These are the best soft, no spread sugar cookies! They are perfect for cut outs (cookie cutters) and hold their shape perfectly. And best of all, they stay soft for days!
Why Make This Recipe
These no spread sugar cookies, sometimes called cut out sugar cookies or roll out sugar cookies is the best sugar cookie recipe! Not only do they hold their shape when cut out with cookie cutters, but they stay soft for days, even if left uncovered.
These no spread cookies use no leavening agents, like baking soda or baking powder, which helps these cookies hold their shape. Leavening agents cause cookies to puff up and spread, but by leaving them out, these cookies hold their shape better Chilling the dough is also crucial to the cooking holding their shape in the oven. The hot oven melts the butter and sugar, which normally will cause cookies to spread. By chilling the dough we help these cookies hold their original shape.
These cookies are perfect for any holiday-we always love making them at Christmas and Valentine's Day. We love decorating these cookies with buttercream frosting, but they are beautiful with royal icing too!
Ingredient Notes
- Butter. This recipe calls for room temperature butter. Butter adds flavor and tenderness to these cookies. It is important that the butter is room temperature so it can blend well with the other ingredients and have air whipped into it, creating a good texture
- Cream Cheese. The cream cheese is our secret ingredient that keeps the cookies soft and dense. The cream cheese should be room temperature, like the butter, so it blends with the butter smoothly without curdling.
- Sugar. What would sugar cookies be without the sugar? White, granulated sugar is used for the classic sugar cookie taste.
- Vanilla & Almond Extract. We add in vanilla and almond extract to the cookie dough for an extra flavor boost.
How to Make this Recipe
- Start with room temperature cream cheese and butter. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer to mix the two together until smooth.
- Add in the sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Cream together for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. When room temperature butter and sugar are creamed together, it whips air into the mixture making it light and fluffy in texture. The tiny air bubbles that are created lift the cookie and create the perfect texture in these cookies.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the salt and flour. Stir in until the dry ingredients are just barely combined. Do not over mix.
- Pull out a large piece of plastic wrap and spray with cooking spray. Tip the dough onto the plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.
- After dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly flour the counter top and place the unwrapped dough on top. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and roll out the dough to ⅜-inch thick. You can also place the dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper to prevent the sugar cookie dough from sticking to your counter or rolling pin.
- Lightly dust your cookie cutters with flour and cut out the cookies. Place the cut out cookie dough onto a lined and greased baking sheet. Leave about 1-inch of space between the cookies. Freeze the cookie dough for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Sugar cookies, and other cookies, typically spread for a couple reasons-1) leavening agents and 2) too much sugar or too much butter.
Leavening Agents, like baking soda or baking powder, make cookies rise, puff up, and spread. Normally, this is what we want in a cookie recipe. However, with these sugar cookies we want them to hold their shape and not spread. You will notice that this recipe does not contain any leavening agents in it.
Butter and sugar liquify when they are heated, which also makes cookies spread. In this recipe, we make sure there isn't too much of either ingredients, but also we chill the dough. By chilling the dough before we roll it out and then freezing it again after they are cut out we return the butter back to a solid state, encouraging the dough to hold its shape and not spread.
Yes, absolutely. Sugar cookies freeze super well after being baked. This is a great way to save yourself some time in the future by baking and freezing the cookies for a later date. When stored properly, sugar cookies will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months. See our storage tips section below for more tips on freezing cookies and cookie dough.
There are so many ways to decorate sugar cookies! You can use buttercream frosting, royal icing, fondant, chocolate glaze, and a traditional sugar cookie glaze.
My favorite way to decorate sugar cookies is with a buttercream frosting. I've included my favorite buttercream recipe in the recipe below, it's thick and pipes beautifully on to sugar cookies. Feel free to use your own if you have a favorite recipe.
Expert Tips
- Rolling out the sugar cookie dough. When you are rolling out your dough, be sure not to roll it out too thin! The ideal width is ⅜" thick. This will give your cookies some stability so they don't break as easy, and keep them soft because of their thickness! If you find your dough is sticking to your rolling pin, dust the sugar cookie dough with a little bit of flour, or your can place your dough between two piece of parchment paper and use the rolling pin on top of the parchment paper!
