Best Sour Cream Cookies
These Sour Cream Cookies are moist, fluffy and simply the best cut-out cookies I’ve ever made!
We use homemade frosting for part of them and a can of icing for the rest. Both options are excellent. A few sprinkles finish off these sour cream roll out cookies perfectly!
Sour Cream Cookie Recipe
Lighter and more moist because of the dairy products this Sour Cream Cookies recipe is better than traditional cut-out sugar cookies
The richness of sour cream and butter make these cookies special. There’s nothing sour about these cookies. They are moist, delicious and make a wonderful sweet treat on a Christmas cookie tray alongside Peanut Clusters and White Chocolate Candy.
My kids and I make this recipe as well as our Cottage Cheese Cookies and Magic Cookies at most holidays. Rolling out sour cream cookie dough is fun because we can use different cookie cutters and a variety of seasonal sprinkles. The kids LOVE dressing up the cookies with sprinkles!
We used a round drinking glass to cut out the cookies in the pictures. Whether you use a basic round glass or cookie cutters, the taste and quality are the same.
Ingredients Needed For Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
Frosting for Sour Cream Cookies
We like a nice thick layer of icing, so the batch of icing doesn’t quite cover all of our cookies. If we need more icing we just pull a can of pre-made vanilla icing out of the cupboard. We LOVE the taste of both.
The homemade icing does set up a bit better, after about an hour, so that the cookies can be carefully stacked.
Fun to make with family or friends these sour cream cut out cookies are hard to stop eating!
I appreciate that a friend from church gave me this recipe as well as our Almond Bark Cookies, so I wanted to try it for the first time and make cookies for a Christmas fundraiser at church. We also took some of these cookies along to a family holiday party and everyone loved them!
How to Make Sour Cream Cookies
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.
- Add sour cream and vanilla, and mix well.
- Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
- Cover and chill dough at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Roll dough out on a heavily floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness.
- Cut with a 3-inch cookie cutter or use a drinking glass.
- Place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes, or until cookies springs back when lightly touched. Cool.
- To make the icing mix powdered sugar, crisco, salt, and milk well.
- Add melted butter and vanilla. Blend thoroughly, and spread on cookies.
- Decorate with sprinkles or colored sugar if desired.
Step By Step Instructions
Using an electric mixer cream softened butter and sugar.
Then beat in eggs and vanilla.
In a small bowl use a fork to sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Add a third of the dry mixture at a time to the creamed mixture and stir together.
Cover and chill dough for at least 2 hours up to overnight.
Generously flour a clean and dry counter top.
Roll out a third or a quarter to the dough and be sure to keep a layer of flour between the counter and sour cream sugar cookie dough.
Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick and cut out cookies.
Lay cookies on a non-stick lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 11 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F.
Allow to cool on a baking rack and then coat with frosting.
Recipe Tips
- These old-fashioned sour cream cookies are VERY moist and the dough takes a little bit more finesse to roll out and handle than traditional sugar cookie dough, but it’s worth it!
- We’ve had readers submit other combinations of wet and dry ingredients and we’ve tested them. Our original recipe is our favorite as long as you have the time and patience to keep flouring your surface as your work with the tacky dough.
- Cookies this good don’t last more than a couple of days in our house, so we love using a storage container with easy to use lid. If we wanted them to last longer I would use freezer bags and freeze them to maintain maximum freshness.
- No cookie cutters are needed, a round glass works just fine for cookies anytime of the year.
How Long Are Sour Cream Cookies Good?
The shelf life for really moist cookies is 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Of course an airtight bag or container is key to maximizing cookie quality and shelf life. These cookies should not be stored on the counter as they are highly perishable.
How Do You Organize Cookies on A Tray?
When arranging cookies on a rectangular or square tray being placing cookies around the outside edge and work inward. When arranging cookies on a circular tray place one cookie in the center of the tray. Continue to arrange cookies in a circular pattern from the center working outward.
After icing Sour Cream Cut Out Cookies they need to be stored in a single layer to prevent icing sticking to the bottom of the other cookies. I prefer using an airtight container, but plastic wrap can also work.
Other Delicious Christmas Cookies:
- Cowboy Cookie Bars
- Dark Chocolate & Oatmeal Cookies
- Applesauce Raisin Cookies
- Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Treasure Cookies
We hope you enjoy all of these cookies as much as we do!
Printable Best Sour Cream Cookie Recipe
Best Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup crisco
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
Cookies
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add sour cream and vanilla, and mix well.
- Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Chill dough at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Roll dough out on a heavily floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch cookie cutter or use a drinking glass.
- Place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 8 to 12 minutes, or until cookies springs back when lightly touched. Cool.
Icing
- Mix well – powdered sugar, crisco, salt, and milk.
- Add melted butter and vanilla. Blend thoroughly, and spread on cookies. Decorate with sprinkles or colored sugar if desired.
Notes
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Rate This Recipe Pin This RecipePost originally shared on December 2, 2018 with updates made on November 13, 2023.
These are delicious and I love the convenience of pre-made frosting. This will be a fun Christmas cookie project for our family!!
Can i substitute the sour cream with Greek yogurt?
Great question! I have made that substitution in other recipes, but I have not tried it in these cookies yet. I think it may work, but may require a different amount of flour to roll the cookies out. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try!
The cookies are delicious but the crisco o in the icing ruins it. I don’t really bake with It anymore. I’ll use another icing next time
Good morning. I am terrible at rolling dough for cookies. Do you think it would be possible to scoop dough out with cookie scoop and then smash down with a glass dipped in sugar? This recipe sounds delicious. Love sour cream. Thanks for a wonderful blog and so many scrumptious recipes.