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This is the ultimate frosted sugar cookie recipe! These large bakery-style sugar cookies have a tender, fluffy texture and a big swirl of frosting on top. They stay soft for days, so they’re a great make-ahead recipe as well.
The Best Recipe for Frosted Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are the little black dress of the baking world–endlessly versatile, customizable, and they go with everything.
They can be dressed up with colorful royal icing designs, or topped with intricate fondant plaques. They can be decorated with romantic watercolor paint and gold leaf, or kept super-simple without any toppings at all. They can be rolled into pinwheels, cut into stars and stripes, twisted into candy canes, or shaped into grotesque witch fingers.
With the huge variety of sugar cookies out there, it might seem ridiculous to claim a favorite…but if you promise not to tell the other cookies, these soft and fluffy frosted sugar cookies are my all-time #1.
But you don’t have to take my word for it! These have been a beloved reader favorite since they were first published in 2017, and if you try them, I think you’ll agree with all the 5-star reviews. But if you need a little more convincing, here’s why I think you’ll love them!
- These cookies have a tender, pillowy texture that stays soft for days. No stale sugar cookies here!
- They’re topped with a thick swirl of vanilla frosting. It’s creamy and smooth, but it crusts on the top, making these cookies easier to stack and package.
- They don’t require any chilling, rolling, or cutting. Just make and scoop!
- They’re freezable, giftable, perfect for any holiday, and — oh yeah — SERIOUSLY delicious.
If you’re now craving cookies (like me, 24/7) then check out our full list of cookie recipes, from crispy pastel Meringues, to zesty Clementine Cookies, to indulgent Raspberry Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
🧾 What You’ll Need
Ingredients
This recipe uses standard baking ingredients, so chances are you have most of the necessities on hand. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you gather ingredients. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
- Unsalted Butter: Your butter should be at room temperature to make these cookies. This means it’s soft and pliable, but not greasy and melty. I always recommend unsalted butter in baking, so you can control the precise amount of salt. If you only have salted butter, use that but omit the additional salt in the recipe.
- Sour cream: Adding sour cream to the cookies makes them extra-soft and tender, and I love the very subtle tang it gives to them. Make sure your sour cream is at room temperature so everything blends together nicely.
- Milk: Have your milk at room temperature. Any fat percentage of milk should work, or you can even use half-and-half.
- Egg: Use a large egg at room temperature. Either let it sit out for 20-30 minutes, or submerge it in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to warm up quickly.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is the classic sugar cookie flavor, but you can experiment and add other extracts in addition to or instead of vanilla. Try almond or lemon extract, or use vanilla bean paste for a really intense vanilla vibe.
- Powdered Sugar: It may seem strange, but I am very picky about my powdered sugar. Some brands have too much corn starch, or are too coarse, leading to a rough, gritty texture in frosting. This is my powdered sugar of choice! It’s made from cane sugar instead of beet sugar, and produces smooth, consistent results.
- Sprinkles: Add color and texture to any dessert. Use different colored sprinkles to make these cookies festive for any holiday!
Equipment
Just a few important tips to make sure your cookies turn out perfectly.
- Baking sheets:to get tall, puffy cookies, you’ll want to use uninsulated aluminum baking sheets like these. Dark cookie sheets cause over-browning on the bottom of the cookie. Insulated sheets will give you pale bottoms, but the cookies are flatter and spread more. Uninsulated, light-colored sheets are just right!
- Cookie scoop:For these big cookies, I use a #24 disher. (This is culinary talk for “big ole cookie scoop.”) This size holds about 3 TBSP / 1.75 oz of cookie dough. For smaller cookies, I recommend a #40 disher (1.5 TBSP, 1 ounce of dough) and bake for about 12 minutes — this produces 2-inch cookies.
- Mixer:You will need some kind of mixer to properly make the frosting and dough. Either a stand mixer or hand mixer will work fine.
- Parchment Paper:Save time and cleanup by using silicone liners or parchment paper when baking cookies.
📋 Instructions
Here’s an overview of how to make Big Soft Sugar Cookies! Full instructions are included in the recipe card down below.
