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,
I like this recipe, but, Mine came out a little too sweet and a bit underdone.
I baked them for 7 minutes ….
So next time ill use 2 Tbsp less sugar and bake for 8 minutes
Just keep in mind that reducing the sugar doesn’t just change the sweetness. Sugar also adds moisture so if you reduce it, your cookies may not spread as much or be a soft.
Thank you Lindsay…. i
Just made these and they are BAD!! Bad because I can’t stop eating them, great recipe!
Lol! Glad you enjoyed them!
I had the same issue as others with the cookies not spreading. I followed all directions minus the scale because I don’t have one so I’m not sure if my flour measurements were off or what the problem was. However I was able to work-around the issue and save these cookies! I baked for ten minutes, removed the cookies and gently flattened with a spatula and then baked an additional 4-5 minutes. The result was delicious and chewy cookies with a nice crackle affect that really set them over the top!
I’m glad you enjoyed them! More than likely the flour measurement was a little off, because I have 100% confidence in this recipe. Cookies can be really tricky because even the smallest difference in ingredients can make a big difference in the way they bake.
These cookies are delicious! We used them as Christmas cookies to frost and decorate. We did have to bake them longer (about 13 minutes) and they didn’t spread like in the picture at first but I just flattened them myself. Perhaps we used too much flour, but the dough wasn’t crumbly and formed perfect balls. Still great!
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
These cookies were beyond delicious. My son wanted to make some sugar cookies that had blue icing and the teddy grahams floating on it. This recipe was perfect for that. We baked ours thicker but still so delicious and soo chewy. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Wonderful! The perfect sugar cookie
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These cookies were perfect! My family really enjoyed them.
Hi I just tried the recipe and it must be the old version because the cookies did not spread out. I cannot find the updated version from May 2019. Would you be able to share with me so I can alter the recipe as well? Thanks so much.
If you followed the recipe on my site, it should be the correct one. The only change that was made was reducing the flour a bit. If your cookies did not spread properly then you probably added a little bit too much flour. It’s very common when using measuring cups for it to be measured differently between different people. The best way to make sure it’s accurate is with a food scale. If you try them again, perhaps just remove a tablespoon or two of flour from what you measure and your cookies will spread a little more.
I have a hard time finding unsalted butter. Can I use regular salted butter and omit adding salt to the mix? Thank you!
Yes, you can.
Hi there! Big fan of this recipe. Is it possible to add coconut extract instead of vanilla to these cookies ?
Definitely! Just swap it out.
These cookies look scrumptious!! My family is partial to lemon flavoring. I have both True Lemon powder and lemon extract. Could I use either one of those and if so .. which one.and how much. Also, I love the baking hints you gave. I see them working on other cookie recipes .
Thank you!!!
I’ve never used True Lemon, so I don’t know how strong they are and how to suggest. You could use lemon extract, although sometimes people think that tastes a little like soap, LOL. If you were going to use the extract, I might suggest 1/2 a teaspoon. But it kind of depends. Honestly, if I were to suggest what I think might be best, it’d probably be some fresh lemon zest. You can add a tablespoon or two, depending on how much lemon flavor you want. I hope that helps!
Made these tonight and they are absolutely delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed them!
The flavor and texture of the cookies were very good but I honestly have to agree with many of the commenters. They did not spread well at all and I had to resort to manually flattening them after baking. Also – it took about 15 minutes to bake rather than 8. I used less flour than called for too. I think altitude and oven can make a difference. With a few tweaks this recipe turned out quite nice. I added a little Orange zest and it was great.
Amazing cookies! Perfect! I didn’t have brown sugar so I replaced it with a tsp of organic maple syrup! Fantastic!
Thanks so much! My family loved them!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Used this recipe with cookie cutters(even thought other comments said not too) and they worked out good! The dough was a little sticky to roll out with a pin so I did it by hand then cut with cutters. Tasty and simple!
So glad they worked out well!
This recipe did not work out very well though i fallowed it to the T. the cookies came out soft but once they cooled they became crunchy and little to no softness….
How many tablespoon sugar balls should I make if I don’t have a cookie scoop? Because in the video you used a tablespoon and then split some balls in half but didn’t say? Just curious because I want to use a tablespoon
Well the recipe makes about 30 cookies and you need about 1 1/2 tablespoons per cookie, so that’d be about 45 tablespoons.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I usually don’t follow other people’s recipe, only for reference, but then make changes to what I like. I followed your recipe and they turned out amazing! I have rehearsal at my house weekly with our band and worship team, and I usually like to bake treats. I’ve been looking for a sugar cookie that would have the same effect as “WOW, these are amazing!” That’s exactly what I heard as each person were talking with cookie crumbs spilling out of their mouths. I made 32 cookies and had 6 left by the end of the night. This I believe because they were being polite not to clean me out. In the morning there were 4 (hubby)😊 and so I finished them off. 😬. Thanks again
Awesome! I’m so glad you loved them!
These are lovely and very simple to make. They were well received by my family. I made a couple of modifications. I found they didn’t spread so I just pressed a knife down on the balls to flatten them a little and create a cookie shape. I found in my oven they needed a longer cooking time to reach the consistency desired.