My Go To Cutout Cookie Recipe

christmas cookies on tray

This is the recipe I use for my home bakery. I adapted it from Sweet Sugar Belle. My cookies always have rave reviews and I have gotten repeat business with it!

This recipe is by weight and I do not plan to convert it to American units. Get a scale from Amazon, they are $10 max! This helps with consistency in your products and increases quality control.

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Ingredient Notes

Butter

Do not use room temperature butter. This will help prevent spreading while baking. I take my butter straight out of the fridge and then microwave it for 40 seconds on 30% power. You will have to do trial and error to figure the best settings for you as microwaves vary. This is just enough to take the cold edge off but it remains firm.

I prefer to use unsalted butter in all of my recipes so I can control how much salt I want in the recipe. If you only have salted on hand, you can sub it out at 1:1 and then omit the salt in the dry ingredients.

Powdered Sugar

Powdered Sugar = Confectioners’ Sugar = Icing Sugar.

It is granulated sugar that has been finely ground with a small amount of corn starch added to prevent caking. With all of the 1000s of other cookie recipes out there, you might notice they use granulated sugar. I have found that I really like the texture of these cookies using the powdered sugar. It is more crumbly and soft.

Baking Powder

If you read many blogs or if you are in the baking Facebook groups, you might often see the suggestion to completely omit the leavening agent to prevent spreading. However, this is incorrect. The baking powder will help the cookie rise. Spreading is due to the butter (liquid) : flour (dry) ratio. If you feel like your cookies are spreading more than you’d like, read this article for more info.

Flavor Variations

1 tbsp = 3 tsps. Keep that in mind when swapping and mixing extracts and emulsions.

This is a great base recipe, add or subtract emulsions, extracts, fruit additives, and other flavorings to create new combinations! Here are some great ones, replace the vanilla with the following:

🍪Wedding Cookie = 1/2 tbsp almond extract + 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

🍪 Birthday Cake Cookie = 1 tbsp imitation vanilla extract + 1/2 cup jimmies

🍪 Cookies n Cream Cookie = 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract + 1/2 tbsp LorAnn Cookies & Cream emulsion + 1 cup crushed Oreos

🍪 Chocolate Chip Cookie = 1 tbsp vanilla + 1 cup mini-chocolate chips

🍪 Spice Cookie = 1 tsp vanilla + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg + 1/8 ground cloves

🍪 Pumpkin Spice Toffee Cookie = 1 tbsp LorAnn Pumpkin Spice Emulsion + 1/2 cup toffee bits

🍪 Lemon Poppy Cookie = 2 tsp lemon extract + 1 tsp vanilla extract + 2tsp poppy seeds

🍪 Strawberry Cookie = 1 tsp vanilla extract + 2 tsp LorAnn Strawberry Emulsion + 1/4 dried strawberry pieces (optional: color the dough with pink food gel)

🍪 Snickerdoodle Cookie = 1/8 tsp cream of tartar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cutout Sugar Cookie

No chilling needed for these cookies!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Rest Time5 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cookie
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 165kcal
Author: Beth

Ingredients

  • 225 g unsalted butter*
  • 175 g powdered sugar
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 tbsp extract or emulsion**
  • 425 g all-purpose flour
  • 6 g salt
  • 5 g baking powder

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F/205C.
  • Cream together the butter and sugar.
  • Add the egg and extract/emulsion.
  • Add in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt).
  • Mix everything until the dough comes together. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.
  • Roll out the dough and cut cookies into desired shapes.
  • Bake for ~8 minutes, be careful not to brown.

Notes

*Butter
  • Temperature should still be cold and butter should be firm to prevent excess spreading of the cookies in the oven.
  • If subbing for salted butter, omit salt in later step.
**Flavoring 
  • Please see post for different flavoring options. 
Convection Oven
  • If using a convection oven, heat oven to 375F/190C and bake for ~7 minutes.
Multiplying Recipe
  • I have successfully been able to multiply this recipe as noted here:
    • Kitchen Aid 5-Quart: X2
    • Kitchen Aid 6-Quart: X3
    • Bosch Universal Plus: X4
Storing
  • Cookies are best within 3 days if left un-iced.
  • If iced and heat sealed, cookies will stay soft from 1-2 weeks.
  • Un-Iced or Iced cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.

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