Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: The perfect amount of sweetness.
Texture: My favorite part, each bite is the ideal balance between soft and chewy.
Ease: Super easy 30-minute sugar cookie recipe with no chilling required.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Fun, simple, and perfect for holidays from Christmas to Valentine’s Day, even 4th of July. Everyone LOVES these cookies.
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Not to boast, but everyone who has tasted or made this sugar cookie recipe has said it became their instant favorite!! It took weeks of testing to get it just right.
These Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies require NO CHILLING and are incredibly easy to bake up.
Reader Love
Delicious! Just made these with my 3 year old daughter. Easy to follow recipe and will be my go-to for sugar cookies! Only difference was adding rainbow sprinkles (the round ones) to the sugar to roll the balls in before baking.
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This recipe is perfect for your Christmas cookie boxes or just enjoying with a glass of milk. If it’s a warmer time of year, it also makes a great base for ice cream sandwiches!
Originally, I had created a recipe with cream cheese that was ultra-soft. However, I found that it would become claggy, and each bite would get stuck to the roof of your mouth.
After many rounds of recipe testing, I finally nailed an easy sugar cookie recipe that’s soft and chewy (and STAYS soft) and has that perfect sparkly crackled top.
Sprinkle of Science
Ingredients Notes
- All-purpose flour – Make sure to weigh your flour accurately. If you add too much flour, your cookies won’t spread at all and won’t be soft or chewy.
- Baking powder – This gives the sugar cookies lift, without adding too much spread or browning.
- Fine sea salt – So important to balance the sweetness!
- Unsalted butter – It’s important that your butter is at a cool room temperature (around 67°F), otherwise your cookies may spread.
- Granulated sugar – The star ingredient! Don’t reduce the sugar – find out why here and peek the image below.
- Eggs – One whole egg with an extra egg yolk lends richness and chewiness to the texture. Make sure they’re at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – No sugar cookie recipe is complete without the flavor of vanilla extract.
Keys to SOFT Cookies
- The extra egg yolk helps to add more moisture and richness, for a soft and chewy texture.
- The other trick is found in the size of the dough ball…. a whole 3 tablespoons in each! This creates larger cookies that spread out perfectly with ultra-soft centers.
- Whatever you do, don’t overbake this sugar cookie recipe. They should still look ever so slightly ‘wet’ in the center when you pull them from the oven.
How to Prevent Cookie Spreading
To prevent flat sugar cookies that spread into little puddles, it’s important to make sure your butter is at a COOL room temperature.
Your sticks of butter should give slightly when pressed with your finger but still hold their shape. To be precise, your butter should be 67°F.
Crinkly Tops in Sugar Cookies
Besides rolling in sugar, baking powder is one ingredient that gives these cookies their characteristic cracks, so make sure your baking powder is fresh.
TIP: When the cookies are piping hot out of the oven, use a round cookie cutter to swirl around the edges of each cookie to re-shape into a perfect circle and enhance those crinkly tops.
The Best Baking Sheet for Cookies
The below photo features cookies from the same exact batch of dough, baked for the same amount of time at the same temperature.
2. Wilton Non-Stick: browned heavily with less spread
3. Walmart Mainstays: pale cookies, pan warped and rusted
4. Viking Ceramic Lined: cookies burnt on the bottom
5. Nordicware Unlined Aluminum: my favorite Goldilocks pan*
6. OXO Gold Nonstick: browned heavily with less spread
A light-colored aluminum half sheet pan is my favorite for baking cookies. Avoid dark nonstick pans altogether, they brown too much and may burn the bottoms of your cookies. Check out my Baking Pans 101 post for all the surprising details.
Do You Need to Chill the Dough?
It’s not required, baking immediately after mixing will result in absolutely delicious cookies.
However, if time permits, chilling the scooped dough in an airtight container for 24-72 hours does result in cookies that are thicker, chewier, and more flavorful. Roll in sugar after chilling otherwise the sugar will absorb into the dough. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.
What Temperature and How Long to Bake
Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minute, or until the sugar cookies are set and are just beginning to brown around the edges, for classic thick & chewy sugar cookies.
The higher the temperature and/or the longer you bake, the crispier your cookies will be.
If you like really soft, almost dough-y cookies, bake at 325°F, adding a few minutes to the bake time.
How to Store Cookies to Keep Soft
Store sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store cookies with a tortilla, apple wedge, or piece of bread to keep them soft for longer.
Freezing
This sugar cookie recipe freezes beautifully. Freeze the uncoated, pre-portioned balls of cookie dough in a freezer-safe container, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, or in a Ziploc bag. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge or for 30-60 minutes at room temperature, then bake as directed below.
FAQs
Can I Make This Recipe With a Hand Mixer?
Yes! A hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer.
Can This Recipe be Used For Cut-out Cookies?
No, this sugar cookie recipe was designed for simple drop-style cookies. If you want cookie cutter sugar cookies instead, check out my Cut Out Sugar Cookie recipe here.
Why use a cookie scoop?
It makes quick and easy work of portioning the dough uniformly so no one fights over the biggest cookie. I love using a 3-Tablespoon size cookie scoop for this sugar cookie recipe. Learn more about Cookie Scoops and how to use them here!
Can I add almond extract?
Yes! Feel free to add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon almond extract for a fun twist.
Can I use salted butter?
Yes, either omit the salt entirely, or reduce the amount to 1/2 teaspoon.
How to Decorate Drop-Style Sugar Cookies?
