No Chill Sugar Cookies

A simple dough comes together in minutes and makes yummy & soft sugar cookies without having to chill the dough. Plus they’re topped with a yummy buttercream frosting that’s perfectly sweet and creamy. These No Chill Sugar Cookies are the perfect treat!

Ingredients for No Chill Sugar Cookies

Softened Butter

Softening the butter is key in this recipe. You can’t use cold butter because it won’t incorporate with the rest of the ingredients easily and you’ll have to mix the dough far too long to get it all to come together. And that will make the cookies tough and chewy! (more on that later on in the post)

Don’t melt the butter either; if it’s melted the cookies won’t hold their shape. Then you would have to chill the dough and this would no longer be a No Chill Sugar Cookie recipe. Ha!

If possible, leave your butter at room temperature a few hours before you want to make these cookies. If you forget to take the butter out of the fridge, you can microwave each stick of butter in 5 second intervals, rotating the butter onto a different side each time.

Granulated Sugar

Just your regular old sugar from the grocery store! I wouldn’t recommend using coconut sugar or another sugar alternative for this recipe.

Eggs

Eggs are the only rising agent in this recipe, so I don’t have a good substitute for them.

Salt

You all know I love my Redmond Real Salt! I use only Redmond Real Salt because it is full of naturally-occurring trace minerals, is unprocessed, and has no fillers, no anti-caking agents, no additives, or unhealthy pollutants. This salt is actually mined from an ancient sea bed here in central Utah- making it true sea salt! 

Grab it HERE. To make it more cost effective, I buy in bulk and order a 25 POUND BAG OF SALT* every few years. I store it in mason jars and it lasts me a few years. My affiliate Coupon code AMBERSKITCHEN saves you 15% on any Redmond products. 

Vanilla

For flavor! I use almond extract in the frosting so you could use that here instead of vanilla if you really love almond flavor!

Flour

I use all-purpose flour for this recipe. I wouldn’t recommend using bread flour for this recipe. It will make the cookies too tough.

How to Make No Chill Sugar Cookies

Make the Dough

Mixing the dough up is pretty simple, but can go very wrong if you don’t follow the directions. In my directions below I specify not overmixing the dough. And I’m serious about that! If you want super soft sugar cookies, mix the dough until it is just barely combined. This goes for every step of the mixing process! 

Roll and Cut

Rolling out sugar cookies can be a huge pain, I know. But it’s necessary to make these delicious cookies evenly baked and as soft as possible! 

Here are a few tips for rolling out sugar cookies:

• Flour your workstation and rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking. Some people like to put some plastic wrap on top of their dough to make it easier to roll out without sticking to the rolling pin.
• Roll out the dough somewhere between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick. Slightly thicker is my preference and I think they have a better texture when they are a little thicker. Definitely don’t roll them out too thin. They’ll stick to the counter and be impossible to transfer onto the tray 
• Use any circular object as a cookie cutter if you don’t have one. You could use a glass a measuring cup, or even a roll of tape, lol!
• Roll out the dough immediately after mixing it up. This is the easiest and quickest way. This recipe is made to be baked immediately, not chilled, like other recipes. But if for some reason you can’t bake the cookies right away, I recommend cutting the dough into shapes first, then chilling. It’s so much easier to roll out when it’s not cold.

Bake 

People ask all the time if I use convection to bake. The answer is no! I always use my normal oven setting to bake. I bake these cookies for 10-13 minutes in my oven, but you may need to adjust according to your own oven. You don’t want them to brown at all but to look set but still a little soft in the middle. If you’re nervous about the timing you could do a test cookie before you bake them all! 

Can I Make These Gluten Free? 

I’ve never tried making these cookies with gluten-free flour, but I’ve heard from some of my followers that it worked out well for them. So try it out and let me know how it goes. 

More Cookie Recipes

Browned Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Cookies

Chocolate Chunk S’mores Cookies

Happy Cooking!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. If you want to follow along on my cooking adventures, follow me on Instagram @AMBERSKITCHEN

No Chill Sugar Cookies

I love this recipe because it makes yummy & soft sugar cookies without having to chill the dough! But if you are going to chill it, I recommend cutting the dough into shapes first, then chilling. (Makes it easier to roll out when it’s not cold!)

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes minutes

Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies

• 4 sticks softened butter I use salted
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 5 cups all purpose flour

Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup softened butter
• 3½ cups powdered sugar
• 2-4 tbsp heavy cream or milk
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract only add this if you love almond flavor

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Instructions

Sugar Cookies

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 13×18 inch baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Using either a stand mixer (I use my Bosch with the dough hook attachment!) or a hand mixer & a big bowl: add the butter and sugar.
• Mix until just combined. Don’t over mix the dough at any point.
• Add the eggs, salt and vanilla. Mix until barely combined, but the batter shouldn’t look smooth yet. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
• Add the flour and mix just until it starts to incorporate and not look quite so dry and lumpy and until the mixer cleans the sides of the bowl. Be careful not to overwork the dough, don’t overmix!
• Test the dough by picking up a piece of dough and pushing your finger into the dough. If you can leave a fingerprint without dough sticking to your finger, that’s what we’re looking for!
• On a clean dry surface, roll out your dough evenly. (If you want to, some people like to put some plastic wrap on top of their dough to make it easier to roll out without sticking to the rolling pin.) Roll dough somewhere between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick. Slightly thicker is my preference and I think they have a better texture when they are a little thicker.
• Using a cookie cutter, cut dough into shapes. Transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment. Cover and refrigerate if not baking immediately. Repeat the process with the leftover dough scraps, roll it out and cut it into shapes.
• Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes depending on size and thickness. Cookies should not brown, but should look set. *Everyone’s oven will cook differently so you’ll need to experiment!*
• Let cookies cool, then frost them and enjoy!

Buttercream Frosting

•  In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter until creamy.
• Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Add vanilla extract and mix until combined.
• Add milk or heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. You want the frosting to be smooth and spreadable, but not too runny.
• Spread frosting onto cooled sugar cookies.