Your old traditional soft sugar cookie recipe gets a new makeover with colorful sparkling sugar making it incredibly festive! It’s soft, crumbly and chewy in the center, perfect cookies for parties.
A great addition to holiday cookie exchange.

Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Holiday season always sparks the baker in me. No better time to bake all your favorite cookies than holiday season.
- And the simplest and easiest cookie recipe would undoubtedly be the classic sugar cookies. It never gets old, does it!
- No matter how many times I bake these soft sugar cookies, I always get appreciation from my family. Clearly, sugar cookies are their favorite too. But I do have a tip to share with you guys that I learnt from experience, whenever you bake these cookies, make BIG batch, because there is never enough cookies.
- What makes sugar cookies so absolutely amazing is it’s texture. Though I love soft chewy texture you can even make them thin and crispy and it’ll still taste incredibly delicious!
- There is no chilling or rolling required. And the flavors and texture is spot-on.
These are ‘almost’ drop style cookies. You scoop out cookie dough, and drop but first in sugar and then on to baking tray.
Since the cookie dough gets rolled in sugar, I preferred to shape them into round balls with gentle hands (Tip – do to press dough between you palm, be very gentle).
Rolling into balls mainly helps the cookie dough get an even coat of sugar sprinkles.
For true scoop and drop style cookie you can really skip this step of rolling into round shape and directly drop cookie dough into sugar, the shape will be rustic, but so so good!
Wondering if this classic sugar cookie recipe makes overly sweet cookies as cookie dough is rolled in sugar sprinkles; NO it’s not overly sweet. We reduced the amount of sugar added into the cookie dough.
Sugar Cookie Ingredients
Readily available pantry ingredients are all you need for these classic cookies. That’s 7 main ingredients and colored sugar sprinkles that are optional.
Flour – When it comes to baking cookies, ensure you measure everything exact. Too much flour will make cookies hard, too little will make it difficult to work with the dough.
Sugar – Use granulated sugar. You can use colored sugar sprinkles to roll in the end or use plain white granulated sugar.
Salted Butter – make sure butter is at room temperature. In case you use unsalted butter, ensure you add ½ teaspoon salt to the dry flour mix. A pinch of salt always enhances the taste of sweet cookies.
Baking Powder – Using too much baking powder leaves a bitter aftertaste in the cookies. Too old baking powder will make cookies spread and turn flat. Use right amount of fresh/new baking powder.
Baking Soda – will help rise the cookie.
Egg Yolks – We used only egg yolks in this recipe. Egg yolks will give a rich taste to the cookie.
Vanilla Extract – Use pure vanilla extract.
Sugar Sprinkles – You can use white granulated sugar for sprinkling or roll cookie dough before baking. Or use colored sugar sprinkles that would makes these cookies perfect for holiday season. Red, green and a mix of red-white-green sugar sprinkles make our cookie platter colorful and pretty!
How To Make Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
Sugar cookies made with butter is better! Anything with butter is always better! And these cookies are completely no chill! You don’t have to wait long to make these cookies; simply mix all the dry ingredients with beaten wet ingredients, scoop and drop.
To make it a little fancier and holiday apt cookie, roll cookie in sugar before dropping it on to the baking tray.
The process for sugar cookie recipe is pretty straight forward.
No need to chill, no need to roll!
Pre-Prep : You’ll need to have room temperature butter for this recipe. Plan ahead and leave butter on the counter for atleast an hour.
Pre-heat oven tat 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Line baking tray with parchment paper or silicon mat.
Dry Ingredients: Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda into a dry bowl.
Wet Ingredients: Using stand mixer or hand blender beat softened butter and granulated sugar in large bowl. Beat until well combined.
Add egg yolks and pure vanilla extract, beat until just combined.
Mix-In Dry Ingredients: Add flour in parts and mix until just combined. Do not over beat.
Scoop & Roll: Using ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough and roll it in sugar.
TIP : To make it easy to roll in sugar, I lightly shaped the cookie dough into round balls using gentle palm.
Roll in just white granulated sugar or to make it fancier and apt-for-holidays use red, green and a mix of red-green-white sugar sprinkles.
Bake: Place sugar coated cookie dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or silicon mat. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit for about 9 to 11 minutes.
NOTE : Baking time can vary. If you are after soft chewy cookies bake until just cookies start to crack. If you want crumbly cookies, bake a bit longer. Baking time will also differ depending on size of the cookie.
Cool & Store: Once baked, remove baking tray from oven. Allow cookies to rest on the baking tray for about 5 minutes, until it’s safe to handle without breaking cookies. Place cookies on wire rack and cool completely.
To store cookies, first let it cool completely. Then store in air tight containers sealed properly for about 4 days at room temperature.
NOTE : if not sealed properly, cookies will turn hard.
You can freeze cookie dough for about 3 months.
Tips For Best Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Use softened butter to make sugar cookies. You’ll get soft chewier cookies.
- Do not overmix the dough.
- If you want cookies to spread, give them a little nudge. I did not press down my cookies, as I didn’t want them to spread.
- For uniform sized cookies, use ice cream scoop. Using ice cream scoop will ensure all cookies are portioned evenly and they bake evenly in oven.
- Roll in sanding sugar is optional step, but it does add a crunch on the outer. I reduced sugar added to cookies by ¼ cup as I rolled them in sugar before baking. If you skip rolling in sugar add that ¼ cup sugar while making dough.
Variations and Decoration Tips For Sugar Cookies
For slight variation in flavors, you can add almond extract along with pure vanilla extract.
