Sunset’s favorite sugar cookie recipe

Cutting Sunset’s Favorite Sugar Cookie Dough. (Thayer Allyson Gowdy)

A few years back, I was obsessed with finding the perfect sugar cookie recipe and tested all the variations I could find in Sunset’s archives. I’m happy to say our Favorite Sugar Cookie Dough recipe deserves its name. And you can tailor the cookies from simple to spectacular to suit your schedule.

Here’s what I love about the Favorite Sugar Cookie Dough recipe.

1. It has the perfect proportions for butter, sugar, and flour so cookies come out sweet but not too sweet, and buttery but not sticky. You can imagine this required a lot of baking (and eating!) to discover.

2. You don’t need to chill the dough before rolling (mix and bake right away!) unless your kitchen gets really warm. (If that’s the case, just pop it in the freezer briefly.)

3. The sugar cookies bake slow and low (300° for about 15 minutes) so they get a nice toasted butter flavor.

4. The sugar cookies are so good you don’t have to decorate them at all…but feel free to channel your inner pastry chef if you want to. Here are ideas from colleagues Karen Shinto and Amy Traverso for how to take them from simple to spectacular.

Cookies made from Sunset’s Favorite Sugar Cookie Dough, decorated simple, special, and spectacular. (Thayer Allyson Gowdy)