Sugar Cookies!

Delicious sweet sugar cookies with a ready-made royal icing decoration – a classic for children’s parties and bake sales!

Sugar cookies

I have always loved sugar cookies, they’re such a brilliant basic recipe that just works every time. The dough is soft, pliable, and incredibly forgiving, which makes it perfect for cutting into fun shapes or rolling out to uniform thickness. These cookies don’t spread in the oven, so you get beautiful, crisp edges and flat surfaces that are ideal for decorating. They’re one of those staples that I think every baker should have in their repertoire, whether you’re baking for children’s parties, bake sales, or just a fun afternoon treat.

The beauty of sugar cookies lies in their simplicity. You get a sweet, buttery base with just enough richness to taste indulgent, yet light enough to enjoy more than one (or two… or three!). Because they hold their shape so well, they’re the ultimate canvas for decoration, meaning you can get as creative or as simple as you like. They’re also perfect for seasonal bakes from Christmas stars to Easter bunnies, the possibilities are endless.

Cookie dough

The method for baking these cookies is straightforward, which is why I love recommending them to both beginners and seasoned bakers alike. You start by creaming together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This is a fun part because you can see the texture change from soft butter to a fluffy base ready to hold the egg and vanilla. Gradually add in the egg and vanilla, mixing until smooth, then bring in the flour to form a dough that’s soft but not sticky.

Rolling out the dough is where the magic begins, lightly flour your surface and roll to the thickness of about two £1 coins. Then comes the fun part: cutting out your shapes! I love using a mix of sizes and designs, so my cookie tray looks like a rainbow of fun shapes. Once they’re placed on lined trays a couple of centimetres apart, the oven does its work, transforming the dough into golden, crisp-edged cookies with a soft, buttery centre. After 8-10 minutes, let them cool completely on a wire rack before moving on to the decoration, this ensures your royal icing doesn’t melt into the cookies.

Alternative cookie recipes

Sugar cookies are one of my absolute favourites for bake sales or events where you want something a bit special. They’re perfect for making with kids because the dough is easy to handle and cut, and they love seeing their creations come to life with icing. You can also use them to deplete odds and ends in your cupboard, like leftover sprinkles or coloured icing, which makes them economical too. And of course, they’re fantastic to package as gifts… wrap them in cellophane bags with a ribbon, and you have an instant present that looks as good as it tastes.

I’ve got some delicious cookie recipes up on my blog, my most popular being my NYC chocolate chip cookies, Kinder Bueno cookies, Nutella stuffed cookies, and my Biscoff stuffed NYC cookies, all of these have always gone down brilliantly at bake sales and parties!

Royal icing – from scratch

Royal icing is perfect for decorating sugar cookies, biscuits, gingerbread houses, and pretty much anything you want to look showstopping. It dries hard, keeps its shape, and is ideal for piping borders, flooding areas, and adding all kinds of fun details. You can make it from scratch using egg whites, or buy ready-made icing and loosen it with a bit of water. Here’s my favourite from-scratch version.

• 2 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 500 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar (optional, helps stabilise)
• Food colourings (optional)

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually sift in the icing sugar while continuing to whisk until thick, glossy, and smooth. Add the lemon juice or vinegar to help stabilise the icing and keep it from cracking. Divide into bowls if you want different colours, adding a few drops of food colouring and a little water if you need a thinner consistency for flooding. Use immediately to pipe, flood, or decorate, and let the icing set at room temperature until hard.

Tips & tricks

• These will last 4-5 days in an airtight container, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
• I use these food colourings –
  • red  
  • yellow
  • orange
  • blue
  • green
  • pink
  •  purple
  • black
• I use these piping bags
• I use this basic baking tray
• I use this vanilla extract

Sugar Cookies

Delicious sweet sugar cookies with a ready-made royal icing decoration!

Print Pin Rate

Category: Biscuits

Type: Cookies

Keyword: sugar cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cooling and Decoration Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 35 biscuits

Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies

• 255 g unsalted butter
• 200 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean extract
• 1 medium egg
• 425 g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)

Decoration

• 2 egg whites
• 400-500 g icing sugar
• food colourings

Grams - Ounces

Instructions

Sugar Cookies

• Preheat your oven to 200ºc/180ºc Fan and line 3-4 baking trays with parchment paper.
• Cream together the unsalted butter and caster sugar until light & fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg and vanilla bean extract so that the mixture is smooth. 
• Add in the Plain Flour and beat again till the dough is combined.
• Roll the mixture out on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of two £1 coins.
• Cut them out in the various shapes that you want - I used 6cm size cutters but in various different shapes so that I had a mixture! 
• Place them onto the lined baking trays a couple of centimetres apart and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until they start to go golden around the edges.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Decoration

• Add the egg whites to a large bowl, and add the icing sugar
• Whisk together until smooth and thick. I start with the 400g, and add a bit more as I mix, to get the thick texture I am after
• Colour the icing however you want - I did a variety of colours in separate bowls
• Pipe this round the edge of the cookies and fill in the middle however you want - you can pipe around the edge with the firmer icing, and then slacken the rest with a little water to soften
• Once they're all done, leave the icing to harden and dry, for at least 30 minutes

Notes

• These will last 4-5 days in an airtight container, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
• I use these food colourings -
  • red  
  • yellow
  • orange
  • blue
  • green
  • pink
  •  purple
  • black
• I use these piping bags
• I use this basic baking tray
• I use this vanilla extract