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.
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!
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
This recipe is featured in my cookbook, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook: Your Guide to Baking Perfect Cookies Every Time, which has sold out multiple times!! It makes me so glad to see you guys adore cookie baking as much as I do.
Originally, I had created a sugar cookie 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. I happened to grab a sugar cookie at a bakery one random day and instantly became inspired by its texture.
It was simultaneously soft and chewy. Each bite was so incredibly satisfying! I knew I had to recreate that texture for my cookbook sugar cookie recipe. I’m SO happy with the results… mostly because this recipe turned out to be so easy to make, and they taste utterly delicious.
People will think you went to an expensive bakery when you show up with a box of these cookies. Especially if you stock up on some cute homemade cookie gift packaging.
How to Make the Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients For the Perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe:
- 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, otherwise your cookies may spread.
- Granulated sugar – The star ingredient! Don’t reduce the sugar – find out why here.
- 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 vanilla extract.
How to Make SOFT Sugar 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.
Why Did my Sugar Cookies Spread?
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.
How to Get a Crinkly Top in Sugar Cookies
Baking powder is one ingredient that gives these cookies their characteristic cracks, so make sure your baking powder is fresh. Check out my Baking Soda vs Baking Powder article for more details and instructions on how to test for freshness.
You also want to make sure that your butter is at a cool room temperature (67°F) as that can affect the appearance of these sugar cookies as well.
PLUS, rolling the cookies in granulated sugar is important! The sugar helps to draw moisture out from the surface of the cookies while they bake, which dries out the tops before the interior sets, resulting in pretty cracks.
Roll Your Sugar Cookie Dough Balls in Sugar Before Baking!
Roll each ball of dough in a shallow dish filled with granulated sugar. This creates that slightly crispy exterior and beautiful sparkly appearance.
Can I Make This Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe With a Hand Mixer?
Yes! A hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer.
What Kind of Baking Sheet is Best for Cookies?
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. The below photo features cookies from the same exact batch of dough, baked for the same amount of time at the same temperature. The only difference was the baking pan!
Check out my Baking Pans 101 post for all the surprising details. Or, just click here to score my favorite baking pans for cookies (and everything else!)
Should I Line my Baking Sheets with Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats?
I prefer parchment paper for cookies over silicone mats, to line my cookie sheets. Parchment is easier and quicker to clean up. Silicone mats like Silpats can actually lead to more spreading and browning. Check out the details here.
Whatever you do, never spray your baking sheet, parchment paper or silicone mat with nonstick cooking spray when baking cookies. This will lead to too much browning and spread (hello, burnt cookie puddles).
Why Use a Cookie Scoop?
- One of the KEYS to beautiful, uniform, evenly-shaped cookies.
- Saves you *so much time* in forming the balls of dough.
- Ensures each ball is evenly sized so the cookies bake evenly.
- No small overbaked cookies or large underbaked cookies.
- 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!
Do You Need to Chill Sugar Cookie Dough?
It’s not required for this sugar cookie recipe. Immediately baking after mixing will result in absolutely delicious cookies; however, if time permits, chilling the dough for 24-72 hours does result in cookies that are thicker, chewier, and more flavorful. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap before refrigerating. When ready to bake, let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.
How Long to Bake Drop Style Sugar Cookies
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until the sugar cookies are set and are just beginning to brown around the edges. The longer you bake, the crispier your cookies will be.
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.
How to Decorate 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 are my top tips:
- Roll the balls of dough in colored sugar before baking. I like to have one bowl filled with green-colored sugar and a separate with red, for easy Christmas sugar cookies!
- You can also fold in 1/4-1/2 cup of multi-colored jimmies or holiday jimmies or sprinkles as a last step before rolling the dough balls in granulated sugar, to add even more festive colors to this sugar cookie recipe!
- Use my Best Buttercream Frosting recipe for decorating. You can get creative with the flavor suggestions in that recipe post or use gel food coloring to add colorful flair.
- Another favorite is my Best Cream Cheese Frosting recipe!
How to Store Sugar Cookies
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.
Can You Freeze Sugar Cookies?
Yes! 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.
You can roll the cookie dough balls in the sugar before freezing – however, the dough will absorb some of the sugar, and it won’t have quite the same visual or texture impact compared to rolling in sugar right before baking.
