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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.
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.
Absolutely amazing cookies, A great recipe, and the cookies turned out so well too, just like your photos. Definitely a recipe to repeat.
I tested versions with cream cheese, but found they became too claggy. I also tested smaller sized cookies, but found they didn’t stay as soft and chewy in the center.
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.
Recipe Ingredients
All-purpose flour – Make sure to weigh your flour accurately. This is KEY. 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! I prefer the taste of sea salt over table salt, but you can use that too. Don’t use kosher salt, it won’t dissolve as readily and you might end up with salty pockets.
Unsalted butter – It’s important that your butter is at a cool room temperature (around 67°F), otherwise your cookies may spread. If using salted butter, reduce the salt added to 1/4 teaspoon.
Granulated sugar – The star ingredient! Don’t reduce the sugar – find out why here and peek the Sprinkle of Science section 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. Feel free to experiment with other extracts!
How to Make Sugar Cookies (Step-by-Step)
Cream butter & sugar. Use butter at a cool room temperature (about 67°F) and beat with the paddle attachment (not the whisk) until lighter in color and larger in volume.
Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Room temperature eggs will incorporate more easily. Beat very well until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides & bottom of bowl and paddle as needed.
Add dry ingredients. Don’t overmix, this will create stronger gluten networks and may result in tough cookies.
Scoop into balls. A spring-loaded scoop makes quick and efficient work of this.
Roll in sugar. Don’t skip this step, it’s key to those crackly, sparkly tops! Only skip if you plan to frost the cookies.
Flatten slightly. Gently press down each cookie dough scoop with the bottom of a measuring cup or your palm. This ensures proper spread.
Bake. At 350°F for just 10-12 minutes. Don’t overbake! The cookies should be set at the edges but look just slightly ‘wet’ on top. They’ll continue cooking from the heat of the pan.
Let cool. For the chewiest texture and best flavor, allow the cookies to cool completely before enjoying.
Keys to SOFT Cookies
- Do not over-measure your flour. For best results, use a kitchen scale (I promise you this is a game-changer). If you don’t have one, use the spoon-and-level method. Too much flour is the #1 cause of dry crumbly cookies that don’t spread properly.
- 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.
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.
Sprinkle of Science (open me!)
If your cookies spread too much, it may be the temperature of your butter. Many home bakers allow their butter to get too warm, soft, and even greasy before creaming. This leads to excess spreading, which can even can occur even after you’ve chilled the cookie dough! Butter is an emulsion of water and fat and once it breaks by getting too warm, it can wreak havoc. Learn more about butter temperatures on my Instagram here!
In experimenting with sugar ratios for this recipe, I found that reducing the sugar led to cookies that didn’t spread and were dry, crumbly, bland, and staled much faster. Adding too much extra sugar led to cookies that over-spread and were overly sweet.
Learn more about the science of sugar in baking here.
For cookies that stay soft but develop enough flavor, 350°F proved the best baking temperature in my testing. Any hotter, and the cookies became too crisp and hard. Any cooler, and the cookies had underdeveloped flavor and were more delicate. Not all ovens are accurate, so check yours with an oven thermometer to make sure!
Storage & Make ahead
How to Store to Keep Cookies Soft: Store 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.
Freeze: Freeze the uncoated, pre-portioned balls of cookie dough in a freezer-safe container, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, or in a Ziploc bag up to 6 weeks. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge or for 30-60 minutes at room temperature for best results, then bake as directed below.
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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, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Avoid dark-colored baking sheets, which may cause too much browning.
- 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, about 3 minutes. The mixture should increase in volume and become paler in color.
- 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 until just combined. Don't overmix.
- 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 edges are set and very lightly brown, but the centers still look soft or 'wet'. Do not wait for the centers to brown unless you want a crisper texture.
- 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.
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! A hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer.
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.
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!
Yes! Feel free to add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon almond extract for a fun twist.
Yes, reduce the amount of added salt in the recipe to 1/2 teaspoon.
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!
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).
