10 Expert Tips for Baking the Perfect Sugar Cookie (2024)

'Tis the season for sugar cookies! The holidays just don’t feel complete without these fun, frosted shapes.

But while your basic sugar cookie recipe may seem very simple, a few mistakes will leave you with a cookie that disappoints. Whether you’re a once-a-year baker or you whip up a batch daily, we’ve all been there: burnt edges, hard centers, a cookie that loses its shape in the oven. The list goes on.

So what to do? Bring in the experts. And who better to ask for advice than the St. Louis bakers who have already logged countless hours in the kitchen this month, baking and decorating for the holidays?

These bakers begin planning holiday cookies well before the holiday season. Colleen Thompson, owner of Colleen's Cookies, begins planning the holiday cookies sold at her University City bakery in June. Winslow's Home executive pastry chef Lisa Fernandez-Cruz laughs a little as she explains that holiday cookie planning goes on "throughout the year." Helping Fernandez-Cruz is baker Sarah Guest, who spends an entire day decorating the sugar cookies sold at Winslow’s bakery counter, whilePint Size Bakery & Coffee pastry chef Christy Augustin is busy as ever this month in her South City bakery.

The hours these bakers spend in the kitchen have led to tricks, tips and advice to send us all on our way to sugar cookie perfection. So set your eggs out on the counter and grab your rolling pin. From the dough to the baking to the icing, our guide will leave you with the perfect sugar cookie this holiday season.

1. Opt for Room Temperature Eggs. Baking with eggs that have reached room temperature eggs allows for an even disbursem*nt in the dough. Beyond that, both Augustin and Fernandez-Cruz suggest making a dough using egg yolks rather than whole eggs. "A cookie recipe with egg yolks will be more tender than one with whole eggs," says Augustin.

2. Splurge on "Pure" Vanilla Extract. Make it easy on yourself and never buy imitation extracts. A good-quality pure vanilla extract is the only way to go in baking, and especially in your sugar cookies.

3. Whisk the Flour. Many recipes say "sift the dry ingredients." You can easily do this with a whisk! In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the other dry ingredients, such as salt and baking powder. Whisking will combine the dry ingredients while also giving air and fluffiness to the flour.

4. Chill the Dough. Once you mix the dough, shape it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator until completely firm, preferably overnight. If you are baking the cookies the same day, chill the dough until firm -- at least an hour.

5. Refrain from Overmixing. One mistake Thompson sees home bakers make is overmixing the dough. Do you keep beating the dough long after all of the ingredients are added? Resist this urge! Mixing too long after adding the flour will create a dense, tough cookie. Mix until combined and then turn off the mixer.

6. Go Easy on the Flour. When you roll the dough out on a floured work surface, do not over-flour, Thompson advises. It will make the dough tough and dry. Lightly flour the work surface just enough that the dough will not stick. Then, lightly flour your rolling pin. Or, do what Fernandez-Cruz does at Winslow's Home and avoid flour all together: Instead, she rolls out the dough on parchment paper.

7. Bake on Parchment Paper.Speaking of parchment paper, it's also a great surface for baking. Augustin states it simply: "Parchment every time." Place a sheet of the paper on your baking sheet. Then, once you cut out the cookie shapes, transfer the cookies to the parchment paper to bake. The parchment makes for an easy removal— not to mention cleanup is a breeze.

8. Chill the Dough Again Before Baking. Once the dough is cut into shapes and transferred to the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, Fernandez-Cruz suggests refrigerating the unbaked cookies until the dough is again firm, about 30 minutes.

9. Remove Cookies From the Oven Before They’re Golden. Don’t bake your sugar cookies too long! "Most people tend to over-bake sugar cookies," Augustin says. "At Pint Size we bake them for no more than seven to eight minutes. There should be hardly any color." If you take the cookies out of the oven before the cookies begin to turn golden, you can say goodbye to those burnt edges on your cookie stars.

Thompson recommends placing an oven thermometer in the middle back of your oven. Since some ovens get hotter than others, a thermometer ensures that the oven is actually 350 degrees. Then, halfway through the baking time, don't forget to rotate the cookie sheets 180 degrees for even baking.

10. Keep Icing Fresh. Professionals recommend decorating your cookies with a royal icing. This type of icing hardens, making it perfect for stacking and packaging cookies during the holidays. Royal icing uses as little as three ingredients: confectioners' sugar, egg whites and liquids such as lemon juice, vanilla extract or milk.

Winslow's Home baker Sarah Guest places two pounds of confectioners' sugar at the bottom of the mixer and turns it on low. To Guest, making icing is a constant improvisation. She slowly adds pasteurized egg whites until the icing reaches the desired thickness. A bit of fresh lemon juice, to taste, is added at the end.

At Pint Size Bakery, Augustin uses one pound of powdered sugar to three egg whites. Augustin also adds cream of tartar to help with the texture of the icing when decorating. After whipping the icing, Augustin suggests adding milk in tiny amounts until the icing is the desired consistency. Meringue powder can also be used in place of pasteurized egg whites.

Separate the royal icing into bowls to mix in the coloring. To prevent icing from becoming hard as you decorate, Guest recommends placing a wet paper towel over the bowls. If your icing is not made immediately before decorating, store the icing in an airtight container. Augustin makes the royal icing and colors it the day before she decorates her cookies — it willkeep at room temperature for two days.

No matter what you do, be creative, and don’t forget to have fun! The sugar cookie is an important part of the holidays. "It's so unique. It's so fun," says Thompson, who loves the creativity a cutout sugar cookie allows. "You can't do that much with a cookie like chocolate chip. But the sugar cookies...you can go crazy," she says.

Be creative with your shapes and decorating. At Winslow's Home, a star shape becomes Santa Claus and an upside-down gingerbread man is transformed into a reindeer head. Decorating is the fun part! So take your time and make it great.

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