Simple Sugar Cookie Recipe

Sugar cookies are a cookie that every baker should have in their cookie arsenal. This recipe is for sugar cookies that have that signature cracking that all great cookies have. They are moist, buttery and melt in your mouth. Cut out cookies are another type of sugar cookie that are often iced with butter cream or royal icing. Although these cookies can be made into a sandwich with buttercream, they are classically rolled in sugar and baked.

I love this recipe because not only is it delicious, it is also simple to customize and decorate for every occasion. With the addition of simple sanding sugar you can turn this simple sugar cookie recipe into a festive cookie perfect for any celebration.

How to customize these sugar cookies

• Roll in your choice of sprinkles. After you have your dough scooped and its time to roll your cookies in sugar, you can replace the sugar with sprinkles! The best kind of sprinkles to use is sanding sugar. You can also customize your cookies by double rolling them in the sugar to create a thicker layer of sugar, adding a yummy extra crunch to your cookie.

• Fill with buttercream. If you want to make this simple sugar cookie recipe a little more exciting, make it a cookie sandwich and fill it with buttercream. If you want to see our favorite cookie buttercream, check out our post Best Christmas Cookie Recipes. Another way to dress your cookie up is to fill it with buttercream and then roll it in sprinkles.

Tips for perfect cookies everytime

1. Cream your fats and sugars for at least 5 minutes. The first step to making most cookie recipes is usually to mix together your fats, often butter, and your sugars. This is such an important step and should not be overlooked. As you blend together the sugar with the butter, you are incorporating air into your batter that will keep your cookies from flattening like pancakes as they bake. Mix in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment for at least five minutes and you’ll notice that during this time the butter will go from a pale yellow to an almost white color. This is a good sign that your cookies are going to turn out awesome!
2. Fully incorporate your eggs. There is a fear when making cookies that you’re going to over beat your eggs and ruin your cookies and, as a result, it is easy to actually under beat the dough at this point. You want your eggs to be fully incorporated and evenly distributed. Let the dough beat for about one minute.
3. Add your dry ingredients at one time and pulse in until just incorporated. The moment you add flour into your batter, gluten begins to form. More gluten development equals tougher, dry cookies. In order to have nice soft, tender cookies, only mix your dry ingredients until just blended. You should not be able to see any dry flour in your batter or streaks of dry ingredients.
4. Use a cookie scoop for even, well baked cookies. Another way to make your cookies perfect every time is to be consistent with the sizing. No matter how well you eye-ball it, the only way to get nice and even cookies is to use a cookie scoop. I like to use a cookie scoop to measure out the dough, and then use the palms of my hands to form the dough into a ball. This makes for beautifully round, even cookies that maintain a nice height as they bake and do not flatten out like pancakes 🙂