Best Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
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If you’re wondering how to make soft and chewy sugar cookies, then you have to try this recipe. These easy sugar cookies don’t need to be chilled and stay wonderfully soft & chewy for DAYS! It’s my best sugar cookie recipe!
This is definitely the best classic soft sugar cookie recipe, but if you’re looking to mix things up a bit you may also like my Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies recipe. Or if you want to decorate cookies, these Cutout Sugar Cookies are perfect!
THE BEST SOFT AND CHEWY SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
So I feel like I’m a tad bit late with these cookies, since I just missed Christmas and all, but the truth is that sugar cookies are good all year round. In fact, next to a good Snickerdoodle, Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies are a total favorite of mine any day of the week. I feel like Cutout Sugar Cookies are the Christmas version of a sugar cookie while a classic drop cookie, like this one, is the year round version, you know?
And as with any classic, simple cookie, it can’t hide behind frosting or anything, so it really needs to be just right. Soft and chewy for days, my friends. I don’t want some cookie that’s great for a day or so and then you have to toss them. No, these will call to you from the kitchen counter until they’re all eaten – and it could be 4 or 5 days later (if they last that long).
I tested SO many versions of these sugar cookies, I’m pretty sure my mother in law (who watches they twins while I work), thought I was losing my mind. I’d be all, “Just one more version!” and then a week later there’s still new batches on the counter.
But seriously, I love a good old fashioned soft sugar cookie. Like, for reals. So it just had to be right. And I’m happy to say these are it. Not too thin, not too thick, soft, chewy and delicious. They’re dangerous because you want to keep eating them all! Let’s talk about how to make them.
Sugar cookies can easily turn out dry or too cakey. In all my testing, I found that my favorite sugar cookies were ones that used a combination of baking soda and baking powder – and just a bit more soda than powder. Nothing wrong with using just one or the other – I have done both in other cookies. In fact, I have an all baking soda Coconut Sugar Cookie that is delicious! But for the straight up vanilla bakery-style sugar cookie, the combo works best. Baking powder only = thicker and cake-y. Baking soda only = chewy and thin. A combo = just right.
WHAT MAKES A SUGAR COOKIE CHEWY?
The other big thing here is the sugar. Naturally a sugar cookie is going to use white granulated sugar. It’s just how it is. But part of what makes a cookie chewy is a high moisture content. Brown sugar has more moisture than white sugar, because it contains a little bit of molasses. You don’t want to overdo the brown sugar here, but I swapped out two tablespoons of white sugar for brown sugar and the result was fantastic. It makes a much softer and chewier cookie that stays fresh longer.
And just a little tidbit about baking cookies – it’s amazing how much of a difference such a small change can make to a cookie. Just two tablespoons! When I used all white sugar, the cookies didn’t spread as much (less moisture). When I used just a bit of brown sugar, they spread just enough AND stayed soft for DAYS! And when I used just a bit more brown sugar, the flavor started to get a bit too off track and they spread more than I wanted, leaving me with a little thinner cookie with less defined edges. So I totally suggest sticking with it as I have it. The best!
The other important part of a chewy cookie is having enough flour. You have to have enough flour to support the moisture content, but not too much to make it dry. A tight balance, but it’s well achieved here.
HOW DO YOU MAKE SOFT AND CHEWY SUGAR COOKIES?
So one of the best parts of these cookies is that they are quick and straight forward to make. You’ll start by creaming the butter and sugars together until it’s light in color and fluffy. You’ll actually be able to see the lighter color, so don’t quit mixing until you see it.
Next you’ll add the egg, then the vanilla extract.
The final step is to add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix it until it’s all combined, but don’t over mix it. Over mixing any batter or dough can lead to toughness.
Divide the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls of dough and roll them in a little bit of granulated white sugar. Place the balls onto a cookie sheet (I like to line my cookie sheets with silicone baking mats) and bake them! No need for chilling the cookie dough or pressing the balls flat. They spread perfectly on their own.
Mine baked just enough at 7 minutes, but keep an eye on them to see how they do in your oven. I removed mine when they had spread nicely, looked just done enough without looking undercooked, and the edges weren’t quite golden.
These sugar cookies are the perfect example of a treat that doesn’t have to be fancy to be awesome. In fact, I think something simple like this is one of the most impressive things when done well and right. And these are SO right!
