Rolled Sugar Cookie & Buttercream Frosting Recipe

I wanted to share with you a little treasure of a recipe that I’ve happened upon recently. You all know how much I love baking, but I didn’t have a good rolled sugar cookie recipe to use for This recipe yields a soft but hearty cookie that is perfect for decorating to your heart’s content. all those fun cookie cutters available now. Well, I think I’ve found my go-to recipe! I found the recipe here and with 4½ stars and over 5,000 reviews, I had to give it a try myself. I’ve actually used this recipe twice so far and the results were absolutely sublime both times. This recipe yields a soft but hearty cookie that is perfect for decorating to your heart’s content.

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies by Jill Saunders
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar 4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before frosting. {I bake mine for just 6 minutes and they are perfect! }

Want frosting? I use the same frosting that I make for a lot of cakes…buttercream! Though it doesn’t get hard like royal icing, it sets up nicely and tastes heavenly! I adjusted this recipe from another one that I found online, but the original called for shortening and I just hate the aftertaste. Butter all the way for me, baby!

Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk, and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered until ready to decorate. {I divide the frosting into smaller bowls and add various food color gels. {Depending on the size of your cookie, you’ll have plenty with some leftover.}

I wish I had remembered to count how many cookies this recipe made with this particular cookie cutter, but it was somewhere around 36-40, give or take a few.

I love using these beautiful measuring spoons that Deborah of The Fairfield House sent me. She knows my love of polka dots runs deep and she was so kind in sending this sweet little dish, too. {Deborah told me that she got the spoons from Anthropologie if you’re interested in a set for your cottage kitchen, too!}

What do you think of the red teacups?

They are actually measuring cups! {I purchased them from West Elm a few months ago, but unfortunately, they no longer sell them.}

Back to baking! What I really like about this recipe is that the cookies really don’t look much different before baking…

 …than they do after baking! If your dough is nice and chilled, the cookies will spread very little, if any at all, and they retain their shape extremely well.

You’ll find that these cookies by themselves aren’t overly sweet. When you add the fluffy rich buttercream, you’ll be pleased with the ‘just right’ balance between cookie and frosting.

If you want to fancy your cookies up with sprinkles, {I can’t fathom NOT adding sprinkles!!!} be sure to add them right after you spread the buttercream. The frosting sets up fairly quickly and if you try to add the sprinkles after it has set up, they’ll just bounce right off. Trust me on this one.

Here’s an idea: Flatten cupcake liners with an iron on low heat and use them as ‘cookie liners’ instead.:)

Store these cookies in an airtight container and they'll be soft and fresh tasting for days.

I used these same recipes recently for some cupcake shaped cookies. Excuse the cell phone photo – I was in a hurry finishing up last minute details before a house full of girls arrived for a slumber party. These looked really sweet packaged up in goody bags. {Those are red jelly beans on top, by the way.} I found the cupcake shaped cookie cutter at World Market for just 99 cents. 

If you try these cookies, please let me know what you think! If you try these cookies, please let me know what you think!

Thank you for visiting and have a great rest of the weekend!