Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
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These Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies are a recipe you'll want to make over and over again. They turn out super tender, buttery, and full of vanilla and almond flavor. The dough keeps its shape in the oven, so these cookies are great for holidays, Valentine's Day, baby showers, birthdays, or whenever you want a cookie that looks as good as it tastes.
One of the best parts of this recipe is how easy it is to use. You don't have to chill the dough, and the cookies won't spread into uneven shapes. Just mix, roll, cut, and bake. Top them with a simple sour cream icing for a sweet-and-tangy finish.
These cookies are simple and classic, but cream cheese in the dough makes them extra special. It adds great flavor and helps create the soft texture that makes these cookies so good.
You don't have to chill this dough, and you don't even have to put flour on your counter! This recipe is no muss, no fuss, quick, easy, and incredibly delicious!
You can decorate these cookies with royal icing, too! I made a big batch to donate to my kids' school, and they came out fantastic. The sour cream frosting is just a little quicker/easier, and it tastes so good!
Here's Why You'll Love This Recipe
- The cookies stay soft and tender for days.
- No chilling is required, so they come together quickly.
- The dough rolls out easily and cuts cleanly.
- They hold their shape beautifully in the oven.
- The cream cheese gives them a rich, unforgettable flavor.
- Sour cream icing adds a smooth, tangy finish that pairs perfectly with the sweet cookie.
Ingredients You'll Need
The recipe card at the bottom of the post contains the full list with all of the amounts. Refer to that when you're cooking.
For the soft cut-out sugar cookies
- Unsalted butter: If you only have salted butter, you can use it, but omit the additional Kosher salt called for in the recipe.
- Cream cheese: Cream cheese is the secret ingredient. It adds a slight tang and makes the cookies extra soft and tender.
- Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the dough and helps create a soft, delicate crumb.
- Egg yolk: Use the best eggs you have access to. It makes a big difference!
- Vanilla extract: It adds a warm, classic sugar-cookie flavor.
- Almond extract: A small amount adds a bakery-style flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Provides structure for rolling and cutting. Add a little more if the dough feels too sticky.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch keeps the cookies soft and tender and helps prevent them from becoming tough.
- Kosher salt: Balances sweetness and sharpens other flavors.
For the sour cream icing
- Unsalted butter: Softened butter helps make the icing smooth and creamy.
- Sour cream: Adds tang and gives the frosting a cool, creamy texture.
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar sweetens and thickens the icing, making it fluffy and easy to spread.
- Kosher salt: A tiny pinch keeps the icing from tasting flat.
- Pink food coloring: Optional, but adds a nice touch for special occasions like Valentine's Day.
- White nonpareil sprinkles: Optional, they add a festive finish and a bit of crunch.
- White sugar pearls: Optional, but they make the cookies look extra pretty and polished.
How To Make Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Step 1: Prep the pans and oven
Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper so the cookies bake evenly and lift away easily.
Step 2: Make the dough
Place the cold butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and mix until everything is fully combined.
Scrape down the bowl, then add the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Mix just until a stiff dough forms. It should be easy to handle. If it feels too sticky, mix in a little more flour.
Step 3: Roll and cut
Roll the dough to about ¼-inch thick, then roll it between two sheets of parchment paper. This makes the dough easier to handle and keeps your counters clean.
Peel off the top sheet of parchment and cut with a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, or any cutter you like.
Carefully lift the cut shapes from the parchment and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
Step 4: Bake
Bake the cookies for 12 to 16 minutes, or until the bottoms are just starting to turn golden. For soft, tender cookies, avoid letting the tops get too much color.
Let the cookies cool completely before icing.
How to Make Sour Cream Icing
Step 1: Cream butter, sugar, and salt
Put the softened butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Step 2: Color
Add a drop of pink food coloring, if desired, and mix until evenly tinted.
Step 3: Decorate
Spread or spoon the icing over the cooled cookies. Decorate with white nonpareils and sugar pearls if you like.
Helpful Tips and Tricks
- If you love your sugar cookies soft, be extra-careful not to overbake them! Your baking time may vary depending on how thick you roll the dough and the size of your cookie cutters. If the dough is rolled thinner than noted, and the cutters are small, you probably won't need the full bake time listed on this recipe card. Use your judgment and pull them from the oven when the edges feel set, and the bottoms are just barely beginning to turn golden. If you bake them too long, they could become hard.
- If you want, you can skip the sugar cookie icing and just use sprinkles instead. Top the cut-out shapes with sprinkles before they go into the oven.
