Sour Cream Sugar Cookies are so tender and soft. This cake-like cookie is made rich with sour cream and butter and will so become a family favorite.
Why you should make this Sour Cream Sugar Cookie
Don’t pass by this soft sugar cookie recipe because it requires refrigeration. Here’s why:
- It’s great to make the dough ahead of time when pinched for time. The dough can stay in the refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days and frozen up to a month.
- Because the dough has less flour, it will require refrigeration. Adding more flour will make the cookie dry with a floury taste.
- Less flour means a more tender and flavorful cookie.
- Sour cream is mixed into the dough for a soft, tender, and flavorful cookie.
- Butter! No shortening in this cookie. Always remember butter has a melting point lower than our body heat which means the cookie will begin to melt-in-your-mouth with the first bite. Shortening leaves a film on the roof of your mouth and tongue. Butter = Flavor Shortening = Yuck (authors opinion) 😉
Mixing the dough
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6- Sift together baking soda, salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix for 3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each egg. Add vanilla.
- Add sour cream alternately with the flour in three additions.
- Beginning and ending with the flour.
- Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours.
Rolling out and cutting the dough
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5- Preheat oven to375℉. Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator. Divide dough in half. Place dough on a lightly floured surface.
- Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick. Brush off any remaining flour.
- Cut out dough with a lightly floured cookie cutter. NOTE: this is a soft dough and will not hold its shape well. Hearts and circles work great or any other cookie cutter without a lot of detail.
- Carefully place cut cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If not using parchment there is no need to grease or oil the baking sheet. The cookies will not stick.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are barely beginning to turn golden. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool 5-10 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to cooling rack.
Cream Cheese Icing
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4- In a large mixing bowl, add cream cheese and butter.
- Beat until smooth and creamy
- Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Mix until smooth and well blended. Coloring may be added at this point if desired. Ice cookies with a thin metal spatula or spoon icing into a bag fitted with a star tip and pipe icing onto the tops of the cookies. Add sprinkles, drageés, or sparkling sugars, if desired.
Soft Sugar Cookies
Soft and buttery cake-like sugar cookies with cream cheese icing. These cookies are so flavorful and tender. Overnight refrigeration required to make dough easy to roll and cut without adding excess flour.
Prep Time 10 minutes
chill time 8 hours
Total Time 18 minutes
Servings 27
Calories 258 kcal
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup sour cream
- 3 cups flour
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Dough
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Sift together baking soda, salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat for about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat for another 3 minutes.
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Add flour alternately with sour cream in three additions. Beginning and ending with flour. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours.
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When ready to use, remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half. Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until just barely beginning to brown around the edges. Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Cream Cheese Icing
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In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, cream cheese. Add vanilla and powdered sugar until well blended.
Recipe Notes
- Softened butter should still hold its shape but dent when pressed.
- Don’t skip the step of creaming the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes.
- The cookie dough is quite sticky. DO NOT add more flour. This is the reason the dough needs to be refrigerated until very cold. At least 8 hours.
- Chilling the cookie dough makes rolling the dough out very easy without adding additional flour. This ensures a very tender and soft cookie. 😋
- Double cream cheese icing if you're planning on piping a hefty amount of icing on the cookies. It's a good idea to make a double batch because leftover icing freezes great. It's always good to have a batch in the freezer.
- Instead of using food coloring, I used 1/4 teaspoon beet juice because I love the soft pink color. 😍Beets!
- Cookies freeze great for about 2-3 weeks. If cookies have been iced, place cookies on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze completely. Layer between sheets of waxed paper in a covered container and place back into the freezer.
Other thoughts:
- It's great to make the dough ahead of time when pinched for time. The dough can stay in the refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days and frozen up to a month.
- Because the dough has less flour, it will require refrigeration. Adding more flour will make the cookie dry with a floury taste.
- Less flour means a more tender and flavorful cookie.
- Sour cream is mixed into the dough for a soft, tender, and flavorful cookie.