Egg yolks will make rich tasting cookies. Don’t like that slight egg yolk taste, add 2 whole eggs instead.
Decorating Tips – Sanding sugar (colored sugar sprinkles) adds not just a delightful crunch on the cookies but also makes it look pretty. One of the easiest decorations you can have on your holiday cookies.
Other ways to decorate these cookies is by using cream cheese frosting on top.
LOOKING FOR MORE COOKIE RECIPE?
Check these out –
Irish Shortbread Christmas Tree Cookies
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Colorful Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ stick salted butter ¾ cup , cut into small cubes and softened to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup sparkling sugar I used red, green and mix of red-green-white sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- Pre-Prep : You’ll need to have room temperature butter for this recipe. Plan ahead and leave butter on the counter for at least an hour.Pre-heat oven tat 350 degree Fahrenheit.Line baking tray with parchment paper or silicon mat.
- Dry Ingredients: Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda into a dry bowl.
- Wet Ingredients: Using stand mixer or hand blender beat softened butter and granulated sugar in large bowl. Beat until well combined.Add egg yolks and pure vanilla extract, beat until just combined.
- Mix-In Dry Ingredients: Add flour in parts and mix until just combined. Do not over beat.
- Scoop & Roll: Using ice cream scoop, scoop cookie dough and roll it in sugar.TIP : To make it easy to roll in sugar, I lightly shaped the cookie dough into round balls using gentle palm.Roll in just white granulated sugar or to make it fancier and apt-for-holidays use red, green and a mix of red-green-white sugar sprinkles.
- Bake: Place sugar coated cookie dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or silicon mat. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit for about 9 to 11 minutes.NOTE : Baking time can vary. If you are after soft chewy cookies bake until just cookies start to crack. If you want crumbly cookies, bake a bit longer. Baking time will also differ depending on size of the cookie.
- Cool & Store: Once baked, remove baking tray from oven. Allow cookies to rest on the baking tray for about 5 minutes, until it’s safe to handle without breaking cookies. Place cookies on wire rack and cool completely.To store cookies, first let it cool completely. Then store in air tight containers sealed properly for about 4 days at room temperature.NOTE : if not sealed properly, cookies will turn hard.You can freeze cookie dough for about 3 months.
Video
Notes
- Use softened butter to make sugar cookies. You’ll get soft chewier cookies.
- Do not over-mix the dough.
- If you want cookies to spread, give them a little nudge. I did not press down my cookies, as I didn’t want them to spread.
- For uniform sized cookies, use ice cream scoop. Using ice cream scoop will ensure all cookies are portioned evenly and they bake evenly in oven.
- Roll in sanding sugar is optional step, but it does add a crunch on the outer. I reduced sugar added to cookies by ¼ cup as I rolled them in sugar before baking. If you skip rolling in sugar add that ¼ cup sugar while making dough.
Comments & Reviews
Dee says
The cookies turned out great! I doubled the recipe and the dough seemed quite dry. I added a couple tablespoons of milk to moisten it and it was good to go. It also took 18-20 minutes to bake these cookies rather than 9-11 minutes. Not sure why the dough was so dry to begin with. I thought I was careful when I measured out the flour…
Karen says
How does the sugar coating come out so bright after baking? My colored sugar always fades that I cant even tell I rolled them in sugar. Thank you!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Karen, can you tell what type of sugar you used for the recipe? As mentioned in the recipe sparkling sugar is best to use, sparkling sugar are large-grained enough that it won’t melt and disappear when used as topping
Gina says
I can’t do dairy. Do you think plant based margarine would work?
Jyothi Rajesh says
Sorry, I have not tested with plant-based margarine, I can’t tell for sure! But my guess is that it would work. If you do try with plant-based margarine, please do leave a feedback here, will be helpful
Lisa says
How big are these cookies?
Jyothi Rajesh says
I used medium oxo scoop to scoop cookie dough. I would say medium sized.
Johanny says
Can i add chopped almonds to the dough for crunch and flavor.
Jyothi Rajesh says
I’m sure you can. I’d suggest almond meal can also be added and reducing the amount of flour. Please note I haven’t experimented with almond so I can’t comment of the taste and texture of the cookies for sure. If you do try, please do come back and let me know how it turns out
Aline says
Had so much fun making these over Christmas with my family and even more fun eating them watching old movies!!
jyothirajesh says
So glad you liked this cookie Aline. It’s so fun when you can get the entire family into kitchen
Eden says
These sugar cookies are soft, sweet, and super easy to make! My son loved them!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Sara says
What wonderful tips for making perfect sugar cookies! Yours look like the ones I love: thick, chewy, and delicious. I can’t wait to save these for the holidays again!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Jacqui De Bono says
We made these and the kids loved making all the different colours! We loved the texture, and you are so right – make a big batch!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Candice says
These cookies are so festive, fun, and delicious. They were easy to make, and all the neighbors loved them. Will be making these again next year!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Veena Azmanov says
These cookies look festive and colorful. Definitely delicious too. Love to gift them to my loved ones.
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Ben says
Yes! Those look amazing! I usually don’t go in for soft cookies, but sugar cookies are an exception for me. There’s nothing like a soft, chewy sugar cookie. I can’t wait to make this!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Ben
kita says
I havent made sugar cookies in years! These sound so much like my childhood. I cant wait for them to come out of the oven!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Analida Braeger says
These were so fun to make with my kids! Thanks for all the great tips to make them!
jyothirajesh says
Glad you liked it