This is totally optional, as these cookies are so pretty by themselves – but if you want to make them a more colorful treat, here some ideas:
-Roll the balls of dough in colored sugar before baking.
-Fold in 1/4-1/2 cup of multi-colored jimmies or holiday jimmies or sprinkles as a last addition to the dough.
-Use my Best Buttercream Frosting recipe for decorating.
-Another favorite is my Best Cream Cheese Frosting recipe!
Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats for Cookies?
I prefer parchment paper for cookies over silicone mats, it’s easier and quicker to clean up. Learn about parchment vs. Silicone mats here.
Whatever you do, never use nonstick cooking spray when baking cookies. This will lead to too much browning and spread (hello, burnt cookie puddles).
Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
- 2½ cups (318 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1¼ cups (250 grams) granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup (50 grams) for rolling
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt to combine.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed to beat the butter and 1¼ cups sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, and beat until combined, scraping the bowl down as needed. Slowly beat in the flour mixture.
- Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a shallow dish. Using a large (3-tablespoon) spring-loaded scoop, divide the dough into balls, then roll in sugar to coat evenly. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart, and flatten slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies set and begin to brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
I rarely leave recipe reviews, but these were fantastic! I am so bad with cookies. I under mix or over bake. These were bakery quality delicious. This website has become my “go to” for dessert!
Aw yay! So thrilled to hear that, Chrysa! Thank you so much for your comment 🙂
Are we using white sugar to roll it on or can we use Demerra or turbinado? Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Hi Rebecca! We normally use regular white granulated sugar to roll the cookies in, but plenty of our readers have used more coarse colored sugar for the holidays, and it seems to work just fine, so you should be perfectly fine to use demerara or turbinado sugar, if you prefer more of a crunch! Let us know what you think once you’ve given these cookies a try!
Would coconut oil sub for the butter?
Hi Johnny! We haven’t tried that with these cookies, and I really wouldn’t recommend it, as the buttery flavor is part of the deliciousness of these cookies. Of course, feel free to experiment and let us know what you think!
Tessa… I found the dough to be very crumbly like a scone consistency. I added a half a cup of warm water, and I was able to form dough balls. I was unable to form doughballs with the recipe, as it is. And trying to flatten them with a measuring cup, was impossible. They just fell apart, I’m wondering if I should’ve added two more sticks of butter? There’s no moisture to the mix. I’m wondering if I did something wrong. I made the cookies twice and both times the dough/batter was extremely dry.
Hi Tara! It sounds like you may have accidentally added too much flour to these cookies. The dough should be soft and easy to work with as-written. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! I hope that helps! 🙂
These were simply amazing! Thank you 🙂
I am picky with my sugar cookies. I haven’t found my favorite recipe until today. Simply delicious, soft, chewy… leave in an extra couple minutes for the outer crunch. Yummy!!
These are so yummy and super easy to make!Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I thought the cookies were a I could actually taste the salt – they were too salty. I’d pare down the salt to maybe 1/2 teaspoon. I used pink Himalayan salt. I would retry but with less salt.
Hi Veronica! We recommend using fine sea salt for a nicer flavor, but you can absolutely cut down the salt if you prefer. Let us know if you give these another try with less salt 🙂
love it! I was craving a really good sugar cookie and found it! I added a maple brown sugar frosting… yum!
My cookies didn’t seem to spread like yours did. Mine were more think. Any suggestion?
Hi Savannah! Hmm, it sounds like something definitely went wrong along the way! There are so many reasons why your cookies may not have spread, but here are a few of my best guesses as to what went wrong here.
How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Too much flour will definitely prevent cookies from spreading as they should! Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here!
Another thing could be how long you creamed your butter and sugars together for, and how warm your butter was at this time. Both have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses both and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods!
I also want to mention your leavening agent. If your baking/soda powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope something here helped! If not, please reach back out and we can continue to troubleshoot together 🙂 Happy baking!
super confused, not sure what I did wrong. my cookies turned out dry like a biscuit consistency and didn’t spread out like the other pictures. maybe the butter wasn’t the right temp? I had it at room temperature for about 2 hours. followed all directions and made sure I had all measurements right. suggestions please? I’d like to try again! taste was amazing though!!
Hi Toni! Hmm, it definitely sounds like something went wrong here unfortunately! Butter temperature can definitely have an impact on your final result, as Tessa discusses in this article, but it doesn’t sound like butter was necessarily the issue here.
How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here!
I also want to mention your leavening agent. If your baking/soda powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope something here helped, Toni! If not, please reach back out to us and we can assist in further troubleshooting! I’m glad these cookies were still delicious, even if they didn’t end up with the right consistency!
Can this recipe be doubled, or would modifications have to be made? Should I just make separate batches of dough? Thank you.
Hi Ruby! You can absolutely double the recipe, just make sure that your mixer is large enough to handle the extra dough 🙂 Let us know what you think when you give this recipe a try!
love this recipe keep them coming please sincerely Audra Grunwald
So glad you loved these cookies!
probably the best dough I’ve ever made!
simple
delicious
thank you for sharing your gift
can I refrigerate the batter over nightm
Hi Debbie! Yes, absolutely! These cookies bake up even thicker and just as delicious after a 24 hour refrigerated rest 🙂 Happy baking!
Hi, would I be able to make the candy corn cookies in the video with this recipe? I saw where you said they can’t be cut with a cookie cutter, but in the video she refrigerates the dough first.
Hi Summer! This recipe was created specifically as a drop-style cookie. If you want cookie-cutter sugar cookies instead, check out our Cut Out Sugar Cookie recipe here. 🙂