Perfect cut-out sugar cookies are both chewy on the inside and hold their shape while baking. These were so easy to make and can be made and decorated for any occasion. They are delicious decorated with my Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting or can be intricately decorated with royal icing!
What I love about these cookies are they are incredibly quick to make the dough. Think 5 minutes! The longest part of the recipe is they DO need to chill in the fridge for 2 hours. DON’T SKIP THIS STEP! I tried both chilling them and rolling them immediately and while very similar the chilled ones had a wonderful texture and were much easier to roll. It is a very sticky dough if you don’t chill them!
I like to cut them just a bit on the thick side so they are chewy instead of crumbly! We had our fair share of taste testing all week, the kids were not complaining! I tried one recipe that was a bit too crumbly, and others that were chilled or not chilled…sooo many cookies! Finally I adapted a recipe from http://www.geniuskitchen.com. These are the Perfect cut-out sugar cookies and they turned out amazing! Just the right amount of sweetness, not too chewy but and just a bit crumbly. They are absolutely perfect!
In all my cookie making endeavors this week I learned a few helpful tips I just have to share with you!
Perfect Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Tips:
- Use cold eggs and cool butter (I even take my room temperature butter and toss it back in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before mixing.
- Whip the butter until its pale and fluffy!
- I didn’t add any salt in this recipe because if not frosted you can taste the salt! (i’m not a fan of that!) If you are frosting with a sweet icing though add 1/2 tsp of salt to this recipe to balance out all the sweet.
- Chill the dough for 2 hours! DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!
- Roll your dough out on parchment paper so you don’t have to transfer your cookies onto a tray. There is nothing worse than a finger indent or a deformed cookie because these BAKE PERFECTLY!
- Keep an eye on them in the oven, you do not want to brown the bottoms too much, just a hint!
Try these other cookie recipes:
Perfect Cut-out Sugar Cookies
The perfect cut-out sugar cookies are both chewy on the inside and hold their shape while baking. They were so easy to make and can be made and decorated for any occasion!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
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Place butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extracts into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (bonus if it has the spatula on the beater!
Mix on low until incorporated then turn to high for 2 minutes until mixture is pale and fluffy
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Sift together flour and baking powder and add into the mixer slowly until just incorporated. Wrap dough in saran wrap and form into a flat disc, place in the refrigerator for 2 hours until firm!
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After 2 hours has gone by preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
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Roll out dough out on a piece of parchment paper until approximately 1/8″-1/4″ thick. Cut out shapes and remove dough from between shapes. Make sure they are approximately 1″ apart, they don’t spread much in the oven but you don’t want them to touch!
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Transfer parchment paper with cookies onto a sheet and place them in the oven for 6-8 minutes depending on their size. You will see just a hint of brown along the bottom of the cookies then remove them.
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Leave them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cookie rack. Make sure they are completely cool before decorating!
