Sugar cookies! Soft, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies.
There are those few recipes for which I am bound and determined to find “the best recipe.” Classics like chicken noodle soup, homemade spaghetti sauce, banana bread and yes…sugar cookies. One year, I even remember telling my sister that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to develop a perfect sugar cookie recipe. Crazy, I know.
It’s a tough hill to climb, though…sugar cookies have to stand up to being rolled, cut and frosted and still be melt-in-your-mouth light. And they have to taste great in their own right. And in my book, they have to be soft… no crunchy sugar cookies here.
My first few attempts at making the BEST sugar cookies started with a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. Although her sugar cookies are AMAZING, I had one big issue…the eggs! How could I bake and decorate these cookies with Em and then tell her she couldn’t eat them? I had to find a way to make my sugar cookies taste as good as Mel’s, with no eggs…no easy feat. But these cookies, my friends, may just be IT.
A few tips I took from Mel’s recipe that make these cookies seriously the BEST…
- The short baking time at a high baking temperature
- Rolling the chilled dough using powdered sugar instead of flour (genius!)
- Cutting the cookies on the thick-side
- The amazing vanilla, almond and lemon flavors
These Egg-Free Sugar Cookies fit ALL of my criteria for amazing sugar cookies… soft, light, sweet and egg-free!
I think I can safely check this one off my to-do list.
Little Hands Can…
- Measure and add wet and dry ingredients to the bowl
- Operate the stand mixer, or help use the hand mixer to mix the ingredients (Em is just starting to take interest in using the mixer, although we had a little “flour shower” while making these cookies! She used to be afraid of the noise that the stand mixer makes. Progress!)
- Scoop out the cookie dough and wrap it in plastic
- Roll out the cookie dough and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes
- Help frost and decorate the cookies
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to cool room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon milk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. While the mixer is running, slowly add in the vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and milk and beat until incorporated.
- Add two cups of flour, salt and baking powder to the dough and mix slowly to combine. Add the last cup of flour and mix gently until the flour is just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix. The dough will be soft.
- Scoop the cookie dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and bring it together with your hands. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, so the dough is easier to handle.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet lined with a piece of parchment paper or a silpat liner.
- Dust your countertop or a large cutting board with powdered sugar. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to an even thickness, about ⅓ to ¼ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Use a spatula to place the cookies onto your prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for about 7 to 7½ minutes at 400 degrees. The cookies should be pale or ever-so-slightly golden on the bottoms, so they stay soft. Smaller cookies may take an even shorter amount of time, 5-6 minutes.
- Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack before icing or decorating.
Recipe inspired by both Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and The Novice Housewife
On the Side
We’re icing The BEST Egg-Free Sugar Cookies with the most amazing, food-dye-free Naturally Colored Icing! And with these naturally-colored icing colors, we’re learning all about color mixing, with a great “mixed-up” book recommendation. Check out our coloring mixing activity here!
Disclaimer: As with all of our recipes, my suggestions for how kids can help with a particular recipe are based on what has worked in our kitchen. Your child may be able to help more or less based on their age and/or ability. As always, make sure you are properly supervising kids in the kitchen.
Carol says
March 21, 2016 at 7:56 AMSally your cookies are beautiful – and egg-free too! I am inspired! Happy Easter!
Sally says
March 21, 2016 at 7:35 PMThank you so much, Carol! I love decorating them 🙂 Happy Easter!
Linda Toonen says
March 21, 2016 at 8:00 PMGorgeous cookies!! Totally awesome.
Sally says
March 22, 2016 at 11:10 PMThank you! These are the ones I made for Bev’s birthday party last year 🙂
Julie says
November 30, 2016 at 6:57 PMMy 3 year old also has an egg allergy. While she does not react to MOST baked goods with egg, I prefer to avoid her allergen as much as possible (and would never let her touch typical raw cookie dough). I found your recipe today and am excited to make safe Christmas cookies with her this year.
Sally says
June 20, 2017 at 3:54 PMHi Julie, I apologize for my late reply! I hope you enjoyed these at Christmas. They are our family’s favorite!
Savannah says
January 17, 2017 at 4:18 PMSo glad I found this. I’ve been looking for an egg/free recipe for my son’s class Valentine’s party & cannot wait to make these. Food allergy moms unite! 🙂
Savannah says
January 27, 2017 at 9:11 PMMade these tonight & they are AMAZING! Thank you for creating this recipe!
Sally says
June 20, 2017 at 3:52 PMThank you, Savannah! I’m glad you found the recipe for your son’s party. We allergy moms DO have to stick together!