- The sugar cookie frosting will form a slight crust on the top after about an hour, but it will remain soft and moist underneath, so be careful about stacking them!
- For tips on how to decorate with royal icing, check out these posts: Iced Chocolate Peppermint Cookies and Spiderweb Cookies.
Recipe FAQ
If you'd like to make a gluten-free sugar cookie, just sub out the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free flour blend. I link to some of my favorites in this post.
For a dairy-free sugar cookie recipe, use solid (cold) coconut oil in place of butter and vegan cream cheese.
If you prefer to chill the dough, you totally can. (Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.) I've tried it both ways, and both work beautifully. If you chill the dough, it's a little harder to roll out, but the shapes cut very nicely. I prefer not to chill because I am impatient. It still works well, but I do think it's helpful to dip your cookie cutter in flour before every cut.
These sugar cookies can be baked several weeks ahead and frozen. Just stack them up in a zip-top bag and pop them in the freezer. When you're ready to serve, let them thaw at room temperature (with the bag open), and frost them with icing.
These soft sugar cookies will keep at room temperature for 1 day, or in the fridge for about a week.
Storage Tips
- Keep the finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
- For longer storage, refrigerate them. Just let them come to room temperature before serving for the best texture.
- You can also freeze the cookies before frosting and decorating them later.
These soft cut-out sugar cookies are easy, flavorful, beautiful, and perfectly tender. They're simple enough for everyday baking but special enough for celebrations and holidays. The creamy sour cream icing makes them even better.
Ingredients
For the soft cut-out sugar cookies
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, , cold
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, (half a brick)
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ¾ cup (343.75 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (32 g) cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
For the sour cream icing
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter, , softened
- ⅓ cup (76.67 g) sour cream
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) powdered sugar
- pinch of kosher salt
- drop of pink food coloring, (optional)
- white nonpareil sprinkles, (optional garnish)
- white sugar pearls, (optional garnish)
Instructions
To make the soft cut-out sugar cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium-low speed until smooth (about 1 minute).
- Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and almond extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the flour, cornstarch, and salt.
- Mix on medium-low speed until a stiff dough forms (about 1 minute). If the dough is too sticky to handle, try mixing in a little more flour.
- Roll the dough to ¼-inch thick (rolling pin rings ensure an even and exact thickness) between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
- Remove the top sheet of parchment, and cut shapes with a 3-inch heart cookie cutter.
- Peel the shapes from the bottom layer of parchment, and place on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until just barely beginning to turn golden on the bottoms.
- Cool completely, then frost with sour cream icing.
To make the sour cream icing:
- Place the butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whip on medium speed until smooth.
- Tint with pink food coloring, and garnish with white nonpareil sprinkles and white sugar pearls.
Amazing recipe!! My grandfather used to make cream cheese cookies at the holidays but I prefer these- they are a bit sweeter. My 10 year old and I usually bake chocolate chip at Christmas, mainly because I don't really enjoy hard sugar cookies. This year, I really wanted to use our cookie cutters and make a memory, but I wanted to see if I could find a recipe there was a chance I'd enjoy. I was blown away! We iced with the sour cream icing and had a great time. They froze beautifully. Thank you so very much for sharing this.
It's my pleasure Tina! I'm so happy you and your little one enjoyed!
Kids have peanut allergy can’t use the almond extract. Will the recipe be ok without the almond extract and should I replace it with more vanilla ?
Yes! Replace with any kind of extract you like. You can add extracts to taste; they will not affect the chemistry of the recipe. Good luck!
Do you have a wheat free cut out cookie recipe. No gluten free but actually wheat free. If not your recipes are so amazing could you possibly create one? Most are gritty and dry. Please and Thank you
Hey! So I tried these cookies and the hold the shape perfectly! But for some reason they have a sour after taste
Can you heat seal these cookies in bags? And if so how long will they stay fresh?
I can't imagine why you wouldn't be able to do that. But I don't have a heat sealer, so unfortunately I'm not able to answer that question with certainty.
Can I make these without the almond extract? What would you substitute, if anything?
You can do that if you like. Use any other kind of extract that you enjoy the taste of. Good luck!
I was out of almond extract and corn starch, only realized after I started. But I had some almond flour in the cupboard. I used that as a substitute for both and added an extra tsp of vanilla. They turned out delicious!
