5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Sugar Cookies (2024)

Kelli Foster

Kelli FosterSenior Contributing Food Editor

Kelli is a Senior Contributing Food Editor for Kitchn. She's a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and author of the cookbooks, Plant-Based Buddha Bowls, The Probiotic Kitchen, Buddha Bowls, and Everyday Freekeh Meals. She lives in New Jersey.

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updated Oct 29, 2020

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Whether you make beautiful cut-outs, dust them with colored sugar, or sandwich them with buttercream or Nutella, sugar cookies are a holiday staple!

Before you whip up your next batch of sugar cookies, be sure you’re not making one of these five common mistakes.

  • Get a recipe: 18 Cookie Recipes for Your Holiday Cookie Exchange

1. Using butter that’s too soft.

We’ve all been there — wanting to make cookies yet forgetting to take the butter out of the refrigerator to soften. Whatever you do, fight the urge to heat it in the microwave for a few seconds. This will very likely make the butter too soft.

Cookies won’t hold their shape as well and are likely to turn out greasy when made with butter that’s too soft.

→ Follow this tip: Let the butter stand at room temperature for about an hour, until it’s soft and gives to gentle pressure. If you’re really pressed for time, you can speed the process along by cutting the butter into small cubes, or even grating it.


  • Why You Should Grate Your Butter the Next Time You Bake

2. Working the dough too much.

When making cookies, I used to have a (very!) bad habit of mixing in the dry ingredients until they were completely incorporated. And then mixing the dough even more, for no good reason. Thankfully I was eventually steered in the right direction.

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender.

→ Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they’re just incorporated, and not a second longer. Once the dry ingredients are added, less mixing equals more tender cookies.

3. Not chilling the dough.

Chilling the dough is a key step in making sugar cookies, especially when you’re making cut-outs. Even if you’re tight on time, make sure to get the dough in the fridge, or even the freezer, even if it’s only for a little while. Skip this step, and the dough will be sticky, and much harder to work with.

→ Follow this tip: Chill sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or in the freezer for 15 minutes. The dough will be so much easier to work with! It will roll out nicely, and if you’re making cut-outs, chilled dough will help you get clean, sharp edges. Chilled dough also holds its shape better in the oven.

  • Why I Roll Out Sugar Cookie Dough Before Chilling It

4. Rolling out the dough too thick or too thin.

When you’re making cut-out cookies, it can be tricky to roll the dough just right. Roll it too thin, and the dough will be really fragile and may easily tear or break. Roll it too thick, and you run the risk of the cookies not baking evenly or cooking all the way through.

→ Follow this tip: For super soft, tender sugar cookies, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thick. The dough will be easy to work with, without breaking or tearing, and it will bake up nicely.

  • How to Make Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

5. Over-baking the cookies.

We often tell you to bake cookies until they’re golden brown. This isn’t the case with sugar cookies, though. Once the edges develop a golden hue, you’ve gone too far. While overcooked sugar cookies are certainly still palatable, they’ll be hard and crunchy, instead of soft and chewy.

→ Follow this tip: Pull the cookie sheet from the oven as soon as they’ve set and gained some color, but not too much. They should also look slightly crackled across the center.

What are your best tips for making sugar cookies?

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5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Sugar Cookies (2024)

FAQs

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Sugar Cookies? ›

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

What are 4 tips to keep in mind while making cookies? ›

Now, follow these more detailed tips for tasty treats every time.
  1. 01 of 08. Don't Grease the Pan. ...
  2. 02 of 08. Use Light-Colored Pans. ...
  3. 03 of 08. Measure the Flour Correctly. ...
  4. 04 of 08. Let Your Butter Sit at Room Temperature for 15 Minutes. ...
  5. 05 of 08. Use High-Quality Butter. ...
  6. 06 of 08. Handle the Dough Gently. ...
  7. 07 of 08. ...
  8. 08 of 08.
Sep 7, 2023

What happens when you overmix sugar cookies? ›

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

What causes sugar cookies to be hard? ›

Hard cookies: you are over mixing, baking too long, baking at too high a temperature, or some combination of these. Cakey cookies: not enough brown sugar, too much or too little egg, too much flour, maybe you used baking powder instead of baking soda?

What are three problems with cookies? ›

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Dec 1, 2022

How do you make cookies soft and chewy? ›

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

What makes cookies chewy and not hard? ›

The science is simple: According to the flour authorities over at Bob's Red Mill, cornstarch can help “soften the rigid proteins of the flour, resulting in a light and chewy dessert.” “The cornstarch complements the flour in absorbing the liquids, but won't develop gluten structure like the flour will,” stresses ...

What happens if you over cream, butter, and sugar in cookies? ›

Over-creamed butter and sugar adds in too much air and alters the final texture – typically to be more gummy and dense. Sometimes over-creaming can produce cakes, cupcakes, or cookies that collapse upon baking or while cooling if the mixture is well and truly over-creamed (where it looks like curdled milk).

What is the best thickness for sugar cookies? ›

Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.

Why poke holes in sugar cookies? ›

The holes trick

There's also a new technique going around when preventing craters in a second layer of icing: poke holes in the base flood (under the area you'll cover with a second layer of icing). You can even do this when the first layer flood has completely dried!

What is the secret ingredient to keep cookies soft? ›

For soft cookies, use: Brown sugar, as it has a high moisture content and retains moisture better than white sugar. Also, when combined with eggs, brown sugar can prevent spreading (taller cookies tend to be softer and fluffier). Shortening instead of butter or in addition to butter.

How long to refrigerate sugar cookie dough before baking? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes).

How to improve sugar cookies? ›

There are a few things you can add to your ready - to - bake sugar cookies to give them more flavor . One option is to mix in some vanilla extract or almond extract to enhance the overall taste . You can also add in some cinnamon , nutmeg , or other spices to give the cookies a warm and cozy flavor .

What are the three guidelines to follow when baking cookies? ›

You should allow about 2 inches (5 cm) of space between the cookies to keep them from spreading into each other. Use the same amount of dough on the spoon each time so that the cookies will be uniform in size. It is best to use a cool cookie sheet so the dough will not spread before it is placed in the oven.

What ingredients affect cookies? ›

6 Ingredients That Affect Your Cookies
  • Granulated sugar. Using granulated white sugar will result in a flatter, crispier and lighter-colored cookie. ...
  • Brown sugar. Using brown sugar will result in a denser, moister cookie. ...
  • Melted butter. ...
  • Baking powder. ...
  • Baking soda. ...
  • Chilling dough for 24 Hours.

What precaution should be taken while using cookies? ›

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Using HTTPS is crucial for securing the connection between a user's browser and a web server. When a website employs HTTPS, it encrypts all data transmitted between the client and the server, including session cookies, preventing attackers from eavesdropping or tampering with the data.

What is at risk when using cookies? ›

Cookies by themselves do not pose security risks, however, they can be used by cybercriminals to impersonate the user, collect financial data, access their accounts or to steal passwords that are stored in the browser.

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