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Published: May 9, 2018 • Modified: December 13, 202078 Comments »
Best-ever recipe for soft sugar cookies you can roll and cut out with cookie cutters! Easy to make, no chilling required, and they don’t spread into shapeless blobs as they bake. Made with a secret ingredient that gives them the most incredible flavor, and topped with a cool sour cream icing.
I already have 2 sugar cookie recipes on this site: one is for Cut-Out Cookies that Don’t Spread, and the other is for . I love them both for different reasons.
The cutout cookies that don’t spread are perfect for cookie decorating, and by that I mean the kind of decorating that is almost like a work of art. If you are a cookie artist, this is the recipe for you! They are easy to make and sturdy as can be (perfect for shipping), and they hold their shape beautifully. The texture is similar to shortbread, but not crumbly.
The soft and chewy sugar cookies are a drop cookie, so there’s no decoration needed! If you want you can jazz them up with some colorful sprinkles, or sparkling sugar, but they don’t really need anything more. They’re easy-peasy and quick to make, perfect for when a sugar cookie craving suddenly hits!
But these soft cut-out sugar cookies are in a category all their own.
It’s the best of all possible worlds, a sugar cookie that is soft as can be, rich, and tender, that you can roll out and cut shapes from!
The shapes hold up really well too. Say goodbye to those indistinguishable blobs that you’ve pulled from your oven in the past. These sugar cookies keep their neat edges. I did my research on this problem back in 2011 when I published that first cut-out cookie recipe. You can read about all the reasons why these rolled cookies don’t spread by clicking this link: How to Bake (Easy! and Delicious!) Cutout Cookies with Neat Edges.
I used all those same tricks when I created this new, soft, rolled sugar cookie recipe.
And all the tricks to make rolling and cutting sugar cookies quicker and easier. You don’t have to chill this dough, and you don’t even have to put flour on your counter! This recipe is no-muss, no-fuss, quick, easy, and incredibly delicious!
The flavor is like none other, thanks to a secret ingredient: cream cheese! The cream cheese imparts the most incredible richness. The cookies almost taste like cheesecake!
And all that creamy-dreaminess is reinforced when you top these sugar cookies with a cool sour cream icing. I discovered this frosting back in December, when I made those Chocolate Peppermint Swig Cookies, and oh my goodness! It is so good. It’s sweet and creamy and adds so much to this recipe. Just spread it on with a spoon and garnish with a few festive sprinkles. So pretty!
HERE ARE A FEW HELPFUL TIPS TO GUARANTEE SUGAR COOKIE SUCCESS:
- If you love your sugar cookies soft, be extra-careful not to overbake them! Your bake time could vary based on how thick you roll the dough, and what size cookie cutters you use. If the dough is rolled thinner than noted, and the cutters are small, you probably won’t need the full bake time listed on this recipe card. Use your judgement, and pull them from the oven when the edges feel set and the cookies are just barely beginning to turn golden on the bottoms. If you bake them too long, they could become hard.
- You can decorate these cookies with royal icing too! I made a big batch to donate to my kids’ school, and they came out fantastic. The sour cream frosting is just a little quicker/easier, and it tastes so good!
- If you want, you can skip the sugar cookie icing, and just use sprinkles instead. Top the cut-out shapes with sprinkles before they go into the oven.
- These sugar cookies can be baked several weeks ahead and frozen. Just stack them up in a zip-top bag and pop them in the freezer. When you’re ready to serve, let them thaw at room temperature (with the bag open), and frost them with icing.
- If you prefer to chill the dough, you totally can. (Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.) I’ve tried it both ways: with and without chilling, and both work beautifully. If you chill the dough, it’s a little harder to roll out, but the shapes cut very nicely. I prefer not to chill because I am impatient. It still works well, but I do think it’s helpful to dip your cookie cutter in flour before every cut.
- If you’d like to make a gluten-free sugar cookie, just sub out the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free flour blend. I link to some of my favorites in this post: Why Use Cake Flour?
- For a dairy-free sugar cookie recipe, use cold (solid) coconut oil in place of the butter, and use vegan cream cheese.
- These soft sugar cookies will keep at room temperature for 1 day, or in the fridge for about a week.
- The sugar cookie frosting will form a slight crust on the top after about an hour, but it will remain soft and moist underneath, so be careful about stacking them!
- For tips on how to decorate with royal icing, check out these posts: Iced Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, and Spiderweb Cookies.
Find tons more great cookie recipes on my “Cookie Recipes Galore” Pinterest board!
This post contains affiliate sales links.
