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.
My family “LoVes”…
No, wait a minute.
I Meant to say…
These by far are the “Best SUGAR” ever!
So the cat 😺 is out of the bag now..
I love them, my husband (😍 yes he turns this
intoxicated sugar cookie monster), our neighbors,
Our grandchildren, ohh and I can’t forget our 🐕.
Did I say how much I love your sugar cookies?
Thank you for sharing them.
So happy to hear that these cookies are such a hit with your friends and family, Jennifer! Thanks so much for the comment 🙂
Can these cookies be used as a base for frosted cookies? In case do you have a recipe for a nice frosting that is not too sweet but that also sets well and doesn’t remain too creamy and soft? 🙂
Hi Chiara! These cookies won’t hold a cookie cutter shape will once baked, so they’re not suitable as cut-out cookies – but if you’re just looking to frost the round cookies once baked, then absolutely! Tessa included tips and a couple recipe links for this in the Tip Box, just above the recipe. Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try 🙂
Thank you so much for that! Yes, I noticed the 2 buttercream recipes suggestion (normal frosting and cream cheese) but I was wondering if these are frostings that set well (just to give some context, I need to give these cookies as gifts and need to individually wrap them, so I need a frosting that sets a bit and will not stick to the plastic bag, but that at the same time is not overly sweet – could an italian or swiss meringue frosting work or they remain too soft and could stick to the package?). Thanks again! Chiara
Hi Chiara! No, the buttercream and cream cheese won’t solidify enough to be bagged. Maybe try the icing recipe and directions (allowing them to fully dry first) in Tessa’s Easy Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Icing recipe here instead. Let us know how it goes 🙂
I want to make 7 dozen of these? I don’t see a recipe for a bigger batch
Hi Elizabeth! This recipe as written will yield about 16 large cookies, so simply multiply the ingredients to match how many cookies you need. Please note that most mixers won’t accommodate such a large batch of dough, so I recommend doubling the recipe per batch, and repeating this until you have your desired cookie count. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I amped up vanilla extract with a few good shakes of pure vanilla paste, in addition to the heavy teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Can I frost these?
Hi Teri! These cookies aren’t suitable as cut-out cookies as they won’t hold the cutter shape well – but if you’re just looking to frost the round cookies once baked, then yes! Tessa included some tips and a couple frosting recipe links for this in the Tip Box, just above the recipe. Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try!
Would using salted butter work?
Hi Koi! We always recommend using unsalted butter because different brands of salted butter contain all different levels of salt, so you never know exactly how salty your bakes will turn out when using salted butter. Learn more about that here. If that’s all you have, feel free to use your salted butter and skip the salt listed in the recipe. I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try!
These came out perfect my mom ate the whole batch definitely making them again!
Do you think adding M&Ms would work in this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Megan! Tessa actually has a separate recipe for that! Check out her Soft and Chewy M&M Cookies recipe here 🙂 Happy baking!
So delicious! I used it as a base for Chai cookies and it turned out perfect! Followed the recipe exactly and made 22 medium sized cookies. Everyone loved them
Amazing cookies! I purchased the right size scoop, and the recommended pans, and followed the recipe exactly. These cookies came out perfectly. My family raved about them! I don’t care much for sugar cookies, I’m usually a chocolate girl…..but I was eating the batter and couldn’t get enough of it!!!! I have been learning so much from this site that has helped my baking…didn’t realize all these years I have been under creaming butter/sugar. Did it right this time! Never had a chance to take a pic of the cookies but I will next time.
This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe!
I want to make these for a baby’s first birthday party. I was wondering if I press a small plastic dinosaur on the top of slightly flattened raw cookie dough balls to make a dinosaur shape if that would work with this recipe? I don’t want dinosaur cut out cookies but rather a stamped imprint.
Hi Cindy! So glad to hear that you enjoy these sugar cookies! Unfortunately, these cookies don’t hold a shape well (which is why we don’t recommend the recipe for cut-out style cookies), so I’m not sure that an imprint on top will hold well, either. You can try chilling the dough for a day or two, so they’ll spread a little less in the oven, and this may allow the stamp to show/stay better – but my guess is that still may not work super well, unfortunately. You could otherwise skip the sugar on the outside, and use a stencil and a spatula to spread a thin layer of buttercream or royal icing on top of the cooled cookies, for an easy, cute design instead 🙂 I hope that helps! Happy baking!
Thank you for the feedback and the stencil idea! That’s a great suggestion. I may try that if the stamp doesn’t work after chilling the dough for a couple days.
No problem! Can’t wait to hear how it goes 🙂
If you did it immediately out of the oven, it should hold its shape!
I will try that! Thank you
You can also try stamping the cookies after it has baked! Wait about 30 seconds after taking it out the oven and it should stamp well!
Thank you for the suggestion! I’m going to try that
They weren’t lying! These are the softest and chewiest cookies I’ve ever had. So yummy. Try this simple recipe. So worth fr!