Soft And Chewy Frosted Sugar Cookies
It’s that time of year to gather with friends and family and decorate cookies for the holidays. These soft cream cheese frosted sugar cookies are so delicious! Who can say “no” to a soft cookie with the perfect amount of sweetness? Adults and kids alike will love this cookie to the core!
Frosted Sugar Cookies
I’ve always had a soft spot for Frosted Sugar Cookies. They’re so easy to make with the right recipe, and the taste is phenomenal. Making these cookies with friends and family this year will bring you joy and add to the pleasure of getting together at this special time! What fun memories you are making with everyone you love.
Many American families bake cookies as a way to spend time together. Sugar cookies are most popular around the holidays, and most people keep them as a family tradition.
Here are some other fun holiday recipes for you to try!
How to Make Frosted Sugar Cookies
Is this your first time making Frosted Sugar Cookies? If so, this is the perfect recipe for you! It’s a delicious sugar cookie recipe with easy-to-follow instructions that anyone can make! Print this recipe out and keep it close by. Many people will ask you HOW you made such soft sugar cookies.
Items You Need In The Kitchen:
- Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Cookie Cutters (I used a Wilton Soft Grip Christmas Tree)
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients – The Best Frosted Sugar Cookie Recipe
- All-Purpose White flour (I use bread flour): You can use all-purpose flour, but I find the Sugar Cookies come out fluffier with white bread flour. For those who like nutritional information, my bread flour has more protein than other flour varieties, which I appreciate when making any of my pastries or bread recipes.
- Granulated White Sugar is used to maintain moisture, create a softer cookie texture, and add sweetness and flavor.
- Salted or Unsalted Butter (softened): Due to the fat content, butter helps to produce softer Sugar Cookies than those made with margarine, enriches the flavor, and helps to keep the cookies from crumbling. Butter prevents the eggs or any moist or wet ingredients from evaporating, which creates moist, soft, and velvety Sugar Cookies. Due to the added salt in this recipe, you don’t need to use butter that contains added salt. It also reduces the amount of sodium in the recipe for those concerned with sodium content.
- Sour Cream: This 20% fat product is used to add more flavor to Sugar Cookies. The cream is mixed with lactic acid, which creates that sour taste we all love and helps to thicken it.
- Eggs are a great source of protein. They help to bind the ingredients together, creating moist and soft Sugar Cookies. They also increase browning during the cooking process, add a deliciously rich flavor, and help to extend the life of the cookies.
- Baking Soda adds carbon dioxide to the dough, helping create a delicious, soft, and chewy cookie.
- Salt: Used to enhance the flavors of the other ingredients and offset the sugar’s taste.
- Vanilla Extract or Almond Extract (I use vanilla): Adds and enhances the flavors of the butter, sugar, sour cream, egg, flour, and baking soda.
Ingredients – The Best Cream Cheese Frosting
- Butter (softened): Due to the fat content, butter helps to produce a softer cream cheese frosting and enriches the flavor.
- Cream Cheese (softened): Helps to thicken the frosting; adds a mild smooth flavor.
- Powdered Sugar helps to create a smooth consistency and adds sweetness. It is the preferred sugar in baked goods, although some people will use confectioners’ sugar.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds and enhances the flavors of the butter, powdered sugar, and cream cheese.
- Sprinkles (color of choice): Little bits of chocolate-flavored candies, typically made with white chocolate that doesn’t melt. Sold in a variety of colors. It adds a fun flare to the sugar cookies without using food coloring that can’t be beaten!
Instructions – Frosted Sugar Cookies
Step One: Gather Ingredients – Preheat Oven – Grease Cookie Sheets
Gather your ingredients so you’re ready to make the recipe. Preheat the oven to (350°F) = (176°C). Grease your cookie sheets or place parchment paper on them. Set them aside.
Step Two: Combine Ingredients – Cream Until Smooth
Using a stand mixer with its bowl or an electric hand mixer in a large mixing bowl, either running on low speed, use the whisk or paddle attachment to combine the sugar, sour cream, butter, eggs, vanilla, or almond extract. Cream until smooth.
Creamed Ingredients
Step Three: Add Baking Soda, Salt, and Flour
It’s time to add the dry ingredients, the baking soda, and salt. Next, gradually add the flour and mix until the flour mixture is smooth.
Slowly add Flour
Mix Thoroughly
If you want to roll out the cookies later, wrap the dough in plastic wrap or a freezer bag and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cut out and cook them.
