Our ALL-TIME favorite Sugar Cookie recipe!! These homemade sugar cookies are so soft and have the best, creamy frosting with hints of almond. Everyone is obsessed with these delicious sugar cookies.
Sugar cookies are our all-time favorite cookie!! If you feel the same, you’ll love our sugar cookie bars and no roll sugar cookies.
so soft and so good!
I LOVE homemade cookies, and especially sugar cookies! But, I’m also kinda picky about them.
- They cannot be crunchy. They have to be super SOFT!
- Frosting to Cookie Ratio needs to be spot on.
- Hints of almond are always a must (If you’ve never had a cookie with a hint of almond extract, you haven’t truly lived.)
Fortunately, my mom found the BEST Sugar Cookie recipe years ago and we’ve been making them ever since. In fact, they are so good that we get requests to make them for different events and/or wedding receptions. They’re really just that good. In my opinion, the reason this cookie recipe is so good is because it meets all of my above requirements. 😉
How to Make Sugar Cookies
Since my mom had these cookies down to a science, I was always a little intimidated to try this recipe. I’m glad I got over that, because we make them all the time now.
Make sugar cookies by creaming together the butter, cream cheese, sugars, egg and almond extract in a large bowl. Mix until fluffy. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until soft dough forms.
Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to about ⅜″ thick. Cut with a cookie cutter and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Recipe Tips + Tricks
Here are some tips and tricks to make sure these cookies turn out nice and soft:
- When making your dough, do not handle it too much. Over-mixing the dough can make it tough.
- Roll out the dough to about ⅜″ thick. Thinner dough will cook too fast, making crunchy cookies.
What to do when sugar cookie dough is too dry? If your dough is literally crumbling apart and cracking as you try to roll it, the best thing to do is sprinkle on small amounts of water (water is least likely to change the form of the cookie dough as it bakes) and knead it in until the dough stops breaking. Be careful to not overdo it and make it gooey!
What to do when sugar cookie dough is too sticky? Make sure you use proper techniques when measuring out your flour so that you get the correct amount that the recipe calls for. If you need to add extra flour, sprinkle in small amounts at a time, until you get the right consistency.
our favorite Frosting
Everyone has different preferences on their sugar cookie icing. Some like cream cheese frosting, and one of our favorite’s is the one we use on our Carrot Cake recipe.
Because there is cream cheese in the cookie recipe, we like this classic sugar cookie frosting, which includes:
- butter
- powdered sugar
- milk
- vanilla
- almond extract
- food coloring (optional)
To make the frosting, mix all the ingredients with a hand mixer. Add more milk until it’s the consistency you desire most. And you can add food coloring if you want to. Top it with some delicious jimmy sprinkles, and you’re set!!
How to store sugar cookies
We recommend STORING them in an air-tight container (after the frosting has set) and keep them on the counter. They should last for up to 4-5 days. You can extend this by a day or two with putting them in the fridge.
If you’re planning on FREEZING your cookies, try to freeze them before you add the frosting. They’ll hold up better unfrosted. Either way, stack them in an airtight container separated by sheets of wax paper. They should stay good for up to 3 months.
I could seriously eat a dozen of these sugar cookies! They are just so soft, so flavorful and so delicious! I highly recommend these cookies and would love to get your feedback. 😉
For more sugar cookie recipes, check out:
- No Roll Sugar Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Pistachio Sugar Cookie Bars
- Strawberry Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Copycat Swig Cookies
BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
Cookie
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Cream butter, cream cheese, sugars, egg and almond in large bowl (or Kitchen-Aid) until fluffy.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir until soft dough forms.
- Roll out and cut with cookie cutter. Thin dough will make crunchy cookies. If you want soft dough, it needs to be about ⅜ in. {NOTE: Try not to handle the dough too much}
- Bake 8-10 minutes on greased pan. Let cool.
- Make frosting by mixing all ingredients with hand mixer. If too thick, add a tad more milk. Frost cookies and ENJOY!
YUM!!! I’m picky about my sugar cookies!! These are delicious! Will be saving This recipe and adding them to my favorites!😄💗
Yay!! Happy to hear that! Thank you!
These are amazing!!
The instructions don’t mention putting the cookie dough in the frig. I would highly recommend this step as rolling out the dough will be difficult and cooling out prior will help rolling out dough easier.
Love these recipes! The pages are perfectly laid out, very organized and every single recipe is so very easy to follow. Thank you
You are so welcome! Thank you for saying that!
These are amazing!!
Any tips on how to roll out the dough. We refrigerated it and when rolling out it stuck to the counter, rolling pin and cookie cutters. Would appreciate your advice.
Use a little bit of flour to coatcover your work area and on your rolling pin.
I put parchment paper down on the counter top and place another piece of parchment paper on top. That way the dough is only touching the paper and not the counter itself or the rolling pin. Plus easy clean up!
I tried that. Did you take the parchment paper off after you were done rolling? When I did it, half of it stuck to the top piece, and it wouldn’t come off the bottom. I had to throw it all away and find a different sugar cookie recipe.🤦🏾♀️ What did you do to make yours work?
Can you please tell me if these cookies have to be refrigerated after there baked because of the cream cheese? Can they be stored in the cupboard?
No, they do not 🙂
I used to always think my sugar cookies were the best, but I decided to give this recipe a try. Wow! They were so good and have now become my favorite sugar cookie recipe!
These are so chewy and perfect for all occasions!
Really good!
I love this recipe, it was so easy and so much fun for my grandchildren and I.
I ❤️ Sugar cookies especially at Christmas time 🎄
These cookies were so easy to make and delicious. The frosting is amazing and my kiddos had the best time decorating.
Anyone know if the cookies spread much in the oven (how close can i put them together)? Also, is the icing pipe-able, and does it set up hard so you can stack them after being iced Thanks in advance!
They don’t spread really greater than the size of cutting them out & the icing doesn’t get hard, so I wouldn’t really stack them. You can try adding more powdered sugar to make them easier to pipe.
Thanks for your reply! I’m looking forward to trying. I’m intrigued with the cream cheese!
Thanks for your reply! I’m looking forward to trying. I’m intrigued with the cream cheese!
You are so welcome!! Hope you like them!
do you have metric measurements for this recipe?
I do not. Sorry about that! There are several metric conversion charts that can be found on the internet that use a metric converter to convert measurements for you. If you search “metric conversion charts” you can find the one that you like the best. Hope this helps!