The Perfect Homemade Sugar Cookie Dough (Ready in 10 Mins!)

The one I’m sharing with you today is, by far, the most versatile and comprehensive recipe for Sugar Cookie Dough out there!

You can make just about anything using this Sugar Cookie Dough because it truly is the perfect base. It’s definitely easier to whip this up than to even head out and get ready-made sugar cookie dough from the grocery store.

All it takes is 10 minutes to make it yourself. And what’s best is that you can even freeze it for up to a month!

By making a batch of it and freezing it, you’ll be able to make the tastiest sugar cookies just about any time you want! It truly results in the perfect sugar cookie recipe each time!

I love making this recipe and then storing it in the refrigerator to plan for a holiday in advance. It makes it so much easier to have the most delicious sugar cookies whenever you want.

Interested in learning how to make this delicious Sugar Cookie Dough? Then keep on reading!

What is Sugar Cookie Dough?

Sugar Cookie Dough is the cookie dough you use to make sugar cookies! It’s the cookie dough to use to make delicious cookies that you can shape by hand or roll out using a rolling pin and cutting into shapes with a cookie cutter.

They’re commonly decorated with some more sugar, icing, sprinkles, or a combination of all of these! This Sugar Cookie Dough makes the most delicious and tasty sugar cookies that you can have during any holiday!

They’re perfect to use to make Christmas cookies or Easter cookies. You can even use this for kid’s birthday parties (kids truly love them!) or for your mother on Mother’s Day.

Regardless of which way you want to go about it, this sugar cookie dough is extremely versatile and foolproof! What’s great is that you can use it to make a variety of different types of cookie shapes, and even add some ingredients to it to customize it according to your palate.

Want to know what you can make using this Sugar Cookie Dough? Keep on reading!

What Can You Make Using Sugar Cookie Dough?

This Sugar Cookie Dough is incredibly versatile and you can make just about any kind of sugar cookie you can imagine!

You can also add a few other ingredients to it to convert it into whatever flavor you’re looking for. This recipe is the perfect base for just about anything. Here are a few variation ideas along with the classic choices:

• Use this to make the best Sugar Cookie recipe ever by shaping the dough into flat disks and baking it in your oven.
• Whip up some delicious cream cheese frosting and layer it with fruits to make mouthwatering Dessert Pizzas by using this recipe.
• Make the most delicious cut-out sugar cookies with this perfect sugar cookie dough.
• Want to make some holiday cookies? Cut-out using a cookie cutter and decorate this dough and bake it to get the perfect ones every single time!
• You can add some frosting to it, such as a buttercream frosting or even royal icing to make it even more festive.
• Add some chocolate chips to the Sugar Cookie Dough to turn it into some chocolate chip sugar cookies.
• You can also make it look pretty for a kid’s birthday party by adding some rainbow sprinkles to it before baking the cookies.
• Want to vary the flavor a bit? Add a bit of almond extract to the dough for a little subtle flavor.
• Another idea is to add a little lemon zest and/or lemon extract to make these into lightly lemon-flavored sugar cookies. No, seriously, this recipe is so versatile that you can even do that!
• You can also try it with some chopped nuts topped off on the cut-out cookies using this Sugar Cookie Dough.

These are just some of the many things you can do using this absolutely perfect Sugar Cookie Dough!

What’s So Special About This Sugar Cookie Dough?

This Sugar Cookie Dough is absolutely incredible. As you can see from the previous section, it’s really versatile and can give you whatever kinds of sugar cookies you want.

But apart from that, the best part is that the flavor is out of this world. You’ll get an irresistible buttery vanilla flavor with this dough that is at the right level of sweetness.

Whether you leave it plain or you add a few variations to it, from the ideas I mentioned in the previous section, it’s going to taste perfect every time.

The dough also holds its shape really well which is perfect for cut-out cookies that you want to shape into perfect shapes.

The cookies you bake using this dough will stay soft and delicious for days! Plus, you’ll get cookies with a soft and thick center but slightly crisp edges which taste incredible.

This sugar cookie dough also freezes beautifully for up to one month, and so you can thaw it and bake cookies just about whenever you want!

What You Need to Make Sugar Cookie Dough

Making this sugar cookie dough is incredibly easy! All you need is pantry-staple ingredients, and you’ll have it done in no time. Let's look at what these ingredients are:

All-purpose flour: The flour you need to make this tasty Sugar Cookie Dough is just plain ol’ all-purpose flour. See, I told you that you’ll only need pantry staples to make this!

Sugar: Sugar cookies can’t be sugar cookies without some sugar, right? We’ll be using one cup of sugar for this recipe which is less than other recipes and keeps calories relatively lower.

Baking soda: By adding baking soda to the cookie dough, it’ll help release carbon dioxide gas which then helps leaven the dough creating soft, fluffy cookies. It also helps make the recipe versatile, because you can then add acidic ingredients to it to change things up, such as lemon zest.

Baking powder: This is going to be our main leaving agent apart from baking soda.