- Don't handle the dough too much. When you are rolling out the dough and pushing your cookie dough scraps back together to created a new layer to cut out, it is easy to overhandle the sugar cookie dough. As you handle the dough you're doing too things-warming up the dough and helping it develop gluten-both of which we don't want. Too warm of dough and the cookies won't hold their shape as well. Too much gluten and the cookies will be tough and lose their tender texture.
- Bake similar sized cookies together. Different sized cookies have different bake times. So try to bake similar sized cookies together so you don't accidentally over bake any smaller cookies on the baking sheet.
- Don't over bake the cookies. Be careful not to over bake these cookies. Remember that the cookies will continue to cook and set up as they cool. Over baking can affect the soft and tender texture of these no spread sugar cookies.
- How to make your cookies extra flat. If you plan on decorating your cookies with royal icing you may want the tops of your cookies to be extra flat. If this is the case, let your cookies cool for 3-4 minutes. Then, carefully flip the cookies so the top side is down and let them cool that way. This will help flatten them out.
Storage Tips: Freezing and Storing the Cookies and Cookie Dough
Cookie Dough. The cookie dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Make sure the cookie dough is at least double wrapped in plastic wrap before freezing to help maintain freshness and avoid freezer burn. Once frozen, thaw the cookie dough in the fridge overnight before you try to roll it out.
Baked Cookies. These cookies stay soft for days on the counter, even if left uncovered. But to ensure freshness, it's best to store them covered at room temperature. They are best eaten with in 3-4 days. The unfrosted cookies can be frozen for up to three months. Store them either in an airtight gallon-sized freezer bag or in a Tupperware container. Thaw the cookies completely before eating or frosting.
Love cookies? Us too! Check out these other cookie recipes!
P.S. If you tried this recipe or any other In Fine Taste recipe take a second and rate it below! We love hearing what you think. Let's stay in touch! Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube or Pinterest for more recipe ideas.
Soft, No Spread Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ¾ cup butter room temperature (170 grams)
- 4 ounces (8 tablespoons) cream cheese room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups of flour spooned and leveled (390 grams)
Buttercream Frosting;
- 2 lb bag about 7 ½ cups of powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup butter room temperature (149 grams)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
- food coloring optional
- Sprinkles optional
Instructions
Cookies:
- Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in sugar, egg, and extracts, and cream together for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl; add in salt and flour (make sure your flour is stir in until just barely combined.
- Pull out a large piece of plastic wrap and spray it with cooking spray. Tip dough onto plastic wrap and tightly wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour your counter top or work surface and place unwrapped dough on top. Lightly flour the top of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll cookies out to be ⅜" thick. You can also place your dough between 2 sheets of wax paper or parchment paper and then roll the dough out if you are worried about your dough sticking to your rolling pin. You might be tempted to roll the dough out thinner so you can make more cookies, but trust me, ⅜" is the perfect width, you won't want them thinner.
- Lightly dust your cookie cutters with flour and begin cutting out your different shapes. Place cut out shapes onto a greased and lined baking sheet, leave about 1" between your cookies and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- I like to stick any of my dough that has already been cut out, but is not baked yet into the freezer or fridge while it waits for its turn to go in the oven. This will make sure that your dough does not get too warm. Chilled dough is what helps these cookies to not spread and to hold their shape.
- Leave cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
- Using a hand mixer whip butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minutes. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk, beating in between.
- Add in extracts, salt, and food coloring (if desired), and beat until frosting is smooth and equally colored throughout the batch.
- Make sure cookies are completely cool before frosting. I used a piping bag, but you can also use a knife to spread frosting on. Top with sprinkles (if desired).
Nutrition
Try these other yummy recipes too!
originally posted 2/11/19
Heather says
Hello, Will will this recipe need any altering for high altitude?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Heather, I don’t think you’ll need to make alterations. I actually live at high altitude now (4,500 elevation), but didn’t when I first made these. I haven’t had any issues with the recipe!
