Cut-out sugar cookies are a perfect way to get festive during the holiday season because you can put your own touch into decorating them. This recipe will give you perfect cut out sugar cookies that are super soft, vanilla flavored, they hold their shape and have a flat surface making them not only taste great but perfect for decorating.

How to make perfect cut out sugar cookies:

cream together butter and sugar
add in vanilla extract and egg
mix in the dry ingredients
roll out dough and refrigerator overnight
cut out cookies and place on lines baking sheet
bake
decorate

Tips that will get you perfect cookies:

Use room temperature butter. When you cream the butter together with the sugar, it helps tremendously when your butter is not solid hard. Your butter will be perfectly smooth and that will directly reflect the texture of the finished product.

Do not roll out the cookies too thin. Generally, perfect cut out cookies you get from a professional baker are about 1/4″ thick. That is the absolute thickest that I would go when rolling out the cut out sugar cookie dough and slightly thinner also works. Don’t roll them out too flat because they will not be as soft that way, instead, more crispy.

Refrigerate rolled out. To avoid spreading of the cookies, the butter needs to be solid and cold. If you were to refrigerate the dough, then roll it out cut out the sugar cookies, all of that will warm up the butter and then you bake the cut out cookies may loose some of their shape. I have tried cutting out cookies and then refrigerating them, however the dough is so soft that they don’t hold very well and stick to the surface. The best results come from refrigerating rolled out dough so that once it is refrigerated, all you have to do is cut our your desired shapes.

You can use the scraps to re roll the dough after cutting out your first batch. This dough is very soft so you will be able to use the edges around your cut out cookies, work it with your hands, re roll it, and cut out more cookies.

What to expect with the dough for perfect cut-out sugar cookies:

This dough will be very very soft which is another reason why it helps to cut out cookies on the thicker side. Start with 2 cups of flour. If you find that the dough is too sticky, add one or two more tablespoons of flout until it no longer sticks to your fingers. Also, I recommend using a spatula to lift the raw cookies and transfer then onto your baking sheet to avoid altering the shape of the perfectly cut out cookies.

Baking is important:

As with any baked good, baking the product is one of the main contributing factors to the outcome of your final product. These cookies should not be over-baked. Once the edges of your cookies turn light brown, they are ready to come out of the oven. It’s important to note that the center of the cookies will still be very soft and will look undercooked. However, as the cookies cool, the center will become harder and the cookies will be solid. That is why once you remove cookies out of the oven, leave them on the baking sheet for 5-6 minutes because they will be too delicate to be picked up. After about 5 minutes or so, you can transfer them onto a cooling rack where they will cool completely.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

The only recipe you will need for cut out sugar cookies! These sugar cookies will hold their shape, are super soft, and taste phenomenal.

Servings 14 cookies

Ingredients

1 ½ sticks room temperature butter 170g
¾ cup granulated sugar 150g
1 egg
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour 270g
¾ tsp baking powder 3g
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp lemon zest optional

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
In a large bowl using a hand held mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes or until completely smooth and creamy. The butter should be a pale yellow color.
Add in the egg, and vanilla and continue to beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly combined. The dough will be very soft but should not stick to your hands. If you find that the dough is too sticky and will be difficult to roll out with a rolling pin, add in 1 more tablespoon of flour until it is not longer sticky to your hands but still very soft.
Transfer dough on a lightly floured silicone baking mat or parchment paper and with a rolling pin, roll out the dough about 1/4-inch thick. Place the silicone mat with the rolled out dough in a baking sheet. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at lease 4 hours, up to 2 days. Overnight refrigeration is best.
Preheat oven to 350°F .
Once the cookies have chilled for at least 4 hours, cut out shapes of your choice. Any left over dough can be re-rolled to make more cookies. Do not roll the dough too many times to prevent warming the dough.
Spread cookies about 1½" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes or until the edges are a very light brown. The center of the cookies should still be very soft to touch but that will harden as the cookies cool.
Remove cookies from oven and let them sit in baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer cookies onto a cooling rack and let them cook completely.
Decorate cookies once they are completely cooled.