These are the softest and easiest old-fashioned sour cream cookies! Based on my great-grandmother's classic recipe, this is the perfect traditional recipe for a soft cakey cookie. Top with this classic buttercream, or leave them plain for an easy treat.
This recipe makes a dough that is so easy to roll-out and is perfect for cookie cutters and cut-out shapes. It also makes the perfect holiday cookie.
My grandmother made these cookies for every holiday: heart-shaped cookies for Valentine's Day, pumpkins for Halloween, and trees for Christmas. This recipe has been honed for over 50 years into the perfect cookie and the best classic cookie recipe!
Baking with sour cream makes the best-baked goods with a perfect soft caky crumb - this cinnamon sour cream coffee cake is another great sour cream baked good!
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⭐ Why you will love this recipe:
- These are perfectly flavored with a touch of vanilla and almond extract for a really delicious and tender cookie!
- These are the best holiday cookies! This dough rolls out so easily and is perfect for cutting out any festive shape!
- These are the softest, cakey, old-fashioned cookies!
🥘 Key Ingredients:
Butter: Unsalted butter is used for both the cookies and the buttercream; room-temperature butter makes the smoothest dough.
Pro Tip:
To get butter to room temperature, quickly microwave it for 15 seconds.
Eggs: Eggs are the binding agent for the cookies, and make sure the dough holds together while baking.
Sour Cream: Sour cream adds flavor and moisture to these cookies and helps them maintain their shape while baking. It is famous for making a tender and velvety cookie crumb.
Flour: all purpose flour is another binding agent that keeps these cookies together.
🔪 How to make this recipe:
Step 1: Beat the butter and sugar together.
Step 2: Mix in the egg, followed by the sour cream.
Step 3: Followed by the flour and rising agents. Chill for 2-24 hours.
Step 4: Roll out the dough to ¼ inch and cut out desired shapes. Then bake!
Step 5: Make the buttercream by beating the sugar, butter, milk and vanilla together.
Step 6: Frost the cookies!
📖 Flavor additions and alternative flavors:
- Lemon Cookies: add in 2 tablespoons of lemon zest and 1 teaspoon of lemon extract.
- Orange Cookies: add in 2 tablespoons of orange zest.
- Pecan Cookies: Fold 1 cup of chopped pecans into the batter.
💭 Expert Tips:
- Uning room temp ingredients are best seamlessly mixed in with the other ingredients and make the smoothest dough with no lumps.
- Chill the dough overnight for the best results.
- You can skip rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters and use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough into 1 ½-inch dough balls.
- Keep the chilled dough from sticking to your work surface by lifting it and dusting flour underneath after every few rolls.
- Use food coloring and sprinkles to make colorful and festive cookies.
- Completely cool the cookies before frosting.
🎥 Here's a video showing how to make this recipe:
FAQ
Yes, you can make the dough, cover and let sit in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Decorate with the buttercream, then use sprinkles or edible glitter to give a festive finishing touch.
I store these cookies sealed in individual sandwich bags to keep the frosting intact.
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 8 minutes
- Yield: 18-24 cookies 1x
- Category: cookies
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
These are the softest and easiest old-fashioned sour cream cookies! Based on my great-grandmother's classic recipe, this is the perfect traditional recipe for a soft, cakey cookie.
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 ¾ cups flour plus more for dusting
Buttercream:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the sour cream.
- Mix in the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder until smooth.
- Cover with plastic and chill for 2-24 hours. Overnight is best.
- Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to ¼ inch. Adding more flour if the dough is still too soft.
- Cut out the desired cookie shape and place it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the sides are very slightly browned.
- Transfer to a cooling sheet and let cool.
- Make the buttercream by beating the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in the milk, extract, and salt and mix until smooth. Add in desired food coloring and mix.
- Use a knife to frost the cookies.
Notes
Store baked cookies in individually wrapped in ziplock bags.
*Measure your flour properly. This is my best baking tip! I typically fluff my flour, then scoop and level.
* To keep your cookie dough from sticking to the work surface while rolling it out, lift it and dust flour under the dough after every few rolls.
Elizabeth says
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