Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cookie Recipes Sugar Cookies 4.0 (208) They're perfect for cutting into any shape you like and decorating. Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 15 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Servings: 24 Yield: 2 dozen 4-inch cookies Jump to recipe For the ultimate sugar cookies, look no further than Martha’s recipe. It calls for just a handful of basic baking ingredients and forms a buttery, tender dough that's easy to work with. The key to clean, crisp edges lies in a generous amount of chilling time, both before and after the cookies are formed—this ensures the butter is nice and firm when it goes in the oven which helps the cookies hold their shape. The dough can be made the night before, then baked and decorated the following day. All you need is some royal icing and a bit of creativity to make stunning cookies that are perfect for serving or gifting. How to Host a Cookie Swap, the Sweetest Holiday Party Credit: Jake Sternquist Equipment Needs for Sugar Cookies Sifter: Sifting the dry ingredients aerates the flour and removes any lumps. You can use a fine-mesh sieve if you don't have a flour sifter handy. Electric mixer: Like most cookie recipes, this one calls for creaming the butter and sugar before adding the remaining ingredients. This step helps to trap air within the butter for lighter, more tender cookies. You can use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer for this step. Rolling pin: Aim to roll the dough to a thickness of about one-quarter inch. If you go much thinner, they'll bake up too crisp and delicate; if they are much thicker, they won't bake evenly. Baking sheets: You can use either rimmed baking sheets or cookie sheets for this recipe. Be sure to line them with parchment paper or silicone baking mats to keep the dough from sticking. Cookie cutters: This is an ideal dough to use for cutouts, even ones with more intricate designs. If you're using 4-inch cookie cutters, you'll end up with about two dozen cookies. It's easy to double or even triple the dough for a larger batch. Why We Chill the Dough 3x This recipe calls for chilling the dough in three separate stages. Trust us, it's worth it! Here's a look at what's happening each time: The first chill gives the flour a chance to hydrate, the butter its first opportunity to solidify, and the gluten some time to relax.The purpose of the second chill, which happens after the dough's been rolled out, is to firm it up enough to form cutouts that release easily and have clean, sharp edges.Just before baking, the dough gets its third chill. This solidifies the butter so it doesn't melt immediately in the hot oven, which can cause excessive spreading and result in overly crisp cookies. (If you don't have freezer space for the final chill, refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes instead.) Directions Credit: Jake Sternquist Mix dry ingredients; beat butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla: Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Credit: Jake Sternquist Mix in dry ingredients; divide dough, flatten, and wrap: Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture. Turn out dough, and divide in half. Flatten each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight. Credit: Jake Sternquist Credit: Jake Sternquist Preheat oven; roll one disc of dough and chill: Preheat oven to 325°F, with racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just under 1/4-inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Chill in refrigerator until firm, about 30 minutes. Credit: Jake Sternquist Cut out cookies; roll scraps and repeat: Cut out cookies using desired cutters or templates. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out scraps, and repeat once. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Chill cookies in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes. Credit: Jake Sternquist Bake cookies; cool and decorate: Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Decorate with Royal Icing. Credit: Jake Sternquist How to Store Sugar Cookies These cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to one week. Before storing decorated cookies, let them sit out for at least 24 hours to ensure the icing has time to set up. Planning on gifting or sending out your cookies? Take a look at these clever packaging ideas (we've got 12 of them!). Decorating Tips Flooding: Covering the entire surface of a cookie is known as flooding: Pipe a thin border around the edge of the cookie to keep the icing from running off the sides. Then, pipe icing within the border and use a toothpick to fill in any gaps. Adding color: We strongly prefer gel food coloring, rather than liquid drops, to tint white icing—you'll achieve a more vibrant hue without having to use as much dye. It's always a good idea to reserve a bit of white icing in case you need to lighten the hue a bit. Icing consistency: For intricate, detailed designs, aim for a consistency similar to toothpaste. For flooding—including piping the outline—use a consistency closer to honey, 5 More Holiday Cookie Recipes to Try Basic Gingerbread Cookies Crushed Peppermint-Chocolate Cookies German Spice Cookies (Pfeffernusse) Meyer-Lemon Shortbread Wreath Cookies Sugar-Dusted Macaroon Trees Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.