These soft and chewy sugar cookies are easy to make. They need just 3 ingredients and don’t require any eggs. The cookies store well and can be made ahead of time.
I always like making sugar cookies for gifting this time of year and this is my favorite one to make because they are so easy. The cookies are so soft and chewy and stay that way for days, so they are an easy make-ahead dessert to serve or to gift. The cookies can be decorated with sprinkles or icing or just served as they are.
Ingredients
- Sugar
- Butter
- Self-rising flour
Sugar: Regular granulated white sugar is used for this cookie recipe.
Butter: Make sure to use unsalted butter and not salted butter. Salted butter will add too much salt to the recipe because there is already salt in the self-rising flour.
Self-rising flour: Self-rising flour is a flour where baking powder and salt has already been mixed in. Self-rising flour is used to give the cookies their soft and chewy texture. If you make the cookies with just regular all purpose flour, they will be crispy rather than soft and chewy. If you don’t have self-rising flour on hand you can make your own by mixing all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
How to Make Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
- The butter and sugar are first creamed together until light and fluffy. The flour is then added in at low speed until a dough forms.
- Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough.
- If desired, you can press the top of the cookie dough into a small bowl of sprinkles to decorate the surface. This is completely optional.
- Then flatten each dough ball slightly until it forms a disk that is 9/16 inch thick.
- Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until the edges turn a light brown.
Expert Tips
- The dough may seem a little crumbly but the cookies will not turn out dry. If the dough is too rich, it will cause the cookies to spread too much and taste more like butter cookies rather than sugar cookies.
- Be careful not to add too much flour. When measuring the flour, spoon it into a measuring cup and level off the surface of the cup or use a scale to help ensure that you aren’t adding too much.
- I don’t recommend adding sprinkles directly into the dough. This will cause them to bleed into the dough as they bake.
More Sugar Cookie Recipes
3 Ingredient Soft Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated white sugar
- 1 cup (125 g) self-rising flour see note before starting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Using the flat paddle attachment, beat at medium speed and gradually increase to high until the mixture is lightly and fluffy. You will need to stop and scrape the sides of your bowl once or twice with a spatula so that the butter mixture gets beaten properly. You should not need to beat that long. About 1 minute total.
- Add in flour. Mix on lowest speed until flour is completely incorporated. Your dough will look crumbly at first. Slowly increase speed until a dough forms. The dough should feel a little dry, that is okay.
- Use a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop out dough. Place onto prepared cookie sheet, spacing the dough about 1.5 to 2 inches apart.
- If garnishing with sprinkles, add 1 tbsp sprinkles to a small bowl. Take each dough ball and press the top into the sprinkles, so that the top is covered in sprinkles. Place the dough balls back onto the prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly until the dough balls are 9/16 inch thick. You want the surface of the balls covered in a generous amount of sprinkles, but you should still have leftover sprinkles. I had almost 3/4 tbsp leftover.
- Bake cookies about 15-16 minutes or until edges start to turn light brown. Let cookies cool on baking sheet before removing. The cookies will not spread much at first but during the last few minutes of baking, they will puff up and spread more. When the cookies initially come out of the oven they should be puffy but they will deflate and have a more crinkly appearance as they cool. Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container for a few days at room temperature or freezer for longer.
Notes
- Self-rising flour: There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup (30g)) flour and one that has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup (30 g)). Brands like King Arthur Flour and White Lily make the low protein flour. Brands like Gold Medal and most store/generic brands contain a regular protein amount. The amount of protein affects how much liquid is absorbed. For this recipe, you want a flour with a regular amount of protein. Please use a self-rising flour with 3 grams of protein per 1/4 cup (30 g). Or make your own self-rising flour with the recipe below.
- I made these with Gold Medal self-rising flour (Amazon | Walmart)*
- *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make sure your all purpose flour has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Most brands in the US contain this amount but there are some brands with higher protein (4 grams per 1/4 cup) such as King Arthur Flour and Bob's Red Mill. You do not want a high protein flour because the cookies will turn out dry.
- Optional Sprinkles: I decorated the cookies with nonpareils sprinkles. These are optional. If using, I do recommend you use a good quality brand and choose lighter colored ones. I've found that some cheaper brands and ones that have bolder colors can bleed more during baking. I used Watkins Rainbow Nonpareils.*
- Estimated nutrition does not include optional sprinkles.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
