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The Best and Softest Sugar Cookies – No Frosting Required!

March 11, 2015 by Wifeeclectic 18 Comments

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Hello friends! Lorene here again — today I have an easy and delicious sugar cookie recipe for you. I call it my No-Frosting-Required Sugar Cookie and it is easy, soft, and 100% delicious. My friend Diane gave me the recipe, and for that her name will be held hallowed in our family history.
Delicious and Easy Soft Sugar Cookies | HousewifeEclectic.com

No Frosting Required Sugar Cookies

I know, you probably already have a favorite sugar cookie recipe — but let me tell you why this one is MY favorite.
First, I feel the need to confess: I don’t love making sugar cookies. Don’t hate me!
 
Waiting for the dough to chill, then rolling them out to a consistent thickness, cutting out fun shapes, then frosting and adding sprinkles — it all adds up to a longer process than I have the patience for when I just. want. cookies! The time and the mess offset the fun of the cookie experience for me, so my kids and I make messes in other ways while we’re enjoying our delicious cookies 🙂
 

So this recipe is my FAVORITE because

  1. I don’t have to chill the dough — no waiting!
  2. No rolling or cutting out shapes (though you can if you want to)
  3. Taste great even without frosting (but of course you can add it)
  4. Add the sprinkles right to the dough (optional) — less mess!
Just add your favorite sprinkles to this easy sugar cookie recipe for a perfect festive treat!
 

We almost always add regular multi-color sprinkles to make them “rainbow confetti cookies” — just because it’s more fun. Perfect for every day, or for an easy St. Patrick’s Day treat. We also love using the fun festive sprinkles that our local grocery bakery stocks, like these we made for Valentine’s Day.

Super easy Valentine's Day holiday sugar cookies
These cookies are great for a kid’s birthday party — use sprinkles or food coloring to make them match the party theme, without a difficult process or mess, and both the kids and adults love them. At the last party I made these for, I had to restock the cookie plate when it was time for the kids to have treats because the adults in the kitchen had eaten most of the cookies off the plate!
Yummy rainbow sugar cookies

The cookies bake up nice and soft, so even my very cookie-selective husband loves them. They kind of become like a certain potato chip — if you can eat just one, you have far more willpower than I! But they are perfectly sized so that you don’t feel too guilty eating more than one 😉

No frosting required! Yummy and easy sugar cookies - no chilling, rolling, or cutting the dough!

The Best and Softest No-Frosting-Required Sugar Cookies

yields appx 5 dozen 2-inch cookies

Cream
1 cup shortening (use this trick for no-mess cleanup!)
1 1/2 cups sugar

Add 2 eggs and mix well

Then add
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour (or more, so the texture is not sticky but still soft)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

If you’re adding sprinkles, stir in 1/3 cup (or more!) sprinkles of your choice (about one bottle of sprinkles, give or take). We’ve used several types — the only kind I wasn’t thrilled with were the colored sugar crystal sprinkles since they mostly dissolved into the dough and gave them an odd color.

Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet. I have a cookie scoop on my wishlist to make this part faster and the cookies more uniform in size, but for now, scooping with a spoon and rolling in my hands works. I like to flatten the top slightly with a cup dipped in sugar and pat a few more sprinkles into the top, or you could also roll the balls in sprinkles for an extra-colorful cookie.

Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes, then leave a few minutes extra on the cookie sheet to finish cooking. The time will depend on your oven — my oven bakes them perfectly in 10-11 minutes, so you’ll have to test that a little bit with the first batch. If they get brown around the edges, they are over-done and will lose the soft, chewy cookie texture.

 
Let cool on a cookie rack and store in a sealed container. I’m not sure how long they will store for because we always eat them within a couple of days!

 

Lu (or Lorene if you prefer) is the mom of 3 kids and wife of a singing and dancing elementary teacher. She happily shows up here at Housewife Eclectic a few times a month, when the creative bug strikes in between projects at her awesome job as a virtual assistant. You can check out her other projects here on Housewife Eclectic, or her former blogger life and projects over at just Lu.

Print Recipe

The Best and Softest No-Frosting-Required Sugar Cookies

These no chill sugar cookies are so soft and delicious they dont even require frosting!
Course: Dessert
Keyword: cookies, dessert, Food, Recipe

Ingredients

  • Cream
  • 1 cup shortening use this trick for no-mess cleanup!
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 cups flour or more, so the texture is not sticky but still soft
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • Cream together the shortening and sugar
  • Add eggs and mix well
  • Then add baking soda, salt, flour, milk and vanilla
  • If you’re adding sprinkles, stir in 1/3 cup (or more!) sprinkles of your choice (about one bottle of sprinkles, give or take). We’ve used several types — the only kind I wasn’t thrilled with were the colored sugar crystal sprinkles since they mostly dissolved into the dough and gave them an odd color.
  • Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet.
  • I like to flatten the top slightly with a cup dipped in sugar and pat a few more sprinkles into the top, or you could also roll the balls in sprinkles for an extra-colorful cookie.
  • Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes, then leave a few minutes extra on the cookie sheet to finish cooking.
  • Let cool on a cookie rack and store in a sealed container.

