Perfect Sugar Cookies
These chewy Perfect Sugar Cookies with self-rising flour are a childhood favorite for me. They are soft, light, buttery, and not too sweet. Soft being an important quality for me – I want sugar cookies that melt in my mouth.
I guess my love for soft, chewy sugar cookies was developed when I was a young girl still at home. I’d always bake these cookies.
The recipe disappeared somewhere along the way and I don’t know where we got it from. But I’ve been wanting that cookie again for ages.
So, with that in mind, and having some serious sugar cookie cravings lately, I’ve made three batches in the last week, each time tweaking recipes trying to find the perfect balance for me and recreate that cookie from my youth.
Tonight, I’m happy to report that I think I’ve nailed the recipe!
Presenting… Perfect Sugar Cookies
I know, I’m soooo original, huh? Don’t answer that.
When we were kids, we’d usually eat these sugar cookies plain. For my test runs, I tried them with vanilla buttercream (so-so-good!!) and royal icing. Both were terrific!
I decided to do pics with royal icing and a snowflake sprinkles mix to make them festive and fun!
These sugar cookies require no fancy piping skills. For the royal icing – I made it a little thinner than normal and just dipped the tops before sprinkling. Easy-peasy and even something the kids can do!
Can you use self-rising flour in sugar cookies? Yes.
You might be wondering about the self-rising flour. The truth is, my Mama was not much of a baker – especially not from scratch. We only had self-rising flour in the house as far as I can remember.
So if we were gonna bake cookies, they were going to use self-rising flour. On the upside, that means fewer ingredients and a little bit simpler recipe. Besides, who cares when they come out perfectly soft and delish?
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Really all you need to do is bake the cookies, allow them to cool, mix up the royal icing, dip the tops and then add your favorite sprinkles. Allow them to dry for a few hours (overnight is best) and they’re ready to go!
Just pour yourself a tall glass of milk and try not to eat too many 😊
They’re soft with the slightly crunchy thin layer of royal icing and the pretty sprinkles. These would be perfect for Christmas, but could also be customized for a birthday, Easter, 4th of July or any celebration!
So, how do you like your sugar cookies? Soft or crispy? Iced or plain? Buttery? Super sweet?
More Cookie Recipes
Get the printable recipe below:
Perfect Soft Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 dozen (2.5 inch cookies) 1x
Description
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES:
- 1 cup real butter (2 sticks), softened
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 cups self-rising flour* + extra for rolling
FOR THE ICING:
- 2 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder*
- 5–6 Tablespoons of water
- 1/2 pound of powdered sugar (sifted, if needed)
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
- A few drops of vanilla extract (I used vanilla… you could use almond, lemon, etc.)
Instructions
FOR THE COOKIES:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
- Next beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- Add in the flour a little at a time and stir until a very soft dough forms.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. This dough will still be a little sticky and is very soft, so be sure to be generous with the flour on your rolling pin and surface. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
- Place cookies at least 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (9 minutes is perfect for me – no brown crispy edges or bottoms!).
- Allow the cookies to cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve plain (delicious!) OR frost with your favorite buttercream frosting OR decorate with royal icing and sprinkles (keep reading…).
- If you’re going to do royal icing, you’ll want to make that while your cookies cool.
FOR THE ROYAL ICING:
- While the cookies are baking, In a mixing bowl, add the meringue powder and 4 tablespoons of water. Beat with a mixer until it’s foamy.
- Add in the powder sugar, mix slowly until combined. I should note here that I used Great Value powdered sugar from Walmart and I never sift it. However, I’ve bought other brands that did need sifting. If you’re unsure – sift!!
- Add the corn syrup and any extract, if desired.
- Increase speed to high and beat for around 5 minutes, until you get stiff glossy peaks.
- Add more water, a teaspoon at a time until you reach the ribbon stage where the icing disappears back into itself after about 5 seconds.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap until you’re ready to use – make sure it touches the icing or the icing will harden!
ICE THE COOKIES:
- Gently dip the tops of the cookies into the icing and then place them on a cookie sheet or cooling rack.
- While they’re still wet, add sprinkles!
- Let dry overnight.
ENJOY!!
Notes
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: desserts
Oooooh… These sound delish!
Silly question maybe but I’ve never used self-rising flour. Do you dust your rolling pin and surface with that kind as well or just use all-purpose flour for that part?