HOW TO DECORATE YOUR SUGAR COOKIES
– If you’re looking to make sugar cookies for a holiday or an event, these cookies would be great rolled in sprinkles, instead of sugar. Use any color you like!
– If you simply can’t have a sugar cookie without it being frosted, check out my royal icing or my vanilla buttercream frosting. Even my cream cheese frosting would make a tasty addition. Any of them would be delicious!
– For another fun spin on the sugar cookie, add some sprinkles for a confetti sugar cookie!
SUGAR COOKIE BAKING TIPS:
– Make sure your butter is the right temperature. Room temperature can be a little misleading if your house is too warm or too cool. Your butter shouldn’t be so soft that your finger goes right through it if you press on it, but it should also be able to make an imprint. If it won’t, or it barely does, it’s likely too cold still.
– Be sure to use just two tablespoons of brown sugar. It adds just enough additional moisture to the cookies to help them spread correctly and stay soft and chewy for days!
– Don’t over mix the dough after you add the flour. It can over develop the gluten and cause the cookies to not spread as nicely or be tough.
– Make sure your cookie dough balls are 1 1/2 tablespoons each or you’ll want to adjust the baking time. I also found that size to be just right for spreading well.
– These cookies freeze nicely too! Just pack them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. Thaw them in the fridge or on the counter when you’re ready to eat them.
Whether you’re looking for an alternative to a cutout sugar cookie, or simply looking to cure a craving for a good soft and chewy Sugar Cookies, these are sure to be your new favorite easy sugar cookie! They stay soft for days and have the ultimate chewy-factor!
NOTE 5/16/19: Due to feedback about the cookies not spreading well, the recipe has been slightly changed and updated.
Best Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
If you’re wondering how to make soft and chewy sugar cookies, then you have to try this recipe. These cookies require no chilling, are easy to make, and stay wonderfully soft and chewy for DAYS!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 30-32 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups (358g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (233g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp (28g) brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sugar (additional for rolling)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy. You should be able to see the change in color happen and know it’s ready.
4. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
5. Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is well combined. It will be thick and shouldn’t be sticky. Do not over mix. Once it’s well combined, use a rubber spatula to help it come together to form a more cohesive ball.
7. Create 1 1/2 tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough. Gently roll into a ball, then roll each ball in the additional sugar to coat. Set the balls on the baking sheet.
8. Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes. The cookies will spread and the centers will look soft, but should look done. Remove just before the edges begin to turn golden. Don’t over bake. The cookies will be a little puffy when you take them out of the oven but will fall a bit as they cool.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for 4-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
The sugar amounts are important for these cookies. If you chose to use all granulated sugar, rather than a little brown sugar, the cookie won’t spread quite as much and will be a little thicker and a little less soft.
Be sure to measure the flour accurately. The best way is by weight with a food scale, but if you don’t have one, give your flour a stir, then scoop it out with a measuring scoop. Do not pack it into the measuring cup.
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Enjoy!
These look fantastic! I agree, sometimes simple things like a great sugar cookie (or a vanilla cake) are the BEST! Your vanilla cake is always my go to. That is another awesome yet simple recipe!
Thanks for another great recipe. Hope all is well with you and your boys!
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Thanks Katrina! I’m so glad you enjoyed the vanilla cake and I hope you enjoy these cookies. The boys are doing great! Dylan is looking so cute, I hope you guys are doing well!
These look yummy! Quick question….When you say 2 tbsp brown sugar, is that packed or loose? Thanks
Packed.
The cookies look delicious and I can’t wait to try them. I much prefer a soft, chewy sugar cookie over the crisp kind. Straightforward recipe and I can’t thank you enough for including the gram equivalent in your recipes. I like baking using my kitchen scale to get the amount of each ingredient as exact as possible. It really does make a big difference as you wrote about the importance of not using too much or too little of each ingredient. I appreciate the efforts you make when providing us with the best possible recipe!!
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Thank you! I’m glad you find the gram measurements helpful. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Have you ever tried this recipe for cutouts, or is it too ‘soft’?
I haven’t tried it, but someone else commented that she did and they turned out great, so it’d be worth a try. I also have these cutout sugar cookies you could try.
This recipe is fantastic! Cookies came out so yummy on the first try, and really so simple! I am always on the look out for quality cookie recipes that will last a lifetime….and so happy to add this one to my list! Pure classic!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Do you think this would be a good cookie for ice cream sandwiches?
Looks delicious! Thanks!
