The Best Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup unsalted butter (aka 2 sticks), softened at room temp
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temp
• 2  tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 5 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix together butter & sugar. Beat until it is creamy. Add the eggs (one at a time), vanilla and sour cream and mix it all with a mixer until combined.

2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer as it is blending. Mix it just until everything is combined.

3. Separate the dough in two equal parts, cover with saran wrap. Refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours.

4. Once the dough is fully chilled roll out dough on a bakers mat, parchment paper or even your counter. The dough will be sticky so be prepared to add anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup more of flour as you roll and cut out the cookies. At this time heat y0ur oven to 350 degrees.

5. Cut with your desired cookie cutter, I used this snowflake one. Make sure the cookie cutter is either dusted with flour or powdered sugar to prevent it from sticking to the dough.

6. Bake for 8-9 minutes. And presto!

You can use 2 different types of icing for these and both work great. I used to use Buttercream, but now I prefer to use Royal Icing. I have included both recipes below:

Buttercream frosting:

•  1 cup of butter or shortening (depending on your preference)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 5-6 TB heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• food coloring and sprinkles

Directions for the frosting:

Combine the shortening, heavy cream and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and then add your powdered sugar (and food coloring if desired). Make sure the butter is at room temperature and make sure you do not stick it in the microwave to soften or it will separate your frosting. Then frost on cooled cookies and serve right away or save for later!

Royal Icing Option (this is the icing I used in this video): 

• 4 lbs. of powdered sugar
• 3/4 C of Meringue Powder
• 2 Tbsp of Clear Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/3 C of warm water

Directions for the Royal Icing:

Combine the meringue powder and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Then combine vanilla extract with warm water separately.  Add the water to the sugar mixture mixing as you go until fully combined. Add your desired food coloring and ice your cookies. I like to use these Wilton squeeze bottles to help ice the cookies. It helps so much especially when you do them with little kids. 

I enjoy making these with the kids. They get so excited and love to decorate them.

These cookies are the perfect combination of a sugar cookie and a cake. Perfect taste and texture… They turned out so well! You have no idea how many times I have baked these for school. They are a hit among the kids (and the teachers as well).

Depending how large you want the cookies it can yield 40-55 from this recipe. If it wasn’t because I was making them for my daughter’s class I would have saved half the batter and stored it in the freezer. It freezes and defrosts great. 

And there you have my kid’s artwork! They are pretty good at decorating, if I do say so myself. 😉 Must get it from their momma. ?

• Related: The Ultimate Christmas Movie List
• Related: How to make Flan

What kind of cookies do you bake this season? If you try these you gotta let me know how they turn out!

The cookie cutter I used is below!