Drop Sugar Cookies are the easiest sugar cookies you’ll ever make! No cookie cutters or slicing needed. Just drop the cookie dough onto your baking sheet. You will enjoy a batch of warm, buttery vanilla cookies.
If you have a soft spot for sugar cookies, my white chocolate peppermint cookies are based off today’s recipe. Or try my Sugar Cookie Cake and this Caramel Frosted Sugar Cookies Recipe!
Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
While frosted sugar cookies have universal appeal for kids, adults often turn up their noses at sugar cookies. And I get it! They’re often much too much—too much sugar, too much frosting, and too much food coloring. But these Drop Sugar Cookies may get you to reconsider.
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These are soft sugar cookies in their simplest form. Stripping away all that extra stuff makes you appreciate how delightful a good sugar cookie can be. Crispy edges, chewy centers, buttery, and flavored with vanilla!
Here are some more reasons to love this drop sugar cookie recipe:
- Since these are drop cookies, you don’t have to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, or slice a log of dough, or even roll the dough into balls. Just use a cookie dough scoop and drop the dough directly onto the baking sheet.
- Not only is the process of making these drop sugar cookies easy, the ingredient list is short and sweet too. If you bake often, I’ll bet you have everything you need for these cookies in your kitchen already.
- You don’t need to decorate these simple sugar cookies. You can fold sprinkles into the dough or frost the tops. Be creative!
Of course, my cut out sugar cookies are always a hit for holidays! But today’s recipe is then answer if you’re looking for a classic, easy drop cookie recipe.
Important Ingredient Notes
For a full list of ingredients and quantities, scroll down to the easy sugar cookie recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here are some highlights:
- Unsalted butter – Using unsalted butter gives you more control over the flavor of the finished product.
- Egg yolks – It’s easier to separate yolks from whites when the eggs are fresh out of the fridge. Save the egg whites to make a batch of peppermint meringue cookies!
- Granulated sugar– provides the perfect sweetness for this chewy sugar cookie recipe!
- Pure vanilla extract – If you’d like, you can use half vanilla extract and half almond extract. My homemade vanilla extract is a great choice.
- All-purpose flour – Don’t scoop this into the measuring cups! You’ll end up using more than you need. Lightly spoon it instead.
Use a combination of brown sugar with the granulated sugar to make my chewy butter pecan cookies next! Add lemon to make my easy lemon drop sugar cookies too.
How to Make Chewy Sugar Cookies
Make the Drop Sugar Cookie Dough:
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.
- Continue beating until the dough comes together into a ball. No need for chilling the dough.
Bake and Finish:
- Use a 2 tablespoon cookie dough scoop to drop the balls of dough onto the baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges of the sugar cookies are just beginning to brown.
- Lightly tap the tops of each cookie with a spatula.
- Let the cookies cool on the pans for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
*Use today’s drop cookie recipe as the base for my super indulgent coffee cake cookies! It’s also the secret base for my cardamom cookie recipe too.
Tips and Tricks
- Soften the butter before you get started. Use my tips on how to soften butter quickly for best results!
- Once your drop sugar cookies are cool, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- Freeze- The cookie dough and the baked cookies will both keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I recommend portioning the dough with a cookie scoop and freezing it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once it’s frozen, place it in a freezer bag. When ready to bake, add a few extra minutes to the baking time.
- Try adding this Sugar Cookie Frosting for more colorful cookies, or fold rainbow jimmies into the dough before baking.
More Sugar Cookie Recipes
- Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
- Candy Corn Sugar Cookies
- Caramel Apple Sugar Cookie Pizza
- Sugar Cookie Bites
- Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
- Monster Sugar Cookies
My Cookbook is Here!
- 5 categories of delicious treats!
- Full page photos for EVERY recipe.
- QR codes with every recipe to receive BONUS recipes!
- 35 mouth-watering, expert tested recipes!
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Drop Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar for 2-3 minutes until fully combined. Add in egg yolks and vanilla extract, beat until fluffy.
- Add flour, baking powder, and kosher salt. The mixture will be crumbly, continue beating until a cookie dough ball forms. Stop mixing at this point.
- Using a 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop, drop cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes until edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven. Lightly tap the tops of each cookie with a spatula. Let cool on pans for a few minutes, then cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- Save the eggs whites to make meringue cookies or egg white omelettes!
- Store cooled sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- Freeze cookie dough or baked and cooled cookies in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks!
i just made these today, added red and green M&Ms for the holiday. They are delicious cookies!! They look so nice too……and I got my cookbook in the mail today! ❤️