Quick, Easy and delicious sugar cookies made with just 3 ingredients – butter, flour and sugar! Can’t get easier than that!!
If you love sugar cookies, you’ll also love our famous recipe for soft sugar cookies and our sugar cookie bars.
Just a Few Ingredients!
We love sugar cookies – and we love when yummy recipes only require a few ingredients.
Put those two together and we ESPECIALLY love yummy cookies that take just a few pantry staples, and today’s recipe is just that. Delicious, butter-y cookies that call for just butter, sugar and flour. We decided to add some almond extract because it’s our favorite, and for the kids – some sprinkles.
The result was amazing! The cookies were crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and a hit with the whole family!
How to Make 3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies
Like I said – SO EASY to make! Begin by preheating the oven to 325.
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until combined. Then, you’ll add the flour and almond (if you want to) and mix well.
At this point, you’ll most likely need to get in there with your hands and mix until a dough forms. Roll into 1 – 1.5 inch balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Dip the bottom of a cup into sugar and then press the balls down. If adding sprinkles, add now and lightly push into the top. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden on the bottom.
Let set for at least 10-15 minutes before eating.
Recipe FAQ
Can you make them without butter? If you don’t have butter you can try to use canola oil. This will get the “fat” that you need in the recipe, but you may need to experiment with using more flour because the substance from the butter is not there.
Can you make these for cut out cookies? Unfortunately you can’t use this recipe for cut out cookies. It doesn’t bind super well since it doesn’t have eggs so you risk the cookies falling apart when you try to use a cookie cutter. They may also burn and turn crispy too quick.
How to decorate: They would be delicious to cover in lots of frosting! Other than that you can press some sprinkles onto the cookies before baking them for some sort of decoration.
How to store cookies? Store sugar cookies in an airtight container on the counter. They should last 3-5 days. If you are worried about them drying out then you should store them with a piece of bread. Then the bread will become stale instead of the sugar cookies.
To Frost or Not to Frost?
We loved these cookies as is!
Having said that – we know that frosting just makes cookies better sometimes. If you want to add frosting, we suggest using our favorite sugar cookie frosting recipe, which is a combination of:
- softened butter
- powdered sugar
- milk
- vanilla
- almond extract
So good!! You could also make a glaze, which is typically made with powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.
For more easy cookies, check out:
- No Bake Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Easy Shortbread Cookies
- Funfetti Cookies
- Almond Cookies
- Best Sugar Cookies
- Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 Ingredient Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (may need ¼ cup more)
- 1 tsp almond extract optional
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Mix butter and sugar in a medium bowl until combined.
- Add flour and almond (if adding) and mix well. You will need to use your hands to make sure it gets combined to form a dough.
- Roll into 1 - 1.5 inch balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Dip the bottom of a cup into sugar and then press the balls down. If adding sprinkles, add now and lightly push into the top.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Let set for at least 10-15 minutes before eating.
Loved these! Super easy, yummy delicious, and fun to make!!
salted or unsalted butter?
I use unsalted butter when baking. Enjoy!
AP flour or self rise or… Any kind will work?
I don’t usually use self-rise. I stick to all-purpose. I am sure either would work, but not sure how the self-rise ones would turn out.
Is it bad if we use no almond/vanilla extract?
It will need something to replace those, so I would google what good substitutes would be. I haven’t ever left it out.
Great recipe thank you! Came out perfect! Can you freeze the dough? And if so are the baking instructions the same once dough thaws?
Thank you! I have not tried freezing this specific recipe. I would need to freeze a couple & see how they turn out.
Use this recipe all the time, thanks!
You are so welcome! Thank you for letting me know!
I followed the recipe with 2 cups of AP flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 cup butter, and 1 tsp vanilla. It was overly dry and crumbly. I added 1 egg and they came out perfect. I love finding recipes with few ingredients that I already have in the house! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much for the egg tip! Glad they turned out so well! 🙂
These were pretty good, I added an egg and a 2 Tablespoons because they were so dry. I also did lemon extract instead of almond extract. I’m making lemon frosting, too.
All those additions sound delicious! Thanks for sharing!
it does not say how much of the ingrates there are
They’re probably good but drove me nuts that you didn’t put any measurements…
Hi Jenn! We do include the measurements in the recipe card. At the top of the post, you can click on “Jump to Recipe” and it’ll take you straight there. Here are the measurements for you for a quick reference as well. 🙂
1 cup butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour (may need 1/4 cup more)
1 tsp almond extract optional
sprinkles optional
This recipe is horrible. If you want to ruin your tastebuds and try to make them, at least don’t put any almond anything in it. Please.
We’re sorry to hear you weren’t a fan of this particular recipe. Almond is a flavor that some love and some don’t… you could certainly leave it out or swap it for another extract that you prefer. Thanks for your feedback.
Not enough sweetness and too dense
Thanks for your feedback and for giving the recipe a try! 🙂
Can we use a spoon to combine?
and use granuatedsugar
Yes!
Yes you can. I like to use my hands once I have stirred a bit to really combine everything, but you can certainly use a spoon too.
Does anyone have starting cookies things
How would you go about adding nuts ?
I haven’t tried adding nuts, but you could probably press a few into the top (replacing the sprinkles). You’ll have to let us know how they turn out if you do add the nuts.
I cant find the mesurments?
1 cup butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour (may need 1/4 cup more)
1 tsp almond extract optional
sprinkles optional
At the very top of the post, there is a button that will “Jump to Recipe” and it’ll take you right to those measurements too. 🙂
This recipe is amazing. I tried it according to the recipe first, then added an egg. They both turned out amazing and delicious.
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed the cookies (with and without the egg). 😉
there okay could be better
Thanks for the feedback and for giving the recipe a try.
Amazing cookies! The first time I made these they tasted like pure flour so in the next batch I used more sugar. Worked great, thank you for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome! Glad you were able to modify to the flavor you enjoyed. Thanks for giving the recipe a try!