Sugar Cookies

Star sugar cookies with homemade icing glaze. Hands down, the Best Sugar Cookie Recipe I’ve ever tested! Learn how to make these cookies that everyone will love. Light, Pillowy, Soft.

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone! Hope everyone had a great day celebrating the fourth with great food and fireworks.

Despite this fourth looking a little different due to Covid, I still tried to go all out with the food. Just because you have to limit the number of people you see, doesn’t mean you need to limit the number of desserts you bring. Am I right?

This year, I went on a socially distant picnic in front of the Jefferson memorial with a couple of friends to celebrate the fourth. I brought several desserts to the picnic including lemon cupcakes, chocolate sprinkle cupcakes, mini firecracker glazed bundts, brownies, and cookies (all of which are featured on the Patriotic dessert board) Yum! The key to building the board is making sure you have a variety of fun snacks/goodies to fill it. So cute and so easy to fill!

So who was the winning dessert on the board? By far the sugar cookies were my fave! I love how they turned out and so did everyone else!

These cookies are soft, flavorful and roll your eyes backward delicious. The recipe for the cookies is shown below.

Best Sugar Cookies

Difficulty: easy
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2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be relatively soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 Tablespoon more flour.
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.
Lightly dust one of the rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days.
Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it– see me do this in the video above. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough.
Arrange cookies on baking sheets 3 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

PS Looking for cookie recipe ideas?

Try these

Pistachio Raspberry Linzer Cookies

“Keebler” Fudge Striped Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Lastly, if you try these cookies make sure to comment below on my post and of course tag me on Instagram. Would love to see how they turn out!