Eggs: We’ll be adding two large eggs to the recipe. The eggs work to make this recipe versatile! Adding eggs will later allow you to shape the cookies to whichever shape you like without them completely collapsing when it’s being baked as the eggs help them keep shape.

Butter: We’ll be using softened, room temperature unsalted butter. Butter helps make the cookies tender as it coats some of the flour and prevents gluten formation in the cookies. This makes your cookies more tender and less chewy, which is perfect when for the classic sugar cookie flavor!

Vanilla extract: We’ll add just a little vanilla extract to bring out all the flavors.

Salt: You’ll only need to add a little salt but this will balance out all your flavors and even help enhance them.

How to Make Sugar Cookie Dough (Step-by-Step)

Even if you’ve never made sugar cookie dough before, my step-by-step instructions will make this process incredibly easy for you. All it takes is 10 minutes and you’ll have the perfect sugar cookie dough.

Let’s look at how to make it step-by-step:

Start by measuring out the dry ingredients. Combine all the ingredients using a whisk.

Now sift the dry ingredients into your stand mixer’s bowl or into a separate large bowl if you’re using an electric hand mixer. Then add sugar, softened unsalted butter, eggs, and vanilla to the bowl.

Next, attach the dough hook attachment and let the mixer do the rest of the job for you by mixing the flour mixture. At the lowest speed, let it knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every minute or so.

Once done, remove the dough from the bowl onto a working surface and knead it into a ball. You may divide the dough into as many pieces as you want. Use what you need now and freeze the rest for later. No need to chill the dough if you're planning to use it right away.

Your Sugar Cookie Dough is ready to use and turn into any delicious sugar cookie you want! Just shape it into whatever you like, and place it on a baking sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat before popping it into the oven.

If it's needed in the near future, you may keep it refrigerated for up to two days after covering it with a plastic wrap or place it into a Ziploc bag and freeze it for up to a month.

How to Make Ahead and Store

This recipe is perfect if you want to prep ahead of time and use this to bake cookies whenever you’re in the mood. If you’re going to use it in the near future, then you can cover it with a plastic wrap and pop it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

In case you want to freeze it instead, you can definitely do that! Place the sugar cookie dough into a Ziploc bag and pop it in the freezer for up to one month.

When you want to use it, just thaw the dough in the refrigerator or leave it on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours. It definitely won’t affect the flavor and you’ll still get the tastiest sugar cookies ever!

Tips to Make the Best Sugar Cookie Dough

Here are some tips to use this Sugar Cookie Dough and to make sure it always turns out perfect when you make it:

• If you’re using the cookies by hand, you can measure out each cookie with a kitchen scale or use a cookie scoop to make sure each cookie is the same size and bakes at the same rate.
• When baking cookies in the oven using this sugar cookie dough, I recommend starting with a test cookie to know exactly how long it’ll take to bake it. It’ll also help you figure out if your oven has any hot spots!
• Make this sugar cookie dough ahead of time and freeze it so you can bake cookies using this dough whenever you’re in the mood!

Can This Recipe Be Used to Make Cut-Out Sugar Cookies?

Yes, you absolutely can! Since this recipe includes eggs, the dough binds really well and the cookies don’t crumble when you cut them out using a cookie cutter.

So feel free to use whichever cookie cutter you want to shape them into whatever you have in mind!

Similar Recipes

• Homemade Pizza Dough

Recipe Card

The Perfect Homemade Sugar Cookie Dough (Ready in 10 Mins!)

This Easy Homemade Sugar Cookie Dough Recipe requires less than 10 minutes to make, and can be used to make a variety of different types of sugar cookies!

4.4 from 61 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy sugar cookie recipe, homemade sugar cookie dough, no-fail sugar cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4 lbs

Author: Valya's Taste of Home

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Dough Ingredients

• 3 cups – all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. – baking soda
• 1 tsp. – baking powder
• ¼ tsp. – salt
• 2 large – eggs
• 1 cup – sugar
• 8 oz. – unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 tsp. – pure vanilla extract

Instructions

How to Make Sugar Cookie Dough (Step-by-Step)

• Start by measuring out the dry ingredients. Combine all the ingredients using a whisk.
• Now sift the dry ingredients into your stand mixer’s bowl or into a separate large bowl if you’re using an electric hand mixer. Then add sugar, softened unsalted butter, eggs, and vanilla to the bowl.
• Next, attach the dough hook attachment and let the mixer do the rest of the job for you by mixing the flour mixture. At the lowest speed, let it knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every minute or so.
• Once done, remove the dough from the bowl onto a working surface and knead it into a ball. You may divide the dough into as many pieces as you want. Use what you need now and freeze the rest for later. No need to chill the dough if you're planning to use it right away.
• Your Sugar Cookie Dough is ready to use and turn into any delicious sugar cookie you want! Just shape it into whatever you like, and place it on a baking sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat before popping it into the oven.
• If it's needed in the near future, you may keep it refrigerated for up to two days after covering it with a plastic wrap or place it into a Ziploc bag and freeze it for up to a month.

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This recipe was originally posted on August 9, 2016. I tweaked it a bit including tips and tricks on making the perfect sugar cookie dough you'll love! This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure.