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Perfect no-chill sugar cookies maintain their shape and don’t require any chilling time. Plus, use any flavor extract to flavor your cookies however you like!

No-Chill Sugar Cookies
I’m an impatient person. I won’t even pretend otherwise.

I grew up hearing my mother constantly tell me, “Patience is a virtue.” I usually mentally responded with something along the lines of, “Well, being prompt is also a virtue.”

It’s really no surprise that my restaurant manager from my college server days loved me for my “great sense of urgency.” My current boss finds this same sense of urgency to be quite an asset, as well.

I suppose you could say that I have found my people.

So, when I want cookies…I don’t really want to have to wait for them. The Whirling Dervish over here wants to be able to make them, throw them in the oven, and have cookies in front of my face 12 minutes later.

Waiting for dough to chill? So not my thing.

As such, these No-Chill Sugar Cookies are my new go-to cut-out sugar cookies.

NO-CHILL SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUT RECIPE

No-Chill Sugar Cookies are a perfect cut-out cookie recipe. They are not a chewy cookie, but are ideal for icing.

The dough for No-Chill Sugar Cookies has been fiddled and tweaked until it holds it shape quite excellently without any chilling. This means that I can be frosting my sugar cookie cut-outs in no time.

I have even used my No-Chill Sugar Cookie cutout recipe as a base for Chai Sugar Cookies, Stained Glass Cookies and Raspberry Linzer Cookies.

Plus, you can use any flavor extract you like in your No-Chill Sugar Cookies, allowing you to customize them to the season.

Fall? Try almond extract. Spring? Give lemon a try! Winter? Peppermint should do the trick.

No-Chill Sugar Cookies are indeed a thing of beauty.

No-Chill, Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

SUGAR COOKIE ICING

I am not a great sugar cookie artist, so royal icing is not exactly my thing.

A simple buttercream icing, though? I’m all about that.

The super simple buttercream icing for No-Chill Sugar Cookies uses the same flavor extract as the cookies for an extra hit of flavor.

While this icing does not harden like a royal icing, it will crust up, allowing you to gently stack the cookies. I do recommend separating layers with parchment or waxed paper, though, to keep things extra clean

BE A GOOD COOKIE

A few loyal readers may remember last year’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cookies and how I proclaimed my eternal love for cinnamon chips and also introduced you to a special partnership between OXO and Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

I am supporting the partnership again this year with these No-Chill Sugar Cookies. This fall, while you are out and about, keep your eyes peeled for the following symbol on a number of specially-marked OXO products:

Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 1.14.06 AM
For every stickered item sold, OXO will donate 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as a part of its $100,000 pledge to C4CK*.

So now when you purchase helpful items such as this 3-Piece Cookie Cutter Set or this Bent Icing Knife, you can know that you are not just supporting your cookie habit, you are also supporting a great cause.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

No-Chill Sugar Cookies

4.42 from 63 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 57 minutes
Servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients 

For the cookies:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon flavor extract of your choice*
  • 3 1/2 cups flour

For the icing:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 3 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon same flavor extract as used in the cookies

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and flavor extract and beat until combined.
  • Slowly add the flour, stirring just until combined. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to form into a disk. Roll the dough to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick and cut with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheets.
  • Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or just until the edges barely start to turn golden. Remove from the baking sheets to a rack to cool before icing.
  • For the icing, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in the powder sugar, then add the milk and flavor extract. Beat until combined, adding more milk or more powdered sugar as needed to achieve desired spreading consistency. If coloring, beat in food coloring. Spread onto cookies and allow to set before storing.

Notes

*Please use a high-quality flavor extract. My favorite for these cookies is Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract or Nielsen-Massey Pure Lemon Extract.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 15mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 188IU | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Support OXO and Cookies for Kids’ Cancer on social media:

Twitter: @OXO@Cookies4Kids

Instagram: @OXO@Cookies4Kids

Facebook: facebook.com/OXOfacebook.com/CookiesForKidsCancer

Pinterest: pinterest.com/OXOpinterest.com/Cookies4Kids

*In 2014, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through specially marked baking tools, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.

During the month of September, OXO will donate $100 to C4KC for each blog post dedicated to this campaign. I received samples of specially-marked products as part of the campaign, but received no other compensation for this post. All opinions are my own and simply reflect my desire to support a worthy cause!

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55 Comments

    1. Right?? And how often do you forget that you promised to take cookies to a shindig and find yourself scrambling at the last minute?? Wait…that might just be me…

  1. Oh! I can use the chocolate extract you gave me! Perfect for our Sunday night snack. I’m going to attempt them this weekend.

      1. That’s my plan. Assuming that I can keep someone from immediately eating all of them. Haven’t decided if I’ll ice them or not. They should freeze quite well.

  2. I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to cookies — especially sugar ones with frosting on top — I, too, am a very prompt/impatient person. I also tend to lack self control once they’re ready to eat. So that means I am literally a cookie monster.

  3. I often avoid sugar cookies just because of the rolling and long chill time, so I absolutely LOVE this. And awesome you’re working with OXO and CFKC. Two companies that are near and dear to my heart!

  4. Thank you so much for being a part of our #PureBlogLove link parties in 2014 – We plan on seeing in the new year with a BANG this Thursday evening and hope that all our favorite bloggers will join us! No worries if you cannot make it that night, remember the party runs weekly, Thursday-Monday morning!!

