Description
Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookies topped with a smooth and creamy cream cheese frosting, perfect for festive occasions or everyday treats. These cookies have a tender, melt-in-the-mouth texture with a subtle tang from the sour cream and a rich buttery flavor enhanced by the sweet cream cheese icing.
Ingredients
Scale
Sugar Cookie Dough:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup sour cream
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Cream Cheese Icing:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare Dry Ingredients: Sift together the baking soda, salt, baking powder, and flour in a medium bowl, then set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together using an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract for an additional 3 minutes until well combined and smooth.
- Incorporate Flour and Sour Cream: Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in three portions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mixing just until combined to preserve the soft dough texture.
- Chill Dough: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight to allow it to firm up.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Dough: When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375℉. Remove the chilled dough, divide it in half, and place on a lightly floured surface.
- Roll and Cut Cookies: Roll out each half of the dough to ¼-inch thickness, gently brushing off any excess flour. Use lightly floured cookie cutters (preferably simple shapes like hearts or circles) to cut the dough, keeping in mind the dough is soft and may not hold intricate shapes well.
- Arrange for Baking: Carefully transfer the cut cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. There is no need to grease the sheet as the cookies won’t stick.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until edges just begin to turn golden. Avoid overbaking to maintain softness.
- Cool Cookies: Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare Cream Cheese Icing: In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
- Add Sugar and Vanilla: Gradually mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, beating until the icing is smooth and well blended. Food coloring can be added if desired at this stage.
- Frost the Cookies: Use a thin metal spatula to spread the icing on the cooled cookies or pipe the icing onto cookies using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Decorate with sprinkles or sparkling sugars if desired.
Notes
- Refrigerating the dough overnight is key to easier handling because the dough is very soft initially.
- Use simple cookie shapes like hearts or circles since intricate details won’t hold well with this soft dough.
- Do not overbake; cookies should be soft and just starting to turn golden at the edges for best texture.
- You can tint the cream cheese frosting with gel food coloring for a festive touch.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days or frozen without frosting for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 190
- Sugar: 18g
- Sodium: 120mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 24g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 30mg