How to make soft sugar cookies
- In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, sour cream, and milk, and mix until well combined.
- At first it might look crumbled or broken (R picture), especially if some of your ingredients were not room temperature. But if you keep mixing, it will smooth out.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
- With the mixer running on low speed, stream in the flour until almost combined and just a few streaks of flour remain.
- Stop the mixer and finish mixing by hand, being sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl well with a rubber spatula.
- Scoop the dough out into large 3 TBSP balls onto the baking sheets—you should get about 18 cookies from this recipe.
- Bake at 350 F for 16-18 minutes, until the cookies are puffed and just starting to take on color around the edges. The tops should still remain virtually colorless.
- Let them cool completely before frosting.
How to make sugar cookie frosting
- Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute, until creamy and light in color.
- Add the powdered sugar, 2 TBSP of milk, vanilla, and salt, and mix well, until light and fluffy.
- If the frosting is too stiff for your liking, slowly stream in the remaining spoonful of milk a bit at a time, until you get a texture you like.
How to get fluffy cookies
If a recipe claims to be for “big soft” cookies, you’re gonna want to end up with big soft cookies! There’s nothing wrong with flatter sugar cookies, but that’s not what we’re going for here — we want puffy big boys, like the cookies pictured above on the right.
My #1 tip for getting the kind of cookies you want is to use the right equipment! (Well, #1 tip is probably follow the recipe, but #2 tip is definitely use the right equipment.) You want to bake these cookies on an aluminum, non-insulated baking sheet. The cookies above are from the same batch of dough. The ONLY difference is that the ones on the left were baked on an insulated baking sheet, and the ones on the right were baked on a non-insulated sheet. You can see how much of a difference the baking sheet makes! Insulated cookie sheets cause the cookies to spread more, and you’ll end up with pale bottoms, non-crispy edges, and flat cookies.
You can also chill the dough before baking. This is not necessary, but cold dough will give you a little more height to your cookies.
How to keep sugar cookies soft
These cookies are great “keepers,” and they’ll stay soft for days as long as they’re stored in a container and not left exposed to the air. The frosting layer also helps keep them soft, so if you’re looking to store them, I recommend frosting them, letting them sit at room temperature for several hours to give the frosting time to crust over and harden, and then storing them in an airtight container.
One of my favorite cookie tricks is to store them with a slice of bread or a soft roll. The moisture from the bread adds humidity to the storage container and keeps the cookies from drying out as fast. Pro tip: Hawaiian rolls are my favorite to use because they’re super moist!
The best cookie flavor ever
Vanilla cookies are tasty, but if you want to go for extra credit, pick up some Princess Bakery Emulsion. I often use Princess emulsion in my yellow and white cakes, frostings, and sugar cookies – it gives them a “fresh-from-the-bakery” taste that’s instantly recognizable but hard to put your finger on. I would describe it as a mix of vanilla, almond, and lemon, and if that sounds delicious, it absolutely is!
💡 Tips and FAQs
Candy Cane Cookies
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Big Soft Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the sugar cookies:
- 12.5 oz all-purpose flour, (2 ¾cups)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 oz unsalted butter, (¾ cup), at room temperature
- 7 oz granulated sugar, (1 cup)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 2 oz sour cream, (1/4 cup), at room temperature
- 2 fl oz milk, (1/4 cup)
For the frosting:
- 4 oz unsalted butter, (1/2 cup), at room temperature
- 12 oz powdered sugar, (3 cups)
- 2 TBSP milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- Sprinkles, to decorate
Instructions
To make the sugar cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. For the best results, I recommend using uninsulated aluminum baking sheets.
- In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside for a moment.
- In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, sour cream, and milk, and mix until well combined.
- Turn the mixer speed to low, and gradually add the flour mixture. Mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Stop the mixer and finish mixing by hand, being sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl well with a rubber spatula.
- Use a #24 cookie scoop (3 TBSP, or 1.75 oz) to scoop large balls of cookie dough onto the baking sheets—you should get about 18 cookies from this recipe. Bake at 350 F for 16-18 minutes, until the cookies are puffed and just starting to take on color around the edges. The tops should still remain virtually colorless.
