The easiest, soft cut out sugar cookies you’ll ever make! Not only do they taste great with hints of vanilla and almond but they hold their shape when baking and are the perfect canvas for piped buttercream or royal icing decorations.
I’ve been making these cookies for years and they never fail me! It takes only a few minutes to prep the dough, an hour to chill (this is critical), then you’re rolling, cutting and baking!
How to Make the Perfect Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter
- Cream Cheese – the secret ingredient to keeping these cookies soft!
- Granulated Sugar
- Large Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract
- All-purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
Method:
Have all ingredients at room temperature to make the mixing process quick and smooth. Begin by creaming together the softened butter and cream cheese. Add in the granulated sugar and continue mixing on a medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and both extracts. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and mix again.
Add in the dry ingredients all at once, flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on a low speed until the dough is evenly combined and there are no dry spots remaining. Divide the dough in half and flatten to about 1 inch in thickness. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to overnight.
Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface, until it is 1/4″ thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out various shapes. Place onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (for roughly 3-4 inch sized cookies). If you have larger or smaller cookie shapes you’ll need to adjust the baking time accordingly, adding or reducing the bake time based on size.
Let’s Chat about Royal Icing
Making royal icing is rather simple. Place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until icing is smooth and everything is incorporated. The somewhat tricky part can be getting the desired consistency of the icing. To do this you’ll gradually add a small amount of water at a time and whisk until you’ve achieved the stiffness or pourability you want.
My preference is to have the icing drizzle off of the whisk in a slow but steady stream. The icing should leave a ribbon behind but smooth itself out within 10-15 seconds. This is the consistency I prefer to decorate with, as it is between a flooding consistency and a thicker border piping consistency. It does the job of both without needing to create multiple thicknesses of icing.
Now, depending on how you like to decorate sugar cookies you many look for a different consistency to your icing. Sweetopia has a great post going over all of the royal icing consistency basics and different uses for each one. Read the post here if you want to learn more.
Decorating with Royal Icing
My best advice for decorating with royal icing is not to overthink it! Just have fun and keep in mind that the cookies will taste delicious no matter how the icing looks! 🙂
But here a few ideas to get you started:
- Use multiple colors of icing to make your cookies pop!
- Add sprinkles to the icing while it is still wet to adhere.
- Practice the “wet-on-wet” icing technique by layering on a second color or icing to your cookies while the first layer is still wet. The second layer should meld into the first so the surface remains flat and smooth.
- Alternatively, try piping over a layer of already dried royal icing to create dimension and 3D details.
- To place two or more colors next to each other without them blending together, pipe the outline & filling of one color and allow to dry for 5-10 minutes. Then go back and pipe the outline/filling of the second colored icing. Repeat as needed. (See the wreath and/or santa mittens/stocking cookies for an example of this.)
Check out More Holiday Cookie Ideas:
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Peppermint Macarons
- Soft Baked Gingerbread Cookies
- Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 min (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 18 – 30 cookies, depending on size 1x
Description
The easiest and softest cut out sugar cookies you will ever make! They are tasty, don’t spread and make the perfect base for royal icing decorations.
Ingredients
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
Royal Icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 tbsp meringue powder
- 6–12 tbsp warm water
- Gel food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Using a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and cream cheese. Add in the sugar and mix until fluffy. Next, mix in the egg, vanilla and almond extracts.
- On a medium low speed, mix in the flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt until the dough is evenly combined and no dry spots remain. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Divide the dough in half and shape into a flat disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Once chilled, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/4″ thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffed and the edges are set and just barely beginning to turn light brown (cookies will still be pale). Allow to cool completely before decorating.
Royal Icing
- Place all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, starting with only 6 tbsp of water. Whisk until smooth and combined.
- Gradually add more water, a little at a time, until the icing drizzles smoothly and slowly from the whisk. (This could take only a few tablespoons or 6+ tablespoons to reach the correct consistency.)
- Mix in a few drops of gel food coloring if desired (or separate into smaller bowls for multiple icing colors.) Add icing to piping bags fitted with a small round tip, or a ziplock bag with the corner trimmed off. Decorate as desired, adding sprinkles to wet icing. Allowing icing to set for several hours to harden.
Notes
- Royal Icing – this makes a large batch of icing. Recipe can be halved for a smaller quantity.
Keywords: cut out cookies, sugar cookies, soft sugar cookies, royal icing
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