These are the perfect soft and chewy sugar cookies! Simple ingredients come together to make cookies that are sweet, flavorful, and have the most wonderful chewy texture.
Once you learn how to make sugar cookies, you will be unstoppable in the kitchen. This basic recipe has the potential to be edited to include more flavors, toppings, and frostings and could be the perfect stepping stone towards cookie baking expertise.
It takes about 15 minutes to mix up this dough using common ingredients that you probably already have. The dough is chilled to ensure maximum flour absorbency, which is what makes these sugar cookies dense and perfectly chewy.
Sugar on the outside of the cookies crisps up to create a slight crunch and the best sweet flavor.
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Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- So Easy. I promise you that this cookie recipe is really easy to make. New bakers and seasoned pastry home cooks will enjoy making these simply flavored chewy cookies.
- Perfect for Any Occasion. Some cookies are only for Christmas, but these sugar cookies are delicious any time of year. Use colored sugars to make them festive colors for birthdays or any special occasion.
- Basic Ingredients. Most cookies have many of the same basic ingredients. This sugar cookie recipe uses the ingredients that you’d expect in a cookie recipe, with nothing weird or hard to find. You can pretty much make these any time so long as you have a pantry stocked with basic baking supplies.
Key Ingredients
Gather some common kitchen ingredients to make this easy sugar cookie recipe.
- Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt: These are the dry ingredients for this cookie recipe and create the bulk of the dough. Together they create the chewy texture that we’re aiming for.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter when making this sugar cookie recipe. We’ll add our own salt so that we can control the amount. Too much salt will not be tasty here.
- Sugar: Regular white sugar is the perfect choice for these cookies. It adds flavor, sweetness, and a little bit of crunch.
- Egg: One egg is exactly enough. Always choose Large sized eggs for baking, and let the egg come to room temperature before mixing.
- Whole Milk: Milk doesn’t always get added to cookies, but in this one, a few tablespoons is needed to get the dough to the perfect consistency.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: I suggest using a high quality, pure vanilla extract. The flavor of these cookies depends on it.
- Decorator’s Sugar: to get a really nice crunch on the outside of the cookies, use a coarse ground sugar for rolling them in. Different colors can be used to make these cookies bright and fun.
How to Make Sugar Cookies
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk, then set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, add softened butter and granulated sugar. Cream them together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, and mix until combined. Then add in the vanilla and milk, mixing until everything is well combined.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients gradually, mixing well between each addition. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl when needed.
- Scoop: Use a cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ tablespoon portions of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They can be close together, but not touching. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours, and up to overnight.
- Prepare to Bake: Line two sheet trays with a Silpat or parchment paper and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Pour the decorator’s sugar into a small bowl, and remove the dough from the fridge.
- Roll and Place: Roll each cookie ball between your palms to form a smooth ball. Dip the tops of the balls into the decorator’s sugar, and place them sugar side up on prepared cookie sheets. Keep them 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
- Bake: Bake for 8-11 minutes until lightly golden brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
Recipe Tips
About the Decorator’s Sugar: Decorator’s sugar (aka sanding sugar) is used to roll the dough balls in and give them a sparkly, crunchy outside coating. If you don’t have this, or don’t want to use additional sugar, you can leave this step out and the cookies will still be chewy and amazing. Or, you can use regular granulated sugar instead.
Try Sprinkles: If you want to, use non-pareils or sprinkles instead of the sanding sugar. This will make the cookies rainbow themed, and everyone always loves a sprinkle cookie.
Chill the Dough: I suggest chilling this dough overnight for best results. This will ensure a thicker, more puffed up cookie. If you decide not to chill the dough at all, the cookies will flatten in the oven and be crispy rather than nice and chewy.
Change them up: Add a ½ teaspoon of lemon, almond, or coconut extract to the dough to change the flavor. You can create any number of different flavors from this one recipe.
Frost Them: Buttercream icing would be so good on these sugar cookies. Give it a try, you won’t regret it!
FAQs
This is a common question because well, don’t all cookies have sugar in them? I’m not super sure, but I think it’s because these cookies are pretty pure, making sugar the main flavor of the cookies. Sometimes cut out cookies are also called sugar cookies, which can get a little bit confusing.
Not exactly. Shortbread cookies are made with similar ingredients, however, they do not contain any leavening ingredients – so no eggs, baking powder, or baking soda. This makes them more dense than these chewy sugar cookies.
Store sugar cookies in an airtight container for up to one week. Freeze for longer storage, wrapping each cookie individually for best results.
You can try! A long time method for freshening up stale cookies is to place a slice of white bread in the container with them overnight. The cookies will absorb some moisture from the bread, giving them another day or so of freshness.
Other Delicious Desserts to Try
A Unicorn themed Bundt Cake with a colorful swirl is topped with a delicious and simple icing.
Ricotta Cookies are cakey and delicious and sprinkled to be festive and fun.
I can’t wait to hear how much you loved these perfectly chewy sugar cookies! When I make these they always disappear way too soon.
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