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting and decorate:
- Beat the butter with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until creamy and light in color.
- Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt, and mix well, until light and fluffy.
- If the frosting is too stiff for your liking, you can add more milk, a bit at a time, until you get a texture you like. If it is too soft, add a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar to adjust the texture.
- Put a generous dollop of frosting on top of each cookie, and spread it around evenly over the top. Finish with a big pinch of sprinkles or other decorations.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container. They can be kept for about a week, but the taste and texture is best if enjoyed within 3-4 days.
- The cookies and frosting can both be made in advance, and the cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months, while the frosting can be frozen for 2 months or refrigerated for 2 weeks. Make sure to store it with plastic pressed tightly to the top so it doesn’t form a crust. Allow it to come to room temperature and re-whip before using.
Recipe Notes
- If you want to make smaller cookies, you can use a 1.5 TBSP scoop (like a #40, 1-ounce scoop) to get about 27 cookies from the recipe. Bake them for about 12 minutes at 350 F.
- This recipe has been modified and revised from its original version. You can find a copy of the old recipe here.
MEASURING TIPS
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.Nutrition
About Elizabeth LaBau
I’m Elizabeth, but you can call me SugarHero! I’m a former pastry chef turned blogger, cookbook author, and baking instructor, and I consider myself sugar’s #1 fan. Learn more from my About page, or connect with me on social media:
I made these yesterday for my husband’s office and they were so yummy. However, mine didn’t flatten out at all to match your picture … they stayed really tall. Did I mess up somehow? They were fully baked and soft.
Yay, glad to hear it! There are a few reasons why cookies might not spread as much–if you baked from chilled dough they tend to spread less. Also, if the butter/sugar was creamed for a shorter amount of time, less air is incorporated, making them less likely to spread. And finally, the baking sheet can matter a lot! Thin sheets vs insulated, dark sheets vs shiny metal…they can all REALLY effect the way the cookies bake and look. I baked mine on heavy aluminum half sheet pans, and if your pans happened to be thinner or darker, the bottoms might have cooked quickly, preventing them from spreading as much. If you have a variety of pans, maybe try a different type next time and see if you get a different result. You can also just flatten them with the palm of your hand a bit before baking to encourage the spread! 🙂
Oh my sugar stars…these cookies themselves “encourage the spread”!…I’m off to search my closet for some looser jeans…Merry Christmas!
I do not wish to use the coffee sweetener. What else can I use
Hi Ken, you can substitute milk or whipping cream instead in an equal amount. I would also suggest boosting the amount of vanilla extract, and maybe consider adding a bit of almond or lemon extract as well, to compensate for the missing flavor. Let us know how they turn out!
High altitude instructions?
Hi Stephanie! I’m at 5500 feet and didn’t make any adjustments to the recipe. Unless you’re super high up I think you should be good!
I love your recipes. The last one I made was your purple Halloween cake – beautiful and delicious! Can these cookies be rolled so I can use cookie cutters? Or is there a better recipe I should use?
Thank you so much for using my recipes! These cookies spread out to much to be rolled out and used with cookie cutters however, I recommend using this recipe, its one of my favorite for roll out cookies https://www.sugarhero.com/vintage-christmas-card-cakes/
Oh God, you’re so talented. I have shared this to my friends. We will have an amazing Christmas day. Thank you!
Oh God, you’re so talented. I have shared this to my friends. We will have an amazing Christmas day. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing my recipes! Hope you have a great Christmas and holiday season!
Can you use cookie cutters with these cookies
You can’t use cookie cutters with this recipe, the cookies will spread out too much. However here is a link to one of my favorite roll out sugar cookie recipes https://www.sugarhero.com/vintage-christmas-card-cakes/ Hope this is helpful!
Can anything be substituted for the creamer in the cookie and frosting recipes?
Yes, you can substitute an equal amount of milk or whipping cream!
These are very good. They didn’t flatten out for me on the first batch, so in the second I flattened them by hand a bit before baking. They came out perfect.
