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Celebrate the special occasion with this easy sugar cookie recipe! This is my go-to for a simple cookie! These drop sugar cookies are an all-time favorite because they’re so soft and chewy. Plus, this soft sugar cookie recipe is a blank slate so you can vary the recipe in so many ways.
Table of Contents
BEST Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe
I’ve fine-tuned this cookie recipe to make them soft, chewy, and delicious with or without frosting. These are even better than cut out sugar cookies!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- This is a drop cookie: you can just mix, drop and bake! The easiest sugar cookie recipe yet!
- These are perfect soft sugar cookies that melt in your mouth but are also chewy at the same time.
- The best part about this easy sugar cookie recipe is that they’re amazing with frosting, but they’re also so good plain. They’re even good frozen! I’m not going to explain how I know, lol…
Ingredients Needed
- Butter – a good sugar cookie uses butter. Butter-flavored shortening is okay, but to get that traditional sugar cookie flavor, you need butter. Use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt. If you’re using salted butter, reduce the amount of salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon.
- Sugar – this drop cookie recipe uses granulated sugar. My cutout sugar cookie recipe uses powdered sugar but granulated makes for a chewy cookie.
- Egg plus egg yolk – eggs provide structure in baking. The extra egg yolk adds a bit of chew to the cookie.
- Cream of Tartar – Cream of Tartar works in tandem with the baking soda, keeping the cookies soft.
How to make easy sugar cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is fluffy..
- Add the room temperature egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until smooth, then mix in baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add flour and mix until the sugar cookie dough forms.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon-sized balls on a baking sheet. Bake for 11-15 minutes, or until the bottoms start to get golden and the top is no longer glossy.
- Cool for at least 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing. Cool completely before frosting.
Sugar Cookie Recipe Variations
- Omit the frosting and first roll the sugar cookies in granulated sugar for a sweet crunchy outside. Use colored sugars for holiday drop sugar cookies!
- Make these 1 tablespoon or 2 tablespoon size, just adjust the baking time.
- You can turn these into sugar cookie bars by baking them in a 9×13-inch pan for approximately 18-25 minutes.
- Make M&M Cookies by adding candy or any mix-ins (about 1 1/2 cups).
- Add 1 cup of sprinkles to the batter to make a sprinkle cookie (omit frosting).
- Roll the cookies in sugar or cinnamon sugar (reminiscent of snickerdoodles) and skip the frosting.
- You can even turn these into chocolate sugar cookies really easily.
Expert Tips
- Use real butter, not margarine or imitation butter.
- Equal parts butter and granulated sugar gives these the perfect amount of sweetness and spread.
- Buy yourself some cream of tartar so that your cookies have some chew without the spread of just using baking soda.
- Add an extra egg yolk to complete the perfection of this chewy soft sugar cookie.
- You can make these dairy-free sugar cookies by using Earth’s Balance Vegan Butter Sticks in place of the butter.
FAQs
The cream of tartar keeps these soft. It’s also important not to over bake sugar cookies to keep them nice and soft and not crunchy.
Add a bit of vanilla extract or almost extract to enhance the buttery flavor we love!
The extra egg yolk and cream of tartar in this recipe helps keep these nice and chewy. A crispy sugar cookie would have no cream of tartar and more baking soda so it would spread more.
No. For cut-out cookies you will need powdered sugar to stop the spread. In cut-out sugar cookies or snowball cookies, you don’t want spreading. Powdered sugar includes cornstarch, which helps with binding and reducing spread, thus no spreading.
Yes – you can freeze the baked cookies unfrosted OR frosted! Freeze plain cookies in a gallon-size resealable bag with paper towels between layers. Freeze frosting in an airtight container. You can freeze frosted cookies in a single layer in an airtight container.
Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour
For the frosting
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups (151g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) milk
- Food coloring if desired
- Sprinkles optional
Instructions
Make the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer). Cream until the mixture is fluffy, about one minute.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until smooth, then mix in baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add flour and mix until cookie dough forms.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon sized balls 2-inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 11-15 minutes, or until the bottoms are just starting get golden and the top is no longer glossy. Cool at least 10 minutes on cookie sheet before removing. Cool completely before frosting.
Make the Frosting:
- Mix butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer until smooth, then slowly mix in the powdered sugar a bit at a time. The mixture will be very crumbly. Add the vanilla and mix, then mix in the salt and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy.
