This recipe is for the perfect classic soft drop sugar cookies. They are simple, sweet, a little bit crinkly with a hint of vanilla. What makes these sugar cookies so good is that they contain an extra egg yolk. The extra egg yolk makes them rich and yummy.
Notes on Soft Drop Sugar Cookie Ingredients:
Granulated Sugar: These soft sugar cookies use only granulated sugar. It is simple and sweet. I have made these rolled in extra sugar and it doesn’t impact the shape of the cookie or how chewy it is.
Baking Soda: baking soda is necessary to ensure that these cookies have that nice crinkly look and texture. Without it, the cookies would be poofy and look very different (though still taste great).
Extra Egg Yolk: This recipe includes one whole egg and an extra egg yolk which gives that extra richness in flavor. I’ve made these with and without the extra egg yolk and you can really taste the difference when the extra egg yolk is added.
Refrigerating the Dough
You can absolutely refrigerate the dough, but it is not necessary. These are classic sugar cookies, and in my mind it’s not necessary to go crazy with refrigerating the dough. Keep it simple – put them straight in the oven.
If you do refrigerate the dough, the cookies will have a slightly thicker and chewier texture, and the flavors will meld together more. They can be refrigerated for 30 minutes or overnight. If you plan to refrigerate the dough, make the balls of dough and place on a plate covered in plastic wrap in the fridge. Then take them out of the fridge, place on a baking sheet and bake for 11 minutes (rather than 9) at 350℉.
Portioning the Dough
Portion out 2 tbsp worth of dough for each cookie. This makes 26 cookies. You can either do this with your hands, or using two small spoons (one to scoop and the other to help shape into a round ball), or with a cookie/ice cream scoop.
Soft Drop Sugar Cookie FAQs:
The cookies are done after 9 minutes. They will look slightly underdone in the middle. This is perfect. Don’t wait until they look fully cooked to pull them out. They should still be a little soft and look a little underbaked in the middle. They will continue to cook and firm up on the pan when you take them out.
Yes, you can freeze soft sugar cookie dough. Shape into balls and places in a Ziploc bag or Tupperware. To bake, either bring to room temperature and bake or if baking directly from frozen bake for an extra 1-2 minutes (12-13 minutes total).
Cookies flatten because either they do not have enough flour, the butter is too soft or melted, there is not enough baking powder, or the proportion of sugar is too high compared with the rest of the ingredients.
The biggest reason cookies become poofy is because there is too much flour. In small batch recipes it may be because you added egg white, instead of only egg yolk. Another reason is that the butter was too cold and not at room temperature. Not enough baking soda also leads to cookies that are too poofy. The baking soda helps the dough to spread out and gives it that crinkly cookies texture.
Looking for other cookie recipes? Try these:
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Small Batch Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you make these Soft Drop Sugar Cookies, I'd love to hear from you and learn how it went. Leave a rating and a comment down below and let me know how it turns out. Your feedback means a lot!
Soft Drop Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2½ cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a large bowl combine the softened butter and granulated sugar. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour and combine.
- Roll the dough into balls with 2 tbsp of batter each. Place on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 9 minutes.
- If refrigerating the dough: Place the balls of dough directly from the fridge onto a baking sheet and into the oven. Bake for 11 minutes.
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