These soft Drop Sugar Cookies are simple, sweet, chewy, and a little bit crinkly with a hint of vanilla. They are the perfect classic drop sugar cookie.
They only require 8 staple ingredients, all of which you may already have at home.
The nice thing about simple drop cookie recipes like these sugar cookies, or these oatmeal raisin cranberry cookies (that I love), is that you can combine the ingredients in one large mixing bowl and get them straight in the oven without any extra effort. Minimal effort, minimal cleanup, and yet still great cookies.
Variations
- Vanilla Bean: For cookies with even more vanilla, these vanilla bean sugar cookies are made with vanilla bean, vanilla extract, and rolled in vanilla sugar (lots of vanilla, not too much extra effort).
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies: If you're looking to make cut out cookies, see my recipes for Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies and this spectacular Christmas Cookie Tree made of star cut out sugar cookies stacked on top of each other to make the shape of a Christmas tree.
Recipe Testing
I've made this recipe over 10 times while recipe testing. Here are some of my notes.
- Eggs: I’ve made these with and without the extra egg yolk, and you can really taste the richness when the extra egg yolk is added.
- Baking Soda: I've made these cookies without baking soda, and they have a dome shape and are quite poofy. They look very different (though still taste great), but they don't have that nice crinkly, soft, chewy cookie texture.
- Flour: The more flour you add, the thicker and chewier the cookies. I've made these with 2½, 2¾ cups, and 3 cups of flour multiple times, and I always come back to making them with 2¾ cups flour, which gives them a chewy texture without being cake-like.
- Cookie Size: I've made these using 1, 1½, and 2 tablespoons worth of dough. I find that 1½ is the sweet spot, but 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie also works.
- Rolling in Sugar: The cookies can be rolled in extra sugar to add a special touch. It does not impact the shape of the cookie or how chewy it is.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Drop Sugar Cookies.
- Butter: I use salted butter.
- Granulated Sugar: Use granulated sugar rather than brown sugar to add sweetness without adding any molasses flavor.
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk: This recipe includes one whole egg and an extra egg yolk.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract enhances the sugar cookie flavor.
- Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour.
- Baking Powder: To help the cookies rise.
- Baking Soda: Helps the cookies have that nice crinkly look and texture.
- Salt: To balance and bring out the other flavors.
To learn more about these cookie ingredients, see my Guide to Cookie Ingredients.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Drop Sugar Cookies
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make Drop Sugar Cookies.
*Note that the recipe card with instructions and ingredient list is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1: Butter and Sugar: Add the softened butter and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and combine either by hand or with a mixer.
Step 2. Eggs and Vanilla: Add the egg, additional egg yolk, and vanilla and combine.
Step 3. Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt: Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and combine.
Step 4. Add the Flour: Add the flour and combine.
Step 5. Bake: Roll the dough into balls using approximately 1½ tablespoons of dough per cookie. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350℉ for 9 minutes. Do not allow the cookies to brown.
Tips for the Best Cookies
- Measuring Flour: There is no universal method for measuring flour with a measuring cup, and results can vary widely. I use a measurement of 140g per cup of flour. For the best cookies, measure by weight using a kitchen scale. If you do not have a kitchen scale, use the dip and sweep method used by America's Test Kitchen.
- Cookie Size: To portion out the cookies, you can use a tablespoon to measure the first one and then approximate the rest, or use a cookie/ice cream scoop. I like to roll the dough between the palms of my hands to get the circular shape for these cookies. This also creates surface tension, which helps to prevent spreading.
- Test Cookie: It's always best to make a single test cookie first before baking an entire batch when trying a recipe for the first time so that you can get a sense for how the cookies work in your oven or if you need to add more flour.
- When Are The Cookies Done?: Bake for 9 minutes and no more to ensure soft, chewy cookies. You do not want the edges to brown. The centers can be slightly soft when removing the cookies from the oven. They will continue to firm up and cook on the hot baking sheet after you remove them from the oven.
- For more tips and tricks, see my Guide to Making the Best Homemade Cookies.
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 place 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 (10-11 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 cookie texture.
These cookies keep well wrapped in plastic on the counter for 3 days, but we still snack on them days after that.
For More Cookie Recipes You May Love:
If you tried this Drop Sugar Cookie Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Drop Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2¾ cups flour
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 using 1½ tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Place the cookies on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 9 minutes.
Notes
- Measuring Flour: There is no universal method for measuring flour with a measuring cup, and results can vary widely. I use a measurement of 140g per cup of flour. For the best cookies, measure by weight using a kitchen scale. If you do not have a kitchen scale, use the dip and sweep method used by America's Test Kitchen.
- Cookie Size: To portion out the cookies, you can use a tablespoon to measure the first one and then approximate the rest, or use a cookie/ice cream scoop. I like to roll the dough between the palms of my hands to get the circular shape for these cookies. This also creates surface tension, which helps to prevent spreading.
- Test Cookie: It's always best to make a single test cookie first before baking an entire batch when trying a recipe for the first time so that you can get a sense for how the cookies work in your oven or if you need to add more flour.
- When Are The Cookies Done?: Bake for 9 minutes and no more to ensure soft, chewy cookies. You do not want the edges to brown. The centers can be slightly soft when removing the cookies from the oven. They will continue to firm up and cook on the hot baking sheet after you remove them from the oven.
- For more tips and tricks, see my Guide to Making the Best Homemade Cookies.
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