I love this easy sugar cookies recipe, especially when I want to do some spur-of-the-moment baking. The cookie dough doesn’t need to be chilled, and the finished cookies stay wonderfully chewy for DAYS.
If you love soft sugar cookies, try my copycat Lofthouse cookies for a frosted, bakery-style treat.
Next to a good snickerdoodle, chewy sugar cookies are a total favorite of mine any day of the week. And unlike, say, cut-out sugar cookies, which are definitely a Christmas staple, I feel like this easy drop sugar cookies recipe is perfect for year-round baking.
I tested SO many versions of these homemade sugar cookies. I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law (who watches the twins while I work) thought I was losing my mind. I’d be all, “Just one more version!” and then a week later there’d still be new batches on the counter. But finally, I found the perfect sugar cookie recipe. Everything about these buttery cookies is just right.
So Many Reasons To Love This Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe
- These cookies are the perfect thickness to have crisp, golden edges without losing their soft centers.
- They’re chewy, buttery sugar cookies without being cakey.
- There’s no need to chill the dough, cut out the cookies, or even press the balls flat. They spread perfectly on their own.
- I’m happy to say these homemade cookies stay soft and chewy for days when stored properly.
- These are delicious baked as-is, rolled in sugar for a crunchy finish, and they’re great for decorating with sugar cookie icing or sprinkles.
- They’re easily adaptable for holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s Day. See my favorites in the Variations section later on.
Ingredients Needed
Let’s talk about the key ingredients you’ll need to make chewy classic sugar cookies. See the recipe card for the full recipe with exact measurements.
- Flour – Use a kitchen scale or spoon and level the flour to avoid overmeasuring. See how to measure flour correctly so you don’t end up with too much flour in the dough.
- Baking soda and baking powder – In all my testing, I found that my favorite sugar cookies used a combination of baking soda and baking powder. Cookies made with only baking soda are chewy but thinner (see my coconut sugar cookies). Meanwhile, just baking powder yields a thicker, more cakey cookie. The combination of the two was just right for these bakery-style sugar cookies.
- Butter – I use unsalted butter. Bring the butter to room temperature before you start. If you forget, microwave it for 5 seconds at a time, turning a quarter turn after each interval, just until it’s softened but not melted. You can also slice the butter into thin slices and it’ll come to room temperature much more quickly.
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar – Brown sugar has more moisture than white granulated sugar because it contains molasses. I swapped out two tablespoons of white sugar for brown sugar in this sugar cookie recipe, and the results were fantastic. It makes a much softer and chewier cookie that stays fresh longer. It also adds a touch of extra flavor.
- Egg – Also at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – Please use pure vanilla extract for your homemade sugar cookies, and not imitation vanilla. You’ll taste the difference.
How to Make Chewy Sugar Cookies
Follow along to make the best soft sugar cookies from scratch. Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350ºF and line your baking sheets, either with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients and mix to form a thick dough.
Portion the dough into 1 ½ tablespoon-sized balls. Roll the dough balls in sugar.
Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 7-8 minutes, until they’re just set in the centers.
The cookies will look a bit puffed up when they leave the oven…
… And they’ll settle as they cool on the baking sheet.
How Long to Bake Sugar Cookies
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. Don’t worry if the centers of the cookies are still quite soft; they will firm up as they cool.
Variations and Decorating Ideas
These make great holiday sugar cookies, but they’re also wonderful for everyday baking. Here are some of the many ways I’ve adapted this sugar cookie recipe over the years.
- Frosting: You can make simple decorated sugar cookies with royal icing or use vanilla buttercream frosting to follow my tutorial for rosette cookies.
- Sprinkles: 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. See my Christmas sprinkle cookies. Use any color you like!
- Christmas: Make peppermint sugar cookies or turn these into Grinch cookies with green food coloring and red heart sprinkles.
- More flavors: Try my chocolate sugar cookies, strawberry sprinkle cookies, and lemon sugar cookies for fun flavor variations.
Tips for Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Make sure your butter is at 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 still too cold.
- 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!
- Avoid overmeasuring. Measure the flour correctly using the spoon-and-level method or a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Don’t scoop directly from the bag. You’ll end up adding too much, which makes the cookies dry.
- Don’t over-mix the dough after you add the flour. It can over-develop the gluten and cause the cookies not to spread as nicely or to be tough.
