Sugar Cookies!
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details!*
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 –
- I use these piping bags
- I use this basic baking tray
- I use this vanilla extract
Sugar Cookies
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
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 -
- I use these piping bags
- I use this basic baking tray
- I use this vanilla extract
Morning Jane, I only have medium eggs so should I just use the largest medium egg I have?
Thanks! X
Yes just use the largest one you can find!! x
Hi, could I add cocoa powder to these to make chocolate sugar cookies please? If so, how would I do that please?
I would recommend substituting about 50g of flour for cocoa powder – if it’s too dry a mix, add a splash of milk!
Hi Jane, I love your recipes, just wondering can you use vanilla extract rather than vanilla bean paste? Thank you x
Yes you can!! x
Hi Jane I have another question!
Recently I’ve started baking these and I’m using fondant on top as decoration, but I find that when I cut the fondant out with the same size cookie cutter I used to cut the dough the cookie is slightly larger than the piece of fondant??
So it’s spread just a tad in the oven what can I do to prevent this? My butter was softened slightly in the microwave could this be the reason as the dough was slightly soft?
Hey – yes if your cookies have spread it could be because the dough was soft – but generally I don’t mind the fondant being slightly smaller. You could use a larger cutter for the fondant, as it may make it equal?
I was wondering if I could half this recipe as I don’t want a large batch? And Would I have to use a medium egg instead of a large egg?
Hey! Yes so you’d want to use as small an egg as you can, but otherwise half should be fine! Or, you can make the full batch and freeze the dough!
Can you freeze the dough please?
Yes x
Hi Jane,
Would you cook from frozen or move to fridge 24 hrs before then cook once defrosted?
Thank you
Jess
I generally bake cookie dough from frozen!
So pretty!!! 🙂
Thanks Marisa!!
So beautiful ?
Thank you!!
???
These are beautiful! Love the handpainted, watercolor look.
Thank you so much!!
I love painting cookies too! I did a set with watercolor-like spring flowers and they’re my favorite cookies ever. These look great!
Ohh these are nothing in comparison to yours! I want to do some more soon – doing some for a charity bake sale next week, and doing some christmas themed ones!
These are stunningly decorated! I went to a cake painting class a few months ago but never thought to try it on cookies! Did you buy the sugar flair liquids or use the normal gels? At the class we used liquid but I only have the gels at home, wondered if they would work? 🙂 gorgeous recipe as usual Jane! X
Yeah I used the Sugarflair pastes that you use for like sugar paste & fondant and just watered it down with a few drops of water 🙂 and thank you so much! I guess either colouring will work at the end of the day as long as its the right consistency!! x
Thank you Jane! 🙂 x
Its okay! 🙂 x
Looks amazing Jane! I would love to give it a go! Maybe I will! ☺
Hehe thanks Angela! 🙂
Wow, they look amazing!
Thank you so much!!
LOVE this!
Thank you!!
Don’t apologise for the decoration – I think these are beautiful 🙂 I’d love to do more biscuit decoration but have to find a time when an enthusiastic 2 year old isn’t trying to pinch them from the board as I pipe!
And, if you can, please post more pics of the Harry Potter cake. I think I saw a pic on Twitter (or I’m imagining it…) and it looked amazing. I’m sure the bride and groom were thrilled.
Awwh haha thank you! And that doesn’t surprised me – they always wanna be involved!! & I’m going to post a whole post dedicated to the cake later in the week so no worries there!