The BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe For Cut-Out Cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to cut-out cookies? ›

Pull off the top sheet of parchment, then slide the sheet of dough onto a baking sheet, then pop it in the freezer. (You can stack as many sheets of dough onto one baking sheet as you'd like.) Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze!

This recipe for Easy Christmas Sugar Cookie Cutouts lets you take a shortcut to all the fun. Made with Betty Crocker™ Sugar Cookie Mix, the dough easily comes together in minutes. Once your sugar cookies are out of the oven, give them a five-star finish with a classic icing made from powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.

Powdered sugar in cookie dough will give you chewier cookies (if there's egg in the recipe). In shortbread-like cookies it gives you a cookie that's more dense but with a silkier crumb. If you have to substitute powdered for granulated, use 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar for every cup of granulated sugar in your recipe.

Many cookie recipes will not work when cut out because they're designed to spread. Are you sure you're using enough flour, when making the dough? Try adding a little more flour. And when you roll out the dough, to cut the shapes, use floured cookie cutters.

Rather than roll dough on a floured surface, roll it between sheets of non-stick parchment or waxed paper. Adding extra flour to the dough while rolling can make cookies tough. And cutout cookies release easily from paper when you move them to the baking sheet, preserving their shape.

Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer. Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies.

Once the edges develop a golden hue, you've gone too far. While overcooked sugar cookies are certainly still palatable, they'll be hard and crunchy, instead of soft and chewy. → Follow this tip: Pull the cookie sheet from the oven as soon as they've set and gained some color, but not too much.

Your sugar cookies might be spreading because your house is really hot. You may start with a butter that is the right temperature, but if your house is really hot...it's going to start melting before it gets to the oven. In this case...you really will need to chill your dough before baking.

Simple metal cookie cutters can transform store-bought slice-and-bake dough into the most festive holiday dessert. For these Christmas cut-outs, all you need is a 16.5-ounce roll of Pillsbury sugar-cookie dough, some flour, and an oven (elbow grease not included).

What does baking powder do in cutout cookies? ›

Baking powder just regulates how air cells expand—whether or not a dough can handle that expansion depends on gluten.

Cream of tartar makes cookies chewy, as it precludes the sugar in the dough from crystalizing, which would lead to crispiness (ie: the opposite of chewiness).

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

A. It is not recommended to substitute powdered sugar for granulated sugar. Since powdered sugar has a much finer texture, and it contains a small percentage of cornstarch to prevent caking, substituting can give you unexpected results.

Cookies spread because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. If there isn't enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.