This easy small batch cookie recipe is made from scratch and ready in half an hour! Melted butter keeps the dough quick and easy: No stand mixer needed, and no chilling required. Makes six cookies.
These soft, chewy sugar cookies are perfect for small batch baking.
Like many of our go-to cookie recipes, we use melted butter as the base here so the dough is easy to mix by hand. This is also a no-chill recipe: Just stir the dough together, scoop your cookies, and bake. The whole process barely takes half an hour!
One note: You'll only need one egg white for these cookies, as opposed to a whole egg. (Save the leftover egg yolk for our small batch cupcakes or small batch banana muffins!)
Ingredients
Find a full ingredients list with exact quantities in the recipe card below.
- Melted butter keeps the dough soft and easy to mix by hand. Swap it for canola oil, vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil (à la our butterless chocolate chip cookies) if you prefer.
- One egg white. We tested this recipe with fresh-from-the-shell egg whites, as well as egg whites that have been frozen and defrosted (a great hack when you have leftover whites from an ice cream recipe).
Variations and Substitutions
- For extra texture (and a sweeter cookie), roll cookie dough balls in granulated- or turbinado sugar before baking (similar to a gingersnap!)
- Stir rainbow sprinkles into the dough before baking for a pop of color.
- A dash of almond extract adds complexity and gives these cookies a straight-from-the-bakery flavor (we love the small amount of almond extract in our full batch sugar cookie recipe, but kept it optional here to make this small batch variation as simple as possible).
- Frost the cookies with your favorite icing after baking if you like.
Use a kitchen scale
Measuring ingredients like flour by volume (with a measuring cup) is notoriously unreliable. Because each person fills a cup of flour a little bit differently, it's easy to accidentally use too much in a recipe and end up with dry, dense cookies.
But when you use a kitchen scale to measure by weight (in grams), you get a perfect measurement every time. So if you have a kitchen scale, please use it! (No kitchen scale? Measure ingredients like flour with the scoop and level method for best results!)
Step by Step Instructions
Stir melted butter, egg white, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a medium bowl until you have a smooth mixture.
Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you go, until you have a uniform dough.
Pro Tip: The cookie dough should be relatively thick and very soft. It's ready to bake right away - you don't need to chill it!
Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out the dough; place each dough ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave an inch or two of space between each cookie so they can spread out!
Bake the cookies, and let them cool directly on the baking sheet or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pro Tip: These cookies will look puffy right out of the oven, but don't worry: The centers will sink and solidify as they cool, creating those perfect, chewy centers!
Storage
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
FAQs
This recipe was specifically developed to make a small batch of sugar cookies. For a larger batch of cookies, we recommend following our soft and chewy sugar cookie recipe, which makes a larger, whole batch!
These cookies spread quite a bit in the oven, and should develop a slightly wrinkly texture with a puffy, domed top. You may also notice some very light browning around the outer edges of the cookie. The cookies will sink and the centers will solidify as they cool, which gives us that perfect, chewy interior.
Cookies may also be puffy and more dense if too much flour is used. For best results, make sure you use a kitchen scale! 
Yes! Stir a generous handful of rainbow sprinkles into the finished dough for colorful, funfetti-inspired cookies. (This is an especially great addition if you're baking with kids!)
Because these cookies spread quite a bit in the oven, we recommend mixing sprinkles directly into the dough (as opposed to sprinkling them over the top of each cookie before baking) for a more uniform look.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it turned out!
📖 Recipe
Small Batch Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 6 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies, Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
This small batch recipe makes just six soft and chewy sugar cookies!
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg white
- 110 grams sugar (½ cup)
- 4 grams vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
- 120 grams all purpose flour (1 cup)
- 2 grams kosher salt (½ teaspoon)
- 3 grams baking soda (½ teaspoon)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir melted butter, egg white, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a medium mixing bowl until smooth.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir until you have a smooth, soft dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop (we recommend a 3-Tablespoon scoop) to portion out cookie dough. Put each cookie dough scoop on your prepared sheet pan, leaving at least one inch of space between each cookie.
- Bake at 375° F for 9-12 minutes, until cookies have spread and developed a slightly wrinkly texture with a puffy, domed center. You may also notice some very slight browning around the edges.
- Remove cookies from oven; let them cool right on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes (if you like, you can remove them to a wire rack to cool completely). Cookies may look a bit puffy right out of the oven, but the centers will sink down as they cool to form a beautiful, chewy texture.
Notes
Use a kitchen scale! Measuring dry ingredients by volume (with cups) is notoriously unreliable; for perfect-every-time measurements, use a kitchen scale to measure by weight and follow the gram measurements in the recipe above. If you don't have a scale, be sure to measure your flour with the scoop and level method for best results.
Substitutions and Additions. Swap the melted butter for vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil. For extra texture, roll each cookie dough ball in a bit of sugar or turbinado sugar before baking. Add a dash of almond extract for extra flavor if you like (just a drop - about ⅛ teaspoon - will make a huge difference!)
What size cookie scoop should I use? We used a 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough in these photos, which gives us about 6 cookies, each about 3" in diameter. If you use a different sized cookie scoop, you'll likely need to adjust the bake time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 199
- Sugar: 18.5 g
- Sodium: 276.5 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 33.7 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 15.3 mg
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