The only sugar cookie recipe you will ever need. Sooooo good. Bravo!
these were super tasty! i’ll definitely be making them again. my only problem, the cookies were kinda delicate. i put them in a box and a few fell apart. i swear i followed the recipe correctly, only thing i can think of i did was some of the butter was a bit melted
Hi Fiona! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies. Using melted butter (even just a little!) can definitely change their texture and make them more delicate or crumbly. Next time, try using butter that’s at a cool room temperature—about 67°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, no worries! This photo comparison just above the recipe can help you tell if your butter is just right 🙂 I hope that helps!
these cookies did taste good. i followed the recipe down to a T but for some reason they were very runny and did not have a dough texture. i ended up having to add way more flour. do you know what may have went wrong?
I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor! It sounds like something may have been slightly off — usually if dough is runny, it’s due to butter that’s too warm, under-measured flour, or even a warmer kitchen environment. We recommend using a kitchen scale for the most accurate flour measurement and making sure the butter is softened to a cool room temperature (around 67°F). The butter visual shown above the recipe here may also be very helpful if you don’t have a digital food thermometer to check, and I’d encourage you to read through the other tips Tessa provided above the recipe. I hope this helps for next time, and let us know if you have any other questions!
Every year my kids and I make Earth Day sugar cookies. They always look great but always taste not so great. 🙁 This year was different!! My whole family said these were the best sugar cookies, ever. 🙂 Even my husband made a comment and he usually doesn’t care either way. :O Even me… I don’t like sugar cookies but thought these were great!! <3 <3 <3 This are my new go to sugar cookie recipe. I'm already thinking about next year's school bake sale!
I forgot to add that I made them in an Air Fryer on the Bake setting.
Kelly, your cookie looks INCREDIBLE! What a fun treat to celebrate Earth Day, thanks so much for sharing 🙂 Glad they were such a hit!
These are very good and chewy. I’ll be using this as my go to for holiday cookies. One thing I thought would have made them better is adding 1 tsp of almond extract to the mix.
I made these and put a vanilla glaze on top (powdered sugar/vanilla/milk) and let the glaze set before serving. My in-laws said they were the best sugar cookies they’ve ever had! And I have to agree. I’m also a big fan of bourbon vanilla glaze so I’ll be doing that next! It balances nicely with the sweetness. I will never use another sugar cookie recipe than this!
Best cookies ever, rolling them in cinnamon 😋 yummy
where are the amounts for ingredients?
The ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe card here 🙂 Enjoy!
im 14 and i tried making it and my grandma said it was the best sugar cookie she ever had and i would do it again thank you for making this recipe
We love hearing that! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Zakia. We’re so happy your grandma loved them!
These cookies are perfect!!
The softest, chewiest, perfect level of sweetness cookies!
I added a touch extra vanilla but if you follow the recipe and method you’ll end up with the exact same results:)
I actually ended up making another batch of dough to freeze – they are that good…
Also!!!!!!! I sprinkle of cinnamon on top and WOW !!!! SO GOOD
These were so gross tbh. They tasted like pure flour and they had hardly any sweetness. My sister and I attempted this recipe for fun out of boredness but we were met with hard, hard cookies, if you could even call them that. Overall, we ended up with 31 cookies… We really wanted these to turn out good, but they just weren’t.
I dint know what you did wrong but this is the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever used. Perfection! And I spent yrs as a lunch lady and wish I’d had this recipe.
Just looking at them I can tell you didn’t flatten them before baking. I’m assuming you are young, and haven’t baked much. When baking, you must follow the recipe to the letter! Baking is science, so if you change anything, it will not come out right. Try again and follow recipe exactly. Scoop flour gently into cup, and level by scraping off the extra. Or, weigh the flour. To much flour will definitely make gross cookies. Good luck.
Girl, you did something wrong 🤣🤣
Hi. These turned out great! Would it be possible for me to convert this recipe to cookie bars if I scale it up 2 – 3x?
We haven’t tried that, but let us know how it goes if you do!