Danielle says
April 6, 2017 at 3:42 PMMade this recipe today for my son’s school Easter party. He has a severe egg allergy, so finding this recipe was great! I’ll use this one all the time!
Sally says
June 20, 2017 at 3:51 PMThank you, Danielle! It’s by far and away my favorite sugar cookie.
Natalie Holden says
January 3, 2018 at 5:30 PMThanks for this recipe, keen to try it tomorrow. We’re not egg free but my chickens haven’t been laying in a while and I don’t want to go to town for eggs to make cookies for my daughters birthday party.
Sally says
January 10, 2018 at 10:06 AMHi Natalie! I hope you enjoyed the cookies!
Cindy Schilling says
April 7, 2018 at 6:49 PMThese turned out fantastic! I had the extra challenge of needing to make them gluten-free as well, but they gave me no problem.
Jill says
June 18, 2018 at 3:12 PMHi! First of all thank you for sharing this recipe! Love the pics and the step by step instruction ???? I was searching the net for a sugar cookie recipe without egg. Glad I saw your post and this is indeed one of the best! Well its the only best since I have only tried this ???? I don’t think there is a need to find another. I am very much satisfied with your recipe. Although I did some changes since I didn’t have everything on hand and I want to keep it as simple and easy as possible. So I didn’t use the lemon and almond extract. Reason is that I was just after a vanilla taste. I also didn’t use the mixer when I started to add the flour. I rolled it immediately after the dough is done and placed it in the freezer for 15mins and started cutting. It held its shape very nicely and it has a light color on the cookie. It’s not too sweet and that’s ok since I will deco it with royal icing. Over all I am very much satisfied with this recipe! Saved me money from buying that costly egg substitue powder. Thanks again! ????
Elena says
July 24, 2018 at 11:45 AMThis recipe rocks! I used it for a friend’s bridal shower favor – she is allergic to egg so I wanted something she could enjoy also. I only tweaked the recipe slightly by leaving out the lemon zest (I didn’t have a zester where I was), but I can imagine the lemon does add a pop of brightness. Even without, the cookies were flavorful, soft, and baked very nicely. I plan to test the recipe as is at altitude (Denver, CO) and make any adjustments if needed. The cookie got so many compliments and I will use this many times over – thank you for sharing! 🙂
Jenifer says
November 9, 2018 at 3:40 PMCurious what high altitude adjustments you made? I live “down the street” in Colorado Springs and plan to make these with my granddaughter over Thanksgiving.
Sally says
May 28, 2019 at 3:09 PMI’m so happy to hear this, thank you!
Bhanisha says
December 7, 2018 at 4:24 AMI’m from the UK how much butter do i need to use in grams or cups we we don’t get sticks of butter here
Sally says
May 28, 2019 at 3:08 PMHello, I’m sorry for the confusion. 1 stick of butter here equals 1/2 cup. I hope this helps!
Elyse says
October 25, 2019 at 9:12 PM1 cup butter is 200 grams. Your are welcome.
Sarah says
November 27, 2019 at 8:29 AMBest egg free cookies by far!
Vera Harvey says
February 25, 2020 at 4:07 PMHi Sally how many days can these cookies and made for a party .
Kathy says
November 15, 2020 at 4:58 PMI have a grandson that is allergic to eggs, we made these cookies for Halloween and they were amazing!! The whole family loved them!! Thanks for giving us a way to include him in holiday traditions!
Claire says
March 20, 2021 at 3:10 AMThanks heaps for sharing this recipe and the instructions. Our antenatal class is having a 1st birthday party for all our babes tomorrow and 2 of them need to be egg free. Myself and one other mum have to be gluten free, so I swapped out the flour. They worked wonderfully (although are a little larger than I had intended) and are delicious! Now to keep hubby and myself from eating them all before tomorrow! Thanks again!
Shelley says
March 27, 2021 at 1:19 PMDo you have a metric version for your recipe?
I live in Italy, butter is not sold in sticks here, how much is the actual weight?
I do have Imperial measuring cups and spoons, but don’t know the weight of two butter sticks.
I am a Nanny and would like to do make these cookies with the girls who are 4,5 & 9,5, their father can’t eat foods containing eggs
It is Saturday, March 27th, 2021.
Due to Covid groceries must be well planned. I would like to make these cookies on Thursday, when the Italian Easter school break begins. I will need to buy the ingredients by Wednesday, March 31st
Thank you for your help.