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Brown Sugar Cookies

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These Brown Sugar Cookies are perfect for cutting out, they’re easy to make, and always totally delicious.

Brown Sugar Cookies

And finally, for the last post in our week of cookie recipes here on the blog, I have a new one for you today that lots of you have been requesting — my go-to sugar cookie recipe!

Make that, my go-to brown sugar cookie recipe.

Because years ago, I started swapping rich and molasses-y brown sugar in place of white granulated sugar in these cookies, and haven’t looked back since. It’s my favorite kind of sugar cookie! That said, I’m especially partial to this particular recipe because it’s cut-out-friendly and will hold the shape of whatever cute cookie cutters you decide to use. Plus it’s incredibly simple to make, calls for everyday ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, and tastes great. I’ve also included two different icing options below, for those of you who are into royal icing and those (like me!) who usually just keep things simple with a quick powdered sugar icing.

Let’s make some brown sugar cookies!

Brown Sugar Cookies Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Cut-Out Brown Sugar Cookies

Brown Sugar Cookie Ingredients:

The credit for this recipe goes to the amazing Bridget of Bake at 350, whose basic sugar cookie recipe is the best!! For this brown sugar cookie recipe variation of the recipe, I have swapped brown sugar for granulated. And also increased the vanilla a bit, because I love a super vanilla-y cookie. And also increased the egg to make for easy rolling. I’ve also scaled the recipe to yield about two dozen cookies, depending on what shape/size of cookie cutters you use. But of course, feel free to halve, double or triple this recipe according to the size of batch you would like to make.

To make these brown sugar cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

  • Flour: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the cookies.
  • Baking powder, egg and salt: Because…cookies.
  • Unsalted butter: Completely softened, which means it will still be a bit cool to the touch.
  • Brown sugar: Be sure to pack it firmly into the measuring cup.
  • Extracts: We will use both vanilla and almond extract in this recipe. (Although if you don’t have almond extract, you can just omit it.)
  • Icing and/or Sprinkles: See notes below.

You will also need (affiliate links included):

How To Make Sugar Cookies

How To Make Sugar Cookies:

To make sugar cookies, simply:

  1. Whisk the dry ingredients. Flour, baking soda and salt. Then set aside.
  2. Prepare the dough. In a large mixing bowl either with a stand mixer (with the blade attachment) or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-speed until light and fluffy. Then mix in the egg, vanilla and almond extract. Followed by the dry ingredients, mixing them until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix this batter!
  3. Cut out the cookies. Now the fun part! Turn the dough onto a lightly-floured hard surface, and roll it out until it is about 1/4-inch thick. (You may have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your surface.)  Then grab your favorite cookie cutters and go to town, re-rolling the dough as needed to cut out more. Transfer the cookies to a parchment-covered baking sheet.
  4. Chill the dough. Very important — for this dough to hold its shape, it needs a quick chill in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.
  5. Bake. Then once the dough is nice and firm, transfer it to the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges just barely begin to turn golden. Let the cookies cool for a bit. Then decorate if you’d like, and
  6. Enjoy! I highly recommend enjoying some of the cookies immediately. But if you have extras, you can store them in a sealed container for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Brown Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees with Gold Sprinkles

Different Icing Options:

To ice these sugar cookies, you can either use:

  • Royal Icing: Which is firm and best for intricate cookie decorating. I recommend checking out Bridget’s royal icing recipe here.
  • Quick Icing: Most of the time, I just stick with a quick powdered sugar icing (pictured here), which is easy to make with just powdered sugar, your choice of milk, and a hint of vanilla extract. It doesn’t harden as much as royal icing, but it’s easy and delicious.

Feel free to also use any kind of sprinkles that you love! I love using either a sprinkle of turbinado sugar or these gold sprinkles.

Brown Sugar Cookies

More Favorite Cookie Recipes:

Looking for more cookie baking inspiration? Here are few more of my classic faves:

Enjoy, everyone! 

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Brown Sugar Cookies

Brown Sugar Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.6 from 14 reviews
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 0 About 2 dozen cookies 1x

Description

These Brown Sugar Cookies are perfect for cutting out, they’re easy to make, and always totally delicious.


Ingredients

Scale

Brown Sugar Cookie Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Quick Icing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 23 teaspoons milk (any kind)
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

To Make The Cookies:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line a large baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl either with a stand mixer (with the blade attachment) or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract.  Beat on medium speed until completely combined, scraping down the sides partway through if needed.  Add in the dry ingredients, and beat on low speed until just combined.  (You don’t want to over-beat this dough.)
  4. Form the dough into a ball, and place it on a large, lightly-floured hard surface.  Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough evenly until it is approximately 1/4-inch thick.  Then use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes, re-rolling the dough as needed to cut out more.  Transfer the cookies to a parchment-covered baking sheet.
  5. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to chill the dough.
  6. Once the dough is nice and firm, transfer the baking sheet to the oven.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges just barely begin to turn golden.  Remove from heat and let the cookie rest on the tray for 5 minutes.  Then transfer them to a wire baking rack to cool completely.
  7. Enjoy the cookies immediately, or store in a sealed container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.

To Make The Icing:

  1. Whisk all ingredients together until combined.  If the icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.  If it is too thick, add a touch more milk.
  2. Use immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container.  (The icing sets up as it sits, so you will need to give it a good whisk and maybe pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen it back up after being refrigerated.)


Notes

Recipe very slightly adapted from Bake at 350.

