Butter: If your ingredients are at room temperature then they will mix together more smoothly.
Sugar: Granulated sugar will make this recipe sweet.
Egg: The egg will help bind the dough together.
Vanilla Extract: This will enhance the flavors of the sweet ingredients.
Almond Extract: The secret ingredient to making these sugar cookies the best!
Flour: I used all purpose flour for this recipe.
Baking Powder: This helps the cookie be soft and not chewy.
Salt: This enhances the flavors.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream Cheese: Put this on your counter before you plan to bake so that it can soften up.
Butter: I used unsalted, sofened butter to make the frosting smooth,
Powdered Sugar: Using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar works better because this diddolves quickly and creats a smooth texture.
Vanilla Extract: This enhances the sweetness of the frosting.
Food Coloring: This is totally optional depending on if you want your frosting to be different colors for different occasions.
Sugare cookie dough rolled in a ball.
How To Make Sugar Cookies
These cookies come together so easily! This recipe will become your favorite go-to sugar cookie recipe that you will make again and again.
Beat: In a large bowl beat the butter until smooth and creamy for about one minute. Add the sugar and continue to beat until creamy for about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and continue to beat until incorporated.
Mix and chill: In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to the creamed mixture and continue to beat until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge for one hour and can be chilled overnight.
Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough out to desired thickness (mine were 1/4 inch thick) and cut with cookie cutters. Transfer to baking sheet.
Bake: Bake for 8-11 minutes or until just set. I like mine more soft so I cooked mine for 8 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before frosting.
Frost: To make the cream cheese frosting, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until it is smooth and creamy. Frost cooled cookies.
A picture showing how to cut out shapes in the dough.
Do I Have to Chill the Sugar Cookie Dough?
YES! The dough does require an hour of chilling time. This step is essential to how the cookies hold up and helps ensure that the dough doesn’t spread.
Froster sugar cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Sugar Cookie Baking Tips
These cookies are SOO GOOD, and I want to help make sure that yours turn out perfectly! Here are a few tips and tricks to use while making these cookies.
Room Temperature Ingredients: Before mixing up your dough, take the time to set your ingredients out so that they can soften up. Room temperature ingredients mix up SO much better and your batter and frosting will be so smooth with no lumps!
Don’t Open the Oven: So many people are tempted to open the oven to check out how their cookies are doing. Don’t do it! This causes the hot air to be released and can result in your cookies being baked unevenly. Use the oven light instead!
Frosting: If you want to change things up, you can use different types of frosting on these cookies to change the look and taste. Try this Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting or this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting instead!
Frosted sugar cookies with sprinkles on a cooling rack.
How to Store Leftovers
Sugar cookies make fantastic leftovers because they can last for about a week! So double up that recipe and make a few extra to enjoy!
On the counter: Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container on your counter. They will last up to 7 days!
