These Softbatch Vanilla Sugar Cookies are soft, thick, and full of flavor, and the tops are spread with a generous helping of scrumptious buttercream icing.  They are a great cookie for any occasion!

If you’re a fan of thin and crispy cookies, these aren’t the cookie for you!  These soft and thick sugar cookies are SO flavorful.  They are made with real butter and pure vanilla, and if that’s not enough to make them flavorful, they have heavy whipping cream added to the mix.  I originally posted these cookies 3 years ago, and I recently made them for a friend and decided to repost them with a few updated pictures.

TIPS FOR CUTTING OUT THE COOKIES

  • CHILL the dough!  This cookie dough does require chilling.
  • Remove 1/2 of the chilled cookie dough at a time from the refrigerator.
  • Pat the cookie dough out with the heel of your hand versus using a rolling pin.  I’m suggesting this from my own experience.  This dough tends to stick to a rolling pin unless you constantly stop and flour the rolling pin.  I find it easier to dump a small amount of flour onto my work surface, dip the heel of my hand in the flour and pat out the dough.  The dough doesn’t stick as easily to my hand.  The more flour you use, the drier the cookie.

TIPS FOR BAKING THE COOKIES

  • Don’t under or overbake the cookies.  Don’t judge the doneness by the tops of the cookies.  When the cookies are done, they should be a light golden brown on the bottoms and the tops should remain white.  These cookies take approximately 25 minutes to bake, (ovens vary).  Check the doneness of the cookies by lifting the edge of one with a metal spatula to see if they are starting to brown.
  • I suggest cutting the cookies to a thickness of 1/4 inch.  The thicker you cut them, the longer they will take to bake and the fewer cookies you will have.  This recipe has leavening, (3 tablespoons of baking powder) to help them rise.  Softbatch cookies are meant to be thick with a generous amount of icing to be proportionate to the cookie thickness but there’s no need to overdo it.  We want cookies here, not cakes.

BUTTER ICING

The icing starts with pure melted butter and vanilla.  Lots of powdered sugar gets added, along with some milk and a touch of salt.

This recipe is so versatile!

  • You can cut them out into any shape you desire, tint the icing, or add sprinkles to the icing.
  • You can also choose to omit the icing and bake them with sugar sprinkles.  They will still be just as delicious and a perfect cookie jar cookie.

These cookies freeze beautifully, but I don’t recommend freezing them with the icing.  The icing has a blotchy appearance once thawed.  I don’t recommend freezing them for over 3 months.

Have fun with this recipe!

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Softbatch Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Butter Icing

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  • Author: Cindy Gibbs
  • Prep Time: 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 Minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 20 three inch cookies 1x
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These Softbatch Vanilla Sugar Cookies are thick and soft, and finished with a buttery icing.  They are a perfect “any” occasion cookie, and can also be made with sugar sprinkles on top versus icing.  Kids love them!!


Ingredients

Units Scale

COOKIES

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

BUTTER ICING

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 5 tablespoons milk


Instructions

COOKIES

  1. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and whisk together.  Set aside.
  2. Add the butter and sugar to the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or use a hand mixer.  Mix on high speed for about 2 minutes until the mixture is smooth.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 2 more minutes, until mixture is very smooth and creamy.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the whipping cream, in 2 additions, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix just enough to incorporate the ingredients.  Do not over mix.
  3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight, if you want to mix ahead of time and bake later.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Remove 1/2 of the dough from the refrigerator and transfer to a floured work surface.  Dust the top with flour.  Using a rolling pin or the heel of your hand, pat the dough out to about 1/4 inch in thickness.  You can actually roll the dough to 1/3 inch in thickness for even thicker cookies, but they will take longer to bake and will make less cookies.  I like to pat this dough out with the heel of my hand.  This dough tends to get sticky and stick to the rolling pin, unless you make sure your rolling pin is consistently dusted with flour as you go.  I dip the heel of my hand in flour as needed and pat the dough out.  This way works better for me with this dough.
  6. Cut the cookies with a cutter that’s dipped in flour after each cutting.  I used a 3-inch round cutter for these, and they made 20 cookies, but you can use any cutter size you desire.
  7. Place the cookie cutouts about 2- inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  They will spread.  Also, you can sprinkle the cookie dough cutouts with sugar sprinkles before baking, if you prefer to make plain sugar cookies without icing.
  8. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottoms.  The tops will still be white.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

BUTTER ICING

  1. Add the butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Melt the butter and remove the pan from the heat.  Add the salt and vanilla and mix together.  Add 2 cups of the  powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon or you can use a whisk.  Mix in 3 tablespoons of the milk, followed by the remaining sugar, and ending with the reamaining milk.  Whisk or beat with a wooden spoon until the icing is smooth.
  2. Using an offest spread the icing generously over each cookie.  Allow the cookies to sit until the icing becomes slightly firm, at least 1 hour.
  3. Place cookies in single layers, with wax paper between them, in an airtight container.  Cookies will stay fresh for up to 5 days.

Notes

Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.  I don’t recommend freezing them with the icing.  The icing tends to look blotchy after freezing it.  Make sure you freeze them in single layers with wax paper between the layers.

Prep time does not include chilling time.