Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

These easy drop-style sugar cookies require NO chill time and bake up soft and chewy. Roll them in granulated sugar before baking for a sugary crust, or bake them plain, frost them, add sprinkles… it’s the best and most versatile sugar cookie recipe you’ll find!

These cookies are flat-out fantastic. It is not often that I eat a plain sugar cookie without any type of icing, and these were delicious in every way a sugar cookie should be.

Soft, chewy, buttery, and sweet, these are the essence of what every sugar cookie aspires to become. Rolling them in sugar prior to baking allows them to create a nice sugary crust in the oven, that gives way to buttery softness when you bite into them.

How to make drop sugar cookies

I love having a go-to drop sugar cookie recipe because sometimes when the mood strikes for a good sugar cookie, you realllllllly might not want to go through the hassle of rolling out dough, cutting it, etc.

Are you ready to hear how easy these cookies are to make? This is what we do:

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Prep the pan (see below).
3. Whisk together dry ingredients.
4. Cream butter and sugars.
5. Add egg and vanilla.
6. Mix in dry ingredients.
7. Roll dough into balls.
8. Roll in sugar.
9. Bake!

In case you missed it, the best part is… NO CHILL TIME! 

That’s right, they are TRUE drop cookies. Mix together the dough and then bake right away.

Now, let’s talk about those pans!

My baking pans of choice are these rimmed half sheet pans; I have a ton and I use them for everything! And they are perfect for cookies.

I highly, highly recommend using parchment paper to line your baking pans when baking cookies. Greasing cookie sheets will allow excess fat to leach into your cookies, causing them to spread too much and potentially burn on the bottom.

For a brief time, I experimented with silicone baking mats, but over time found that they developed a greasy film that I couldn’t get rid of no matter how many times I washed in soapy water or ran through the dishwasher. It was causing the same issues as greasing the pan would, so I stopped using them and went back to parchment paper.

Sugar cookies vs snickerdoodles

Some think of snickerdoodles as simply drop sugar cookies that have been rolled in cinnamon-sugar, but this oversimplification is far from accurate.

While both cookies have the same basic list of ingredients (butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, and baking powder/soda), there is one key ingredient in snickerdoodles that turns them into something altogether different:

Cream of Tartar

This magical little ingredient is an acid, so its presence gives the cookies that ever-so-slight tangy flavor to make snickerdoodles, well… snickerdoodles.

Keep them soft!

I’m a firm believer that all sugar cookies should be super soft; if you want a hard or crunchy sugar cookie, shortbread cookies are your answer.

A couple of keys to keep those cookies nice and soft:

• Brown Sugar – Just a small amount gives the cookies a little extra softness and gives them a chewier texture.
• Don’t Overmix – When you add the dry ingredients, only mix until just combined. You can always finish mixing in bits of flour with a rubber spatula.
• Don’t Press Down Too Far – When you press the cookies down, make sure they are still ¾-inch thick to keep them from getting too flat (and crunchy!).
• Don’t Overbake – Quite possibly the most important tip of all! Keep an eye on the cookies since some ovens can run hot and pull them out when the edges are light brown and the centers look just barely set and still pale.

Customize!

Even though these are drop cookies, you can still dress them up a bit if you’d like. Some ideas:

• Frost them – Instead of rolling the cookies in sugar, skip that step and then slather on your favorite vanilla frosting or cream cheese frosting – tint it different colors if you’d like!
• Add sprinkles – Who doesn’t love sprinkles?! Fold in ½ cup of colored sprinkles with a rubber spatula after mixing in the dry ingredients.

Make-ahead, storage, and freezing tips

• Make-Ahead – You can prepare the dough and store it, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before scooping and baking.
• Storage – Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Freezing the Dough – You can roll the dough balls and freeze them for up to 2 months. Bake for an extra minute or so.
• Freezing the Cookies – You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature then enjoy!

If you like these cookies, you’ll love these other recipes:

• Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
• Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
• Chocolate Sugar Cookies

If you make these sugar cookies and love them, I would so appreciate it if you would take a moment to leave a rating below. Thank you so much! ❤️️

[Photography by Dee of One Sarcastic Baker]