These cut-out sugar cookies are thick and perfectly soft sugar cookies decorated with homemade buttercream frosting and perfect for any holiday including Christmas, Easter, birthdays, baby showers and more!
This homemade cut-out sugar cookie recipe is an easy homemade sugar cookie recipe perfect for an holiday or special occasion. We love making these cookies for Christmas sugar cookies, birthday party cookies, and more!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Cookie Recipe
- Perfect for Holiday Baking
- Kid-Friendly Dessert
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Butter - Butter softened at room temperature gives these cookies their perfectly butter-soft texture.
- Sugar - Cane sugar or white sugar gives these cookies their classic sweet flavor.
- An Egg - An egg is necessary to hold the dough together.
- Vanilla Extract - Vanilla extracts gives the cookies flavor.
- Flour - We recommend using unbleached all-purpose flour.
- Baking Powder - A small amount of baking powder helps the cookies to rise slightly while baking.
- Salt - Salt enhances the flavors and balances the sweetness of the recipe.
- Frosting - We love to decorate these cookies with our homemade buttercream frosting.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts is located on the recipe card below.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Stand Mixer - We recommend using a stand mixer or hand mixer to mix the cookie dough together.
- Plastic Wrap - Plastic wrap is necessary to wrap the dough in while it chills in the fridge.
- Rolling Pin - A rolling pin helps to roll the dough out to be able to cut it into shapes.
- Cookie Cutters - We love making these cookies for holidays and always have Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Fourth of July cookie cutters on hand.
- Sheet Pan - A sheet pan is necessary to bake the cookies on.
- Parchment Paper - We recommend lining the sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Cooling Rack - A cooling rack helps to easily cool the cookies after baking.
How to Make the Recipe
Step 1. Mix the cookie dough together.
Step 2. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the fridge.
Step 3. Roll the dough out, cut into shapes, and place on a sheet pan.
Step 4. Bake the sugar cookies in the oven.
Recipe Serving Suggestions
This recipe makes 20-24 cookies depending on the size of cookie cutter you use. We love frosting the cookies with our homemade buttercream frosting.
If you like this recipe, you will love our other easy dessert recipes.
Expert Tips & Variations
- Chill the dough. Chill the dough for at least 3 hours prior to rolling it out and cutting into cookies. This helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
- Make thicker cookies. We recommend rolling the dough out to be about ¼ inch thick before cutting into cookie shapes. This results in thick, soft cookies.
- Chill the cookies before baking. We highly recommend chilling the cut out cookies in the freezer for at least 10 minutes prior to baking in the oven to prevent them from spreading while baking.
How to Store
- Countertop - Store baked and decorated cookies in an airtight container on the countertop for up to 5 days.
- Refrigerator - Store uncooked dough in the fridge for 3-4 days wrapped tightly in plastic warp or sealed in an airtight bag.
- Freezer - Store cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can also store tightly wrapped sugar cookie dough in the freezer for up to 2 months. To bake with the dough, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw before rolling it out and making cookies.
Recipe FAQ
How do you make gluten-free sugar cookies?
Follow my gluten-free sugar cookie recipe!
More Dessert Recipes
Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
Yield:
24 cookies
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
12 minutes
Additional Time:
3 hours
Total Time:
3 hours 22 minutes
These cut-out sugar cookies are thick and perfectly soft sugar cookies decorated with homemade buttercream frosting and perfect for any holiday including Christmas, Easter, birthdays, baby showers and more!
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 + ¼ cup unbleached flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Buttercream Frosting
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
- 6 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Make the dough by add the softened butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Cream the butter and sugar together.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl of the stand mixer and beat together.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and continue to beat the cookie dough together to form a ball of dough.
- Shape the dough into a disc shape.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 3 hours.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Place the dough on a floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out until it is about ¼ inch thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into cookies.
- Place the cookies on the sheet pan.
- Place the sheet pan in the freezer to chill the cookies for 10 minutes.
- After the cookies chill, transfer the sheet pan to the oven and bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until the bottom is slightly golden brown and the top of the cookies no longer appear soft or mushy.
- Remove the cookies from the oven.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cool rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Make the frosting by adding the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix to cream the butter.
- Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a small amount of the mix. Mix together.
- Continue to add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and a small amount of milk as you mix to create a creamy and smooth frosting.
- You can mix in food coloring to create different colors to decorate with and use a knife or transfer the frosting into a piping bag to decorate the cookies.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 346Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 79mgCarbohydrates: 80gFiber: 0gSugar: 71gProtein: 1g
