---
title: "Sugar Cookies"
description: "Soft, buttery vanilla cookies that hold their shape beautifully — the perfect canvas for cutting into hearts, stars and rounds and decorating with royal icing."
category: "Baking"
cuisine: "American"
serves: "20-25 cookies (depending on cutter size)"
prep: "45 mins"
cook: "10 mins"
author: "Thomas Chaplin"
site: "Recipe Book"
url: "https://chaplinkitchen.com/r/sugar-cookies/"
datePublished: "2026-09-03T23:01:56+01:00"
dateModified: "2026-09-10T11:08:38+01:00"
---

# Sugar Cookies

Soft, buttery vanilla cookies that hold their shape beautifully — the perfect canvas for cutting into hearts, stars and rounds and decorating with royal icing.

**Category:** Baking · **Cuisine:** American · **Serves:** 20-25 cookies _(depending on cutter size)_ · **Prep:** 45 mins · **Cook:** 10 mins

**Recipe URL:** https://chaplinkitchen.com/r/sugar-cookies/

## Ingredients

- 150g unsalted butter _(softened)_
- 150g caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 350g plain flour
- 500g royal icing sugar _(for the icing)_
- 60-80ml water _(for the icing)_
- Food colouring gels _(to decorate)_
- Sprinkles or edible pearls _(to decorate)_

## Method

### Cookies

1. **Cream the butter and sugar.** Beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy — a stand mixer with the beater attachment or an electric hand whisk makes short work of this.
2. **Beat in the egg.** Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again until smooth.
3. **Bring the dough together.** Add the plain flour and mix until the dough starts to come together. Bring it into a ball with your hands — it should be soft but not sticky. Add a touch more flour if it clings to your fingers.
4. **Chill the dough.** Wrap the dough and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. **Heat the oven.** Preheat the oven to 180C Fan or 200C regular and line two or three baking trays with parchment paper.
6. **Roll and cut.** Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm thick and cut out your shapes. Re-roll the offcuts until all the dough is used.
7. **Tray the cookies.** Place the cookies onto the lined trays, leaving a little space between each one.
8. **Bake until pale.** Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just barely turning golden at the edges — they should still look pale on top.
9. **Cool completely.** Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They must be stone cold before icing.

### Decorating

10. **Mix the royal icing.** Whisk the royal icing sugar with the water, adding the water a little at a time, until you have a smooth icing. For piping outlines you want a thicker consistency; for flooding, thin it until a ribbon of icing disappears back into the surface after about 10 seconds.
11. **Colour the icing.** Split the icing between bowls and colour each one with gel food colouring.
12. **Outline and flood.** Pipe an outline around the edge of each cookie with the thicker icing and leave it to set for a few minutes, then flood the middle with the thinner icing and nudge it into the corners with a cocktail stick.
13. **Marble and decorate.** While the flood icing is still wet, add dots or lines of a second colour and drag a cocktail stick through them to marble, or scatter over sprinkles and edible pearls.
14. **Dry overnight.** Leave the decorated cookies to dry completely — ideally overnight — before stacking or packaging.

## Notes

- Chilling the dough is what keeps the edges sharp, so do not skip it. If the kitchen is warm, chill the cut-out shapes on the tray for 10 minutes before baking too.
- Roll to an even thickness so the cookies bake at the same rate — rolling guides or two rulers either side of the dough help.
- Do not overbake. They firm up considerably as they cool, and a pale cookie stays soft.
- Undecorated cookies keep in an airtight container for 5-7 days, and the raw dough freezes well for up to 3 months.
- Decorated cookies will keep for a week or so once the icing has set hard.
- Swap the vanilla for almond, lemon or orange extract, or add the zest of a lemon or orange to the dough.