So glad to hear they worked out! Thanks for the flattening tip!
Does it really call for over a pound of butter ????? Seems like a lot for less than two dozen cookies
Hi Jeanette, It calls for 6 oz in the cookie dough, and 4 oz in the frosting, which is 10 oz total. Since a pound is 16 oz, the full batch of cookies uses about 2/3 lb butter, for 20 large cookies that are about 4 inches wide. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!
I am making these tonight for my daughter’s Christmas party at school for the kids to decorate. I don’t want them to spread too much. I want them to be thicker and fluffier like the ones you get at Walmart. LOL Suggestions?
I think you’ll be really happy with this recipe! When I make them they don’t spread too much and they stay thick and fluffy! Cookie decorating for a Christmas party is a great idea, let me know it goes!
My first try to make these big sugar cookies ,they are divine they came out great light and fluffy I taste one before putting the frosting on it tasted great they will be divine when I put the frosting on ,thank you for this lucious recipe
I made these tonight for my kids for Christmas. They are DELISH!! Not only were they so good it was kind of fun to make because everyone got to help frost them and then they added their favorite colored sprinkles. You won’t regret making these. Thanks for the recipe.
These came out so good!! I’m making my second round of them today (I even made the first tray a little too small and they still came out perfect). I’m not usually an icing on cookies fan, but you’re right, that completely makes these cookies. Have an amazing holiday!
i just made these..i could not get my round…to sticky to roll in a roll, so mine was ok…taste good…thank u…
Just made a batch of these. I’m going to leave them plain because I have no icing sugar to make the frosting with. I’m surprised any of them made it to the oven…the batter was sooooo good! 😉
I made a few adjustments, only because I didn’t have everything on hand. I subbed the sour cream with vanilla Greek yogurt and cut the amount of vanilla down to 1 1/2 tsp, and I didn’t have any creamer so I used half and half (10% cream, usually used for coffee). The babies are baking now…the house smells incredible. I’m sure they’ll be delicious.
Elizabeth, thanks for being just a little bit awesome! 😀
Delicious. Amazing. Tasty, easy to make. Have shared with anyone who will listen.
Hi! I love your recipes, I used the Pull Apart Wreath Cake as my Christmas cake last year which went really well!
Because I live practically in the middle of nowhere, is the sour cream necessary or can it be substituted?
Thank you so much, Em! I love to hear that. You can definitely substitute the sour cream. My first choice would be thick green yogurt (plain or a neutral flavor like vanilla) but whipping or heavy cream would also work. I think the cream option might make the cookies a bit flatter, but there might be no change, and they’ll still taste wonderful. 🙂
I loved these cookies and my co-workers did too. I changed the way they were decorated to make Santa Bellies that I saw on Pinterest since the cookie kept this great puffed shape, I didn’t have to use the marshmallow to give the belly shape. Can’t wait to make them again this year. Though I need to use a different brand for red food coloring, the Wilton one I had didn’t give me the red I wanted and had to use almost the whole jar to get it as red as I did. Any suggestions on another company with better red food coloring would be appreciated.
Hey Mitzi, my preferred brand is Americolor the color you would want is super red. Also just to let you know colors deepen more over time in frosting so that is something to keep in mind. Thank you so much!
Elizabeth, Would you have a CHOCOLATE COOKIE version of this recipe ?
In Our Family, CHOCOLATE Is a Food Group.
Hey Joan, I don’t have one currently. However that sounds delicious and I am right there with you and your family! That is something I will want to work on and get out there! I will say though, these may not be sugar cookies but they are chocolate and stay soft a lot like sugar cookies do. They do have a gingerbread taste but they are delicious! https://www.sugarhero.com/soft-chocolate-gingerbread-cookies/ If you give them a try I would love to hear how it goes!
Loved the big soft sugar cookies. Flavor is amazing,but mine did not spread at all.. I am going to try again, maybe with less flour. Any reason as to what happened or what I did wrong?
Family still ate them all. Thanks for great recipes.