Do you have any recommendations for making these chocolate sugar cookies? I love the soft texture of these, but the flavor of chocolate and having a dark background to decorate. I've used your chocolate and regular cut-out sugar cookie recipes before, but I tend to prefer the softness of this one. Thanks! =]
EXACTLY what I was looking for when I googled "soft roll and cut sugar cookie". The cookie texture is exquisite, and the frosting is perfect--just enough of a crust formed to be able to pack and transport, but still soft. Took them to coffee hour at church last Sunday, and people were STILL talking about them this Sunday! Making them again today in the shape of stars for an Oscar party.
That's so great to hear! I'm so happy you and your friends were pleased. Thanks so much for the awesome feedback!
Made these last week and they turned out AMAZING! I want to make them for a party next week but wanted to try a small cookie, maybe 2 bite size or so. What would you guess the cooking time would be for a small cookie and would I want to lower the oven temp as well?
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Perfect! I made numbers shape for my son.. I can't believe how easy the dough was to work with and the way it retained the shape. I live in hot humid country so I refrigerated the dough after cutting them out for about 15minutes. Thank you.
My pleasure Mina! I hope you and your son enjoyed!
Love this recipe. I'm always afraid of cut out cookies especially with the kiddos, but these were so easy it made it tons of fun & they barely needed my help with rolling & cutting. Thank you!
My pleasure Grace! So nice to hear the kids had fun 🙂
I absolutely stink at rolled out dough cookies and I pulled these off. WOOHOO. It is a pretty soft dough so once I got the hang of rolling it, I worked fast but I guess one could chill it. I liked rolling in between parchment paper- I have never done that before.
It worked great and clean up was a breeze.
They were awesome and I am making more for my son's Christmas party. They are THAT good. I did the sour cream icing and let them "sit" though they were gone in two days. No issues, just happy bellies.
That's so great to hear! Thank you so much for the positive feedback. I hope everyone at your son's party enjoys! Merry Christmas!
Hi I made these and for some reason the dough didn’t stiffen after I added the flour and cornstarch. So I ended up adding 1 1/4 cup extra flour until it got stiff enough to not stick to my fingers. Did I do something wrong? I used cold butter and cream cheese and cold egg yolk. The cookies worked out but they ended up being a bit chalky. Was it due to the addition of extra flour? Thank you for your help!
Hey Noelle! So sorry you had trouble. I think if they tasted chalky it may have been because of the additional flour. Maybe next time try adding not quite so much? And if you let the dough sit for an hour or so, it should stiffen up a bit and become less sticky. You shouldn't have to do this every time, perhaps only on very humid days. I hope this is helpful!
Followed the recipe to the letter. Dough was much too stiff and crumbly to work with effectively. Eventually was able to roll the dough and cut the cookies. Put them in at 375 and checked on them half way. They were burnt. Lowered temp to 350 and halved the time. Still much too dark.
Not sure why I had so much trouble with this recipe (it it because I’m at sea level?) but I likely won’t try again. Too bad; I love cream cheese in baked goods.
Hey Tuesday! I'm so sorry you had difficulty. I'm not sure what could have caused this for you- I've made this recipe a number of times and have never experienced what you are describing. And I gave all the other reader comments a skim and it doesn't seem like anyone else has had this result either. If anything the dough is sometimes a little too soft. Also, for cookies to burn in just 6 minutes is definitely a red flag. I think there is definitely something wrong there.
Hi, can this sour cream frosting be used to pipe on the cookies? I want to use this recipe for decorating Christmas cookies and would rather use this frosting instead of royal icing because it stays soft. Thank you!
It might be a little too thin for piping. You could either add more powdered sugar, to make it stiffer, or try this buttercream instead: https://bakingamoment.com/easter-basket-cupcakes-with-american-style-buttercream/. Good luck!
Hi there! I’m wondering if the cream cheese should be soft and at room temperature for this recipe?
I’m also hesitant about using cold butter.... but I read your reasons in your link to making perfect cut out cookies and it does make sense. I’m just wondering if the butter, cream cheese and sugar will blend well together...
Thank you!
Hi Rose! Thanks for the great question. I understand your hesitation and you are right- it will take longer to blend together this way. And you want to just be extra careful, making sure there aren't any lumps of butter or cream cheese.
If you really don't want to do it this way, you could always chill your dough after it's made, and bring the temp back down that way. Using cold butter and cream cheese is meant to eliminate that step.
But if you do that, just know that the dough becomes drier as it sits, so it would probably be a good idea to cut back on the flour a bit, so it doesn't become too crumbly and so it spreads properly.
It's a delicate balance! I like this method because it's quick and easy, and it's proven to work well for me in the past. I make this recipe a few times a year and the results have always been great for me. But if it doesn't feel right for you that's totally fine!