Delicious Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
These are cut-out cookies that hold their shape, taste fantastic, and are super easy to make! This delicious cut-out sugar cookie recipe is perfect for baking classic Christmas cookies that you’ll love making & sharing with others.
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Servings: 24 cutout cookies*
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter room temp**
- 1 ¼ c granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 c all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream together butter & sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
- Scrape sides of bowl with a spatula. Add egg & vanilla and mix for 10-15 seconds.
- Whisk together dry ingredients in separate bowl. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet with the mixer on medium speed until incorporated.
- Check the consistency of the dough - if it's crumbly at all, use your spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl, especially the bottom, and mix again until the dough is a smooth, even consistency. You don't want to over-mix, but you also don't want crumbly dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap - flattened out a bit so that it chills evenly - and place in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for at least one hour (or up to a couple of days).
- Remove from fridge/freezer. Preheat oven to 375. Break off a chunk of dough at a time, work it with your hands for a little while to soften it up enough to roll out (it does not need to be completely soft - you just want it pliable enough to roll).
- Roll dough with floured rolling pin on floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut shapes & place on baking sheet. (See my notes on baking sheets!) You'll likely be able to fit about 12 regular-sized cutout cookies on one pan.
- Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- Repeat process for remaining dough.
- Allow cookies to completely cool before decorating. See my notes about decorating below!
Notes
>> See post for a lot more details on making the perfect cookies the first time!
*This makes about 24 standard-sized cookies, but it'll depend on the size of the cookie cutters you're using.
**Sometimes (most of the time 😜) I forget to take my butter out of the fridge early enough to bring it up to room temp. I almost always end up microwaving the 2 sticks for just 10ish seconds - just until they're very slightly soft. This works just fine for me!
- FYI: Pay attention to the thickness of your cutout cookie dough - you really want to roll it out to about 1/4 inch. Any thinner, and you run the risk of the sugar cookies breaking too easily or getting too crisp when the bake in the oven.
- A note on baking pans: Depending on the baking pans you’re using, you may want to line them with parchment paper to prevent sticking. These USA pans are the *only* pans I EVER use when I bake. I’ve had mine for over 11 years, and they’ve always been absolutely fantastic at baking cookies! They bake evenly, hardly ever stick, and produce the perfect texture. If you're using different baking sheets, unless you’ve made several batches of cookies on them and know they don’t stick, you may want to consider lining them with parchment paper to prevent sticking. For some reason, cut-out cookies tend to stick more easily than other cookies. (I never use parchment paper, though, when I use my USA Pans!)
- To decorate: I have 3 delicious icing recipes that you can choose from – all perfect for sugar cookies - buttercream frosting that hardens, easy royal icing, and glossy sugar cookie icing. I give you lots of tips for decorating sugar cookies in those posts.
- To store: Keep them in an airtight container, and they'll keep for up to a week! (They're best within the first 3 days, but they still taste good for a week.)
- To freeze: Wait until they’ve completely cooled, and stack them in an airtight container. You can use parchment paper between cookie layers just in case, but when they’re not iced, I rarely do this – my cookies never stick together.
- A note about baking temp: I almost always bake mine at 375, but I have noticed that when I bake them at 350, they come out slightly softer. BUT, then the edges aren't quite as clean. They'll still look fine, but they aren't as defined as if I bake them at 375. So, just FYI - both are options! They will definitely still come out delicious & soft at 375, they're just softer at 350, but then you lose a little bit of the definition. So your choice!