Soft and Cakey Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Today, we are going to bake delicious homemade Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies. These soft vanilla sugar cookies are made with creamy sour cream. Baked cut-out cookies are fluffy and soft. They can be enjoyed plain, decorated with sprinkles, royal icing, or buttercream frosting.

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A few months ago, I made Soft Cut-Out Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Buttercream. They were so delicious and easy to make. Pumpkin made the cookie dough extra scrumptious, perfect for seasonal celebrations. And then I decided to adjust the recipe, and I baked these easy-to-make Vanilla Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies.

WHY I LIKE THIS RECIPE?

INGREDIENTS

• All-Purpose Flour
• Unsalted Butter
• Sugar
• Sour Cream or thick Greek Yogurt
• Large Eggs
• Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Bean Paste / or use just Vanilla Extract if you don’t have Vanilla Bean Paste
• Salt
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda

COOKIE DOUGH

• When making the dough, it’s important that all the ingredients are at room temperature.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
• Gradually mix in sour cream and beat until combined, 1–2 minutes.
• Whisk together eggs, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste.
• Slowly add to the butter mixture, beating well and scraping down the bowl as needed.
• In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Gradually mix into the wet ingredients until a soft, sticky dough forms.
• This dough is slightly sticky.
• Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

ROLL OUT COOKIES

• Cut the chilled cookie dough in half.
• Return one half into the fridge so it doesn’t become too soft when left on the counter.
• This cookie dough is on the softer side. Dust your work surface with extra flour to prevent sticking.
• Use 1/4-inch (6mm) rolling guides to roll the cookie dough to an even thickness.
• Cut out cookies.
• Transfer cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.
• Gather scraps and re-roll. Don’t knead the cookie dough.

BAKE

• Bake one sheet of cookies at a time in the preheated oven at 350F (180C) for 8-9 minutes.
• If making cookies that are 3.5 inches or slightly larger, bake cookies for a minute longer.
• Bake just until puffed up and no longer shiny in the middle.
• Remove the cookies before the edges caramelize to keep them soft.
• Transfer cookies onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before decorating.

SUCCESS TIPS

CREATIVE COOKIE DECORATING WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Many of you prefer soft buttercream frosting over royal icing. And so I decided to pair my soft sugar cookies with yummy and super easy-to-make Sour Cream Buttercream Frosting. 

SOUR CREAM BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS

• Room temperature unsalted butter
• Powdered sugar
• Sour cream at room temperature
• Vanilla, Almond, and Lemon Extract
• Pinch of salt

BUTTERCREAM TRANSFERS

• Prepare buttercream and color it with gel food colors.
• Color buttercream with brown food coloring. Or you can use 1 -2 tablespoons of cocoa powder per 1 cup of buttercream.
• Place a stencil over a piece of parchment.
• Spread a moderately thick layer of buttercream over the stencil.
• Lift the stencil.
• Clean the stencil with a paper towel.
• Repeat.
• Freeze buttercream transfers for 20 minutes.

• Repeat the stenciling process with a snowman shape and a hat template.
• Use white and black buttercream.
• You can make black buttercream from brown buttercream, and add some black food coloring to brown buttercream, and mix well.
• Again, freeze buttercream transfers.

Alternatively, you can use other stencils like this star shape stencil to make fun star shapes. Freeze buttercream star transfers for 20 minutes.

DECORATE WITH BUTTERCREAM TRANSFERS

SNOWGLOBE COOKIE

• Spread a layer of blue buttercream on a cookie.
• Blend in some white buttercream.
• Decorate the edge with white nonpareil sprinkles.
• Spread a layer of red buttercream on the bottom section.
• Use a fork to create texture.

• Place the frozen buttercream transfers, upside down, directly onto the blue buttercream section, and carefully peel off the parchment.
• Buttercream must be frozen for this technique to work.
• Small buttercream transfers freeze in no time and soften very quickly when left on the counter.
• Work with a couple of pieces at a time.
• When transfers become too soft, stick them in the freezer to firm up.
• Use sprinkles to make the buttons, eyes, and nose.

Use the same technique to make gingerbread men transfers and decorate snow globe cookies with brown gingerbread men buttercream transfers.

TREE COOKIES

• Spread a layer of green buttercream onto the tree cookie.
• Then, with a fork, create texture in the buttercream.
• Decorate the top with white nonpareil sprinkles.
• And then gently place the frozen yellow buttercream star transfer onto the tree cookie.

Let the buttercream frosting crust for a couple of hours. Then store cookies in an airtight container, layered between parchment sheets. Keep in a cool place or fridge.

THINGS YOU NEED

• Mixer – love this mixer for bread dough, too
• Dough EZ Rolling System
• Baking Cookie Sheets
• Parchment
• Rolling Pin
• Cookie Cutters
• Cooling Racks (I have 3 of them, love them)
• Spatula

This post contains Amazon affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love. Learn more about my affiliate policy here.

MORE DECORATED COOKIE IDEAS

• Cute Christmas Cookies decorated with Classic Buttercream Frosting
• Christmas Cookie Decorating for Beginners
• Christmas Pinwheel Cookies via The Slow Roasted Italian
• Soft Pumpkin Cut-Out Cookies with Maple Buttercream

Print Pin

5 from 2 votes

Soft Sugar Cookies with Sour Cream Buttercream Frosting

Bake at 350F, 8-10 minutes, mine were done in about 9 minutes. If making larger cookies than 3 inches, bake them for little longer.

Course Cake, Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword soft buttercream cookies, soft cut out cookies, soft sour cream cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Author Hani

Ingredients

Soft Sugar Cookies

• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour (770 grams)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup 2 sticks (226 grams) room temperature unsalted butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
• 1 cup room temperature thick sour cream (240 ml)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional, use extract if you don't have it)
• additional flour for dusting

Sour Cream Buttercream Frosting

• 2 cups room temperature unsalted butter (452 grams)
• 6 1/2 cups powdered sugar (845 grams)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (60 ml)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract

Instructions

Soft Sugar Cookies

• Beat room temperature butte with sugar until creamy 3-5 minutes. Gradually beat in room temperature sour cream, beat for 1-2 minutes.
• In a small dish break egg, add vanilla and vanilla bean paste, whisk until combined. Gradually add egg mixture into the butter mixture, beat well. Scrape the bowl few time to ensure all in well mixed.
• Sift flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• Gradually and on low speed add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. The dough will be soft and slighlty sticky, but it shouldn't be unmanagably sticky. Dump it onto a plastic wrap sheet and cover and shape it into a disk. Refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350F.

  Cut the dough disk into half and return the second half to the fridge. Use flour on your work surface and roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Use rolling guides to ensure even thickness.
• Cut out as many cookies as possible and transfer them to a light-colored baking sheet lined with parchment or a perforated mat. Don't knead the scraps; re-roll the scraps and cut out more cookies.

  Bake at 350F bake for 8-9 minutes. For cookies larger than 3.5 inches, bake for a minute longer.

  Try not to overbake, or they will not be as soft.

  Let the cookies cool for a minute on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack using a flat cookie spatula. Store in an airtight container or freeze for up to 2 months.

Sour Cream Buttercream Frosting

• Beat room temperature butter, until creamy, gradually add powdered sugar, beat until fluffy then gradually beat in room temperature sour cream, beat in vanilla, almond and lemon extract.

Notes

• Can I decorate these cookies with royal icing? – Yes, they can be decorated with royal icing. I suggest you decorate the underside, as the tops of the baked cookies are slightly domed.
• I don’t have sour cream. Can I substitute for something else? I’ve successfully used thick Greek Yogurt or Protein Yogurt.

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