Soft Sugar Cookies

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This chewy Soft Sugar Cookies Recipes has an amazing cream cheese frosting and lots of sprinkles!

After you’ve tried Soft Sugar Cookies, make sure to try these snickerdoodle cookies, these peanut butter cookies, or these oatmeal cookies!

A large bite taken from a delicious soft sugar cookie topped with colorful sprinkles, resting on a container of milk.

The Best Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

It doesn’t get much better than these super-chewy Soft Sugar Cookies piled high with the best cream cheese frosting and a rainbow of sprinkles. These are the ultimate chewy sugar cookies, and I hope you love them as much as we do!

This cookie dough isn’t meant for cut-out sugar cookies (my favorite sugar cookie dough for cutout cookies is here); these are meant to be big and soft ‘bakery-style‘ sugar cookies.

QUICK TIP

Allow the butter and cream cheese to come to room temperature before baking. Cold ingredients can result in uneven mixing and undesirable cream cheese chunks in the frosting. Here are some quick tips for speeding up the process.

Combining and mixing butter and sugars, adding egg, yolk, and vanilla, and mixing until smooth. Mixing dry ingredients and adding them to wet ingredients, mixing until smooth. Rolling dough balls in sugar, chilling dough balls, and baking.

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:

  • Melted butter – Provides flavor and moisture to the cookies.
  • White granulated sugar – Sweetens the cookies and helps with their texture.
  • Light brown sugar – Adds sweetness and a slight caramel flavor.
  • Large egg and egg yolk – Contribute moisture and structure to the soft sugar cookies.
  • Pure vanilla extract – Enhances the cookies’ flavor.
  • Pure almond extract – Adds a subtle almond flavor.

Dry Ingredients:

  • Flour – Forms the base of the cookie dough.
  • Fine sea salt – Enhances the overall flavor by balancing sweetness.
  • Baking soda – Acts as a leavening agent to help the soft sugar cookies rise.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • Full-fat cream cheese and unsalted butter – Together, they add creaminess, richness, and a tangy flavor to the frosting.
  • Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract – Enhances the frosting’s flavor.
  • Powdered sugar – Sweetens and thickens the frosting.

Making frosting by creaming butter and cream cheese, adding salt, vanilla, and powdered sugar, and mixing until smooth and creamy.

How To Make Soft Sugar Cookies

  1. Mix Ingredients: Combine melted butter, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract.
  2. Add Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking soda.
  3. Combine Mixtures: Blend dry and wet ingredients without overmixing.
  4. Shape Dough: Roll the dough into balls, coat with sugar, and chill for 1 hour.
  5. Preheat Oven: Set the oven to 325°F (163°C).
  6. Bake Cookies: Place dough balls on a lined baking sheet and bake for 9-14 minutes.
  7. Cool Cookies: Let them cool on a rack.

QUICK TIP

How To Keep Sugar Cookies Soft? Cool them completely on a wire rack after baking to prevent soggy bottoms due to steam. Once cooled, store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, while frosted cookies should be kept in the fridge in an airtight container. Before enjoying, let the cookies stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

The finished soft sugar cookie recipe, featuring a delicious cookie with a thick layer of frosting on top, and a tempting bite taken out.

STORAGE

Storing Soft Sugar Cookies:

  • Freeze the cookie dough by dropping dough balls on a sheet pan until solid. Transfer frozen dough balls to an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

To Bake:

  • Bake directly from the freezer; no need to thaw. Add a few extra minutes to the baking time until edges are lightly browned, and the center is soft.

Note: Make cream cheese frosting fresh, as it doesn’t freeze and thaw well.

More Delicious Cookie Recipes

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Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

5 from 7 votes
This chewy Soft Sugar Cookies Recipes has an amazing cream cheese frosting and lots of sprinkles!
The finished soft sugar cookie recipe, featuring a delicious cookie with a thick layer of frosting on top, and a tempting bite taken out.
Print Recipe

Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

The finished soft sugar cookie recipe, featuring a delicious cookie with a thick layer of frosting on top, and a tempting bite taken out.
5 from 7 votes
This chewy Soft Sugar Cookies Recipes has an amazing cream cheese frosting and lots of sprinkles!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 11 minutes
Chilling Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 46 minutes
Servings 25 -28 cookies
Chelsea Lords
Calories 343kcal

Ingredients

  • 16 tablespoons (1 cup) unsalted butter melted and cooled
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk (discard or save the white for another use)
  • 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose white flour (See Note 1)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Optional Sugar Coating

  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sparkling sugar (or additional white sugar)

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • Rainbow sprinkles

Instructions

  • OPTIONAL COATING: Stir the white sugar and white sparkling sugar together in a small bowl (optional but gives the cookie a nice crunchy exterior and extra flavor!).
  • WET INGREDIENTS: Place the melted butter in a large bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature before adding sugars. If butter is hot it will melt the sugars and cause greasy cookies. Add in the white and brown sugar and stir until smooth. Add in 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (reserve the white for a separate recipe or discard), vanilla extract, and almond extract. Stir until just combined and smooth.
  • DRY INGREDIENTS: In another bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. 
  • COMBINE: Add all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until JUST combined. Do not overmix the dough.
  • CHILL: Roll tall balls of dough (see the photos in the post). If you have a kitchen scale, the balls of dough should be about 1.2 ounces (each ball should be full 2 tablespoons of dough). Roll the balls of dough generously into the white sugar/white sparkling sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate the balls of dough for 1 hour.
  • BAKE: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place dough balls on a parchment or Silpat-lined sheet pan, spread far apart (I only bake 6-8 cookies at a time, they spread a lot) and bake for 9-14 minutes. Watch carefully, being sure to not overbake. Slightly underbaked sugar cookies are the BEST! Remove and let stand on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack with a spatula.
  • FROSTING: Prepare the frosting while the cookies bake. In a large bowl, beat together the room-temperature butter and cream cheese until completely smooth. Add in the vanilla and salt. Mix to combine. Add in the powdered sugar and then beat until the frosting is smooth (it will seem like you need more liquid, but just keep beating; it will come together!)
  • FROST COOKIES: Frost each completely cooled cookie and add with your favorite sprinkles. Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container in the fridge. Cookies are best enjoyed within 2-3 days.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour and scoop, you will pack in way too much flour, resulting in the wrong texture of cookie. To accurately measure the flour, spoon the flour into the measuring cup until its overfilled. Then use the back of a table knife to level the measuring cup at the top. (Video visual here).

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 343kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 172mg | Potassium: 65mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 380IU | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

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11 Comments

  1. Help, I am allergic to almonds, but do not know how I substitute the almond extract, I heard vanilla extract will do the trick, but I do not know how much of it.

    1. I’m so happy you loved these sugar cookies! Thanks so much for your comment Milia! 🙂

    1. 5 stars
      I Googled “big fat sugar cookies” to find a recipe. These did NOT disappoint! Followed the recipe and directions to a T. Best sugar cookies I ever made!

      1. Haha that is awesome! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed these! Thanks for your comment Terri! 🙂

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