I’m not sure if my baking skills just suck or what, but my cookies didn’t spread like yours looked in the pictures 🙁 they stayed little balls. How do I fix that in the future?
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Are you measuring by weight with a food scale or by volume? Cookies are really sensitive to the amount of flour. If you don’t have a food scale to weight the flour (which i think is most accurate) you want to be sure to loosen up the flour and scoop into measuring scoop and don’t pack it into the cup. I hope that helps, sorry you had trouble.
Don’t feel bad, my attempt did same thing. I used the exact measurements that was posted. Plus 7mins was actually half the time using 350′.
I’m so excited to try these! My favorite sugar cookies are from the bakery at Harris Teeter, and I’ve made a few attempts at replicating them, but haven’t come very close. These look really similar, so I’ll give them a shot.
i am always a big fan of yours Lindsay and all of your recipes have worked out so well for me. So I tried these sugar cookies and the first time I made them, the dough was very crumbly, almost as if there wasn’t enough moisture in it or perhaps too much flour. The second time I was hugely careful with every last measurement thinking that I made a mistake and still, the dough is crumbly and when I formed the balls, after 8 minutes in the oven, the balls didn’t even spread, so I had to flatten the dough down just to ensure they baked. Even at that I had to bake them 4 extra minutes so they wouldn’t be raw. What am I doing wrong? The recipe does seem like it calls for an excessive amount of flour for ratio of butter/one egg. This dough seemed more conducive to the rolling out kind of dough for cut out sugar cookies. Is the 3 cups of flour correct? I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact I goofed up twice despite going to the highest most conscience level of care.
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Are you measuring by weight with a food scale or by volume? Even with taking the most care, it’s very possible that if you are measuring by volume with measuring cup, that would be part of the problem and you are over measuring flour. Cookies are really sensitive to that. If you don’t have a food scale to weight the flour (which I think is most accurate), you want to be sure to loosen up the flour and scoop into measuring scoop. Don’t pack the flour into the cup. I hope that helps, sorry you had trouble.
The same thing happened to me. I even loosened the flour and did not pack the flour when I measured the flour. And no I don’t have a food scale.
Hi,
Can I use half of cup of salted butter and half a cup of unsalted butter and omit the salt in the ingredients?
TIA!
That should be fine. You could just use all salted butter too. How much of the salted butter (or salt) you use depends on the flavor you want. I added the amount of salt that I thought gave the best flavor, so you can adjust as you like.
Can you roll this dough out and use heart cookie cutters or will it fall apart?
These are going to be too soft for cutout cookies – they will spread in the oven and not hold their shape.
I actually chilled the dough over night and it made the perfect heart shaped sugar cookies for a valentine’s day event.
Wonderful!
I am no baker, let me start off telling you that. But I love soft sugar cookies and every recipe makes them the “normal” way so I wanted to try this one and wow, they came out great!! Thank you for a great recipe.
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed!
So i tried these today and they tasted delicious i had to press my fingers on them when they came out of the oven to flaten them and they came out perfect
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
It isn’t too much flour. You must have measured something incorrectly. Lots of other people have had success.
I just made these. I made them really big and added a couple minutes and they mimick Potbelly sandwich shop’s sugar cookies! I had to flatten them a bit but I will definitely be making them again!
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Wonderful! So glad to hear that! Thanks Lindsey!
Even something like reducing the amount of sugar can make them too dry. With cookies, it’s really important that all things are measuring accurately and the only way to know that for sure is to weigh the ingredients.
Terrible recipe! Something is off. I measured the sugar perfectly! I am 50 yrs old and never used a scale to measure flour in a cookie recipe. They were edible but not good. Something is not right. So disappointing.
I’m sorry to hear you had trouble. I just made these cookies again this week and they were perfect.
Why is my dough crumbly? I don’t use a scale but always loosen my flour. I use fluff it with my scoop then scoop into my measuring cup then level off
It might seem a little crumbly when you first mix it together, but it should form dough balls fine and bake correctly if everything is measured correctly.
I am trying to find the recipe but it wont allow me to access it. Please send me the info asap…
I’m so sorry for the trouble! There was an issue today that affected thousands of sites – mine included. It looks like it’s been resolved, so you should be able to access it here now. Sorry about that!
I was doubtful because of the dry reviews but I was pleasantly surprised! These cookies are excellent as is. Kids and husband love them, and they stayed soft and chewy for…well, for the 3 days that they lasted 😂. I’m definitely adding these to my favorites list!
