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+ servings
Frosted Sour Cream Cookies in a variety of shapes on a textured baking pan.

Sour Cream Cut Out Cookies

These pillowy soft Sour Cream Cookies have been made in the Midwest for generations. They're bursting with nutmeg flavor and stay soft for at least a week after they are baked.
4.7 from 18 ratings

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened slightly (but NOT melted) in microwave 1 cup
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 cup full fat sour cream at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour plus more if needed, and additional for rolling

For the Frosting and Decorating:

  • 6 cups powdered sugar divided
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • ¼ cup + 2 teaspoons whole milk plus additional, if needed
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Food coloring for dying frosting
  • Sprinkles or sparkling sugar for decorating

Instructions

Make the Cookies:

  • In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
  • Add egg, sour cream, baking soda, nutmeg and vanilla and mix at medium speed until well combined.
  • Gradually beat in flour. This will be a very thick dough. If dough seems too thin and sticky, gradually add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until combined and you have a nice thick dough (do not add more than 4 additional tablespoons of flour). Cover and chill overnight.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Meanwhile, allow dough to come to room temperature for 15 minutes.
  • Flour work surface and rolling pin very well. In batches, roll chunks of dough (about 1 cup dough) to about 1/8-inch thickness (it is helpful to flatten dough with your hands into a disc before you start rolling it out).
  • Cut dough using your favorite cookie cutters.
  • In batches, as you finish rolling and cutting them, transfer cookies to unlined cookie sheets. Baking time is very dependent on exact oven temperature, cookie sheet you use, and size of cookie cutters. Transfer cookies to oven and bake cookies 6 to 12 minutes or until they just begin to become light golden brown around the edges (start checking them at 6 minutes until you know how long your oven will take). Cookies will be very soft when they come out of the oven. Carefully transfer to parchment paper and let cool completely before frosting.

Make the Frosting:

  • In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat 2 cups powdered sugar and butter at medium speed 2 minutes or until butter is broken down into small bits. Add milk and vanilla and beat until well combined.
  • Gradually add remaining 4 cups powdered sugar until all sugar is incorporated. Beat at medium-high speed 2 to 3 minutes or until frosting is smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Frosting will be very thick! When you start adding food coloring to it, it will thin out, so do not adjust the consistency yet.
  • Divide frosting into several bowls and stir in food coloring a few drops at a time until desired color is reached. If frosting is still too thick, stir in milk a few drops at a time until frosting reaches a thick spreadable consistency. Spread frosting over cookies and immediately sprinkle with sprinkles or sparkling sugar.

Notes

  • Make sure your nutmeg is fresh. If you're not sure, buy a new bottle. It will make all the difference in flavor in these cookies.
  • We like to use a variety of different shapes and sizes of cookie cutters. For best results, bake small cookies together, and large cookies together, in different batches. Smaller ones will bake faster than larger ones.
  • You can re-roll and cut the scrap dough that remains after using your cookie cutters, but just once! After re-rolling and cutting again, toss the scraps out - they'll be too tough to use again.
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 172kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 19mg, Sodium: 50mg, Potassium: 22mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 21g, Vitamin A: 184IU, Vitamin C: 0.04mg, Calcium: 10mg, Iron: 0.5mg
This website provides estimated nutrition information as a courtesy only. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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