Last-Minute Cut-Out Cookies
Sneaking in just before Christmas with a last-minute cookie recipe for all of my fellow procrastinators out there! I actually hesitated quite a bit to share this no-chill sugar cookie recipe, and almost didn’t. Only because I already have a pretty incredible, well-loved, highly-rated and easy sugar cookie recipe on the blog. The only drawback? My original recipe requires several hours of chilling. If you have the time, I will always favor the original. But, sometimes, well, we need sugar cookies without chilling. We need them fast and don’t have time to wait for refrigeration, no matter how obnoxiously important we know that step may be. Which is why I’m very pleased to be sharing today’s absolutely no-refrigerator required, no-chill sugar cookie recipe. For those of you who are procrastinators (much like myself) and find yourself in desperate need of cookies for Santa and barely any time remaining before the sleigh pulls up to the rooftop.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
NO CHILLING!Simple to prepare with basic ingredients.Yields beautiful, even cookies with sharp, defined edges.A forgiving dough; I include tips to avoid common sugar cookie pitfalls, but also how to resolve them if you skipped over the tips and ran into them anyway.Yields buttery, perfectly sweetened cookies that you can customize the flavor of with your favorite extracts. Quick and easy, this recipe can be done in under an hour!
What You Need
The ingredients needed here are essentially the same as the ones used in my classic sugar cookies, with one notable exception. Let’s go over these before we get started:
Butter. Arguably the most important ingredient, your butter has the power to make or break your no-chill sugar cookies. Your butter should be softened, but not entirely to room temperature. It should still have a bit of a chill to it, if it’s too warm or soft it can make the dough sticky and difficult to use. Check that your butter isn’t melting (the outside of it shouldn’t be oily). If you want to be really technical, use an instant read thermometer (⬅️ affiliate link for the one I use) to check the temperature of your butter. At its center, it should read close to 65F (18C). Extracts. Vanilla extract gives the cookies their classic vanilla flavor. A bit of almond extract adds something extra special, but can be skipped if you don’t love the flavor (or feel free to substitute with lemon extract). Flour. Use all-purpose flour. While I recommend always measuring your flour properly, with this recipe you actually have a bit of wiggle room, and if you run into an issue with sticky dough you can always add a spoonful more as needed. Cornstarch. My secret weapon, I prefer to use a blend of flour and cornstarch rather than just flour. Too much flour can make the cookies cakey and bland. Cornstarch works much like flour in this recipe, but you can use much less of it, keeping the cookies tender and flavorful. Baking powder. A pinch of baking powder keeps the cookies from being too dense. It offers a slight bit of lift that keeps their texture perfect.
SAM’S TIP; TOPPINGS: My easy sugar cookie icing and easy royal icing both work wonderfully for icing these cookies (I used my royal icing in the photos here). However you can also skip the icing completely and just sprinkle the cut-out cookies with colored sanding sugar before baking them. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make No-Chill Sugar Cookies
SAM’S TIP: Add your flour gradually. This dough is designed to be a bit more dry and firm than other cookie doughs (it’s how we’re able to skip the chilling), so it takes some time for the wet ingredients to absorb all of that flour. I recommend adding the flour mixture in 4 or 5 parts and ensuring it’s all been incorporated before adding the next bit. If your dough seems dry and crumbly, you might have just overwhelmed it with flour. Just keep mixing and it will come together. I have a few more recipes in store for you this year but this will be my last dessert recipe of 2022. Merry Christmas, and I hope this recipe is helpful (if you enjoy it let me know and I will try to film a video for it for the next holiday season)! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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