Notes

The time will depend on your oven — my oven bakes them perfectly in 10-11 minutes, so you’ll have to test that a little bit with the first batch. If they get brown around the edges, they are over-done and will lose the soft, chewy cookie texture.

Filed Under: Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: by Lorene, Tasty Tuesdays, With Kids

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. bxcrochet says

    March 11, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    Those look so good! I love sprinkles so I have to make some for my daughter and I.

    Michelle F.

    Reply
  2. Julie is Coco and Cocoa says

    March 11, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    I definitely have to be in the mood to make sugar cookies because of the time they take. Love the idea that I can get the great taste with less time! Pinning!

    Reply
  3. Debi Wayland says

    March 11, 2015 at 7:12 pm

    These look great! And, they would be perfect for a birthday party!

    Reply
  4. Crystal says

    March 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    I prefer soft cookies to the crispy variety, so these are perfect for me. I can't wait to try these.

    Reply
  5. MikiHope says

    March 11, 2015 at 11:35 pm

    Those look and sound delicious to this Cookie Monster!! I love how easy it is to make them. I can almost guarantee they would disappear into MY mouth long before they went stale.

    Reply
  6. Krista Blackburn says

    March 12, 2015 at 2:12 am

    These look tasty! I love cookies when they are soft!

    Reply
  7. Liz Mays says

    March 12, 2015 at 11:18 am

    Thank you for this because soft sugar cookies are my absolute favorite!

    Reply
  8. Donna L. Ward says

    March 12, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    I've not had soft sugar cookies – and I'm a bit like you in not liking regular sugar cookies, although my hubby loves them – and your sprinkles make them look a bit more yummy – so I am going to give your recipe a try! Thank you 😉

    Reply
  9. Patranila Jefferson says

    March 12, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    These look delicious. Kiddies would love them.

    Reply
  10. Damaris says

    March 12, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Yummy! I think we might have to celebrate St Patrick's day with treats this year…

    Reply
  11. Katrina Gehman says

    March 13, 2015 at 12:03 am

    my daughter would love to make these. i'll have to bookmark it for later.

    Reply
  12. Stephanie Pass says

    March 14, 2015 at 2:30 am

    Those look so good! I love a good sugar cookie.

    Reply
  13. Caitlin Fore says

    March 16, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    I love that you added sprinkles to a chocolate chip cookie! This is awesome!!

    Reply
  14. Julie's Lifestyle says

    March 28, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    Your cookies look so good. I co-host a blog party on Mondays called Cooking and Crafting with J & J Link Up. I would love to have you share this with us. Thanks.
    Julie

    Reply
  15. Mrs. Friedl says

    April 4, 2016 at 7:57 pm

    I am always looking for a great soft sugar cookie and these look perfect! I love that the dough does not need to be chilled! Than you for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty Kim@baking for blessings

    Reply
  16. Mel Bow says

    July 2, 2019 at 4:52 pm

    Could these be made into sugar cookie bars? And if so what changes would you suggest?

    Reply
    • Wifeeclectic says

      August 7, 2019 at 10:06 pm

      I don’t see why not. Since they use shortening, they don’t spread alot, so butter might work better.

      Reply
  17. Madre says

    October 29, 2019 at 7:41 am

    I noticed there were no comments of those who made the cookies other than the person posting.

    Here I go! I made these last night. My daughter who is in college getting her degree to become a Chef taught me to separate the wet from the dry after you cream the sugar and shortening. So, I used that method. After creaming the sugar and shortening, I did all the wet ingredients and then a bowl for dry. After, I separated them into 5 sections and added 4 different types of candied sprinkles. I only used maybe half more cup of flour and chilled for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
    Then I used the Halloween cookie cutters. You have to press down and you will hear a crunch, but they came out very clean. Of course use a little flour so the cutting board and roller, so the dough doesn’t stick.
    I cooked them for 10 minutes and they came out perfect.
    Other than the little things I did, I used they same ingredients, followed the instructions and they came out perfect!
    I have been looking for a sugar cookie recipe I can use with any holliday and I finally found it. Thank you so much for sharing. Oh I used shortening with butter flavor because that was all I owned. That was the only difference.

    Again Thank you :0)

    Reply

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Debra Hawkins - Housewife EclecticHi, I'm Debra. I am a craftaholic photographer married to a web-programming amateur chef with two sassy littles keeping it interesting. It gets crazy around here. Read More…

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