I am pretty particular about my sugar cookies. They are one of my favorites, as long as they are soft, chewy, and frosted! YUM!
You’ll notice I use shortening instead of butter in my sugar cookies, and that is because I’ve tested them both ways and found that shortening yields a much softer cookie that doesn’t get hard. They last longer as well, and freeze beautifully. You can substitute butter if you want, but the results will not be quite the same.
Tips for perfect sugar cookies:
Roll the cookies out thick– at least 1/2 inch.
Don’t over-bake them.
Frost them:
My trick for frosting perfect sugar cookies is to use a small round piping tip (or ziplock bag with a corner cut) to pipe frosting around the outer edge of the cookie. Place a small spoonful of frosting in the center of the cookie and use a small spoon to spread it out to the edge of the outlined frosting.
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Super Soft Sugar Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening (or use half butter, half shortening)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes a great flavor )
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1/2 cup butter , softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.
- Add eggs, milk, and vanilla and mix.
- In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients--(flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet mixture until you form a large dough ball. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
- Lightly flour your counter top. Roll dough ball out until 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.
- Cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters (or use a round drinking cup)
- Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 7-10 minutes. Cookies will be very light colored and just set, when you take them out. They will harden as they cool, so don't over bake them.
For the frosting:
- Add the butter and cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat well until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Add more powdered sugar, as needed, until the frosting is smooth and thick and tastes perfect.
Notes
Nutrition
I originally shared this recipe March 2013. Updated January 2018.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Katie says
I followed this recipe exactly except for using butter instead of shortening and the dough came out super sticky and baked more like a bread than a cookie. They don’t taste like cookies – more like an oven pancake. I was very excited for these but they came out a huge disappointment.