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!
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.
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.
How To Make Soft Sugar Cookies
- Mix Ingredients: Combine melted butter, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Add Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Combine Mixtures: Blend dry and wet ingredients without overmixing.
- Shape Dough: Roll the dough into balls, coat with sugar, and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat Oven: Set the oven to 325°F (163°C).
- Bake Cookies: Place dough balls on a lined baking sheet and bake for 9-14 minutes.
- 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.
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
- Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
- Almond Joy Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk discard or save the white for another use
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour see note 1
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Optional Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup white sparkling sugar or additional granulated sugar
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese full-fat, at room temperature
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- Rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Optional Coating: Stir the granulated sugar and white sparkling sugar together in a small bowl (optional but gives the cookie a nice crunchy exterior and extra flavor!).
- Place 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 granulated and brown sugar and stir until smooth. Add in 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Stir until just combined and smooth.
- In another bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Add all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix the dough.
- Roll tall balls of dough (see the photos in the post). If you have a kitchen scale, the dough balls should be about 1.2 ounces (or 2 full tablespoons each). Roll dough balls generously in the granulated/white sparkling sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate the dough balls for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Place dough balls on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat, spread far apart (I only bake 6–8 cookies at a time; they spread a lot) and bake 9–14 minutes. Watch carefully, being sure to not overbake. Slightly underbaked sugar cookies are the best! Remove and let stand on sheet pan for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
- Frosting: Prepare the frosting while the cookies bake. In a large bowl, beat together room-temperature butter and cream cheese until completely smooth. Add vanilla and salt. Mix to combine. Add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth. It will seem like you need more liquid, but just keep beating; it will come together!
- Frost each completely cooled cookie and add with your favorite sprinkles.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, can the cookies be frozen after baked to be eaten in the future ?
I haven’t tested freezing these once baked, so I can’t say for sure. In the past, my cookies haven’t stayed quite as flavorful or fresh-tasting once frozen and defrosted, so I usually don’t recommend it. However, if you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
This recipe is a keeper. Best sugar cookies ever. Thank you for sharing.
I am so happy to hear this Cindy, thanks for your comment! 🙂
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!
Haha that is awesome! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed these! Thanks for your comment Terri! 🙂
these are delish!!! I’ve been looking for a good sugar cookie:)
I’m so happy you loved these sugar cookies! Thanks so much for your comment Milia! 🙂
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.
You can definitely leave out the almond extract and no other changes necessary 🙂 Enjoy!
These look absolutely fantastic! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
How much fun! I love frosting, too, so I can’t wait to try these 🙂
Thanks so much Megan!