Soft Sugar Cookies
If there was ever a cookie to not like it’s a dry and hard sugar cookie. The only good thing about those cookies are how cute they are if you spend a lot of time decorating them cutely. These sugar cookies are not even close to dry or hard. This is the only sugar cookie recipe I will most likely ever make… unless my kids beg me one day to do make the kind where you roll the dough out and use cookie cutters. If that happens it will only be because I love my kids. I ask you to read the notes in this recipe before you start making these soft sugar cookies.
PrintSoft Sugar Cookies
Delicious soft sugar cookies that require no rolling the dough.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 29 minutes
- Yield: about 2.5 dozen cookies 1x
Ingredients
Cookies-
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup oil (vegetable, canola)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar (9.25 oz)
¾ cup powdered sugar (3 oz)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ tablespoons sour cream
2 large eggs, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 ¾ cup flour (29.5 oz)
About ½ cup granulated sugar for pressing the cookies
Frosting-
¾ cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups (24 oz) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
2–3 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
Cookies-
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix together the butter, oil, sugars, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix till very creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl at least 2 times during this process.
Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix another minute or 2, till well combined. Scrape the sides down as needed.
Pour the flour into bowl and mix on low till flour is incorporated and then mix on medium speed till well combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Dough will be soft. You don’t want the dough to be a normal sugar cookie consistency or these cookies won’t end up soft.
Pour about ½ cup of sugar in a small bowl.
Roll dough into balls *see note* and place a few inches apart on prepare rimmed baking sheet.
Using the bottom of a glass cup, twist the bottom of the glass in the bowl of cookie dough to get the glass a bit greasy and then dip it in the sugar. Press the bottom of the glass into a ball of dough on the cookie sheet till cookie flattens to about ½ inch and maybe gets a few crackles around the edges. Dip glass in sugar between each press of a dough ball (no need to re-twist in the bowl of cookie dough) until the whole tray is pressed.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes for large/normal size cookies or about 7 for a smaller one. Try to take them out right before the edges would start to brown or they will be too dry and not soft. They may look undercooked in the middle at first.
Let rest on baking sheet for about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Frosting-
Cream together the butter with a hand mixer (or in a stand mixer, if desired) till fluffy and lightened in color. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix again till nicely combined. Add sifted powdered sugar in 2-3 portions mixing till combined before adding more. Mix for another 3 or more minutes till frosting is light and creamy. Add food coloring, if desired. Frost cookies and enjoy.
Notes
Weigh your flour if you at all can. If you don’t have a kitchen scale you should buy one! They’re life changing! Or if you don’t have a scale, make sure you fluff your flour well before measuring and use a light hand when measuring to make sure you don’t put too much flour in.
I really like making these cookies small (about 1 ½ tablespoons of dough) but for a normal size cookie, use about 2 tablespoons to form balls.
These cookies freeze very well. I put a layer of parchment paper in between layers of cookies before freezing. I think they taste the best straight from the freezer, actually.
These cookies are the absolute best! Soft and the frosting is to die for!
I’ve been on the hunt for the best sugar cookie recipe – this is it! Simply the best sugar cookie ever! So soft and delicious. And easy to adapt to different frostings/toppings too.