Step Four: Place Dough on a Floured Surface
When ready to cut out the cookies, place the dough ball onto a lightly floured mat surface or countertop. Please flour your rolling pin as well. Cut out the cookies.
Step Five: Cut Cookies Out
When I roll out the dough, I like my cookies about 1/4 inch thick. I prefer a thicker, softer cookie. A thin cookie may not be as soft as a thick cookie when cooked to a golden brown color, so you decide how you like your cookies. Use your cookie cutter(s) and cut the dough. It’s fun to have different-shaped cookie cutters to add a festive feel. A smaller cutter will provide more cookies for your guests if you want a larger serving quantity for this recipe.
Step Six: Bake for 10-15 Minutes
Place the cookies on the cookie or baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on their size and thickness. My 1/4-inch cookies needed 15 minutes to bake. Let them cool at room temperature on the cookie sheet or wire rack before removing them to frost. Make the cream cheese frosting.
Step Seven: Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
The Best Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream the butter and cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until it is creamy and fluffy.
Apply the sugar cookie icing as a frosting with the thickness you like. After frosting them, sprinkle them with “Sprinkles,” if desired. Decorating the cookies is so much fun! If you want a particular design, you could use a piping bag to decorate with the frosting, but I used a silicone spatula and covered each cookie completely.
Remove the uneaten cookies from the cookie sheets or racks and place them in the refrigerator because they have cream cheese on them, and we don’t have any preservatives.
Finished Product
Soft Sugar Cookies & Frosting Recipe
- 2-3/4 cup all purpose white flour (I use bread flour)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup salted or unsalted butter (softened)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
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Gather all of your ingredients. Preheat the oven to (350°F) = (176°C). Grease your cookie sheets or place parchment paper on them. Set them aside.
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Combine the sugar, sour cream, butter, eggs, vanilla or almond extract, and cream until smooth.
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Add the baking soda and salt.
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Gradually add the flour and mix until smooth. If you want to roll out the cookies later, place the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator.
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When ready to cut out the cookies, place the dough onto a floured mat or countertop. Please flour your rolling pin as well.
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I like my cookies about 1/4 inch thick when I roll out the dough. I prefer a thicker softer cookie. A thin cookie will not be as soft, so you decide how you like your cookies.
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Use your cookie cutters and cut the dough. Place the cookies on the cookie sheets. Bake for 10-15 minute, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies. My 1/4-inch cookies need 15 minutes to bake.
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Let them cool on wire racks or the cookie sheets before removing them to frost. It's time to make the cream cheese frosting!
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Cream the butter and cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl.
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Add the powdered sugar and vanilla.
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Mix until it's creamy and fluffy. Frost the cookies.
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Place the uneaten cookies in the refrigerator because the cookies have cream cheese frosting on them.
How to Store Sugar Cookies?
Once you’ve made these unfrosted Sugar Cookies, you may wonder how to store them. If you want to keep them fresh for around a week, wait until they’ve reached room temperature and then put them in an airtight container. If they are frosted with cream cheese frosting, they must be refrigerated.
How Long Do Sugar Cookies Stay Fresh?
It’s common for sugar cookies to stay fresh for 3-4 weeks. However, I’ve never seen one last that long. In my home, sugar cookies are gobbled up so quickly that I seldom worry about how long they’ll stay fresh, which I’m grateful for.
Why Do My Sugar Cookies Spread?
The sugar cookie isn’t supposed to spread, but sometimes it does! Cookies spread because there is too much flour in the dough. It’s also best to wait until the cookie dough is chilled; this helps it bake better!
Can I Freeze Decorated Sugar Cookies?
Go ahead and freeze sugar cookies BEFORE you decorate them. They’ll taste fresher this way! Sugar cookie dough can also be easily frozen, so remember this as you make your cookie dough this year.
Check Out These Delicious Cookie Recipes I’ve Shared on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook!
- Candy Cane Kiss Sugar Cookies Recipe
- Chewy Molasses Cookies Just Like Grandma Made
- How To Make The Best Sugar Cookies Ever
- Soft Oatmeal Cookies
- The Best Chocolate Chip Parfait Cookies
- Chewy Molasses Cookies Just Like Grandma Made
Final Word
The best cookies are homemade cookies. These Frosted Sugar Cookies are just so soft and chewy. I hope you enjoy making them with your family. I aim to help you create memories, one recipe at a time. May God bless this world, Linda.