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Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
My cookies came out absolutely perfect thank you so much!! I shared them with my community. Everyone loved them and kept asking for more. 🙂
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Awesome! So glad to hear that!
Wow You Really Did Find The Perfect 🍪 Recipe Girlll,
I Added Peanut Butter Like 2Tbspd to a lil dough like a cup & 1/2 and PERFECT…
I also put jam in the center & yes perfect 👍…
Thank You Soo Much I’m Soooo Glad I Came Across Your Sugar Cookie Recipe!🍪 Amanda Bechard
4/2019 Happy Easter
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I made these yesterday and they were incredibly flavored and so so soft. However, mine stayed fluffy and puffy, almost like a snickerdoodle. Any suggestions on how to get them flatter with a “denser” texture?
Me and my husband just used a weight to bake these and after 7 mins in the oven they still did NOT flatten out they stayed in balls. Not sure how to fix that…
this cookie is good.
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I want to try this recipe, but I would like to print it. I can not get just the recipe. Is there a way you can help me?
There’s a red print button within the pink recipe card. You can also find it here. I hope you enjoy them!
Thank you. I got the recipe for the Sugar cookies. I do not know how I miss that print button.
I just made these sugar cookies tonight . My family loves them ,they turned out real good.
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I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks Peggy!
I made these 2 days in a row, quick easy recipe! Weighing your flour is the best way to go. My first batch I added lemon emulsion and vanilla, then drizzled them with lemon icing after they cooled, FANTASTIC! The 2nd batch I added chopped dried cranberries to the batter, then sprinkled with turbinado sugar when I took them out of the oven, also FANTASTIC!!!!!!!
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Awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed them!
I didn’t have light brown sugar & was worried about making this recipe or making your other sugar cookie recipe. I ended up having dark brown sugar so I used it instead. The cookies came out perfect! I used a potato masher to make a hash print on the cookies & sprinkles.
They are so cute!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I have never been able to find a “perfect” recipe for what I consider the perfect sugar cookie…I’ve tried and tried, and altered recipes myself, etc and have made good cookies, but never awesome perfect cookies. Until stumbling across this recipe.
Omg! Made these this afternoon…following the recipe EXACTLY…and they are absolutely perfect! Everything I’m looking for in a sugar cookie! Soft, sweet but not sickeningly so, moist, chewy, perfect thickness…honestly I can’t think of a single thing to change!
These were amazing, and this is my new go-to for homemade cookie baking from now on!
Perfect, thank you so much!
Wonderful! I’m so glad they turned out perfectly!
Easy to make and super delicious! Quite possibly the best sugar cookies ever! I threw sprinkles in mine for a festive look. We couldn’t stop eating them!
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I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks Jennifer!
Excellent! At 7 minutes i thought I goofed bt decreasing butter by 2 Tbsp because that was all I had. Read reviews and added to the bake time and at 14 min, perfect. I did 2 minutes at a time because I hate over baked cookies. I added a little nutmeg.
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
These turned out AMAZING! Best sugar cookies I’ve made by far. Even at high altitude the recipe turned out perfect. Will definitely make again!
5 stars for sure!
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Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These were perfect! Pillowy soft with a tiny bit of crunch! I did chill my dough, and I must have made larger balls because they took longer to bake and the yield was smaller. I rolled the balls in sugar then flattened them with a glass dipped in sugar. I’ve found my sugar cookie recipe! 😋
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Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Wow, your oven must run WAY hotter than mine. I had to put these in for ten minutes or else they would be truly raw in the middle! I used my cushion air cookie sheets though. I wonder if that made a difference? Anyway, they came out fine in the end after a bit of experimentation.
Sounds like there is a big difference. I’ve never heard of those sheets before. Glad they turned out OK in the end!
Thanks for the reply! An update–they did stay soft, just as you said! They also got eaten way too quickly to make it a fair test. So I just had to make a second batch. 😉
How’s this for a compliment? My daughter says these cookies taste the way Christmas smells! Thanks again for sharing this simple but wonderful gem of a recipe. It’s definitely a keeper.
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad they turned out well and everyone enjoyed them!
THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!! I just made these and my entire family loves them. I have tried so many recipes and end up making sweet biscuits. This recipe I followed while on thr phone it was so easy and they are PERFECT!!!
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I’m so glad to hear that! Glad they were a hit!