This post contains affiliate links.

Brown Sugar Cookie Recipe

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34 comments on “Brown Sugar Cookies”

  1. These look easy & delicious!!! Can’t wait to try them out.
    Thanks!

  2. I like that this recipe does not have a ton of sugar like some cookies or a ton of butter. Definitely will give it a try soon.

  3. Yay for a quick and molassey cookie! Can’t wait to try it next weekend as a trial for a cookie exchange!

  4. This recipe sounds fun and the gold sprinkles are lovely!

  5. These were great! I didn’t add the almond extract as a personal preference but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Recipe doubles well.

  6. Made these today and am totally obsessed! Like that it’s not too sugary and can be made dairy free by subbing in coconut oil! Definitely a holiday staple!

    • These are very good sugar cookies. Baking powder is in the ingredients list in the recipe, but baking soda is in the discussion of the ingredients above and in the recipe directions. I assumed it was baking powder that was meant, and that worked fine. I found the dough quite soft, so needed quite a bit of flour on the rolling pin and rolling surface to keep it from sticking. I made stars, like yours, and added gold sprinkles as well as edible glitter stars. Thanks for a good recipe!

  7. I like that this recipe does not have a ton of sugar like some cookies or a ton of butter. Definitely will give it a try soon.

  8. These almost remind of a brown sugar shortbread cookie I used to make often for my dad; this recipe just includes an egg! I’m sure he’d love these.

  9. I like that this recipe …I will also try this.






  10. I just made these and its delicious. The frosting with vanilla is so yummy. Thank you for another great recipe.






  11. These cookies are AMAZING. I never leave comments or reviews but I had to for these. I made four batches and every single one turned out perfectly. Sugar cookies are usually boring but I love the subtle flavor of these. I will be using this recipe for my Christmas cookies for years to come. Thank you!

  12. My Freezer won’t accommodate cookie sheets, would putting the dough in to chill before rolling it out provide the same outcome?

  13. Yummy! Made them tonight. Is now my favorite recipe!!!






  14. These are great






  15. Delicious!






  16. The dough was very soft and sticky. The almond extract flavor was overpowering. They did not taste like sugar cookies.






  17. Hi, How long will the icing last in the fridge?

  18. Wow!! Let me start by saying that I never leave reviews anywhere, so this is big! I decided to make this recipe because we were snowed in, we didn’t have the ingredients for our typical chocolate chip, and I just needed cookies, ya know?! So I started looking up sugar cookies even though I usually find them kinda a hassle. That’s when this one came up. The recipe is SUPER easy. Not a lot of waiting time for the sugar cookie dough to chill. There isn’t too much sugar/butter involved. My mom isn’t usually a sweets person so I made some of these without the icing & she fell in love. Not too sweet, almost shortbread-like. Didn’t have almond extract in the house even though I think that would be yummy! For the icing, I mixed half of the amount with blue dye, marbled the two, and then dipped the top of the cookie in it! Definitely give this one a try!






  19. My husband called me a witch when I made these. Oh that probably sounded bad but that’s what he says when I do something so impressive he thinks I’m magical.






  20. Can you tell me how to make these into drop cookies? I personally don’t feel like rolling out the dough and I also think that drop cookies are faster.I hope you answer!

  21. I just baked these and yum!






  22. The not-too-sweet cookies sounds like a good project for this weekend. We are all adults in my family so I no longer bother with cookie cutters. I will be rolling the dough into logs, freezing them, then slicing them into cookies a dozen or so at a time, or as needed. I will probably roll them in demerara sugar or chopped nuts instead of frosting them.

  23. Would love to try this ..
    Iam terrible thinking outside the box being I don’t have cookie cutters ..
    Will it be ok to scoop it out into a ball ??

  24. I got rave reviews on these!! Brought a big batch of them to a family gathering and they were gone by the end. They loved them, and said they tasted like a homemade pop tart, so I may try adding some kind of jam to them next round! Overall, A+ recipe. Amazing results, and super quick and easy to bake! Thanks! PS – I sprinkled cinnamon sugar onto the icing on half of them; which was a big hit!






  25. This is a great cookie recipe!!! If you are sick of plain old sugar cookies that lack in flavor, Try this recipe. Super simple, Provides nice crispy edges with a moist but crumbly chewy centre. Great for cookie cutters, holds its shape extremely well. I look forward to decorating these for Valentine’s Day.






  26. Can you replace the All Purpose Flour with Almond Flour?

  27. It should be noted how sticky and difficult the dough is to roll almost no firmness to help form and also recommend or should note to break apart sift loosen whatever term the brown sugar before mixing with butter since if u just measured ur butter in a bowl then drop the packed cup of brown sugar in and mix u will probably end up over mixing (if that’s an issue for theses I’m new to the from scratch baking) due to clumps that don’t blend with beaters as to how they turn out I wouldn’t know because of the trouble I had in my work area for rolling it fell on the floor and forget about the idea that u could just remove the part that hit the floor cause as soon as u go to pick it up its like playing with goop so mine went in the trash I was able to get 6 small patty cake cookies with what dough stayed on the table n kids ate them not much flavor

  28. The cookies were so easy to make and delicious. I wish I could upload a picture. Thank you!

  29. This recipe is impossible to cut out cookies. The dough is too soft & sticky. I would chill the dough before trying to cut out.






  30. 3rd year for making this cookie and most definitely my go-to recipe for brown sugar cookies. Dough is so easy to work with and maintains shape while baking. Taste is great!