Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Cut out sugar cookies are a staple around the holidays. They are fun and festive to make with your favorite cookie cutters. These heart-shaped sugar cookies are decorated with a simple powdered sugar icing and festive sprinkles for an adorable presentation.

If you’ve tried other sugar cookie recipes and had problems with the texture, flavor, or they simply wouldn’t hold their shape; you’ve come to the right place. These are the best sugar cookies! They are soft and tender with ever-so-slightly crisp edges. In addition to wonderful texture, the taste is just sweet enough and buttery with a hint of vanilla. A thin layer of sweet glaze is the perfect finishing touch!

Oh my these turned out so delicious!! They were perfect for holiday baking with my kids! Thanks for the great recipe!

— Caren

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Soft, melt-in-your-mouth bite
• Perfectly sweet, rich classic flavor
• Hold their shape while baking
• Stay nice and tender for days
• Freezer-friendly

Ingredients needed

A basic sugar cookie recipe is pretty universal, but there are some essential ingredients that really set these apart! Plus, whereas most cookie recipes call for the ingredients to be room temperature, this recipe calls for a cold egg and butter. Here’s a note on all of the ingredients you’ll need:

• All-purpose flour: Definitely use all-purpose flour for a soft, tender crumb. 
• Baking powder: Adds lift while baking.
• Salt: Brings out all of the deliciousness!
• Unsalted butter: We’re using cold butter that has been cut into chunks to provides rich flavor, structure and ensure the cookies don’t expand too much while baking.
• Granulated sugar: For sugar cookies, it’s best to use granulated sugar because you want a sweetener that will not overwhelm the classic flavor. We also want them to be pale in color.
• Egg: One large egg for shape, structure and richness.
• Vanilla extract: Enhances the taste of the sweet ingredients.
• Almond extract: Our secret ingredient that give these a complex depth of flavor.

For the icing

• Powdered sugar: The base of the sweet icing.
• Almond extract: We really like almond extract to flavor the icing because it has such a rich, delicious taste, but feel free to use vanilla extract instead. 
• Corn syrup: Just a tiny bit of corn syrup will help give the icing a sticky consistency and a nice shiny presentation.
• Water: Adding about 5 tbsp of room temperature water will achieve the perfect consistency for the icing.

How to make this recipe

These sugar cookies come together so easily! This recipe will become your favorite go-to sugar cookie recipe that you will make again and again. Just change up the cookie cutter, and you can make these for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or any other occasion! Here’s the simple process:

1. Whisk the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Use food scales to measure or spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a knife (without shaking) to ensure accurate measurements. 

2. Cream butter and sugar: In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric hand or stand mixer on high speed for about 3 minutes, until fully combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed to evenly beat the mixture. 
3. Mix in the remaining wet ingredients: Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients: Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time and mix until completely combined. If dough is a bit sticky and soft to roll and cut shapes, chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Roll out dough: After chilling dough, use a floured rolling pin and roll on a floured surface to about 1/4″ to 3/8″ thick. Dip cookie cutters in some extra flour and cut dough into shapes with cookie cutters and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. 

6. Bake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Freeze the cut out shapes on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before baking. Then, bake for about 9 to 11 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes on the pan, before transferring to a cooling wire rack.
7. Continue rolling, cutting and baking: Gather any excess dough into a ball, then re-roll and cut out more cookies and repeat until all of the dough is used. It may be necessary to chill dough again for 10 to 15 minutes, so the dough isn’t super soft. It will make it easier to roll and cut out clean shapes.

Making the icing

1. Mix icing: In a medium bowl, stir the powdered sugar, almond extract, corn syrup, and 4.5 tablespoons of water together in a medium bowl. It will be very thick and difficult to stir. Add in another 1/2 tablespoon of water. If you pull the spoon up out of the icing and let it drizzle back into the bowl, it should hold shape for a few seconds before melting back into the icing. That is the consistency you want. If it’s too thick, stir in another 1/2 tablespoon of water until you reach the consistency.
2. Add food coloring: If desired, you can divide icing into separate bowls and add food coloring. There will be enough icing for the cookie recipe. A little bit of this icing goes a long way! I like this gel food coloring best!
3. Decorate cookies: Now, the fun part! Spread icing over your cookies using squeezable bottles, piping bags or simply use a butter knife. Then, add sprinkles, if desired.

Expert tips

Some baking tips, so your decorated sugar cookies are absolutely perfect!

• Don’t over-mix: Stop mixing the dough once you stop seeing streaks of flour. If you mix any more, you risk ending up with a tough and overly chewy cookie.
• Chill the dough: To make rolling the dough much easier, and to ensure the cookies keep their shape, chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 1 hour or more.
• Rolling the dough: Once the dough is ready, place the dough between two floured sheets of wax paper or parchment paper and press it into a disk, then roll flat. While I’m rolling, I’ll occasionally (carefully) lift up the wax paper on the top, put it back down, flip, and do the same on the bottom. That’s because the force of the rolling can cause the wax paper to crinkle.
• Flour your rolling pin: If you’re not using a top sheet of parchment paper, make sure your rolling pin is well floured, otherwise, the dough is likely to stick to the rolling pin.
• Roll dough 1/4th-inch thick: This thickness of dough works well when you’re cutting shapes out of dough. Plus, the thicker sugar cookie dough will result in the cookies having a soft inside texture, yet still have slightly crisp edges.
• Flour the cookie cutters: A bit of flour will help the shapes pop out of the cookie cutters easily.
• Cool before frosting: You want the sugar cookies completely cooled before adding the icing. If they are still a bit warm, the icing can soak into the cookie. I actually like to bake the cookies the day before I plan to ice them.

Frequently asked questions

Variations

Want to change up this recipe? Here’s some options to make it your own:

• Icing: Here’s a royal icing recipe if you’d rather an icing that dries very quickly and is easy to work with.
• Cream cheese frosting: Try this cream cheese frosting if you like a spreadable, creamy frosting that tastes amazing!
• Gluten-free sugar cookies: To make the best gluten-free decorated sugar cookies, swap all-purpose flour with King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure Flour.
• Other flavors: You can replace the almond extract with additional vanilla extract if you’d like. You can even replace it with other flavorings like peppermint, maple or lemon.

Storing recommendations

Wait to store the baked cookies until the icing has dried. I like to make these in the evening and let them dry overnight. The icing will dry in about 12 hours. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. Once the icing has dried, the cookies can be stacked. In my opinion, they taste even better the next day and the icing is perfectly hardened. Store decorated cookies for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature or up to 10 days in the refrigerator.

Tips for freezing cookies

Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. 

If you try these, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves them as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star ⭐️ rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.