Soft Sugar Cookies Recipe- CurryTrail (2024)

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Soft sugar cookies are classical sugar cookies that are rolled in colorful sanding sugar making it look incredibly festive! It’s soft, crumbly, and chewy in the center and a great addition to a holiday cookie exchange.

Why you’ll love this colorful Christmas cookie sparkles

• With the holiday season approaching, most of us find joy in baking something utterly delicious and looks incredibly festive. These cookies are super fun to bake, sets the perfect holiday mood.
• The recipe to make these cookies sparkle is very similar to classic sugar cookies, which is easy and simple to make.
• Classic sugar cookies get a festive makeover with sparkling sugar rolled on them. Cookies get coated in holiday-colored sanding sugar for a festive look. Red, green, and white color cookies make the holiday cookie platter pretty!
• The flavors and texture are spot-on.
• It’s a great addition to a holiday cookie exchange.
• A definite crowd-pleaser! Be sure to make a big batch, this flies fast.
• What makes sugar cookies so absolutely amazing is their texture. It has a soft chewy cakey texture with a crispy outer.
• Easy to customize. You can even them thin and crispy and it’ll still taste incredibly delicious! Change the color of the sanding sugar depending on the celebration.
• These are no-chill sugar cookies, which means you can bake these right away.

Ingredients

Readily available pantry ingredients are all you need for these classic cookies. 7 main ingredients and colored sanding sugar.

• All purpose flour
• Sugar
• Butter
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Egg yolks
• Vanilla extract
• Sanding sugar (or sparkling sugar)

All the ingredient’s exact measurements are mentioned in the recipe card below.

Ingredients notes

1. Flour – use all-purpose flour. Be sure to measure the exact amount of flour while baking cookies. Too much flour will make cookies hard, and too little will make it difficult to work with the dough.
2. Sugar – Use sanding sugar or sparkling sugar. You can use colored sugar to roll in the end or use plain white granulated sugar. Note sanding sugar and sparkling sugar are almost the same except for the texture. The crystals of sparkling sugar are slightly larger than sanding sugar.
3. Butter – make sure butter is at room temperature. In case you use unsalted butter, you can add ½ teaspoon salt to the dry flour mix. A pinch of salt always enhances the taste of sweet cookies.
4. Baking powder – use a fresh batch of baking powder. Old baking powder will make the cookies spread and turn flat. Using too much baking powder leaves a bitter aftertaste in the cookies. Use the right amount of fresh/new baking powder.
5. Baking soda – helps the cookies rise. Do not use expired or old batches of baking soda.
6. Egg yolks – I used only egg yolks in this recipe. Egg yolks give a rich taste to the cookie.
7. Vanilla extract – Use pure vanilla extract.
8. Sparkling sugar or sanding sugar – if you can’t get sanding sugar, you can use white granulated sugar for sprinkling or rolling cookie dough before baking. Or use sprinkles to make sprinkle cookies that would be perfect for the holiday season.

How to make soft sugar cookies recipe

Softened butter is used in the recipe. Butter is softened by leaving it on the counter for at least an hour.

Preheat oven tat 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking tray with parchment paper or silicon mat.

Step 1: sieve all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a big bowl. Set aside.

Step 2: Into another bowl add softened butter and sugar.

Step 3: Using a stand mixer or hand blender beat softened butter and granulated sugar until well combined.

Step 4: Add egg yolks and pure vanilla extract. Beat until combined.

Step 5: Add dry ingredients in parts and beat until flour is incorporated with wet ingredients.

Step 6: Repeat until all dry ingredients are incorporated with wet ingredients. Make sure not to overbeat the dough, you want the dough to be just combined.

Step 7: Using a scoop, portion cookie dough and lightly roll it with your palm to give it a round shape.

Step 8: Roll cookie dough in sanding or sparkling sugar. I used red, green, and a mix of red-green-white sugar to make Christmas cookies.

Step 9: Place cookie dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or silicon mat. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 9 to 11 minutes.

Note: Baking time can vary. If you are after soft chewy cakey cookies bake until just cookies start to brown. If you want crumbly cookies, bake a bit longer. Baking time will also differ depending on the size of the cookie.

Once baked, remove the baking tray from the oven. Allow cookies to rest on the baking tray for about 5 minutes until it’s safe to handle without burning the fingers and breaking cookies.

Place cookies on a wire rack and cool completely. Store in air-tight containers sealed properly for about 5 days at room temperature.

NOTE: if not sealed properly, cookies will turn brittle.

You can freeze cookie dough for about 3 months.

Useful tips to make soft sugar cookies

1. Use softened butter for soft, chewier cookies.
2. Do not overmix the dough.
3. If you want cookies to spread, give them a little nudge after rolling in sparkling sugar. I did not press down the cookies, as I wanted them to be cakey.
4. For uniform-sized cookies, use ice cream scoop. Using an ice cream scoop will ensure all cookies are portioned evenly and they bake evenly in the oven.
5. Roll-in sanding sugar (or sparkling sugar) is an optional step, but it does add a crunch on the outer. If you are worried about sugar turning too sweet (as sugar is added in two stages) don’t worry, reduce sugar added to dough, use 1 cup sugar instead of 1 ¼ cups that is mentioned in the recipe.

Variations

1. Add different flavor to the cookies by using pure almond extract.
2. Use 1 large egg instead of 2 egg yolks.
3. Use different decorations on sugar cookies – use sprinkles to make sprinkle cookies, and decorate with cream cheese frosting.

Common questions

Storing info

Store: Cool cookies completely on a wire rack, and store them in clean dry air-tight containers sealed properly for about 5 days at room temperature.

Freeze: You can freeze the cookie dough in a zip-lock bag for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, thaw cookie dough completely in the refrigerator (might take about 2 days to thaw completely), then let the dough sit at room temperature for half an hour. Then roll in sugar and bake.

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