How to make the best roll-out sugar cookies (2024)

If there's one time of year you feel absolutely obliged to make decorated cutout cookies, it's now. It's time to break out the rolling pin and cookie cutters, brush up on rollout sugar cookie tips and recipes, and hunker down for some old-fashioned fun.

Our favorite cookies for decorating are these Holiday Butter Cookies— they roll out nicely and have a beautifully tender/crisp texture. Armed with this recipe and the below handy tips, you'll be ready to make your best roll-out sugar cookies yet. (And if you're baking gluten-free, try our Gluten-Free Holiday Butter Cookies.)

First, know your dough

Dough made without leavening will hold its shape better than dough using baking powder or baking soda. To a lesser extent, this is also true for dough made with shortening instead of butter. For intricate cutouts, choose an unleavened, shortening-based dough.

Shape dough into a rectangle before chilling

Most recipes will tell you to shape the dough into a disk, wrap, and place in the fridge to chill. Unless you're planning to cut out simple rounds, rolling dough into a rectangle rather than a circle often yields more usable "real estate." Start with a rectangular slab rather than a round disk, and you're halfway there.

Decide on cookie thickness ahead of time

Plan ahead. Dough rolled 1/4" thick will produce sturdy cookies, best for crumble-free transportation and kids' decorating. Dough rolled 1/8" thick will produce more fragile, delicate cookies — and a greater number of cookies from each batch of dough.

Roll dough between sheets of parchment or waxed paper

Rather than roll dough on a floured surface, roll it between sheets of non-stick parchment or waxed paper. Adding extra flour to the dough while rolling can make cookies tough. And cutout cookies release easily from paper when you move them to the baking sheet, preserving their shape.

Cut efficiently

The more cutouts you can get out of each piece of rolled dough, the fewer times you'll need to re-roll the scraps and cut again.

Create more usable real estate as you go

Make cookie cutting more efficient by mending jagged holes or uneven edges in your rolled dough whenever possible. A simple "push and press" after cutting a cookie can make it possible to cut another cookie where none existed before.

Break out your small spatulas and spreaders

You'll most likely be working with 2" to 3" cookies. A nylon spreader or other small spatula is invaluable for moving cookies from rolling surface to baking sheet.

Preserve the shape of thin cookies

It can be a challenge to move cookies cut from thin-rolled dough without distorting their shape. Cut thin cookies on a sheet of parchment, leaving more space between them than usual. Then peel off the dough scraps in between the cookies, leaving the cookies right on the parchment. Pick up the parchment with cookies and place it right onto the baking sheet, then pop into the oven.

So you've baked your cookies — now what? (These are actually a bit over-baked, though I prefer to think of them as caramelized, for the sake of my ego.)

Make icing

We highly recommend this Simple Cookie Glaze, which spreads/flows nicely to cover your cookies' surface, then dries hard and shiny — a plus if you enjoy using a food-safe marker for decorating or writing messages.

Ice and decorate your cookies

Use your favorite tools and techniques: a knife, spreader, icing bag ... Here's a handy way to ice and decorate cookies:

Dip in icing, scraping off any excess
Let icing flow and settle just a bit, to make sure cookie is sufficiently covered
Dip in decorating sugar
Place on parchment to set

Rollout sugar cookie tips to the rescue!

Pretty simple, right?

For lots more inspiration and instruction, check out our complete guide to cookie decorating. And for some very special piping techniques, see our blog post, cookie decorating techniques: easy steps for standout cookies.

If you have favorite cookie and icing recipes that work for you, use them; no need to reinvent the wheel. But if you're still looking, try our Holiday Butter Cookies recipe, which makes a light, crisp-yet-sturdy cookie, perfect for icing (and delicious to boot). Our Simple Cookie Glaze is the ideal accompaniment.

How to make the best roll-out sugar cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to rolling out sugar cookie dough? ›

Rather than roll dough on a floured surface, roll it between sheets of non-stick parchment or waxed paper. Adding extra flour to the dough while rolling can make cookies tough. And cutout cookies release easily from paper when you move them to the baking sheet, preserving their shape.

Get More Info Here ›

What can I add to sugar cookies to make them better? ›

Take plain sugar cookies up a notch with exciting mix-ins like chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, toasted chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit or M&M's. Add these after blending your butter and egg into the sugar cookie mix.

View Details ›

How do you roll the perfect cookie dough? ›

Place slightly chilled cookie dough between the two pieces of parchment paper and form the dough into rectangle using your hands. Using a rolling pin, start at the center and begin to roll the dough away from your body, rotating the dough 90 degrees every few rolls to ensure even thickness.

Discover More ›

How thick should sugar cookies be rolled out? ›

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.

Tell Me More ›

Should you chill sugar cookie dough before rolling? ›

Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer. Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies.

Find Out More ›

What is the best surface to roll out sugar cookie dough? ›

Greenspan points out that if you roll out cookie dough repeatedly and keep flouring the surface, the dough can get tough. But if you roll cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper, it means that you can eliminate the flour mess, as well as neatly transfer the cut-out cookies on the parchment to a sheet pan.

Why are my sugar cookies hard as a rock? ›

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.

Read On ›

What does cream of tartar do for cookies? ›

What Does Cream of Tartar Do in Cookies? Cream of tartar makes cookies chewy, as it precludes the sugar in the dough from crystalizing, which would lead to crispiness (ie: the opposite of chewiness).

Keep Reading ›

How do you roll sugar cookie dough without sticking? ›

Rolling cookie dough between parchment eliminates the need to dust the dough with flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface. The more flour introduced, the higher the chances of tough, dry cookies. Sheeted dough promises tender, buttery cookies, just the way they're meant to be.

See Details ›

Why is my sugar cookie dough falling apart when rolling? ›

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Find Out More ›