    1. Hi Sonia – I have never had extra dough because I have a problem called “I eat too many cookies” 🙂 That said, it can’t hurt to give it a try! I would maybe roll it into a log and wrap it up nice and tight in plastic wrap and then maybe put into a ziplock bag. That way you could just slice the cookies off and bake as needed. If you try it, let me know how it works for you!

  5. One tip I learned a few years back…. when rolling out & cutting cookies, use powdered sugar instead of flour so the don’t dry out. Can’t wait to try this recipe! I ALWAYS forget about the chill time until I’m ready to make them. And then they don’t get rolled for several days.

  6. These cookies contain no baking powder or anything else to make them rise. I made them for a family bake-off over the weekend. They were the worst. I took them to school for my students to eat, and three students asked if they had to finish eating them. If I did something wrong, I have no idea what it was. I carefully followed the directions as written.

    1. Hi Karen – I am so sorry you had trouble with the recipe! It is not uncommon for a cut-out cookie to contain no or very, very little leavening agent (such as baking powder or soda). The reason for this is that when you are cutting out shapes, you do not want the cookie to rise much, or else you will lose the shape of the cookie. The egg (which does also provide some rise) provides just enough in this type of cookie.

      I have had numerous folks make these without any issues. If you’d like to do some troubleshooting, I’d be happy to try to help you figure out what might have happened!

  7. We just made these cookies since I, too, hate waiting for cookies to chill. They worked up wonderfully, but we had a problem when they came out of the oven. The cookies were very, very hard to get of the baking sheets. Is there anything you can suggest?

    1. I use parchment under my cookies (regardless of the recipe I’m using). Sometimes if a cookie sheet is older, even the least sticky of recipes will still stick. You can even buy parchment sheets that are already pre-cut for you.

    1. Hi there – sorry you had issues! I have not had anyone else mention this issue – typically it only takes a little bit of “working the dough” into a ball to get it to come together. Perhaps your flour got a little compacted when measuring – too much flour could cause an issue like that.

      1. I had this issue. I’m really comfortable in the kitchen and this is the worst sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. I added less flour and it was still dry and crumbly, so I added water and now the dough is chilling because it’s more crumbly than traditional sugar cookies. Wish I didn’t promise my kids cookies for valentine’s. This recipe just used all my butter so I have to make them work. 🙂

      2. I have made these cookies countless times without issue, as have a number of my other readers. I’m so sorry they didn’t work out for you!

  8. Hi! I decided that we needed to ring in the new year with cookies, because nothing says Happy New Year like cookies and wine. I wanted to try this recipe, since I didn’t want to spend all day waiting for the dough to chill. This was such an easy recipe and absolutely delicious! I just read some of the reviews, and I have no idea what they could have done wrong. I did make sure to use the best extract (I happened to have Nielsen Massey on hand) and used parchment paper like you suggested in the recipe. The consistency of the dough was perfect for rolling out, and I didn’t even have to use a spatula to put them on the racks to cool–they slid right off. As far as the baking powder thing…I’m quite confused over that. My two go-to recipes have been from Southern Living and Better Homes and Garden, and neither one uses baking powder for sugar cookies. I, personally, don’t want puffy cookies. Santa is fat enough without being puffier, but that’s just me. I actually had to stick some cookies in the freezer for later so I would stop eating them. Good thing that my diet starts next week. Thanks for the great recipe–it’s now my go-to recipe!

  9. Made this recipe after a disaster struck on first batch with another recipe.. I highly recommend this for new comers and experienced bakers. one idea i used and loved was using sugar instead of flour to keep from sticking, at first I was leery about this but using it with THIS recipe worked AMAZINGLY. I prefer to use a cream cheese butter cream frosting but use royal icing for professional orders unless otherwise requested.

  10. This seriously is the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve come across– I’ve tried way too many. So, thank you! It’s not overbearingly sweet at all and has a very simple yet awesome flavor and texture. In addition, the cookies keep their shapes really well.

  11. I have just made these and they came out brilliant and very tasty, i use lemon flavor, I have tried a few recipes for sugar cookies as i need to make a 100 that hold shape and taste good for my daughters wedding as favors , Thank-you they taste and look great.

  12. love this recipe! I made them today for a Christmas cookie party that I had forgotten about and they taste amazing! Thank you so much for posting this easy and delicious recipe!

  13. I was having trouble with it being very sticky. I’m not sure if I had over mixed it in the mixing bowl before taking it out. I will be retrying and seeing if I can get a different out come. I used a strawberry flavor and it tasted good. If there is anything else I can do to not make it sticky, please let me know. Thank-you!

  14. I know this is an old post, but this has been my “go-to” recipe for the last three years. I have tried close to 20 different recipes and never had the results I have with this recipe. Quick to put together, easy to roll, no spread and tastes great.

  15. Now that my sugar cookie hang over has passed.. I wanted to tell you that this is the most amazing recipe I have ever seen. These cookies came out BEAUTIFUL and SO FREAKING GOOD. I made 105 cookies for Christmas.. every single coolie was perfect. I will be using this recipe for EVERY holiday and reason that there is for cookies. haha Thank you for helping me fall in love with baking cookies again. <3

  16. Delicious & easy! I just made these cookies with my 5 y/o Grandson & he was able to roll out & cut the cookies himself. Mom will help with the frosting. Great recipe!!
    I’ll try to post a pic on PIN

  17. I just baked these yesterday,

    I’m a newbie at cookies and my cutters were quite intricate.
    Flouring them well did the trick.
    I can tell you one thing-they turned out DELICIOUS. Good thing I doubled up on the dough LOL.

    Thank you for this recipe!!!!

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