- Alyssa
Krista says
So good! I got so many compliments on these cookies. I don’t think I can go back to the sugar cookie recipe I had made for years. This is definitely a keeper!
Tasha says
Love this recipe! I’m interested in possibly putting a slight spin on it… do you think I could use brown sugar instead of the white sugar? Would using brown sugar, instead of white, require any other modifications like maybe adding baking powder?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Tasha, so glad you love the recipe! If you’re going to use them with cookie cutters, the molasses in the brown sugar may lead to some spread in the cookies, it may also change the texture a little. I’d start by swapping half the sugar for brown sugar and see how it turns out. You may also consider doing a half recipe if you’re worried about wasting ingredients.
- Alyssa
Julie Rampoldi says
No baking powder ?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Julie, that is correct, no baking powder in this recipe. Baking powder would make them rise and spread and the cookies would not keep their shape as well.
- Alyssa
Kristine says
Great recipe for both the cookies and frosting- will be my go to sugar cookie recipe for the holidays moving forward! The not over mixing, not rolling too thin and chilling of the dough are definitely key here - cookies turned out soft and buttery. I thought the 7 1/2 cups of icing sugar for the frosting was a bit much, so I halved the recipe, and still had too much frosting left over- mind you I used fairly small cookie cutters, so did not put too much on each cookie. I also did not add almond and butter extracts to the frosting, and thought it still tasted great! Definitely a keeper -thanks for sharing!
Ciara says
Hello again! This recipe is wonderful!! I’m just now getting around to the frosting. Does this recipe crust at all? Also, I always feel like my frosting is melty. Any tips in how to fix that?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Ciara! The frosting will crust over a little when exposed to air for long periods of time. If your frosting is consistently melty, I’d recommend maki by sure your butter is a little cooler than room temperature to start and hold back the liquid added to the frosting and add it a little at a time until you reach the right consistency. If your kitchen is quite warm, same sure you’re storing it in the fridge when not using it.
- Alyssa
Ciara says
Thank you so much!! This recipe is AMAZING!!
Ciara says
Are these cookies able to be frozen after they are decorated?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Ciara, if you’re using my buttercream frosting recipe I can say that they cookies freeze beautifully after being frosted. If you’re adding sprinkles or candy on top, you may find that some of the colors bleed into the frosting, so you may need to experiment with that if adding sprinkles or candy.
- Alyssa
Judy says
Thank you Alyssa. I will let you know how they turn out.
Judy says
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I have used your recipe four times to make bridal and baby shower cookies and once for christmas cookies. I love your recipe because the cookies keep their shape during baking and cooling and they are very delicious. I have gotten rave reviews on the cookies every time.
I am going to use the recipe soon to make cookies for my niece's baby shower. My niece has ato eat gluten-free. I have made other gluten-free cookies and cakes sucessfully using King Arthur gluten-free flour.
Have you made your cookie recipe with gluten-free flour with the same results (keeping their shape while baking and cooling and taste good)?
If not, do you have any suggestions, other than using gluten-free flour, for making these cookies gluten-free while maintaining the shape and flavor.
In Fine Taste says
Hi Judy! Thank you for taking the time to review this recipe, it makes me so happy that you love it as much as I do. I have not personally tried making these gluten-free, however, I have had several people tell me they were successful with using a 1:1 gluten-free flour! I'd love to hear what you ended up trying and how they turned out for you.
- Alyssa
Ciara says
Hi! I’m excited to try this recipe! I’m wondering if the frosting can be refrigerated and saved?
In Fine Taste says
Hi Ciara, yes you can absolutely save the frosting for later. It’ll stay good in the refrigerator for up to a week, or you can wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap and store it in the freezer for three months. For either, just let the frosting come to room temperature and give it a quick whip with a hand mixers to re-fluff it.
- Alyssa
Judy says
I made the cookies with King Arthur gluten-free flour and they were perfect-delicious, great texture and they kept their shape-no spreading just like the cookies made with all-purpose flour.
Do you have a recipe for Soft, No Spread gingerbread cookies?