4.42 stars (51 ratings)
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Servings: 24 3-inch heart cookies
Prep Time: 25 minutes mins
Cook Time: 14 minutes mins
Total Time: 39 minutes mins
Best-ever recipe for soft sugar cookies you can roll and cut out with cookie cutters! Easy to make, no chilling required, and they don't spread into shapeless blobs as they bake. Made with a secret ingredient that gives them the most incredible flavor, and topped with a cool sour cream icing.
Print Recipe Leave a ReviewSave Recipe
Ingredients
For the soft cut-out sugar cookies
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, , cold
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, (half a brick)
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 3/4 cup (343.75 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (32 g) cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
For the sour cream icing
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter, , softened
- 1/3 cup (76.67 g) sour cream
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) powdered sugar
- pinch of kosher salt
- drop of pink food coloring, (optional)
- white nonpareil sprinkles, (optional garnish)
- white sugar pearls, (optional garnish)
Instructions
To make the soft cut-out sugar cookies:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium-low speed until smooth (about 1 minute).
Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and almond extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the flour, cornstarch, and salt.
Mix on medium-low speed until a stiff dough forms (about 1 minute). If the dough is too sticky to handle, try mixing in a little more flour.
Roll the dough to 1/4-inch thick (rolling pin rings ensure an even and exact thickness) between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
Remove the top sheet of parchment, and cut shapes with a 3-inch heart cookie cutter.
Peel the shapes from the bottom layer of parchment, and place on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until just barely beginning to turn golden on the bottoms.
Cool completely, then frost with sour cream icing.
To make the sour cream icing:
Place the butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whip on medium speed until smooth.
Tint with pink food coloring, and garnish with white nonpareil sprinkles and white sugar pearls.
Calories: 249kcal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 68mg, Potassium: 28mg, Sugar: 20g, Vitamin A: 390IU, Calcium: 14mg, Iron: 0.7mg
Cuisine: Cookie
Course: Dessert
Tried this recipe?Mention @bakingamoment on Instagram or tag #bakingamoment.
Allie Allie is the creator and owner of Baking a Moment. She has been developing, photographing, videographing, and writing and sharing recipes here since 2012. View all posts
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78 comments -
Lora — March 12, 2024 @ 12:46 pm Reply
I’m not sure why these are not rated as a 5.0! I have been looking for this recipe my whole life! lol Perfect taste and texture, dough is easy to work work with and they are absolutely delicious without any icing! Thank you for sharing this recipe…I have made many people happy with it! These cookies are a 10 in my book 🙂
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Allie {Baking A Moment} — March 14, 2024 @ 1:26 pm Reply
My pleasure Lora! I’m so happy you like them. TYSM for the 5-star review!
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Sabrina — March 6, 2023 @ 12:34 pm Reply
Not the most moist (unless you make them pretty thick, which I would recommend anyway) but definitely great with some buttercream. The almond and cream cheese together make them taste super sophisticated and yummy, perfect baby shower cookies. I’ve followed this recipe a few times before but find it a lot easier to allow butter and cream cheese to soften, and then refrigerating the dough for about an hour. A LOT easier to work with in my opinion.
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Stacia Livingston — February 15, 2023 @ 3:11 pm Reply
I am going to try these. Have a question on using cream cheese for cut out cookies. Every time I have tried (different) recipes my cookies have baked up with a wonky top. Will these do this? I was told its either too much flour or over-mixed. Can you tell me which it is cause it’s always something different. Looking forward to trying these.
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Sue — February 4, 2021 @ 7:33 am Reply
I love your recipes but I live in the UK and can only get softened cream cheese, not the bricks. I’ve found a way to make cream cheese buttercream using the softened kind without it being too loose, but can I use the softened kind in the cookie recipe above?
Also…any chance that you could provide the metric measurements in your recipes?
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Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 4, 2021 @ 8:27 am Reply
Hey there! You can get metric measurements by clicking the “Metric” button just below the list of ingredients. I’m afraid I have never tested this recipe with tub cream cheese so I can’t say for sure how it would work, but I definitely think it’s worth trying! Good luck!
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Amanda — December 22, 2020 @ 4:11 pm Reply
I just made these for my family last night and WOW, this recipe was amazing!! The cookies were soft and held their shape in the oven. I’d never made sour cream icing before, so I was a little reluctant, but the sour cream flavor really was the perfect balance 🙂
*note: I baked at high altitude and the only adjustment necessary was preheating at 400*
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Mandy — December 11, 2020 @ 10:52 pm Reply
Hi, I’ve followed this recipe to a T (I’ve searched for a chewy sugar cookie recipe forever!), and my dough came out much too sticky to be able to handle.. I’m not sure what might have gone wrong? Even after chilling the dough, I can’t even peel the top layer of parchment paper away from it. I’ve read the instructions a bunch of times and made sure I used the correct amount of each ingredient, and I did. Any ideas? I’m so sad this didn’t work out 🙁
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — December 13, 2020 @ 11:49 am Reply
Aw, I’m sad too! It sounds like maybe a little more flour might have helped. I hope you have better luck next time!
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Rikki — June 4, 2020 @ 10:39 pm Reply
Delicious !!!
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Tammie Reinhart — May 6, 2020 @ 8:39 pm Reply
I made up a batch of these cookies for my family. They all disappeared so fast I didn’t have a chance to frost them! I’ll have to try to make them again when no one’s home so I can actually try the frosting on them!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — May 7, 2020 @ 9:06 am Reply
Lol that’s so funny Tammie! I hope you do get a chance to make them again because that icing is so good!
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Rebecca — April 10, 2020 @ 1:20 pm Reply
Oh, I forgot in my last comment to leave a star rating. 5 stars. I’d give it 10 if I could.
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Allie {Baking A Moment} — April 20, 2020 @ 4:03 pm Reply
Thank you so much Rebecca!
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Rebecca — April 10, 2020 @ 1:17 pm Reply
These are incredible! I seek out sugar cookie recipes always trying to find the best. Look no further! I have never found their equal. Thank you for this recipe.
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — April 20, 2020 @ 4:03 pm Reply
My pleasure; so happy you like the recipe!
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Rachel — February 9, 2020 @ 4:56 pm Reply
I’ve made these cookies twice (for Easter and Christmas) and received so many compliments – even from people who “don’t like sugar cookies”! They’ve turned out exactly like the recipe stated. We will be making them again this week for Valentine’s Day. My 3 yo daughter loves to help so the no-chill aspect suits her no-patience perfectly! Thanks for helping provide some sweet memories with my little girl. When I made the icing, it turned out thinner than I was expecting, but I shook the cookies to spread it out and it hardened to make a beautiful, smooth top!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 10, 2020 @ 8:44 am Reply
Love that! So happy you and your daughter are enjoying so much!
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Beata — January 29, 2020 @ 12:58 am Reply
These look delicious, is the icing made with sour cream or should it be cream cheese? Just wondering as the recipe states sour cream but looking at the comments it looks like it might have been cream cheese. Thank you!
Beata
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Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 5, 2020 @ 7:09 am Reply
It’s sour cream for sure. I’ve noted that several times throughout the post, I’m not sure about what other commenters are thinking but it’s definitely a sour cream icing.
-
Jen — January 24, 2020 @ 9:34 pm Reply
These cookies are very good. I’ve found you can sub instant pudding for the cornstarch in a pinch. (White choc is the best-omit vanilla, keep the almond) I also decrease the flour to 2 1/2 cups. They taste better.
The frosting ratios simply don’t work- too much butter and sour cream. If you half them but use the same amount of powdered sugar with 1/2 tsp of almond flavoring, you get a much thicker frosting that’s not thin.
These are great cookies that don’t spread and offer immediate gratification!
-
Ashley — December 24, 2019 @ 2:42 pm Reply
This is exactly what I was looking for and exactly what the recipe claimed to be. Had a Christmas cookie baking and decorating day with the kids and they were perfect regardless of the different thicknesses or shapes. Thank you!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — December 31, 2019 @ 1:12 pm Reply
That’s so wonderful to hear! I’m so happy you liked the recipe and it sounds like you made a really nice memory with the kids.
Lora — March 12, 2024 @ 12:46 pm Reply
I’m not sure why these are not rated as a 5.0! I have been looking for this recipe my whole life! lol Perfect taste and texture, dough is easy to work work with and they are absolutely delicious without any icing! Thank you for sharing this recipe…I have made many people happy with it! These cookies are a 10 in my book 🙂
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — March 14, 2024 @ 1:26 pm Reply
My pleasure Lora! I’m so happy you like them. TYSM for the 5-star review!
Sabrina — March 6, 2023 @ 12:34 pm Reply
Not the most moist (unless you make them pretty thick, which I would recommend anyway) but definitely great with some buttercream. The almond and cream cheese together make them taste super sophisticated and yummy, perfect baby shower cookies. I’ve followed this recipe a few times before but find it a lot easier to allow butter and cream cheese to soften, and then refrigerating the dough for about an hour. A LOT easier to work with in my opinion.
Stacia Livingston — February 15, 2023 @ 3:11 pm Reply
I am going to try these. Have a question on using cream cheese for cut out cookies. Every time I have tried (different) recipes my cookies have baked up with a wonky top. Will these do this? I was told its either too much flour or over-mixed. Can you tell me which it is cause it’s always something different. Looking forward to trying these.
Sue — February 4, 2021 @ 7:33 am Reply
I love your recipes but I live in the UK and can only get softened cream cheese, not the bricks. I’ve found a way to make cream cheese buttercream using the softened kind without it being too loose, but can I use the softened kind in the cookie recipe above?
Also…any chance that you could provide the metric measurements in your recipes?
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 4, 2021 @ 8:27 am Reply
Hey there! You can get metric measurements by clicking the “Metric” button just below the list of ingredients. I’m afraid I have never tested this recipe with tub cream cheese so I can’t say for sure how it would work, but I definitely think it’s worth trying! Good luck!
Amanda — December 22, 2020 @ 4:11 pm Reply
I just made these for my family last night and WOW, this recipe was amazing!! The cookies were soft and held their shape in the oven. I’d never made sour cream icing before, so I was a little reluctant, but the sour cream flavor really was the perfect balance 🙂
*note: I baked at high altitude and the only adjustment necessary was preheating at 400*
Mandy — December 11, 2020 @ 10:52 pm Reply
Hi, I’ve followed this recipe to a T (I’ve searched for a chewy sugar cookie recipe forever!), and my dough came out much too sticky to be able to handle.. I’m not sure what might have gone wrong? Even after chilling the dough, I can’t even peel the top layer of parchment paper away from it. I’ve read the instructions a bunch of times and made sure I used the correct amount of each ingredient, and I did. Any ideas? I’m so sad this didn’t work out 🙁
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — December 13, 2020 @ 11:49 am Reply
Aw, I’m sad too! It sounds like maybe a little more flour might have helped. I hope you have better luck next time!
Rikki — June 4, 2020 @ 10:39 pm Reply
Delicious !!!
Tammie Reinhart — May 6, 2020 @ 8:39 pm Reply
I made up a batch of these cookies for my family. They all disappeared so fast I didn’t have a chance to frost them! I’ll have to try to make them again when no one’s home so I can actually try the frosting on them!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — May 7, 2020 @ 9:06 am Reply
Lol that’s so funny Tammie! I hope you do get a chance to make them again because that icing is so good!
Rebecca — April 10, 2020 @ 1:20 pm Reply
Oh, I forgot in my last comment to leave a star rating. 5 stars. I’d give it 10 if I could.
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — April 20, 2020 @ 4:03 pm Reply
Thank you so much Rebecca!
Rebecca — April 10, 2020 @ 1:17 pm Reply
These are incredible! I seek out sugar cookie recipes always trying to find the best. Look no further! I have never found their equal. Thank you for this recipe.
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — April 20, 2020 @ 4:03 pm Reply
My pleasure; so happy you like the recipe!
Rachel — February 9, 2020 @ 4:56 pm Reply
I’ve made these cookies twice (for Easter and Christmas) and received so many compliments – even from people who “don’t like sugar cookies”! They’ve turned out exactly like the recipe stated. We will be making them again this week for Valentine’s Day. My 3 yo daughter loves to help so the no-chill aspect suits her no-patience perfectly! Thanks for helping provide some sweet memories with my little girl. When I made the icing, it turned out thinner than I was expecting, but I shook the cookies to spread it out and it hardened to make a beautiful, smooth top!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 10, 2020 @ 8:44 am Reply
Love that! So happy you and your daughter are enjoying so much!
Beata — January 29, 2020 @ 12:58 am Reply
These look delicious, is the icing made with sour cream or should it be cream cheese? Just wondering as the recipe states sour cream but looking at the comments it looks like it might have been cream cheese. Thank you!
Beata
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — February 5, 2020 @ 7:09 am Reply
It’s sour cream for sure. I’ve noted that several times throughout the post, I’m not sure about what other commenters are thinking but it’s definitely a sour cream icing.
Jen — January 24, 2020 @ 9:34 pm Reply
These cookies are very good. I’ve found you can sub instant pudding for the cornstarch in a pinch. (White choc is the best-omit vanilla, keep the almond) I also decrease the flour to 2 1/2 cups. They taste better.
The frosting ratios simply don’t work- too much butter and sour cream. If you half them but use the same amount of powdered sugar with 1/2 tsp of almond flavoring, you get a much thicker frosting that’s not thin.
These are great cookies that don’t spread and offer immediate gratification!
Ashley — December 24, 2019 @ 2:42 pm Reply
This is exactly what I was looking for and exactly what the recipe claimed to be. Had a Christmas cookie baking and decorating day with the kids and they were perfect regardless of the different thicknesses or shapes. Thank you!
-
Allie {Baking A Moment} — December 31, 2019 @ 1:12 pm Reply
That’s so wonderful to hear! I’m so happy you liked the recipe and it sounds like you made a really nice memory with the kids.
