Soft Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Soft Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

4.89 from 9 votes

These soft sugar cookies with Buttercream frosting are the best sugar cookie recipe you'll ever make! With chewy sugar cookies, American buttercream, and topped with rainbow sprinkles. They're easy to make and use super simple ingredients.

Prep Time20

Cook Time11

Total Time1 1

Servings: 10 cookies

Author: Maria Corcuera

Ingredients

Soft sugar cookies:

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
11 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg room temperature
1 large yolk room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Buttercream

1/2 Cup unsalted butter room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 Cups powdered sugar sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 drops red gel-food coloring Optional

Instructions

Soft Sugar Cookies:

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Pre-heat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and cornstarch).
2 Cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed or with an electric hand mixer, mix sugar, room temperature butter, oil, and salt, until no lumps are visible and the butter is creamed. Add in egg and yolk, vanilla extract and mix
3/4 Cup (150 g) granulated sugar, 11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, 1/4 Cup (59.1 ml) vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 large yolk
Mix in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix! These cookies will need 30 minutes of chill time, so cover the mixing bowl and pop them in the fridge before continuing to the next step.
Remove the chilled cookie dough from the fridge. Using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the batter and place it on the prepared cookie sheets leaving space between them -no more than 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, until edges are golden brown but the center is still gooey. Cookies may seem a bit underbaked, but they will finish baking on the cookie sheet.
Using the bottom of a flat glass, press cookies flat while still hot, to around 3/4" thick. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting:

Cream butter on medium speed with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. With the mixer running at low speed, add the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Turn speed up to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Add pink gel food coloring, drop by drop, until reaching the desired shade of pink. Using a butter knife, swirl the top of the cookie with frosting and decorate with sprinkles.
1/2 Cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract, 2 1/4 Cups (270 g) powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon (0.3 teaspoon) salt, 3 drops red gel-food coloring

Notes

Using room temperature eggs and butter is absolutely a must. This way your ingredients will mix more evenly and will also help making your cookies thick. Leave eggs and butter outside of fridge for around 1 hour prior to using. If pressed on time, allow eggs to sit -completely covered- in warm (no hot) water for 5 minutes
Measure flour and powdered sugar using a spoon, scooping the flour or sugar into the measuring cup without compacting it, then using the back of a knife to level them
Over mixing the dough could turn the cookies cakey and hard. For this reason, after adding the dry ingredients, mix until just combined.
Chill the dough before baking to solidify the fat, this will keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. It also helps concentrating the flavor. As a result, thicker, chewier, and more flavorful cookies.
Make sure to pre-heat the oven before baking. Popping your cookies in an oven that hasn't reached the needed temperature could turn all of your baking efforts into nothing
For perfectly round cookies, use a circular cookie cutter slightly bigger than your cookies and make a circular motion to swirl the cookies around inside the cookie cutter. Use anything circular and hollow, like the top part of a glass, or push the edges back in with a spatula. You need to do this right after the cookies are out of the oven and they’re still warm
Make sure the cookies are completely cooled before frosting them, or frosting can melt completely into the cookies

Nutrition