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Sugar Cookies · Soft Drop

Soft Sugar Cookies (No Rolling Pin Needed)

Puffy, soft-centered vanilla cookies rolled in sugar before baking. No chilling and no rolling pin, so it is a great first cookie to bake with kids.

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Prep
20 min
Cook
20 min
Total
1 hr
Serves
28 · about 28 cookies
Level
Easy

Ingredients

Dry

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (345 g)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp kosher salt

Dough

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks, 227 g)
  • 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, 250 g
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

For rolling

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar, 50 g
  • 2 tbsp sprinkles (optional)

Steps

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the middle. Line two sheet pans with parchment.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set it aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the soft butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, scraping the bowl once.
  4. Beat in the egg until the mixture looks smooth again.
  5. Beat in the milk and vanilla. It may look a little curdled; that is fine.
  6. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until no dry streaks remain.
  7. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar into a shallow bowl and stir in the sprinkles, if using.
  8. Roll the dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon balls (about 25 g each), then roll each ball in the sugar to coat.
  9. Set the balls on the pans 2 inches apart, about 12 per pan.
  10. Bake one pan at a time until the edges are set and the bottoms are just turning pale golden. The tops should still look puffy and a little underdone.
  11. Leave the cookies on the hot pan so they finish setting.
  12. Move the cookies to a rack and let them cool. Bake the second pan while the first one cools.

Tip: Pull the cookies while the centers still look slightly raw. They firm up on the hot pan and stay soft for days.

Tip: For flatter, crisper cookies, press each ball gently with the bottom of a glass before baking.

Tip: If you bake two pans at once, swap them top to bottom halfway through and add a minute.

Storage: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

Make ahead: Freeze the dough balls (before rolling in sugar) on a tray, then bag them up to 3 months. Roll in sugar and bake from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes.

Estimated nutrition per serving: 150 calories · protein 2 g · carbohydrates 20 g · fiber 0 g · sugars 11 g · fat 7 g (saturated 4 g) · sodium 75 mg. Estimate from USDA FoodData Central; not medical or dietary advice. Based on 10 of 10 ingredients.