I love sugar cookies. I’m going to try to get some made this year. I’m going to try for Sugar free this year. I do have cookie cutters. My daughter and I made cookies with her daughter one year. The frosting was called paint brush frosting. It used egg whites, powdered sugar, and food coloring for different colors. We had so much fun. Calie was 4 or 5 at the time. I don’t know why we only did it for the one year.
Hi Deborah, we didn’t have a lot of money but my girls loved making cookies! We didn’t have electronics back then, so baking and reading were our “play togetherness time”. I have awesome memories with my four daughters. You have to make these soft sugar cookies! Life is so good! Linda
When my children were young, and I was a single mom, we had only one channel of the TV. Monday nights were reading nights. All that was on was Football. We did listen to the radio a lot, too. My youngest daughter wanted to know how the little man got in there. She as about 3 or 4 at the time. Those were good times. Hard, but good.
Hi Deborah, I tell young mothers that being a mom is the hardest job in the world. But, the work pays off when you see your children grow into good individuals, are self-reliant, respectful, hard workers, and kind. Being a good mother and father is critical to the next generation. God Bless all families, Linda P.S. the TV story is the best!
Linda, it was good times back then. These days there are too much entertainment and not enough playing outside. We give our kids too many hand held devices to play with.
I love to read. I read some every day. I do read on my IPad, but also have physical books to read. I read all kinds of books. My favorite is the ones about the Amish.
Hii Deborah, oh the Amish people are amazing. Linda
These are the best sugar cookies! They are sooo soft and delicious! They are our new favorite! Thank you sooo much for sharing the recipe!❤️
Hi Camille, oh, I love hearing this! I love baking and sharing recipes! Linda
Scrumptious! I can’t wait to make them again this Christmas!
Hi Tiffany, thank you! I hope your family loves them as much as my family does! Linda
Wow!!! These cookies are delicious and so easy to make!
Hi Alli, oh, thank you! I’m so glad to hear you liked the recipe! Linda
Linda – do you need to keep the cookies chilled because of the cream cheese in the frosting? I’ve always thought so and avoided cream cheese frostings because it is hard to keep that many cookies chilled.
Hi Kay, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! This statement is at the bottom of the recipe card: “Place the uneaten cookies in the refrigerator because the cookies have cream cheese frosting on them”. I better make it a bit more prominent, thank you for asking this essential question. Linda
I’m sorry I didn’t look at the recipe. I looked under “How to Store Sugar Cookies” so I would add it there. 😉 Thank goodness for a cold sunroom I can use as a second refrigerator this time of year! My plant rack for starting seeds works great!
Hi Kay, oh thank you, my friend, I will go add it there. LOL! I missed that section. THANK YOU!!! Linda
What is an ” uneatten cookie”? I have never encountered one of those in my house.
Planning to make these in the coming week. Thanks for the recipe.
In the past I have made sugar cookied with slices of gumdrops pushed right through, to hang on the tree. I bake them harder, but they soften slightly on the tree ( natural pine) and taste amazing
Hi Diana, oh, gumdrops, I love this idea! I hear you on the uneaten cookie!!! LOL! These are so good, enjoy, my friend! Linda
I have always had trouble making sugar cookies in shapes. As you know I have about 1,000 cookie cutters but they have just sat in a big bucket. Now I know what I was doing wrong. I wasn’t making them thick enough. Thank you for that hint. Now maybe I will become a cookie baker.
Hi Jackie, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! Be sure and flour the countertop!! Linda
We love sugar cookies at our house. I haven’t tried cream cheese in my icing, but will have to! How can it be bad with cream cheese, right?
