Classic Vanilla Sugar Cookies

March 26, 2023 3 Comments

Hey friends! Many of you have requested my basic sugar cookie recipe and while I've shared it in my classes and sent it to many people via different messengers, it's about time I finally just put it somewhere public. Now, here is where most blogs would tell you their life story and how this recipe came to be (short version: I didn't like any other recipes out there so I spent months working out this one) but I say we skip straight to the good stuff!

★ Note: For those of you who have received my recipe in the past you might notice a few revisions. The sugar has been reduced to help lessen spreading and to balance the cookie-to-icing sweetness ratio. The omission of baking powder also helps with spreading — the cookies come out perfectly without it. Happy baking!

Classic Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Rated 5.0 stars by 7 users

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
600 grams (about 5 cups) all-purpose flour

Directions

Cream butter and sugar with mixer on medium high.

Add vanilla extract and eggs, beat until well combined.

Add salt and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.

Add flour all at once. Beat on low until dough has only just come together. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat on med-high for about 30 seconds.

Refrigerate dough for a minimum of 1 hour. Roll out dough (about 1/4” thick) on a floured surface and cut into desired shapes. For best results freeze shapes for a minimum of 15 minutes prior to baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes or until the middle is barely set. If you like your cookies soft remove them before the edges are brown.

Recipe Note

★ Refrigerating dough for 12-24 hours prior to cutting/baking will improve both the texture and flavor of your cookies.

★ For perfect shapes every time only cut dough when it’s cold! This is especially important for shapes like circles.

★ Roll your dough on parchment paper straight from the mixer! I like to roll into 1/4" sheets and stack them (with plastic wrap in between layers) on a cookie sheet that fits in my fridge. Make sure you wrap the top layer as well! Then I refrigerate until I'm ready to cut out shapes. This means never having to roll out rock-hard cold dough! After cutting your shapes, re-roll your soft dough scraps on parchment paper, place on baking sheet, and refrigerate again.

★ To help cookies hold their shape, freeze them for at least 15 minutes prior to baking (or up to several weeks if tightly sealed). This is a great “make ahead” time saver when making large batches of cookies. There's no need to defrost prior to baking - put them straight from the freezer and into the oven and bake for the same amount of time.

★ For even baking use our Pink Perforated Silicone Baking Mat

★ This recipe anticipates the use of flour when rolling out your cookies, therefore your cookies won't be dry from using flour to roll them out.

3 Responses

Deb

March 06, 2024

I’m a home baker, I have tried several rolled sugar cookie recipes to get the ‘right one’ for me. Came across this recipe. Perfect for me!!! Thank you for sharing! Deb

Joyce Easterman

May 11, 2023

Rave: I bought the Thank You cutter/stencil combo from a retail baking supply store and just finished using the cutter for the first time. It cut every cookie to perfection. Thank You!!

Dottie

March 27, 2023

Do you mean to say “ there’s no need to defrost prior to baking”?

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Classic Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Classic Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe Note

3 Responses

Deb

Joyce Easterman

Dottie

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