I don’t care what anyone says, sugar cookies are delicious year-round, not just over the holidays. While these sweet treats are seemingly one of the simplest desserts to make, it’s actually really easy to mess them up. I’m an avid baker, and it’s taken me quite a few tries to perfect my sugar cookie recipe. I’ve made a list of the mistakes I’ve made over the years in hopes that your sugar cookies always turn out better than mine used to.
1. Using butter that’s too soft
I’m guilty of putting cold butter in the microwave to soften it. Learn from my mistakes and stop doing that. If your butter is too soft, the sugar cookies will be greasy and the dough won’t hold together as well. They’ll likely taste alright, but they won’t look super pretty.
2. Overmixing the dough
Don’t lie, I know you think the note in recipes that cautions you to not overmix is just BS. Well, it’s not. You really can overmix sugar cookie dough, which then leads to a tougher, chewier cookie. To ensure a light, fluffy cookie every time, mix until your ingredients are just incorporated and then put the mixing spoon down for good.
3. Not chilling the dough
If you take anything away from this article, it should be that you have to chill sugar cookie dough. Chilling the dough lets the butter solidify and binds the entire mixture together. It also means your cookies won’t spread out as much in the oven, which means your cookies will turn out fluffy and not crunchy. Chilling the dough also makes it easier to use cookie cutters and guarantees the edges of your cookies will stay in the shape you cut them into.
4. Overbaking the cookies
Unlike most other baked goods, you actually don’t want to bake sugar cookies until golden brown. If the edges of your cookies have gone golden, you need to take them out of the oven. The trick to baking sugar cookies for the correct time is (unfortunately) practice. On the plus side, slightly overbaked sugar cookies still taste good.
5. Using super intricate cookie cutters
As someone who’s tried to make hella fancy cookies before, I can promise you it’s (almost) never worth it. Intricate cookie cutters just means there are more edges to scrape off the baking sheet and more chances of your cookies spreading out into unrecognizable shapes. Choose a cookie cutter that’s a distinct shape with very few details. If you want intricate, class it up with a killer icing job.
6. Not letting the baking sheet cool before your next batch
I know you’re in a rush to get the cookies in and out of the oven, but it’s incredibly important that you let the cookie sheet cool completely before baking the next batch. Putting chilled sugar cookie dough onto a warm baking sheet will start the cooking process before you’ve even put the cookies in the oven. The bottoms will turn out a bit crispy as well, which isn’t what you want.
Baking shouldn’t be hard. If you have enough patience, you can whip up a batch of sugar cookies with minimal effort. With these common mistakes in mind, you’re sure to bake the perfect batch of cookies.