Check out my How to Freeze Cookie Dough article for step-by-step instructions (and how to bake from frozen).
More Easy Cookie Recipes:
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Crispy Gingersnaps
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft & Chewy M&M Cookies
- Soft Batch Double Chocolate Cookies
- Black and White Chippers
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.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
I don’t have a digital scale but I do have just a regular scale similar to this one.
Can I use this one or would it just be better to use the other method you mentioned using a knife?
Hi Valerie! I cannot speak to the accuracy of your scale, having never used anything similar, so unless you can test its accuracy to verify it works well, I would recommend the ‘spoon and level’ method Tessa talks about in this article. I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try 🙂
Horrible! Followed instructions to a T and it came out a runny mess! Couldn’t make a ball from it if ya tried!
Hi Cassie! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should for you. The dough should be a nice soft cookie dough, easily scoopable into round balls, and super delicious! Without having baked alongside you, it’s tough to say what went wrong here – but here are a few common things that may have occurred:
– Were any ingredients substituted, reduced, removed, or accidentally forgotten? Every ingredient in a baking recipe is there for a reason, and many ingredients need the perfect balance to chemically react with one another, to form the perfect bake. That’s why reducing sugar, using a different type of flour, skipping leavening agents, etc can have a big impact – and why ensuring you measure accurately as so important. Even seemingly small changes can mess with a recipe’s chemistry, resulting in cookie issues.
– 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 ingredients and throw off the chemistry of the recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
– 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.
– How old are your leavening agents? 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. Baking powder/soda can also lose their effectiveness long before the expiration date on the packaging. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope something here helps, and I hope you’ll give these cookies another try – they really are incredibly delicious!! Happy baking 🙂
These are now a family favorite! Even my daughter who is NOT a sugar cookie fan loved them! The tiniest bite of salt seemed to be a big part of the love. I followed the recipe exactly. No complaints- except that they are hard to keep around for very long! A total win.
Thanks for recipe. Works perfect and cookies are delicious even when I add 3 spoon of lemon green tea which I blend up with some of sugar.
I’ve made this recipe about 5 times and it’s been great. Make sure to flatten out the cookies before baking and measure your flour with a scale.
I also love to coat them with cinnamon sugar. (:
I made these for the kids and they were a big hit. The only problem was that I couldn’t eat them because I have to eat gluten-free. Can these cookies be made using gluten free flour?
Hi Esther! We don’t typically bake with gluten-free ingredients, so we can’t say for sure! Let us know how it goes if you give that a try 🙂
The recipe is amazing, although me and my friends found them a little dry, and decided that they could use more butter. Other than that, they tasted great!
I am wondering if it is possible to make these cookies without an electric mixer?? Will they turn out the same if I melt the butter / make it a bit softer so that I can cream it manually? thanks in advance:)
Hi Mirabel! Unfortunately, both the creaming process and the cooler temperature of the butter are crucial in making this cookie recipe. Learn more about both here! I recommend instead making recipes designed to use melted butter, such as Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies or Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies or Soft Batch Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. Let us know if you give any of these cookies a try 🙂
I made these by hand & they turned out fine! Put the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds. Use your hands too! Super great recipe.
I was wondering if you could put maraschino chopped cherries in this recipe and use the juice of the cherries instead of vanilla?
Hi Linda! We haven’t tried that, and it should work okay – just be sure that your cherries are very, very thoroughly dried before adding them to your dough, to prevent adding too much excess moisture to the dough. Feel free to experiment with adding a little juice in place of the vanilla, but we think the vanilla brings such a wonderful flavor that I’d hesitate to remove it entirely. Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Hadn’t made sugar cookies in a long time— these are exactly what I loved and missed!
This recipe was amazing! I saw someone asking if you can roll out the dough and make shapes etc. I just want to say YES you can! I rolled out the dough (yes it will stick a little but dust a tiny bit of flour on top and it’ll be fine). Refrigerate this rolled out dough and when chilled cut into shapes. Repeat with left over dough.
These cookies did not turn out good for me. I had to add milk to thin out the dough. The first batch was very fluffy
Hi there! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should. The texture you describe sounds like you may have accidentally added too much flour. 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 ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – resulting in overly puffy, dry, dense or even hard cookies, without much flavor. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