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Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe – a classic chewy soft sugar cookie that’s a drop cookie – no cookie cutters or rolling needed! With the buttercream cookie frosting on top these are perfect for any holiday or occasion – or because you can’t get enough sugar cookies!
BEST Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe
Drop sugar cookies are a go-to recipe for the easiest soft sugar cookies. These cookies are an all-time favorite because they’re so soft and chewy with the perfect frosting.
I created this recipe to try to replicate my Nana’s Sugar Cookies. Turns out the cookies she fed me my entire childhood…were from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. I didn’t find that out until I was an adult and had already recreated her recipe – homemade and from scratch!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- These are drop sugar cookies: no rolling or cutting needed!
- No chill cookies – just drop and bake!
- They’re the perfect EASY cookie recipe for any occasion or holiday – just switch up the frosting colors or sprinkles!
Important Ingredients
- Butter – a good sugar cookie uses real 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, unlike my cutout sugar cookie recipe, which uses powdered.
- Egg and Egg Yolk – 2 eggs was too much egg, but one egg wasn’t chewy enough so I added an egg yolk to add a bit more chew to these soft cookies.
- Leavening – this drop cookie recipe uses a combination of baking soda and cream of tartar.
How to make easy sugar cookies
- 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.
- Mix frosting ingredients together until combined and smooth. Color as desired with food coloring. Frost and decorate with sprinkles.
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Variations
- Frost these with chocolate buttercream or cream cheese frosting instead.
- Decorate them for any holiday: pink for Valentine’s Day, red and green for Christmas. Or do black and orange for Halloween or pastel colors for Easter.
Expert Tips
- Use real butter, not fake or margarine. The quality of butter matters too, especially in a cookie like this. I recommend Challenge or other name brand.
- Buy yourself some cream of tartar so that your cookies have extra softness 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.
- Skip the frosting and roll these in granulated sugar before baking – they’re perfect with or without frosting!
FAQs
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.
Chewy Sugar Cookies Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (310g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened slightly (see note)
- 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar (for rolling)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper (see note).
- Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream cool but softened butter with 1 ½ cups granulated sugar until fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Be sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Dough should be soft but not wet.
- Place ⅓ cup sugar in a small bowl. Scoop 1-tablespoon size balls of cookie dough and roll in the sugar. Place 3-inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. (These do spread, so space accordingly.)
- Bake 11-14 minutes or until edges are light golden and centers are no longer glossy.
- Cool at least 10 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool or store.
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Butter note: you want your butter softened but not too much. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should be between 64-67°F. You can also press your finger in the top of your softened butter: if an indent is made with some pressure, it’s ready. If it goes in easily, it’s too soft and dough may require chilling.
- Parchment paper vs Silicone baking mat: each bake the cookies differently. Silicone holds the cookies better, producing a little less spread with thicker edges. Parchment cookies will spread more and have more cracked tops.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Other Easy Cookie Recipes
- Make chocolate chip sugar cookies by adding 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter and skipping the frosting.
- Make M&M Sugar Cookies by adding 1 cup of M&Ms to the batter, skip the frosting.
- 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.
- Flavor your frosting with lemon juice or a bit of cocoa to make a new flavor!
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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