- Make sure your cookie dough balls are 1 ½ tablespoons each, or you’ll want to adjust the baking time. I also found this size to be just right for a perfect spread.
How to Store and Freeze
- Counter: Store these cookies on the counter in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Fridge: If you want to extend their shelf life, you can pop the container in the fridge. The cookies will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Freezer: These cookies freeze nicely too! Just let the baked cookies come to room temperature, then pack them in a Ziploc bag and freeze them. Thaw them in the fridge or on the counter when you’re ready to eat them.
More Classic Cookie Recipes
Easy Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups (358g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (233g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (28g) light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (52g) granulated sugar (additional for rolling)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugars together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. You should be able to see the change in color happen and know it’s ready.
- Add the egg and mix until well combined.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- 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.
- Create 1 ½ 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.
- 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.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for 4-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Categories:
Christmas, Cookies, Easter, Holidays, Recipes, Recipes with video, Sweets and Treats, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day,
These sugar cookies look so delicious! I’ve never tried brown sugar in a sugar cookie but I love brown sugar! I can’t wait to try these cookies out. Thanks so much for sharing!
I have tried and succeeded, thank you for sharing this recipe. Very delicious and easy to make
I’m only a kid but I absolutely loved making these!!! It was really easy to make and I didn’t make a big mess my mom and my brother loved them so much. Also I recommend adding chocolate chips to some of them it gives it a really great taste. Thanks for the recipe!!!
How long can the cookies last until the don’t become as soft?
I’d say they are best for 2-3 days.
I have had trouble with sugar cookies pretty much as long as I’ve been baking. They come out too dry, or they don’t have much flavor, etc., etc. This recipe is a game-changer. The cookies are delicious, perfectly chewy, and I love love love that I didn’t have to chill the dough. Thank you so much!
These are probably the best cookies I have ever made, and I’ve been baking for 20 years. Amazingly soft. I actually subbed the 2 tsp of vanilla extract for 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp almond. It worked very well for me. Thank you for optimizing the recipe!
As I was completely this recipe, I was spectacle of the results since some of the reviews said that the cookie doesn’t flatten. But it turns out, I was worried for nothing. The final results of this sugar cookie recipe was spectacular! It was nice and sweet and was a great recipe to complete specially during this unfortunate time. Definitely recommend!! 🙂
Good recipe, but I had to bake much longer than 8 minutes for them to be done–after 11 minutes they were still raw, and they weren’t fully cooked until closer to 20 minutes. I was surprised–there’s obviously some variation with oven temperature, but this seemed a little extreme.
If you don’t pack your dry ingredients into the measuring cup, then you are measuring them incorrectly. Rather than instructing people to develop bad technical habits, perhaps calculate how much flour the recipe actually requires, hack.
This is very incorrect. You absolutely do not want to pack your flour. You will over measure every time.
Hands down the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made!! I don’t want to have to share with the kids and hubby!
I did a random search for a sugar cookie recipe. I chose yours because you described WHY each ingredient and action mattered! The cookies turned out exactly as promised and just how I wanted them! Thank you SO much for explaining how to get the right amount of spread and crinkling; softness with crunch!! I’m going to see if you have a similar recipe for chocolate chips because that’s just how I want them to turn out! Thanks so much!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! These would be my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I hope you enjoy those too!
Can you make these chocolate chip cookies without cornstarch? I don’t have that ingredient.
These cookies don’t have cornstarch in them.
These cookies are so delicious 😃 i love them so much! and my family does too!
These are by far the best cookies I’ve ever had. I absolutely love sugar cookies. I attempted to make these and completely failed because I can’t bake, but wanted to try them so badly so I asked my mom to bake them for me. They turned out perfect and barely lasted in the house, and I may have just had a few for breakfast! Thank you for the recipe and we will definitely be having these again.
Hi Lindsay, for me, these cookies didn’t spread a lot even though I squished them down a little before baking. I baked them for 14 minutes at 350. Even though they may not had look as beautiful as yours, they tasted amazing! I will definitely be using this recipe in the future.
My cookies turned out doughy with a baking time of 8 min and 30 seconds. What did I do wrong?
You may not have done anything wrong, they may have just needed a little longer to bake. There can be variation between ovens.
This is by far the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever made! It’s super soft and not too sugary which is perfect for my mom and grandparents to eat. These cookies stay soft in the middle which I also love. This is my new go to cookie recipe thank you so much!!💗