweet icing.
These sound great, Brenda! The recipe does remind me of shortbread because there is no egg in them, but I love shortbread! You may find that these sugar cookies are a bit softer (if not over baked), and not quite as buttery.
Hi, made these cookies today and sadly they still puffed up a little ( edges came out rounded ). The only adjustment I made was that I used a large egg and the recipe didn’t specify egg size. I like the taste though. Would the size of egg make that much difference?
The egg size may have made a difference, but I also use large eggs (I’ll update the recipe!), so that’s likely not the culprit. It it probably that you didn’t add enough flour. Even if you followed the recipe exactly, we all measure flour differently which can throw it off. I recommend adding enough flour that the dough is no longer sticky and doesn’t come off on your fingers. In some cases you may have to add 1/4 cup more.
I’m making this recipe for the first time and the dough is currently chilling in the fridge. Can’t wait to see how it rolls out and bakes!
I noticed the ingredients call for a pinch of salt but the recipe doesn’t indicate when to add it so I just assumed it went in at the same time as the egg and vanilla…is that correct?
That’s totally fine. I typically add it with the flour, but you can do both. I will update the recipe, though. Thanks for pointing that out.
They are delicious! I omitted the almond and added extra vanilla. Tomorrow I will use your royal icing recipe to ice them! I look forward to trying other flavors next time!
I know you have probably heard this a million times, but this recipe is awesome! I just made it for the first time, and not only did it taste great but it held the shape of the cookie cutter perfectly and the texture was smooth, light, and fluffy! I’ve never had a dough do that for me without letting it sit in the fridge overnight. This is totally a game changer for my cookie making! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome, Tiera. And thanks so much for your comment! I will never tire from hearing that people have tried and liked one of my recipes! I am so glad your cookies came out great!
I am planning on making this for a school project, but I was wondering, how long do the cookies have to sit/cool before I can use icing. I kind of have a shorter time period to make these, so I hope I don’t have to wait too long
I would just recommend they cool to room temperature before you ice them. That shouldn’t take too long, but you can pop the cookies in the fridge to speed up the cooling if necessary.
Ok, thanks!
A few years ago I tested more than 20 sugar cookie recipes back to back trying to find “the best”, and although a few of them were very good, there wasn’t a “best”. Since then I’ve test at least another 20 recipes, many of them claiming to be the best, but still haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for in a sugar cookie. These cookies are very good, but the texture isn’t as tender as some of the sugar cookies I’ve made. They don’t melt in your mouth. The flavor is very nice and the dough is easy to roll and cut. The cookies kept their cookie cutter shape, and didn’t spread or puff in the oven like some sugar cookies do. Because they’re sturdy and don’t crumble or break easily, they’re a good choice for children. My dough wasn’t dry, and I used the full 2 1/2 cup measure of flour. I dust my board with powdered sugar when rolling cookie dough so that no additional flour is incorporated.
Wow Sadie, you are a sugar cookie expert! That is a lot of recipes to try. And you are spot on. My cookies don’t melt in your mouth and are not all that tender (unless you really underbake them – ha!). For me, I prefer a cookie that has crisp edges and doesn’t puff up or crumble since I am decorating them and typically packaging them up to send off to folks. I like my sugar cookies a little durable. So to me, that’s the “best”. But of course, we all have different tastes so what is the best to me is not the best to you. If you ever find that holy grail sugar cookie recipe, I hope you send it to me! I would love to find a recipe that produces a sturdy cookie, with crisp edges, and is super tender! Thanks so much for your input. I love hearing the recipes works (or doesn’t) for some people.