Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe - Haniela's (2024)

4.98 from 44 votes

SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (430 grams)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup room temperature unsalted butter (2 sticks, 226 grams)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp baking powder (optional - check the notes)
• 1/2 tsp Almond Extract (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Lemon Extract (optional)

SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH

Dry Ingredients

• Sift together flour (3cups/430grams), baking powder (1 teaspoon) add salt (1/2 teaspoon), set aside.

  TIP: If you are experiencing excessive spreading use 1/4tsp baking powder or omit baking powder.

Cream Butter and Sugar

• In a mixing bowl cream together room temperature butter (1cup/ 226 grams) and sugar (1cup/200 grams), about 5 minutes, scrape the bowl twice. Butter creamed with sugar should be light and creamy in color.

• In a small dish whisk together room-temperature egg (1) and vanilla extract(1 tablespoon). If using, whisk in almond (1/2 teaspoon) and lemon extract(1/2 teaspoon), and set aside.

  TIP: Almond and Lemon Extracts are optional.

  See Also

  Mini Cinnamon Rolls Recipe with Coffee Icing

• Gradually add the egg mixture to the butter mixture. Beat well till combined about a minute.

• Lower the speed of your mixer to low. Gradually in 3 additions, add the flour mixture. Scrape the bowl well after the last addition and beat slowly until the flour is mixed in. At this stage, you'll see chunks of cookie dough.

• Gather dough into a ball, flatten it and shape it into a disk.

  TIP: If the dough appears too wet add 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour.

• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2-4 hours. This is great when you don't have time to make the cookies on the same day.

  Or speed up the process by placing it in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.

  Or you can roll out freshly made cookie dough between two sheets of parchment or silicone mats and chill for an hour. I don't recommend leaving rolled cookie dough in the fridge for too long (overnight and longer) as it tends to dry out around the edges.

• Preheat oven to 375F.

• If you find that the disk of dough is hard as a rock, don’t panic. Quarter the dough. Take one piece and microwave it on high for 5-8 seconds to soften it up a little. It shouldn't be super soft, just soft enough so you can roll it out, you’ll still need to apply a little bit of pressure.

  Cut up the remaining dough into smaller pieces, and set aside. Place microwaved piece between your rolling guides, either between 2 pieces of parchment or if you have a large silicone mat you can use it also ( for the rolling guides you can use two painter's sticks glued together on each side, or two pieces of 1/4 inch wood rods will work great, too).

• Cut out as many cookies as you can. Gather scraps and to the scraps add a chilled piece of cut-up cookie dough you set aside. Re-roll and repeat until you are done with all the cookies. Place the cookies on a light-colored baking sheet lined with parchment paper or perforated. Chill the cutouts in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or in the freezer for 5.

Bake

• Bake for 10-11 minutes, depending on the oven, turn the sheet once half way through the baking.

• Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and transfer them to a cooling rack.

• Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze undecorated cookies between pieces of wax paper in a large freeze safe container, for up to 3 months.

• Decorate cookies as desired with royal icing or other medium that you use.

How long can you keep the dough in the fridge? - You can keep the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 3 days. After that, you can either make the cookies or freeze the cookie dough for later—up to 3 months.

How thick do you roll out cookies for decorating?- 1/4 inch thick, and a little thicker when making cookie pops

I don't have granulated sugar; can I use powdered sugar? Sure, you can use powdered sugar; use about 1 cup and 1/4 cups. A cookie made with powdered sugar has a tender crumb.

How to tell if cookies are baked? -cookies when baked have puffy centers. If you see a spot that appears wet and shiny, usually in the middle of the cookies, continue baking for another minute or 2. A baked, cooled cookie that has a darker spot in the center underbaked.

How to make other flavors?

Lemon / Orange Zest Cookies – use one tablespoon fresh lemon zest and 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon extract

Chocolate Chip Cut-Out Cookies – ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup brown sugar, micro chocolate chips (add these with flour), 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Almond Sugar Cookies - add one teaspoon vanilla and one teaspoon almond extract. I find the almond flavor to be very strong and 1 teaspoon does the trick for me but if you'd like to add even more extract you definitely can. Almond cookies pair really nicely with my Fresh lemon royal icing.

Spices - you can also add spices to this recipe, try cinnamon, cardamom, or pumpkin spice to make them more seasonal.