I have the fondest memories of these Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe during the holidays. They always turned up on Christmas morning, and if Grandma made them, they were in the shape of reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees with pointy little chocolate chips for decoration. Now, you can make memories of your own with my Grandma’s Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe!
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Frequently Asked Questions:
How do you make sugar cookies keep their shape?
Chilling the dough before rolling and cutting the shapes out can help the sugar cookies keep their shape. I’ve never had a problem with these sugar cookies keeping their shape.
How long should I chill sugar cookie dough?
After mixing, store the sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator and let chill for 30 minutes.
Are sugar cookies supposed to be soft?
Now, this depends on personal preference. If you like soft, tender sugar cookies then bake for 7-8 minutes (depending on your oven) or until the bottoms of the cookies are barely golden. For a crispy cookie, bake for 9-10 minutes or until the top edges of the cookies are turning a soft golden color.
What should I frost sugar cookies with?
Soft buttercream frosting is my favorite! And I’ve included my recipe for it below with the printable Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe!

Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (2 sticks) at room temp.
- 1 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp. Milk
- 3 cup Flour (plus extra for rolling out the cookies)
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl or mixer cream the butter, then add the sugar beating until light and fluffy, add the two eggs, vanilla, and milk. Beat them together, then scrape the sides and bottom with a spatula and beat again.
In another bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the wet mixture and blend well.
Take a handful of flour and dust a clean counter with it, now plop half of the cookie dough onto this. Dust the rolling pin with flour as well, and sprinkle a little on top of the dough as well. Now gently roll the dough out to about a quarter of an inch thick (depending on how crunchy you like your cookies, roll it a little thinner for a crispy tea cookie).
Now get out your cookie cutters and call in the kids! It’s about to get fun. Cut as many as you can, and then gather the scraps and incorporate them into the other half of dough, and begin the process again.
Now that you have a sheet full of cookies pop them into the oven at 350 degrees F. and bake for 8-10 minutes. Again, it depends on how you like your cookies. At 8 minutes the tops are white, but if you carefully check the bottom there will be golden/brown patches, and at 10 minutes the tops should look crispy around the edges and much larger patches of golden/browned goodness along the bottom. I love them both ways! After they’ve cooled, they’re ready to frost!
Recipe Notes
Simple Frosting
1/2 C. Butter at room temp.
2 Tsp. Vanilla
4 C. Powder Sugar
1/4 Tsp. Pink Himalayan Salt
A little less than 1/2 C. Milk
Cream the butter and vanilla together, then add the powdered sugar, salt, and milk. Cream together until fluffy.
If it’s too runny, add some powdered sugar. Too stiff? Add a little more milk.

I’m almost as crazy about the day after Christmas as I am Christmas Day.
That’s when we have leftovers galore, people are in a cozy mood, eating baked goods and drinking coffee & mugs of yummy hot drinks (check out these 12 Video Tutorials & Recipes for Christmas Drinks for ideas!), reading books, watching cozy movies, and demolishing any leftover cookies that survived the day before. My favorite time for a good reason!
If you want to have plenty of cookies for Christmas day, my blogging friends and I are doing a Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipe Swap. Check out their delicious recipes below!
Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipe Swap 
Reindeer Cookies – The Frugal Homemaker
Mocha Slice Cookies- Southern Bella Home
M&M Cookies – At Home In The Wildwood
Peppermint Twist Cookies- Jenron Designs
Iced Sugar Cookies- ForgottenWay Farms
Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie- The Front Porch Farmhouse
Now, tell me. What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
My daughter and I love Christmas so much that together we wrote a book about it! It’s called Cozy Christmas Baking: A Hygge-Inspired Christmas. In it, you’ll find recipes like this Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe, along with recipes for delicious breads, cakes, cookies and homemade sweets.

Merry Christmas, y’all!
-Abby Jo

I love your cookbook. I bought 2 of them when they first came out. I even use it as part of my Christmas decorations
Awww, your comment makes me so happy! Thank you for your support! I love that, I’ve always thought cookbooks make wonderful decor items 🙂
Looking forward to trying more recipes from your book in the next few weeks! Have a wonderful holiday season Abby Jo!
Oh goody! I’m so happy to hear that. And the same to you, my dear!
Merry Christmas!
I need to try your recipe for buttercream, mine never turns out great, and yours is beautiful on those cookies.
You should give it a try! 🙂 It’s definitely a standby in my home.
I don’t know what looks yummier, the cookies or the frosting. Love recipes like this that are shared along with favorite family memories.
Thank you, my dear! I agree, holiday memories are the best <3
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them out!
I think you will enjoy them, they are easy and so good!