Sugar Cookies

Soft sugar cookies with a secret ingredient! So delicious and can be shaped and decorated for any theme or holiday!

This is THE best cut out cookie out there! I can’t tell you how many compliments I get on these cookies, and requests to make them too! 

These are so yummy and super addicting, they will all be gone before you know it. They are so good because there is a little secret ingredient that is added that makes all the difference!

And that secret is….wait for it….almond extract! That’s right!! Just a little almond extract added to the dough AND the frosting makes these cookies so good you can’t stop eating them.

Can I make these into any shape or design?

The design I will use to show you how to make these cookies is a heart, but these can be made in any shape you want. I will show some examples of some other designs a little further down the post.

I make these every year to give to my kids at Christmas and Valentine’s Day present. And the best part is that they help with the decorating!

Ok, to be honest I make these for any holiday or excuse to make them because I crave them so bad! 

The frosting I like to use is a simple icing made with powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract. Super simple and easy to work with. 

Check out some of my other favorite desserts!

Grandma’s Banana Nut Bread: Sweet and super moist homemade banana bread. A simple and easy old fashioned recipe, with only 8 ingredients!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls: The perfect soft and chewy cinnamon roll.  A breakfast treat filled with a gooey cinnamon swirl and topped with a cream cheese frosting. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins: Moist and fluffy chocolate muffins loaded with fresh zucchini and chocolate chips. A perfect treat for the kids to sneak in some veggies!

Pumpkin Muffins: Light and fluffy, easy pumpkin muffins. A streusel topping makes these taste like they are straight from the bakery. 

Thumbprint Cookies:  Buttery soft thumbprint cookies made with pecans and topped with icing. These traditional Christmas cookies are a family favorite!

Anise Snap Cookies: Traditional German Christmas anise snap cookies that are soft and chewy. Anise seeds give these cookies a subtle hint of licorice flavor!

Can you make the dough ahead of time before baking the sugar cookies?

The dough can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap tightly before putting it in the fridge. Before rolling it out, bring to room temperature.

Ingredients for Sugar Cookies

• Sugar: Adds sweet to the cookies.
• Butter: Brings rich flavor to the cookies.
• Powdered Sugar: Adds sweet to the cookie and is more easier dissolved than regular sugar.
• Eggs: Makes everything stick together during baking so the cookies don’t crumble apart.
• Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract: Brings a hint of vanilla and almond flavor to the dough and the frosting.
• Milk: Adds creamy texture to the cookies.
• Flour: Base for the dough
• Salt: Balances out the sweet flavor.
• Baking Soda: Helps the cookies rise and be light and fluffy.

How to make Sugar Cookies

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• Then using a mix master combine the sugar and butter and cream together until nice and smooth.

• Then slowly add the powdered sugar,eggs, vanilla and almond extract, and milk until well mixed.

• Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda together and add slowly a little at a time to the sugar mixture until well combined.

• Once you are done mixing take the dough out of the bowl and form into a ball using your hands. 

• Separate your dough into 2 balls.

Why do I need to split the dough into 2 balls?

The reason is, the more you handle this dough the less soft the cookie will be. So if you split the dough into two balls the less rolling out you will be doing with the same dough.

Start rolling out one of the balls on a floured surface using a rolling pin.

Roll out to the thickness you want your cookie to be and then start cutting out using a cookie cutter.

Once all the cookies are cut from the dough and on baking sheets, gather the leftover dough into a ball and roll out again to make more cookie shapes.

Keep doing this until all the dough is gone. Repeat these steps with the 2nd ball of dough. 

Transfer your cut out cookies to a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 8 minutes.

Remove from the baking sheet and let them cool on racks. 

Once they are cool I like to start stacking them up to save on space. 

After they are done cooling you can frost them.

How to make the Icing for Sugar Cookies

I really like using the cut out cookie frosting made with just powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract. 

This frosting is great because about a day after you frost them the frosting is set and hard, which makes it great for putting the cookies in cute bags to hand out as gifts!

Just use a butter knife to frost the cookies, and then sprinkle with any decoration you like while the frosting is still wet. I have also used the frosting in piping bags to get the lines and dots.

The frosting consists of 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp milk, and just a splash of almond extract.

Combine adding the milk a little at a time until it’s not too runny. You may need a little more milk to get the desired consistency.

I wanted to share a picture of these cute pineapple cookies I made for my sister for her birthday!

I spread the yellow color on and let it set till it was hard and then I just used a piping bag for the dots and lines and green top.

These are the other design I did for her also to mix and match the cookies! I used a pineapple shape candy for the center that you can find on amazon!

So I wanted to show everyone just how cute these look when you put them in cookie bags and a

For these I just used a cat cookie cutter I found on Amazon. Then I spread on the white frosting with a butter knife.

Let that set until the frosting was hard. Then I made a pink and blue frosting and put them in piping bags with a small round tip.

I just piped the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and whiskers on! Let those set until they were hard and then put them all in treat bags for the birthday party!

These turned out so cute and the kids (and adults) loved them too!!

More pictures of the Christmas Cut Outs that I made!

These snowflake cookies that I made for Christmas turned out so cute! This is a bigger cut out shape, so one batch of dough only made about 40 cookies.

Check out some other yummy recipes!

Blueberry Coffee Cake: Soft and moist blueberry coffee cake drizzled with vanilla icing. Delicious breakfast or dessert treat that everyone will love!

Monkey Bread: Monkey bread made with frozen rolls, brown sugar, pudding mix, and butter. Just layer it all in a bundt pan for an easy breakfast treat!

Romanian Kifla Nut Bread: Romanian kifla bread rolled up with a sweet nut mix. Made in long loaves and sliced up and served with warm butter.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies: Soft and chewy pumpkin spice cookies. A perfect fall cookie topped with a delicious cream cheese icing! 

7 Layer Cookie Bars: 7 Layer cookie bars are a mix of chocolates, butterscotch, coconut, pecans, all on top of a graham cracker crust! Baked in one pan for an easy dessert.

Christmas Fudge: Classic walnut fudge made with three types of chocolate. An easy way to make chocolate fudge at home!

Captain Crunch Candy: Super fast no bake peanut crunch candy, made with Captain Crunch Peanut Butter cereal and almond bark! Easy birthday and holiday treat!

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