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    Serena Lissy » Recipes » Recipes

    Published: Jun 21, 2021 · Modified: Jan 8, 2022 by serena · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Simple And Easy Sugar Cookies

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Sugar Cookies are great holiday cookies or any day cookies. These simple and easy sugar cookies hold their shape well and royal icing decorations makes them irresistible.

    Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing Decorations on Plate

    Sugar Cookies All Year Round

    We make these simple and easy sugar cookies all the time. They are one of my favorites since childhood. I know most people have these cookies in the fall, pretty much starting out with Halloween and going right on through Christmas for their favorite holiday cookies. I think they should be a year-round treat! August you could do back to school cookies with a fun design. If you thought about it, you could easily create a cookie theme for all 12 months. I know I could!

    Simple And Easy Sugar Cookie Ingredients

    Ingredients in Sugar Cookies

    The ingredients in these cookie may be basic but the flavor is sugary, buttery and nostalgic.

    • Sugar
    • Butter
    • Eggs
    • Vanilla
    • All-purpose flour
    • Baking powder
    • Salt
    Simple Sugar Cookies Process Collage

    How to Make Sugar Cookies

    Now for these sugar cookies I recommend you use a stand mixer for this. It helps to get the ingredients mixed in evenly. I also watch the mixer pretty close so I don't over mix. I like using a cutter for these so I can keep all the sizes the same. We do refrigerate the dough. I think it yields a better product. There could definitely be debates about this for hours from everyone out there.

    They are so simple to make and turn out as buttery little bits of heaven. Now, I'm lucky in that I have a boatload of cookie cutters. Or maybe not, if you think about the cabinet space it takes to store these. So this year we have decided that anyone can have sugar cookies with just one cutter. For these cookies we used the heart mold. You could also do the exact same decoration with a round 3" cutter, or even a square cutter. These cookies keep their shapes when baking and come out soft and flavorful, which make them perfect for decorating.

    Sugar cookies on Plate are easy to decorate for any occasion.

    Royal Icing Decorations

    I am going to say that these took a bit of time to prepare. It is best to wait until the icing is dry so it doesn't bleed into other colors. It wasn't that I was working on them the entire time; it's just the drying time. Some of the cookies had a black outline, others didn't. It's entirely up to you on that one. We piped the blue first, then the white, then the red. If you are adding the black outline, do that before the red or white. For the stars, we just used sprinkles. You could easily pipe them or just use silver dots instead if you want them to be easy.

    There is nothing unique about our royal icing recipe you could get probably 500 other versions on line if you prefer, but for the most part, they are all the same.

    Royal Icing:

    2 pounds confectioners sugar
    ¼ cup meringue powder
    2 tablespoons light corn syrup
    1 teaspoon almond extract
    warm water
    gel food color, red, blue and black (if you want borders)

    1.  Add the sugar, meringue powder, corn syrup and almond extract into your mixer bowl.
    2. Slowly add warm water to the sugar mixture and continue to blend on low speed until you have the consistency to pipe. (Adding more water will make it thinner, and less water will be thicker.)
    3. Once you have the consistency you are looking for, separate the icing and add colors. Keep the icing covered, it's important so it doesn't dry out while you are working on the decorations.

    More Cookie Recipes to Try:

    • Frosted Halloween Cookies with Royal Icing
    • Chocolate Butter Cookies
    • Red Velvet Cookies
    • Dulce De Leche Cookies

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    We know you are going to love this simple and tasty sugar cookies.

    Simple Sugar Cookies

    Sugar Cookies

    Sugar Cookies are great for any occasion and these tasty sugar cookies hold their shape well and are perfect for decorating with royal icing.
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Cooling Time: 3 hours
    Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
    Servings: 12 Cookies
    Calories: 363kcal
    Author: Serena

    Ingredients

    • 13.25 ounces sugar
    • 12 ounces butter
    • 4 eggs
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 23.5 ounces AP flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt

    Instructions

    • Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
    • In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy.
    • Add the eggs and vanilla and continue to mix until incorporated.
    • In a separate bowl stir together AP flour, baking powder and salt.
    • Add the dry mix into the mixer bowl and hand stir until incorporated.
    • Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and put ½ of the dough onto the wrap.
    • Cover with plastic wrap and mold into a disk. Do the same with the other half of the dough.
    • Refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
    • Once dough has finished chilling, heat oven to 350°F.
    • Generously dust a clean surface with flour and roll the dough out to ¼ inch.
    • Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes and a spatula to transfer them to the baking sheet.
    • Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes or until edges begin to turn lightly golden brown.
    • Remove from oven and let cool on the pan.

    Notes

    Recipe Source: SerenaLissy.com
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database via Spoonacular API, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators. While this information can be helpful in estimating the nutritional information of a recipe, it is by no means accurate or official and is not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
     
    All images and content are copyright protected. Do not use our images without prior permission.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Cookie | Calories: 363kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 317mg | Potassium: 119mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 126IU | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 3mg
    Tried this Recipe? Pin it Today!Mention @SerenaLissy or tag #serenalissy!

    Now if you find you aren't a sugar cookie lover we have a few summer ice cream recipes you might like instead. Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

    As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. What that means is if you click on one of our affiliate links they may toss a few pennies our way for a commission.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Willena Kelsey says

      July 26, 2022 at 12:16 am

      5 stars
      The patriotic hearts are beautiful. But I really want to try the chocolate sugar cookies. They sound very interesting.
      You have yourself a great day !

      Reply
    2. Meenakshi Thakur says

      June 28, 2021 at 3:24 pm

      5 stars
      Aww. How cute are these cookies! Your piping skills are top-notch.

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 28, 2021 at 5:17 pm

        Thanks so much!

        Reply
    3. Claire says

      June 21, 2021 at 11:21 pm

      5 stars
      I super love this! Can't wait to make this with my younger sibs. Thanks!

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 22, 2021 at 5:51 am

        So great for group baking! Makes for a fun weekend project 🙂

        Reply
    4. Seema says

      June 21, 2021 at 9:12 pm

      5 stars
      These cookies look so beautiful. I will be thrilled if I canget them as close to what you have done with the icing. So beautiful.

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 22, 2021 at 5:50 am

        Thanks!

        Reply
    5. Jessie says

      June 21, 2021 at 8:26 pm

      5 stars
      I love these cookies and they are so great to make year round and I love the red, white and blue for to make for the 4th of July.

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 22, 2021 at 5:49 am

        Thanks Jessie!

        Reply
    6. Caitlyn Erhardt says

      June 21, 2021 at 7:08 pm

      5 stars
      These look perfect for the forth! Love all the tips and breaking it down to make these super simple to pull off.

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 22, 2021 at 5:49 am

        Thanks Caitlyn

        Reply
    7. AISilva says

      June 21, 2021 at 5:37 pm

      5 stars
      These sugar cookies look so great, my whole family will love them. I also love how patriotic yours turned out! These definitely held their shape as you promised!

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 22, 2021 at 5:50 am

        Thanks!

        Reply

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