Soft Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Soft, thick sugar cookies…there’s nothing quite like them! This recipe uses sour cream, which I think is a secret ingredient for the best sugar cookies. Also included in this recipe is a basic vanilla buttercream that you will want to use on practically everything you bake! Combined with the soft sugar cookie recipe, these sugar cookies are real winners and the perfect addition to your Valentine’s celebrations!

Not in the mood for sugar cookies? Check out some of my other favorite recipes:

Caramel Pretzel Nutella Cookies

S’more Cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Creamy Frosting

Brown Butter Fruity Pebbles with Marshmallows Cookies

Soft Sugar Cookies and Vanilla Buttercream

I recently shared this recipe during the Christmas season but thought it would be fun to share once again during Valentine’s. I don’t know if you’re like me, but making heart shaped sugar cookies is a MUST on my Valentine’s Bucket List. My mom would always make these for us while we were growing up and I remember just being SO excited to frost and decorate. We often would take them to our friends and neighbors, too. I always loved how my mom would make a seriously GINORMOUS version of the cookie for my dad. If we got lucky, he would share with us!

This cookie dough does require a little refrigeration before you roll and cut or else you might find that the dough is too sticky. I also prefer my cookies to be nice and thick, so I recommend rolling the cookie dough to about ¾-1 inch thick before cutting. If you like a thin and crispy sugar cookie, try rolling to about ½ inch thick.

The buttercream that tops these cookies is also super delicious! There are a few tricks to having a successful batch of buttercream that I will share below. If you’d like to use multiple color frosting (I love a good variety) then you can just separate the buttercream into halves, thirds, fourths (etc) and mix in the food coloring into different containers!

This was so fun to do and I even had my 2 year old join me in some of the decorating! I tried to remind myself that not every cookie had to look perfect, haha!

How Do You Make Buttercream Icing From Scratch?

Making buttercream from scratch is actually a lot easier than it may seem! I personally think buttercream is the best kind of icing and love, love it on top of my cookies. To create the perfect buttercream, I prefer to start with room temperature butter- meaning if you push your finger into the stick it will make a slight indent and not push completely through. Throw your butter into an electric mixer and mix on medium until butter is soft and fluffy. 

After your butter is soft and fluffy, you’ll add the wet ingredients: vanilla and cream (or milk) as well as a pinch of salt. Mix on medium for a minute or so until they are well combined and then slowly add in the sifted powdered sugar. I truly believe sifting your powdered sugar will give you softer, more even buttercream consistency and never skip this step (this is the one I own). Add the powdered sugar, about ½ cup at a time until the buttercream is somewhat stiff but still very soft and easy to work with. Once the powdered sugar is well combined, turn your electric mixer to high and beat for 2 minutes until the buttercream is fluffy and beautiful! You can also take a spatula and stir the buttercream to release any air pockets!

For amazing buttercream colors, I love to use gels as opposed to the little bottles of dye you can purchase at the grocery store. I feel like the coloring is seriously so much better and you only need to use a little drop of the gels to achieve them. I add these colors about 1 ½ minutes into mixing the buttercream, so they mix well in the last 30 or so minutes!

How to Make This Recipe

To make the soft sugar cookies you will need the following ingredients:

• Shortening
• Granulated Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• Vanilla Extract
• Sour Cream (Full Fat)
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Baking Soda
• All Purpose Flour

To make the buttercream frosting you will need the following ingredients:

• Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla
• Salt
• Heavy Cream (or milk)

MIX. To make the cookies, add the shortening and granulated sugar and cream until well combined. Add in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and mix on low until the ingredients are well mixed. Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.

ROLL. Grab about ⅓-½ of the cookie dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Take a rolling pin (also lightly floured) and roll the dough until it is ¾-1 inch thick (for thick cookies) or ½ inch thick (for thin, crispy cookies). Cut shapes using cookie cutters. Reuse leftover cookie dough and roll out another layer of cookie dough to cook from.

BAKE. Place cookie cutouts onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mats to bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes. When edges of cookies are set and the tops begin to turn a LIGHT brown, remove from the oven. Allow cookies to finish baking on the warm sheet, at least 20 minutes, before removing.

MAKE BUTTERCREAM. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, place room temperature butter in a bowl and turn the mixer to medium, mixing until butter is light and somewhat fluffy. Add in vanilla, cream, and salt. Mix on medium for a minute or so until the ingredients are well combined. Sift powdered sugar and add ½ cup at a time to the mixture, while mixing on low. Mix until well combined, then turn the electric mixer to high and beat for 2 minutes until buttercream is light and fluffy. If you would like to add color, add it 30 seconds or so before the 2 minutes is up.

FROST AND ENJOY. Take 1-2 tablespoons of frosting and frost your cookies as you desire. Top with sprinkles or candy hearts! Enjoy!