Easy and flavorful cut out sugar cookies don’t seem to be synonymous today. Often they taste like raw flour or are a bland flat cardboard disk covered in sugary decorations. Ever get a love decorated sugar cookies served to you and politely nibble on the edge until you can sneak the rest in the trash? Or perhaps you see them handed out as samples at the grocery store and quickly walk away before they see you. Rest assured, these are not those cookies. These are not only easy to make, but tasty!

Sugar cookies are a versatile cookie that every baker should have in their recipe book. They go by several names: rolled sugar cookies, egg yolk cookies, cut out, pâte sablée, icebox cookies, and sweet shortcrust pastry are just a few. They make wonderful bases for tarts, pies, or lovely cut outs for decorative iced cookies. The dough freezes well for last minute invitations or the unexpected guest. And they are a wonderful recipe to use up those egg yolks!

So what exactly is in this recipe? It’s a shortbread base of sugar, butter and flour with the addition of egg yolks for flexibility, salt to balance out the sugar and an extract flavoring of your choice for taste. It’s a simple recipe to remember if you weigh your ingredients as it is 2 tsp flavoring, 2 egg yolks, 4 ounces sugar, 8 ounces butter, 12 ounces of flour.

Look really familiar? Can you remember us talking about this before? You guessed it. It’s another 1, 2, 3 cookie. The shortbread recipe is the essence of all cookie making. You can create all kinds of recipes by remembering the mnemonic: “Sara Bakes Frequently.” Sara = Sugar, Bakes = Butter, Frequently = Flour. 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour.

What happens when you add ingredients to the basic recipes? Eggs added to a shortbread recipe gives flexibility and strength. Add in baking soda and you get spreading and browning (think thin chewy chocolate chip cookies.) Use baking powder and get height (think biscuits.) A little more flour for strength (think Madeira cakes.) More sugar for American style baking. Substitute the butter for different fats such as oil, shortening, lard or margarine to get a crispier or more tender cookie. Substitute white sugar for brown sugar for chewiness.

You can start making your own recipes with this simple knowledge: begin with 1, 2, 3: sugar, butter, flour. Tinker around with everything else and you’ll soon start to realize there are endless possibilities. From flavors such as orange cardamom teacakes to turtle pecan cookies, your imagination is the limit.

Since this is a recipe I want to be available for everyone, I’m going to show you how to do it by hand below. However, I will admit I prefer using a food processor. You pulse flour, salt and sugar together, add in the egg yolks and vanilla and blend until just combined. In the food processor it takes less than a minute. By hand, about 5 minutes. In addition to those methods, I will give you an entirely different method in the recipe below. My goal is to show you how to think while baking, not just repeating steps. That’s how you start to step away from the pack.

These sugar cookies should baked at 325F (160C) for ideal results, but you can up the temperature to 375 (190C) if you are pressed for time. A happy medium is 350F (180C.) But why not go higher? The risk is getting too much color and not setting the crumb. You also risk that floury taste by rushing the bake time. Shortbread loves a slow and steady temperature. It lets the flour get a well baked slightly roasted flavor and won’t taste raw if you bake at a lower temperature for lower. It’s your call. I highly recommend patience. It’s the key to flavorful cut out sugar cookies.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

An enriched shortbread cookie that is fabulous for decorating with icing. Easy to roll out and shape. Not too sweet to add toppings and just sweet enough to eat on their own. The perfect cut-out sugar cookie recipe for beginners.

Print Recipe

Prep Time35 minutes minutes

Cook Time20 minutes minutes

Total Time55 minutes minutes

Servings2 dozen

Calories 128.8

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups (338g) flour
• 1 cup (226g) softened butter
• 1 cup (100g) sugar
• 2 large (40g) egg yolks
• 2 tsp (10mL) vanilla
• ½ tsp (2.5g) salt

Instructions

• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
• In large bowl, beat softened butter and sugars until creamy.  Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour mixture just until blended.  Pat cookie dough into a flat circle and cover with plastic wrap. Chill 1/2 hour or until firm.
• Preheat oven 350F (180C.)
• Sprinkle work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll dough into 1/4" (6mm) thickness, turning dough frequently 1/2 turn to avoid sticking to counter. Cut into desired shapes. Place on a lined or non-stick baking sheet. Chill 20 minutes.
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden and the tops of the cookie take on a matte finish. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes; remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes

You can speed up baking by upping the temperature to 375 (190C) and baking 10 – 15 minutes.  However, shortbread prefers slow heat and you risk the sugar caramelizing and turning the cookie a golden brown.  This isn’t ideal for decorating.  If you want a pale cookie perfect for decorating, turn oven down to 325 (160C) and bake 30-40 minutes.

Dough can be frozen up to three months.

If you fail to chill dough prior to shaping or baking, a tough cookie that spreads while baking may occur.  The chilling is a highly recommended process for all shortbread recipes.

Nutrition Facts

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Serving Size

 

1 cookie

Amount per Serving

Calories

128.8

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

7.7

g

12

%

Saturated Fat

 

4.8

g

30

%

Sodium

 

53.9

mg

2

%

Carbohydrates

 

13.3

g

4

%

Protein

 

1.4

g

3

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

* Calories provided as a courtesy and not guaranteed.