Soft Sugar Cookies

These Soft Sugar Cookies are the kind of old-fashioned recipe worth keeping in your baking rotation. The centers stay soft, tender, and pleasantly chewy, while the bottoms develop just enough golden color to give each cookie structure. Butter adds rich flavor, shortening helps maintain that classic soft texture, and vanilla gives the cookies their familiar bakery-style aroma.

I especially like that there is no rolling pin or cookie cutter required. The dough is simply shaped into balls and rolled in sparkling decorating sugar, making this an easy project for kids and a practical choice when you need several dozen cookies without spending the afternoon decorating. Different sugar colors make the same dependable recipe work for Christmas, birthdays, baby showers, Valentine’s Day, or just a weekend treat.

The original recipe yields 24 generously sized cookies, and the simple method makes it approachable even for beginning bakers. Keep an eye on the bottoms rather than waiting for deeply browned tops; that is the secret to preserving their wonderfully soft centers.

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Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough

⅔ cup shortening

⅔ cup unsalted butter, softened

1½ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

For Coating

⅓ cup colored decorating sugar

Instructions

1. Prepare the oven. Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Set out ungreased baking sheets. Pour the decorating sugar into a shallow bowl; use separate bowls if you are working with several colors.
2. Cream the fats. Beat the shortening and softened butter with a stand or hand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy.
3. Add the sugar and eggs. Beat in the granulated sugar until evenly incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla.
4. Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Make the dough. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Stop mixing once a cohesive, soft dough forms.
6. Shape and coat. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll each ball in decorating sugar until coated, then arrange them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
7. Bake. Bake at 175°C / 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans between oven racks halfway through if baking more than one sheet at once. The cookies are ready when their bottoms are lightly golden.
8. Cool. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let them cool completely before storing.

Cooking Notes

Do not wait for the tops to become deeply browned. Slightly underbaked-looking centers are desirable because the cookies continue setting from residual heat after leaving the oven.

Use properly softened butter rather than melted butter. Melted butter can make the dough spread too quickly.

Once the flour has been added, mix only until combined. Excessive mixing develops more gluten and can make the finished cookies firmer.

Plain granulated sugar can replace colored decorating sugar when appearance is not important. Coarse sparkling sugar can also be used for extra crunch.

For consistent cookies, portion the dough evenly so every cookie finishes baking at approximately the same time.

Nutrition

The recipe yields approximately 24 cookies, with 1 cookie per serving. The supplied nutrition information lists 226 calories, 29 g carbohydrate, 3 g protein, and 11 g total fat per cookie. Those figures are consistent with a calorie-dense cookie dough containing substantial quantities of butter, shortening, sugar, and flour.

Estimated Nutrition per Serving

• Calories: 226 kcal
• Fat: 11.0 g
• Carb: 29.0 g
• Protein: 3.0 g

Nutrition values are estimates and can vary with ingredient brands, decorating-sugar usage, and the exact size of each cookie.

Recipe Science

Soft sugar cookies rely on the combination of solid fats, sugar, eggs, flour, and chemical leavening to create their characteristic texture. Butter contributes flavor and tenderness, while shortening contains little water and helps limit gluten development and excessive spreading. Baking powder supplies leavening, producing a cookie that is thicker and softer than many crisp sugar-cookie styles.

Creaming the fats before incorporating the remaining ingredients distributes fat evenly and helps establish the cookie’s structure. The relatively short baking period is equally important. Removing the cookies when the bottoms are only lightly browned limits moisture loss, allowing the centers to remain soft as they finish setting during cooling.

These cookies are practical for everyday and holiday baking because the dough requires no rolling or cutting. Once completely cool, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. The decorating sugar can be changed without altering the basic dough, and plain granulated sugar is a suitable substitute when colored sugar is unavailable.

Dietary Notes & Health Alerts: Based on the supplied nutrition data, one cookie contains 5 g saturated fat, which equals 25% of the FDA Daily Value of 20 g and therefore qualifies as high per serving. Anyone limiting saturated fat should consider portion size, particularly when eating multiple cookies. The provided nutrition information does not specify added sugar, so its percentage of the FDA’s 50 g Daily Value cannot be reliably calculated. Sodium is 129 mg per cookie, about 6% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value and is not considered high.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• No Rolling Pin Needed: Shape the dough directly into balls, which makes preparation much faster than traditional cutout sugar cookies.
• Soft, Chewy Centers: The butter-and-shortening combination creates a tender cookie that stays pleasantly soft.
• Easy to Customize: Change the decorating sugar to match holidays, showers, birthdays, or team colors.
• Beginner-Friendly: Straightforward mixing, shaping, and baking make this an approachable first cookie recipe.
• Great for Sharing: A 24-cookie batch is just right for parties, cookie trays, classroom treats, or gifting.

FAQ

• Can I make the dough ahead of time? Yes. Cover it tightly and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. Let very firm dough soften briefly at room temperature before shaping.
• Why did my sugar cookies turn out hard? Overbaking is the most common cause. Take them out when the bottoms are lightly golden rather than waiting for the entire cookie to brown.
• Can I use all butter instead of shortening? You can, but the cookies may spread more and have a slightly different texture. The original combination is particularly effective for producing soft, thick cookies.
• Can I freeze these cookies? Yes. Cool them completely, seal them in a freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to about 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
• Do I have to use colored sugar? No. Regular granulated sugar works perfectly well, while coarse sparkling sugar provides a more decorative finish.

Conclusion

There is something wonderfully comforting about a simple sugar cookie that doesn’t need frosting or complicated decorating to feel special. This is the kind of dependable recipe I like having around because you can change the sugar colors, make it your own, and bring it back for one celebration after another.

Cooking and baking are always a journey, so don’t worry about adding your own family touch. What color sugar would you use for your first batch?

Happy baking, friends!