Cookies are really good. But I make golf ball size, which makes 33 cookies and bake for 10 minutes. They are perfect. I think, looking at your video, your cookie size is an ice cream scoop or tennis ball size..
Hey Nancy, glad you like the recipe! Sorry for the confusion, I guess golf ball could have been a bit misleading. I will have to change that so it is more clear. Thanks so much!!
can this recipe be doubled or tripled?????
Hey Debra, You betcha! On the top of the recipe card there is actually a servings section and you can change it to how ever many cookies you need. It will do the math for you and everything! I would love to hear how it goes once you give it a try! Thanks!
Was easy to make, taste was good but nut cookies did puff up very high and never leveled out but I will make them again
Hey Liz, I am so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the feedback, I would love to hear how it goes once you give it another try!
you lost me at adding International Delight Frosted Cookie Coffee Creamer into the mixture.
Hey Sheila, you can totally substitute the creamer for heavy whipping cream!
This is the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever made! They turned out perfect!!!!!
Hey Abby! I am so glad to hear it! They look fabulous, thank you so much for sharing!
I made this recipe after finding it on a different site. Is it your own original recipe? My family couldn’t stop eating these luscious cookies. I used French Vanilla coffee creamer because the flavor called for in the recipe was not available where we live. I’m sure this will be a new favorite when I make it for the kids at church, too.
Hey Norma, I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I love hearing that, this is my recipe yes! That isn’t to say there aren’t some like it. It is one of my go to recipes as well! Thank you so much for your feedback, about the creamer that is what I suggest! If you can’t find the one called for you can always swap it out for another or heavy whipping cream. Thanks!
What did I do wrong mine came out looking just like a drop biscuit.
Hi Kathy, I am sorry to hear that the cookies didn’t work out. I would love to help you troubleshoot, however it is hard to know what could have gone wrong without more details about the ingredients and procedure. It sounds like the cookies didn’t spread very well, I find the baking sheet has a big impact on how the cookies will spread. Did you by chance use a dark, light, or glass cookie sheet? Another thing that comes to mind is that the longer the ingredients are beaten for can get some air incorporated and that will help them to spread more while baking. My first thoughts are that it could have been a combinations of these two things. Feel free to send me an email, and I would love to troubleshoot further with you!
I made these last week and my co-workers gobbled them up so fast that I need to make more. Mine didn’t flatten out very much and kinda looked like a biscuit, however I just covered that up with the icing. I was wondering if it’s okay to chill the dough prior to? I was thinking of wrapping like a log and slice that way so they have a better shape. Thoughts?
Hi Stevie, I am glad they tasted good and enjoyed by so many! I am sorry to hear that they didn’t flatten out as expected. I would love to help you troubleshoot, however it is hard to know what could have gone wrong without having more details about the ingredients and procedure. I find the baking sheet has a big impact on how the cookies will spread. Did you by chance use a dark, light, or glass cookie sheet? Another thing that comes to mind is that the longer the ingredients are beaten for can get some air incorporated and that will help them to spread more while baking. My first thoughts are that it could have been a combinations of these two things. Feel free to send me an email, and I would love to troubleshoot further with you!
Mine taste good but they came out like a biscuit. Any suggestions or tips as to what I could have done wrong :/
Hi Kim, I am sorry to hear that the cookies didn’t work out. I would love to help you troubleshoot, however it is hard to know what could have gone wrong without more details about the ingredients and procedure. It sounds like the cookies didn’t spread very well, I find the baking sheet has a big impact on how the cookies will spread. Did you by chance use a dark, light, or glass cookie sheet? Another thing that comes to mind is that the longer the ingredients are beaten for can get some air incorporated and that will help them to spread more while baking. My first thoughts are that it could have been a combinations of these two things. Feel free to send me an email, and I would love to troubleshoot further with you!
I thought they were delicious, but how do you get them nice and flat? With doing the scoop and putting them on the baking sheet, they stayed puffy and almost biscuit like. Do you need to press them down? Any tips? Thanks!