- Tint with food coloring, if desired.
- Frost cooled cookies. Store loosely covered.
Alternate preparation:
- Scoop balls of cookie dough and roll them in sugar or cinnamon sugar before baking. Skip frosting. OR
- Add 1 cup of sprinkles to the dough before scooping. Skip frosting.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Use real butter, not margarine or imitation butter.
- Equal parts butter and granulated sugar gives these the perfect amount of sweetness and spread.
- Buy yourself some cream of tartar so that your cookies have some chew without the spread of just using baking soda.
- Add an extra egg yolk to complete the perfection of this chewy soft sugar cookie.
- You can make these dairy-free sugar cookies by using Earth’s Balance Vegan Butter Sticks in place of the butter.
- You can make 1 tablespoon (8-13 minute) or 2 tablespoon (13-17 minutes) size cookies. Or bake in a 9×13-inch pan (18-25 minutes).
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze cookies for up to 3 months, with or without frosting.
Recipe Nutrition
Other Cookie Recipes
Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe – this sugar cookie recipe is the perfect drop sugar cookie – it’s soft and chewy and perfect with frosting!
Last Updated on May 24, 2023
These are so good and the cream of tartar tip really works. Amazing
David, This is exactly what I was thinking while reading the cream of tartar “tip” (i include the quotes bc that is how it is described a few comments up). I’ve always been told that any recipe calling for cream of tartar that also includes baking soda, baking powder can be used in place of both the baking soda and cream of tartar. I’ve tried it both ways and have never observed any difference at all.
My fiance is obsessed with these! The cream of tartar tip is *chefs kiss*
Sugar cookies are one of my favorite cookies, and I have been trying to find a scrumptious sugar cookie for some time, and I finally found it! I love these cookies and so does everyone I cook them for! It is seriously the best sugar cookie I have ever made! Thank you for concocting them!
You say to add lemon juice or cocoa. Would you add lemon juice instead of vanilla or in addition, and how much? With the cocoa would you be replacing some of the flour or would it be in addition?
Umm I put the flour and mixed it and it did not form into a dough???? Help!
OMG! I have been looking for a soft sugar cookie recipe for a long time, I hit the jackpot! These are the best cookie I have ever made and I bake alot! The icing is so delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will be forever grateful, my top 3 cookie recipes! Lol! Connie
Are you able to bake and freeze these?
If you look at the ingredients for baking powder, it usually includes baking soda, and powdered acid (often related to tartaric acid). Cream tartar is a powdered form of the same acid. So by combining the baking soda and cream of tartar in this recipe, you’ve effectively made baking powder. Isn’t chemistry wonderful. Baking soda is most often used in foods that are already slightly acidic – containing fruit, molasses, etc. When you combine baking soda and an acid you generate carbon dioxide gas, which leavens the food – the little gas bubbles make the food lighter and puffier. In baking powder, they put a solid form of acid with the solid baking soda – you get the same effect when you add water (try putting some water on a bit of baking powder and watch it fizz). So essentially you get the same leavening action in a muffin or biscuit, without having to have the batter/dough be slightly acidic. To be fair, there are some foods that aren’t acidic, and still only use baking soda. My assumption is that the soda decomposes at baking temperature to release the carbon dioxide – but probably not as well or efficiently as when acid is present. Oh, and incidentally, what is left behind in the baked product, after the CO2 escapes – is sodium and some other chemicals. So keep in mind that effectively, you’ve increased the saltiness of the food by the amount of baking soda or baking powder that you add.
These are fabulous! Excellent texture and crumb, buttery flavor. Batch is small—marking my copy to double next time as these go fast! I got 27 cookies out of the batch at what I would call a “normal” cookie size. I rolled mine in granulated sugar before baking. Great recipe- worth the no notice trip to the store for cream of tartar!
David, This is exactly what I was thinking while reading the cream of tartar “tip” (i include the quotes bc that is how it is described a few comments up). I’ve always been told that any recipe calling for cream of tartar that also includes baking soda, baking powder can be used in place of both the baking soda and cream of tartar. I’ve tried it both ways and have never observed any difference at all.
Hands down the BEST and EASIEST sugar cookie recipe ever!! This one is an absolute keeper!!
These are so good I literally just got through making them and they don’t taste like cardboard. Thank you so much!!
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