Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe – This sugar cookie recipe is an heirloom family recipe that makes delicious rolled sugar cookies for cutting into festive shapes perfect for decorating.

Looking for more easy cookie recipes? You’ll love my Snickerdoodles, Buttery Spritz Cookies, and Gingerbread Cookies.

This Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe has been in my family for years and years. It is one of those cookie recipes that we pull out each year to make Christmas cookies for decorating.

Through the years, we’ve tried a few variations of my family’s sugar cookie recipe, especially with the decorations. Mama would make a quick sugar cookie icing and we’d add all sorts of little candies to the cookies for decoration. Some years, those cookies turned out a lot cuter than others, but they were always delicious!

Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

When Sam was young, I, like my Mama did when I was growing up, pull out the canister of cookie cutters and turn all of the shape selection over to Sam. Sometimes we end up with all snowmen, and then other years, we have a great mixture of all sorts of shapes to bake and decorate. We had fun no matter what shapes we cut out of this delicious rolled sugar cookie dough!

Why You’ll Love This Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

Taste and Texture. These cookies have a slightly sweet taste that is not overpowered by icing or decorations. Their texture is soft, yet they are sturdy enough for decorating.

Festive. The dough can be cut into any desired shape for holidays and celebrations and decorated as you wish. They are so much fun to make with kids!

Easy to Make Ahead. The sugar cookie dough is perfect to make ahead and keep chilled until ready to cut out the cookies for baking.

How to Make Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

For this cookie recipe, you’ll need the following simple ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

I recommend that the butter be softened and the eggs be at room temperature for better mixing with the sugar and flour.

Make the Sugar Cookie Dough

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix into the butter mixture. Add in the vanilla.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture, making sure to mix until well combined without overmixing the dough.
• Divide the dough in half. If ready to bake, go ahead and roll and cut the dough for baking. If you are making ahead, wrap each half of the dough well with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Roll and Cut Out the Dough

• Roll the dough to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with your favorite cookie cutters. If the dough sticks, you can dust the rolling surface and rolling pin lightly with confectioner’s sugar or with flour. I prefer to use confectioner’s sugar as I find it doesn’t leave an aftertaste once the cookies are baked.
• Cut sugar cookies with preferred cookie cutters, working dough back together and rolling and cutting until all dough has been used and all the sugar cookies are placed onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake the Cookies

• Place the baking sheets full of cut-out sugar cookies into the freezer for 15 minutes to prevent the dough from spreading while baking.
• Preheat oven to 350º F while the baking sheet is in the freezer.
• Transfer baking sheets straight from the freezer to the oven for baking. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 12 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before decorating.

Decorate the Sugar Cookies

While the sugar cookies are cooling, I mix up the same easy cookie icing that my Mama always made when we were children. Then, the whole family has so much decorating them.

While we’ve always loved making these as part of our baking for Christmas cookies, it’s a great sugar cookie recipe to use whenever you’d like to make sugar cookies for decorating or enjoying.

Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions

To store baked and decorated sugar cookies. Prepare the cookies as instructed, allow any decorative frosting to dry completely, and then store them in parchment-lined layers within an airtight container for up to a week.

To make ahead unbaked cookies. Make the sugar cookie dough, wrap it well with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe.

To freeze cookie dough. Make the sugar cookie dough, wrap it well with plastic wrap, and place it in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow the dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe.

To freeze unbaked cookies. Place cut-out sugar cookies onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and place into the freezer until the unbaked cookies are firmly frozen, about 30 minutes. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering the unbaked frozen cookies between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake from frozen, add about 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time.

To freeze baked cookies. Allow the baked sugar cookies to cool completely. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, allow the cookies to reach room temperature and then decorate as you’d like.

Here’s my family’s cut-out sugar cookie recipe. I hope your family loves it as much as mine does! You might also like to try my Chewy Sugar Cookie Recipe. Between the two, you’ll be in sugar cookie bliss!

Happy Baking!
Robyn xo

From the Add a Pinch recipe archives. Originally published 2013.