These Homemade Sugar Cookies are easy and delicious. This recipe comes together quickly. Once the dough has chilled, simply roll-out and use cookie cutters to stamp out your cookies! Bake and decorate with frosting and sprinkles.
December has been one busy month!
The month was filled with work, school, class parties, Christmas shopping, snow days and another tree falling on our house. Yes… another. This would be the second tree that fell onto the roof of our home in the past 5 years. You’d think with this kind of luck we would hit the lottery! Yeah… no…. not so much. Luckily the only trees left to fall are the ones in the woods behind our home. Phew. I can’t say I’m not sad to see the month AND the tree go!
So I apologize for only 5 posts this month but I have a lot still yet to post but I’m saving those for next year. I plan to enjoy the remaining days of 2010 with baking, drinking and being merry! With that said, raise your hand if you make sugar cookies for Christmas? Raise your hand if you get 4-5 batches out of your sugar cookies? I have to admit I’m the one who refrigerates the scraps of dough a second time… rolls them out, to make more cookies.
Maybe that’s what most people do. Maybe I’m not the only weirdo?!
And I do love my sugar cookies!
I also love my cookie cutters!
One thing is for sure… sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas. With the right cookie cutters you can make them for any special occasion. It just so happens to be Christmas time and me and my girls are spending the day making and decorating sugar cookies! It is a tradition that we always look forward to doing!
So if a simple cookie recipe is what you’re looking for then this is it! Learn how to make the most perfect sugar cookies… whether it’s Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day or because it’s Monday, this recipe is sure to make a lot of yummy sugar cookies.
To Make These Homemade Sugar Cookies You Will Need:
- butter (softened)
- granulated sugar
- pure vanilla extract
- unbleached all-purpose flour
- kosher salt
- larg egg
It isn’t a ton of ingredients which is why I like this recipe. Simple.
Throw 1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) of butter in the bowl of you mixer.
Measure out 3/4 cup sugar and add that in too. Turn the mixer on medium for about three minutes. 5-6 minutes if you’re using a hand mixer.
Meanwhile measure out 2-1/2 cups flour and add it into a medium sized bowl.
Next add 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt to the flour.
Whisk gently until combined.
How cute is Malloree here?
When the butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy, stop the mixer.
Next, add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.
And then add in the 1 egg along with the vanilla.
Mix until just combined.
Then add a little bit of the flour mixture at a time while the mixer is on low. Add more after thoroughly mixed in.
Next, scrape the sides down in between.
Then stop when the dough is crumbly and forms a ball in your mixer.
Next, separate in to two halves.
Then form in to disks and wrap with plastic wrap.
Next, let it chill in the fridge for an hour before you start to roll it out. I would preheat your oven 10 minutes before rolling out your dough. You don’t want to wait around for your oven to preheat.
Then sprinkle some flour on a large work surface.
Next, unwrap your chilled dough and plop it onto the floured surface.
Then, roll out the dough. I don’t measure my dough thickness. Do you?? In my guesstimation, it looks like a quarter of an inch.
I let my girls punch out the shapes, which is really hard for me since I’m a Virgo and like to do it all myself. I struggled but survived.
Not only in this photo did I realize my youngest still has small cute chubby hands… but that she’s also giving CPR to the cookie cutter!
But when I saw this photo of my oldest, I paused. Not only was she wearing her Great Gramma Jean’s ring, but it was also the first time I noticed that her hands look exactly like mine.
Next lay them onto your lined baking sheet.
And then bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes!
Watch them carefully as the thinner ones will brown sooner.
We will frost and decorate these with sprinkles and colored sugar.
And leave a few out for Santa!
I will sneak a couple to sit in bed while watching food network and leave a few crumbs for my husband to roll over on!
Enjoy! And if you give this Homemade Sugar Cookies recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Homemade Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Equipment
Instructions
- Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric stand mixer at medium until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 minutes with a handheld.
- Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl measure and add the flour and salt, set aside.
- To the sugar and butter mixture, beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Place oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350° about ten minutes prior to rolling out the dough.
- Roll out 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into an 8 1/2-inch round (1/4 inch thick ish) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm.) Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with cookie cutters and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart.
- Repeat with remaining dough if desired.
- Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Chill the cookies that are waiting to be baked!
Notes
Buy the Cookbook: Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy Now available on Amazon »
THANK YOU in advance for your support!
I love sugar biscuits! But I love your biscuit cutters more! We have tiny Christmas ones, they are not as cool as your. We used to make these on Christmas Eve, use a straw to punch a little hole in the top and then hang them on the Christmas tree for Santa (and ourselves) Yummy.
I love Christmas shaped cookies!!!! 😀
Is that a new header? It is so pretty! Lovely step by steps here…as always!
Merry Christmas.
love sugar cookies! these especially look delish. so sorry about your house!! hope you're able to get that fixed soon and that your Christmas is WONDERFUL!:)
Jennifurla~ it is my december/holiday header! Thanks!
Amanda~ I did have a great Christmas!! I hope yours was wonderful too!
Isie what a great idea to hang them as ornaments!! Very clever!
Gorgeous photos and cookies!
I love sugar cookies. And I totally have those cookie cutters. But mine didn't come out as pretty as yours. So I'm stealing your recipe. Sorry about the tumbling trees.
Your recipes sound great but your photos are great also! You have a real talent there too!
Why thank you! 🙂
Best sugar cookies ever!! I have tried so many recipes and have finally found a winner! Thank you!
will be making these with my little ladies for v-day. but your CPR comment cracked me up! (as an ICU nurse, i like to think we'd be friends if we worked together. but i'm in philly. and not currently working. so for now, i'll just keep making your delicious recipes!)
These look so perfect. I wonder if it would make an insane difference to use shortening or margarine?
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