- Butter! No shortening in this cookie. Always remember butter has a melting point lower than our body heat which means the cookie will begin to melt-in-your-mouth with the first bite. Shortening leaves a film on the roof of your mouth and tongue. Butter = Flavor Shortening = Yuck (authors opinion) 😉
Nutrition Facts
Soft Sugar Cookies
Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)
Calories 258
Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 7g35%
Cholesterol 46mg15%
Sodium 175mg7%
Potassium 48mg1%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 0g0%
Sugar 22g24%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 415IU8%
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 22mg2%
Iron 0.7mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
I would like to make these fo a wedding.
Can I freeze them with the icing already on?
Yes you can freeze them with the icing on. I would freeze them completely uncovered in a single layer. Once the cookies are frozen solid, layer the cookies between sheets of waxed or parchment paper. They will be delicious. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi, found this recipe on Pinterest. I may have missed something but I don’t see any information about greasing or not greasing the cookie sheet. Also, how long to wait to remove them from the sheet? Immediately? 5 minutes?
The baking sheet does not require greasing. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then lift with a spatula to a cooling rack. Parchment paper or a Silpat mat work great as well.
HI.
Could a swirl of Gel Food coloring work with these? Are they great without frostong?
Thsnks.
D
I’ve never tried a swirl of gel food color in this recipe. It is a softer dough to work with and holds its shape somewhat but does spread a bit. It’s a soft cookie and is good without icing. My dad hates icing so I always save him some “naked” cookies. Let me know if you try the swirl. I’d love to know how it turns out.
Question? After making these wonder cookies, can i mail them? They might spend 2-3 days at the most in the mil.
Yes, you can ship these cookies. I have not shipped them iced, however. I generally layer the cookies in a large tin between sheets of waxed or parchment paper. I think tins do a great job of protecting the cookies while keeping them fresh. I always freeze the tin-filled cookies just to help preserve them during shipping a bit. If you do frost the cookies, make sure they are layered between the waxed paper. It will help prevent them from sticking to each other during shipping. Let me know if you ship them off and how they arrive!
I made these cookies for friends and neighbors for Christmas and Hanukkah, and they absolutely love them. This recipe made me look like a cookie expert and made a lot of people very happy.
This is my absolute favorite sugar cookie recipe. They always get rave reviews. I’m so thrilled your friends and neighbors loved the cookies. Lucky neighbors. Thank you so much for passing this on. It makes my day.
Does the sour cream have to be full fat or can you use a lite sour cream?
Yes, you can use light sour cream.
What icing tip did you use to ice these sugar cookies?
They are ADORABLE!
Thank you so much. I used cream cheese icing. The recipe is located on the recipe card at the bottom of the sugar cookie recipe. I hope this helps. Please let me know if your have any further questions.
So cutE. Will be ma them for a WEDDING.
Did you use a star icing tip? If so what size?
Yes, I used a star tip. It is a Wilton 1M tip. I hope you love the cookies. I made these sugar cookies for my son’s wedding. They were a huge hit!
I’m a sugar cookie snob and am excited to try these with my teenagers!
Please let me know what your teenagers think of the cookie.
Thank you, im going to try making them .
I hope you love them. Please let me know if you like them.
Do these have to be rolled and cut?
I have never tried just scooping and dropping the dough onto baking sheets, but I imagine it could be done. Why not? I generally roll them out and cut.
Took a bit to figure out best way for me to work with the dough, once I got the hang of it they came out perfectly! Made an extra batch of dough to have ready for St Patttys Day cookies!
The dough can be a bit sticky if not refrigerated. But the flavor is delicious and worth the effort. Thank you so much for sharing.
Do these hold up if stacked or packaged together? I want to make these for a wedding but don’t know if they will be smudged easily. thanks!
The cookies stack well if they are NOT iced. So you could freeze them without icing and ice the day of the wedding. Once the cookies have been iced they will smash. Here is an option to freeze them – Once the cookies have been iced lay them flat on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze the cookies solid. Once they are frozen, then they can my lightly stack with waxed paper in between each layer and returned to the freezer. I wouldn’t stack more than 2-3 cookies high because the icing may still get smashed. I hope this helps. Being able to freeze cookies for an even is so helpful. I’m in favor of getting anything prepared in advance.