These chewy, no-chill sugar cookies are easy, delicious, and ready in half an hour! Melted butter keeps the dough simple and soft, so you can mix these cookies by hand (without a stand mixer). Add rainbow sprinkles to the cookie dough for a colorful twist!
These rich, fluffy cookies are ultra-simple.
You need less than 10 ingredients for this recipe, and the cookies are ready from scratch in well under an hour. Melted butter keeps this dough easy to mix by hand (we use a similar trick in our cinnamon brown sugar cookies!)
Just mix the dough, scoop your cookies, and bake. The resulting cookies are rich, chewy, and pillowy soft!
Ingredients
For exact quantities, see the full recipe card below.
- Melted butter cuts down on prep time (no waiting for butter to soften on the counter!) and keeps this dough soft and easy to work with.
- If you have time, let eggs come to room temperature for half an hour before you bake (this helps them incorporate more smoothly into the dough).
- A dash of almond extract adds complexity to this dough and gives our cookies their straight-from-the-bakery flavor. If you don't have almond extract, just leave it out.
Use a kitchen scale
Measuring ingredients like flour by volume (with a measuring cup) is notoriously unreliable. Because each person fills a cup a little differently, it's easy to accidentally use too much flour 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 scale? Measure flour with the scoop and level method for best results!)
Variations and Substitutions
- For extra texture, roll cookie dough balls in additional granulated sugar or a bit of turbinado sugar before baking (similar to a gingersnap!)
- No butter? Vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil will work in place of melted butter here.
Step by step instructions
Make the dough
Stir melted butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and almond 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 as you go, until you have a uniform dough. The cookie dough should be relatively thick and very soft. It's ready to bake right away - you don't need to chill it!
Pro Tip: Mix this dough by hand, or use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Optional: Add Sprinkles
Stir a generous handful of rainbow sprinkles into the finished dough for colorful, funfetti-inspired cookies.
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.
Bake
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, let them cool for a few minutes directly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 4 months.
How to tell when these cookies are done
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.
FAQs
This recipe makes 20ish large cookies, about 3" in diameter (formed with a 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop) or 50ish small/bite-sized cookies (formed with a 1-Tablespoon cookie scoop). Depending on the size of your cookies, you may need to adjust the baking time.
Yes! These cookies freeze very well. Let them cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 4 months. Let frozen cookies defrost for a few hours on the counter when you're ready to eat them.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it turned out!
📖 Recipe
Soft Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 18-22 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies, Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
These easy, chewy sugar cookies are ready in under an hour! Melted butter brings this batter together quickly, and no chilling is required.
Ingredients
- 53 grams (1 stick, or ½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 250 grams granulated sugar (1 ¼ cups)
- 8 grams vanilla extract (2 teaspoons)
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract (measure this by volume - it’s such a small quantity that most kitchen scales won’t register it)
- 300 grams all purpose flour (about 2 ½ cups when measured by scooping and leveling)
- 4 grams kosher salt (1 teaspoon)
- 6 grams baking soda (1 teaspoon)
- ⅔ cup rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir melted butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract together in a large mixing bowl until smooth.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir until you have a smooth, soft dough. If you're using rainbow sprinkles, mix them in now.
- 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. Note: Depending on the size of your pan, you will likely need to bake in batches.
- 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 and let them cool right on the baking sheet for a minute or two, then remove to a wire rack. 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. Serve immediately or store cooled cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
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. If you don’t have any almond extract, just leave it out. Cookies will still be great!
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 20 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: 130
- Sugar: 12.6 g
- Sodium: 167.4 mg
- Fat: 2.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
- Cholesterol: 24.3 mg
More chewy cookie recipes
Using melted butter instead of softened butter is one of our favorite techniques for rich, chewy cookies that are ALSO exceptionally quick and easy to make. See a few of our favorite recipes with melted butter below (or check out our full collection of cookie recipes!)
Comments
No Comments