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 3/8″ 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 3/8″ 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!
My family loves sugar cookies!! This is our new favorite recipe!! ❤️
These are great! Doing a Christmas cookie baking day with friends and plan on using this recipe!
Planning on making Christmas cookies with this recipe soon! It’s great!
Amazing! My go to recipe! We love all your recipes!!
My daughters favorite! So yummy!!
True to the name of these cookies, they really are the best! My kids had a blast making cookies and decorating them! It was so easy!
Can you freeze the dough?
You bet!
My all time favorite cookie recipe 😋
We really loved these cookies! Easy to follow recipe and great flavor. I’m too impatient to have a refrigerated sugar cook dough. Ours were a little sticky so we had to add a little flower.
This dough is insanely hard to work with. Probably one of the worst recipes I’ve ever tried to follow. Maybe if I used like half of the amount of cream cheese it calls for?? There’s just something wayyy wrong with the texture and I had to add more than a cup of flour to roll it out.
Thanks for the feedback. It definitely is a softer dough, so we like to make sure we have plenty of flour on the counter when rolling it and cutting into shapes. Sure makes a soft cookie though! Thanks for the feedback and for giving the recipe a try.
I am not a fan of almond, what could I use for a substitute?
You could use vanilla or perhaps even a lemon extract if you like that flavor.