Hi Becky, I am glad they tasted good however, I am sorry to hear that the cookies didn’t work out. I would love to help you troubleshoot, however it is hard to know what could have gone wrong without more details about the ingredients and procedure. I find the baking sheet has a big impact on how the cookies will spread. Did you by chance use a dark, light, or glass cookie sheet? Another thing that comes to mind is that the longer the ingredients are beaten for can get some air incorporated and that will help them to spread more while baking. My first thoughts are that it could have been a combinations of these two things. Feel free to send me an email, and I would love to troubleshoot further with you!
Baked them for 15 minutes and they came out HARD AS A ROCK!! This is the 4th recipe on your website that has failed. I have followed the recipe to the letter and it never works!!
Hey Bethany, I am really sorry to hear this recipe and others haven’t worked out for you. I would love to work through them and see if there is something we could remedy together. Feel free to email me, and I would love to troubleshoot and help how I can.
These really came out exactly how I wanted. Way better then store bought and the fam loved the fluffy-ness. Definitely recommend. (Also I used vegan butter and mine still came out perfect)
Thank you, Megan! So thrilled to hear that you liked them and that vegan butter works in the recipe!
What can I use as a substitute for the coffee creamer? Living in Germany, and we don’t have that at the stores (I think…)
Hi Tegan! You can substitute an equal amount of milk or whipping cream if you don’t have any coffee creamer. Happy baking!
Big big hit with family and friends! Thanks
Oh good! This is one of my favorite cookie recipes to share 🙂
Can I use a diff flavor creamer during other seasons throughout the year?
Hello Andrea! Great question! You can substitute any other flavor of creamer, or an equal amount of milk or whipping cream. The possibilities are literally endless! Happy baking!
Yes!!! Making these for our family party this weekend!
Hi Jess! I hope they turned out amazing for you! Happy Baking!
I appreciate all the tips, especially the comparison between baking on an insulated and non-insulated cookie sheet. So helpful. Excited to make these. Do you have a link where I can buy the sprinkles you used?
Hi Jill! This is going to be a most unhelpful response . . . I have a huge sprinkle collection and I made my own mix for these cookies. However, I can tell you that I bought the multi-shape metallic sprinkles from Sweetapolita. I’m not sure if they are still available, but there is a great selection of sprinkles on their site. I’m sure you could find something there to love. Good luck!
thanks for sharing the tip on the baking sheet! I wouldn’t have thought of that.
You’re welcome Rebecca! Happy baking!
These are my daughters favorite cookies. Saved the recipe to make time and time again.
Hi Gina! I’m so glad you can use this recipe to spend time with your daughter and make memories.
I absolutely love super soft sugar cookies, and these were totally delicious! My kids loved decorating them for the holidays!
Hi Anjali! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours.
My family’s FAVORITE cookie recipe! The kids ask for them every year. This time I tried your updated recipe and we liked it even more than the old one (and I like not having to try and find the creamer hahah.) Have you tried turning them into cookie bars, do you think that would work?
Hi Margaret! I’m so glad this has become a family favorite for you. I’ve never tried making them as a bar cookie, but I do think it would work. I can’t really advise you on the baking time, but I’d recommend checking it frequently for doneness. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it goes!
I would have to agree with many people…these looked like drop biscuits and had the same texture inside. They taste great but its a shame that you go through the trouble and the price of ingredients to have this outcome. I believe that if this many people are having the same result, that should be a red flag that the recipe might need a few tests and tweaks.
Hi Vanessa, I’m sorry to hear you had disappointing results with the recipe. Because people do sometimes have this problem, it is addressed in the FAQ section. The most common cause is when the butter/sugar are undermixed – either because the butter was too cool (very common in winter time!) so they couldn’t mix properly, or the creaming was not done for enough time. This can absolutely produce a cookie dough that bakes up shaggy, lumpy, and coarse. Thorough creaming of the butter/sugar is the way to avoid this outcome. Depending on the mixer you use (low-powered hand-mixer vs high-powered stand mixer, for instance) the mixing time may need to be adjusted from the recommendations, but you are always looking for the butter/sugar to have lightened considerably from yellow to off-white, and to have a more voluminous, light and fluffy texture. Hope this helps!