Easy Sugar Cookies

These easy sugar cookies are perfect for the holidays. These cookies can easily be cut into shapes. This is a fun recipe to make with small helpers in the kitchen.

Ingredients

Ingredients for these easy sugar cookies are standard cookie ingredients. If you have a pantry with some baking staples, you will be able to make these sugar cookies.

• Butter: Allowing you butter to come to room temperature is of the upmost importance. This will allow you to cream the butter easily with the sugar and egg. If it is still a solid fat, you will end up with chunks of butter in your batter.
• Sugar: For this recipe, use white granulated sugar for a crisp sugar cookie.
• Egg: This will act as a binder for this recipe.
• Flour: Adding all-purpose flour to your batter will give you that sugar cookie consistency that we all know and love. Make sure to level off your measuring cups when adding the flour.
• Cream: Adding a touch of cream or milk to the batter will add a bit of creaminess that will also play off the egg in the batter. Never tried adding in dairy before to your cookie batter? Try it and tell me what you think.

How to Make Easy Sugar Cookie Batter

Making these sugar cookies will be much easier if you have a mixer, rather than mixing the batter by hand.

First, add your softened butter to the mixer and cream for about 2 minutes. Then add in your sugar and continue to cream for another 2 minutes on high. After your sugar and butter mixture is mixed together, add in your egg.

After the sugar, butter and egg is beat together, add in the flour, one half-cup at a time. After adding in one half-cup of flour, beat together well until there is no visible raw flour. Periodically, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatcula to ensure even mixing.

After all the flour has been added, add in the cream and vanilla and beat together.

Then, add in the baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.

Cutting out Sugar Cookies

Once your batter is made, it’s time to let it chill. Put the batter into plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight – until the batter is firm to the touch. You want the butter to firm back up so the cookie batter is easy to roll out. If this step is skipped, the batter will be impossible to roll out.

Preheat your oven at 425 degrees and then take out a large cutting board.

After the dough is chilled, take a large cutting board and flour it generously. Take a quarter to a half of the cookie dough and a rolling pin and begin rolling it out. Flour generously as you go. When the dough is about a quarter to an eighth of an inch thick, take a cookie cutter and cut out your desired shape.

Take a greased baking sheet and place your cookies on the sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure you watch your cookies- they will bake very quickly! You can also bake them to different levels of doneness, if you want them more crisp and golden, feel free to leave the cookies in the oven for another minute. If you want a chewier cookie, take the cookie out when the cookie is still pale in color.

Another way to keep the cookie from browning as quickly is to make the sugar cookie thicker. A thinner cooker will give you a greater margin of error for bake time but also a crispier result.

When the cookies are done baking, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and allow them to cool.

You can now decorate with royal icing or serve plain.

Variations

If you or loved ones has food allergies or sensitivities, there are a couple ways to avoid common cookie ingredients.

Egg substitution: To make egg-free sugar cookies, use an egg replacement such as aquafaba (the “juice” from a can of garbanzo beans). Since the egg is acting as a binder for the cookies, using the aquafaba won’t take away from the texture from the cookie.

Vanilla substitution: Even though this recipe does call for a teaspoon of vanilla extract, there is another way to flavor to these light sugar cookies. Add in a teaspoon of freshly-squeezed lemon juice (or bottled if that’s all you have) instead.

Flour: Cooking for someone with a gluten allergy or sensitivity? Try making these sugar cookies keto instead by replacing the regular flour with almond flour.

If you’re looking for other ways to make fun cookies for the holidays, make my keto chocolate chip cookies for those that are looking for a healthier option.

More Recipes You Might Like:

Looking for more recipe ideas?

• Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese
• German Horn Cookies
• Marzipan
• Lemon Ricotta Hotcakes
• Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Keto Pumpkin Pie