Family Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe (2024)

Sugar Cookies

• 1½ cups (3 sticks) salted butter softened
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 5½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt

Frosting

• 1 bar (8 oz) cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon almond extract

• Preheat oven to 400°. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper, use a silpat liner, or spray with cooking spray.

  * If you have several cookie sheets then prepare 2 or 3 of them so you can have a tray ready to go as soon as the other one is done.

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• In a large bowl with a handmixer, or use the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar until lighter in color and fluffy looking. This will take about 2 minutes of mixing.

• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg.

• Add the vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix until combined.

• Add 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed, increasing speed as needed, just until the flour is incorporated.

• Add the remaining flour (3½ cups) and mix on low speed, increasing speed as needed and sraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

• Spray the countertop lightly with cooking spray and dust with flour to prevent sticking. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about ¼-½ inch thickness. Cut into preferred shape and place 12 per cookie sheet (or less depending on the size of your cookie cutter).

• Bake for 6-9 minutes.

  You do not want the cookies to have any brown on them when you pull them out of the oven. The cookie should still be pale and slightly puffy but not browned anywhere. If the edges are slightly browned then that means you cooked them for too long. The middle should also not look wet, but rather puffy looking but still pale.

  I have found that about 6½ - 7 minutes is perfect for my oven.

• Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 5-10 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

• MAKE THE FROSTING : Beat butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl until creamy and combined. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and almond extract. Beat together until combined and creamy.

  If you want to add color to the frosting add a few drops of food coloring (I prefer the gel food color) at the end and then mix together until combined.

• Frost each cookie and sprinkle the top with sprinkles. Change up the sprinkles and/or frosting color for any Holiday or celebration.

Almond Extract vs. Vanilla Extract : Almond extract in sugar cookies is like the "magic ingredient" that just makes them taste amazing. I would highly suggest using the almond extract in the sugar cookies. But if wanted, you can use vanilla extract in the frosting depending on preference.

Heavy Cream : For the best, creamiest frosting use heavy cream. If you use anything other then heavy cream then start at 1-2 teaspoons. You will need less because any other milk will have less fat in it, which means it's thinner and you won't need as much of it for the frosting.

Flour : I use unbleached all-purpose flour. I would not recommend using wheat flour or white wheat flour in this recipe. You can use gluten-free flour as long as it's a 1:1 ratio. Meaning 1 cup gluten-free flour is equal to 1 cup all-purpose flour in a recipe.

Fun Variation : I love to use letter cookie cutters and spell out someone's name for their birthday OR spell out happy birthday using letter cookie cutters. You can also do numbers as well. I made these for my oldest son's 1st birthday and used a '1' cookie cutter. If you do letter or numbers, I put the frosting inside a Ziploc bag and snip the corner. I then pipe it on the number or letter. Then add sprinkles.