Name: Lemon Cut-out Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 128 min
Ingredients: 2 ¼ cups flour (all-purpose); 1 tsp baking soda; ¼ tsp salt; 1 cup butter or margarine (room temperature); 1 cup white sugar; 1 egg (large); 2 tbsp milk or cream; 2 tsp lemon flavouring or extract; 1 tsp vanilla extract; ½ cup butter; 3 cups icing sugar; 1 tsp almond flavouring or extract; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 tbsp milk or cream

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You are going to love these Lemon Cut-Out Sugar Cookies because they are fun to make and perfect for any occasion! With a soft, easy-to-make pliable dough you can roll out smoothly and use your favourite cookie cutters to make fun shapes.

This lovely recipe came from my Great Auntie Bev which was passed down from her grandma so it has been in the family for many years. My Auntie was kind enough to share the recipe with me and permitted me to share the recipe on the blog!

Everyone needs a good classic Sugar Cookie recipe and this is the best Sugar Cookie recipe ever! With the addition of the lemon flavouring it is perfect for lemon lovers yet subtle enough for everyone. This is such an easy dough to mix up and roll out as the dough is soft, yet pliable. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown around the edges. The texture is soft and chewy-not hard! Glaze them with this best-ever Sugar Cookie Frosting recipe for the ultimate Sugar Cookies!

One of my favourite memories at Christmas time is making Sugar Cookies with my mom and sister. It was something we looked forward to every year. It is so much fun to use fun cookie cutters and then the best part of course is decorating them with frosting and sprinkles. And, these cookies are not only fun to make and decorate but they are delicious to eat too!

Whether you make these Lemon Cut-out Sugar Cookies for the holidays, birthdays, tea parties, or baby showers, these cookies are sure to make an impression on everyone.

How do you make Lemon Cut-Out Sugar Cookies from Scratch?

Whisk together 2 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream together 1 cup of butter or margarine, and 1 cup of white sugar, on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add in 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of milk or cream, 2 teaspoons of lemon flavouring or extract, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat on high speed about 1 minute or until combined scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two additions and mix on low until combined.

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll out one portion onto a lightly floured piece of parchment or silicone baking mat. Repeat with the other dough too.

What is the Best Thickness for Sugar Cookies?

Roll out the dough with a lightly floured rolling pin to 1/4” thickness. Bring out your ruler if needed! This ensures an even baking for all the cookies.

I would advise chilling your cookie dough for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Lightly flour the top of one of your rolled-out doughs and stack the rolled-out dough on top of each other between parchment or waxed paper and place in the fridge covered in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.

Once chilled preheat oven to 350 F or 325 F if you have a convection oven.

Take one of your doughs out of the fridge, cut out shapes using cookie cutters, and arrange them on non-stick cookie sheets 2-3 inches apart, or line them with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Roll out scraps to cut out more shapes until all the dough is used. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Bake for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Let stand on cookie sheets for about 5-10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Decorate cooled cookies with this Sugar Cookie Frosting.

Sugar Cookie Frosting

To make the frosting start by beating 1/2 cup of butter softened at room temperature. Add 3 cups of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of almond flavouring or extract, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons of milk or cream. Continue to beat until fully combined. Add more icing sugar in small increments if you want the frosting thicker or more milk/cream if it is too thick. You want it to be a thick, yet spreadable consistency.

Tidbit: The original recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of almond flavouring but I replaced it with only one teaspoon and added one teaspoon of vanilla extract. However, you can keep it to the original recipe if desired to get more of that almond flavour. Either way, both are delicious!

Feel free to tint the frosting with food colouring to make fun colours! I divided the frosting into 3 different bowls, kept one white, but added red gel food colouring to one bowl and green to the other for Christmas colours.

Tidbit: I recommend using gel food colouring if you want bright colours. Especially for the red as gel food colouring will come out as a true red, however, red food colouring if not gel will turn out pink.

Spread the frosting on your cooled cookies with a butter knife and add sprinkles if desired 🙂

Have fun making these Lemon Cut-out Sugar Cookies and go bake some memories!