Hi Paula, thank your for 5 stars, my sweet friend! Cream cheese frosting is the best! Linda
Hi Linda, cut outs can be tricky. Just about every recipe, I have found, calls for rolling out the dough to ⅛ inch before cutting. This results in thin, dry, crumbly, cookies that become excessively browned before the minimum baking time. So I go for ¼ to ⅜ inches thick. If they are shortbread cookies, they absolutely have to be at least ⅜ inches – ½ inches (for Classic shortbread bars). Those do not rise, or spread and never brown. I find the colder the dough is the less they will spread. So I know the size of the dough ball needed for a single tray, so I cut the dough into sizes to fit my trays. That way the dough stays colder longer. Handling and rolling out creates warmth through friction. So I find the smaller balls better. Scraps sit on the side until I’m finished. I thing knead them together and put them back in the fridge, to chill. I use a minimum of flour, so the cookies don’t end up tough. I have found that excessive fat in cookies, makes cookies spread hugely. So I don’t use cookie doughs that have only butter, and have no cream cheese in the dough. Cookie sheets must be clean and completely cold before reusing. The crumbs don’t burn and the cookie don’t spread. For best results use the oven temp called for in the the recipe and use an oven thermometer to ensure the temp is accurate. My oven runs hot so I reduce the heat to 350° to off set that. Too high an oven will cause the cookies spread and burn. Greasing cookie sheets before baking, unless specifically called for will cause spreading. I have never heard that too much flour will cause spreading, but I can see why. Over flouring can also happen when using too much too much flour on the board. Accidentally over wetting the dough also causes spreading too. Using powdered sugar on the cutting board instead of flour will also cause spreading, and possibly, burning of the cookie bottoms before finished. It’s vital to watch timing as well. 1 minute can cause over browning or dry out the cookies too much. I use my microwave timer for each batch. As Emeril Legasse said on 1 of his shows, You cook with recipes and they can be easily tweaked or revised. Baking recipes are actually formulas. If you try to fudge or change the formula, you can cause catastrophic results. It’s why most Continental baking is done by weight and uses the metric system to measure liquids. While it may be more accurate, especially as the recipes become larger. I’ve yet to find 1 large enough to measure bulk ingredients with. Most of the large ones cost a fortune, so I stick to the American system of measuring. It has never failed me yet.
BTW If rolling out cutouts is too arduous, painful, or time consuming, I’ve got about 200 recipes for Christmas Bar cookies. You can add any chips, M&M’s, cherries, crushed peppermints, mincemeat, dates, raisins, figs, apricots, fruitcake mix or jam flavorings, frostings, crumble toppings, and decors. Shortbread is excellent as a bar cookies too. Rice Krispy Treats can be made/or decorated and cut into festive shapes. Drop cookies are easy and quick, may be pressed with any sugared glass. Coating with powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, spiced sugar (English baking spice/sugar blend) coated with any kind of frosting, and added decors. Thumbprints are simple and can be filled with any jam, melted chocolate, any kind of Hershey’s kisses, junior mints,candied cherries even whole nuts. There are many festive and fancy cookies that don’t require time consuming cutting, rolling out and decorating a ton of cookie shapes. Even gingerbread, molasses, and spice cookies can be made as bars. So can coconut cookies can be made as bars. There are even many recipes for unbaked cookies. You can start earlier in the year and freeze them if you have the space in your freezer.
Hi MaryAnn, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend. I’ve found cutting my sugar cookies at least a 1/2 inch thick on a floured silicone baker sheet works great! You are so right so many cookies can be made into bars. It sure takes less time and they taste great. Two times a year I make cut out cookies, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. My MIL always had a variety of cookies in a huge round Tupperware container. It was so fun to have a cookie when ever we visited her. Linda
Q.Who can resist sugar cookies?
A.Those who can have neither milk nor sugar. if more than one item is subbed in a recipe it becomes something else entirely… because the substitutions mess with the volume and the consistency.
Hi Denise, you are right, but I do know people (my daughter only uses oat milk for everything). I wonder if Stevia in the Raw that says 1:1 could be used to substitute for the white sugar. I even love these cookies unfrosted. Just a thought. Linda
I put my cookies in a Tall Tupperware Cake Taker, myself. I’ve been been collecting bar cookies, because I cannot stand long enough on the kitchen tile floor, it makes my back hurt too much. And rolling out cold dough is very difficult has gotten too difficult for me to do. I had to have my husband roll out the pie crusts for my Thanksgiving pies, this year. Bar cookies can be cut out if desired the crumble the remains dry them and freeze for later sweet crumb pie crusts. Even brownies and blondies can be made into festive bars, toll house cookies adapt well, whether using chips, M&M’s cinnamon red hots or peppermint pieces. Icing and sprinkles are also easy toppings. I make my mincemeat and fruit cake cookies this way. Age and arthritis have taught me some compensating tricks. Somebody on Facebook recently asked about preventing cookies from spreading or being dry. So I had just made the entry and happened to have all those tips, fresh in mind.
Hi MaryAnn, thank you again for the 5 stars. I love those tips you shared. I love making bar cookies, I hear you on that! They are so much easier. Linda