No silly questions! I usually use whatever I already have out but either will work just fine 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Very easy to make. Delicious even without icing on the top. Plus the simple ingredients are cheap. I was surprised cookies could be made with such a simple recipe! Thank you! I will use this recipe again in the future!
Do you have a recipe for a short bread cookie? Sugar cookies are not a fan of me.
I don’t sorry!
Ok : (
Thanks for reply. I’m to your website and baking and I really enjoy your ideas and tips.
Rose,
I made wedding cake cookies using your sugar cookie and royal icing recipes. The cookies were delicious, and baked perfectly. The dough was so easy to work with. Keeping with my grandmother’s tradition, I rolled the dough using powdered sugar instead of flour. (She did the same with pie crusts.)
Thanks for sharing,
You have an * after the flour in the recipe yet there is no following note in regards to it anywhere.
Sorry about that – my recipes were recently re-formatted and some of fields were deleted. I corrected it – thank you 🙂
Does this recipe work with cookie cutters? I make cookies with my grand-delights. They love using cookie cutters and then decorating after they’re baked. Didn’t know if it was sticky, if id’d work. Want them to taste great too.
The puff up a lot and won’t really hold their shape, so I’m not sure it would do well with cookie cutters.
These are the best cookies, I hate rolling out dough, i just spooned into flour well and patted out. Turned out great.. Added colored sugar and ate!! 🙂 everyone loved them
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
these were perfect ! so soft,not to sweet my family loved them. thank you so much 🙂
I don’t usually comment on reicpes but good god, are these delightful. I haven’t had a lot of luck in the past with sugar cookie reicpes before and we usually ALWAYS have self-rising flour. They are really nice on their own and just enough sweetness for my fiance. I, on the other hand love sugar so we rolled sugar cinnamon on the cookies before we baked them the first few times and they still turn out great and have a slight crunch!
Thanks SO much Mason!! xx
Is there a way to cut this recipe in half?
Yes, it works well cut in half!
Really great recipe. I’m only 12 and needed to something to do so this recipe was easy for me to make in my own.
Thanks Macey!
I just made this and it is a stiff dough, not soft. Was I not supposed to add all of the flour????
Do the 5c Flour (SR) go into the dough mix? I made your recipe today. I put the full 5c into my mixture. It seemed extremely flour-y and tasted more like a shortbread than a sugar cookie.
2nd part of my question is… did you mean for some of that 5c to be used on your rolling surface?
Please help.
Loved this recipe!! So easy and my grandchildren loved helping me. We did try to use cookie cutters and they were really puffy. Second batch we used cookie cutters because we were having fun and we added sprinkles before cooking. We will be using this recipe again!!!!! Thanks for sharing.
I meant to ask, are these cookies in your new Cookbook?
No, it only has cake recipes and then cake decorating tutorials.
If the icing is too runny how do you thicken it?
I add more powdered sugar to thicken it back up.
Rose, these do look perfect. I love your stories behind your foods…
I’m looking forward to making these for Carl & myself…very soon.
Thanks Rose for sharing this recipe, I will be trying it.
Oh My! Yes please! These soft sugar cookies look like my dream. They’re too cute to eat. These would indeed be perfect for a birthday and Easter. I can totally see the cookies being a huge hit at parties. I’m looking forward to making these for my family (hope soon). I’ve just printed the recipe out. I’m so tempted to taste the result.
Rose, thank you for sharing this treasure with us. Your website is beneficial. I will definitely be back for more of your lovely recipes. Keep up the good work!
p.s. I love the photos you take so much!
Best wishes,
Ann
My niece made these cookies and they were so good! Thanks for the recipe rose.
What about adding Hershey’s cocoa to it? And can these cookies be done with a cookie scoop for a drop cookie?
I’m not sure – I haven’t really changed this recipe at all or tried any adaptations. Sorry!
I plan to make this cookie, but is the butter supposed to be unsalted or salted?
I have used one of your cake and buttercream icing recpies for my grandson’s birthday cakes and they are delicious!
I use salted for all of my baking but unsalted would be okay.
My first attempt at sugar cookies and this recipe was perfect. I’m not a great baker but these came out perfect. I love my cookies soft too and these taste lovely. Will definitely use this recipe again!
Thank you
Rose I love this recipe and I always use cookie cutters, I have found that if you do not want them so puffy all you have to do is roll the dough out a little thinner then 1/4 of an inch, also wanted to make these in chocolate how would can I do this if so please let me know. Love these cookies.