These are old fashioned sour cream cookies with vanilla buttercream. The cookies are soft, with a cake-like texture that melts in your mouth.
I really don’t like sour cream by itself, but its one of my favorite ingredients for making desserts. Without sour cream, we wouldn’t have perfectly moist chocolate cupcakes, fluffy blueberry bundt cake, or lemon poppyseed bread. Sour cream is full of fat, which make baked goods softer and richer.
These sour cream cookies are another great example of the the power of sour cream. The cookies themselves are soft and tender, kind of like a cake meets snickerdoodle situation. Think of a Lofthouse cookie, but smoother and easier to make. They’re amazing on their own, or add some vanilla buttercream on top for sweetness.
Why You’ll Love These Cookies
- Easy to make, no-fuss dough that comes together in less than 10 minutes
- Great for all times of year — change out the frosting color for holiday baking, or decorate with different seasonal sprinkles
- The cookies are so soft and melty
Ingredients Needed
- All-Purpose Flour: Use a digital food scale to measure flour for the most accurate results.
- Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- Granulated sugar: this is the primary source of sweetness for the dough
- Sour cream: use full-fat sour cream for the tastiest cookie.
- If your sour cream is very cold, I recommend measuring it out and microwaving it for 8-10 seconds before using to help it mix better into the dough.
- Large egg, at room temperature: soak the egg in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes to bring it to room temperature
- Cream of tartar, baking powder, and baking soda: there are three types of leavening agents in the cookies. Cream of tartar contributes to a smooth and fluffy cookie.
- Vanilla extract and salt: for flavor
- Powdered sugar: for the buttercream
How to Make Sour Cream Cookies
Make Cookie Dough
We’ll start by creaming butter and sugar together in a mixer until they are light and fluffy. Then, beat in an egg, followed by the sour cream, and vanilla extract. Make sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl every once in a while to ensure an even dough.
Combine the flour with the leavening agents and salt, and then gently mix in the flour until it is just combined. Run the mixer on low speed, both to prevent flour from flying everywhere, but also to prevent over mixing.
Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Bake Cookies
When you’re ready to bake, use a cookie scoop to make 1.5 tbsp sized balls of dough. This dough can be pretty soft and sticky, so if any of the cookies end up misshapen, you can use your hands to roll them into balls. Spray your hands with nonstick spray to make it easier.
Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, until the middles are puffed up and edges are just starting to turn golden. Contrary to most cookies, avoid under-baking these cookies, as the centers will taste raw if you do.
Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets once they’re done to set and cool down, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frost Cookies
Once the cookies have fully cooled, it’s time to make the frosting. You can skip the frosting altogether or use store bought frosting as well to save time.
If you’re following this recipe, make frosting by beating some butter in a mixer, then adding powdered sugar, some milk, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, beating everything together until smooth and fluffy. Option here as well to add a drop of food coloring — I used a drop of Americolor Red food coloring and the frosting turned out a deep pink. Feel free to tailor the color to the season or your liking.
Frost the cookies using a piping bag or offset spatula. For the ones pictured in this recipe, I first piped a spiral of frosting, then used a small offset spatula to smooth it out.
How to Store Leftovers
Store cookies in an airtight container or bag on the counter. They’ll be good for around 3 days.
You can also freeze unfrosted cookies or uncooked dough. If freezing raw dough, scoop the dough into balls first (since this will be hard to do with frozen dough). Let the balls of dough freeze on a cookie sheet first for 40 minutes. After that, you can transfer them into an airtight bag. Make sure to add a few minutes to the bake time if cooking from frozen!
Pin and Save for Later
If you’re interested in making this recipe, just browsing around, or not ready to bake yet, no problem! Simply hover over or tap (on mobile) any image in this post (pick your favorite or use the one below), and use the pin icon in the corner to save for later.
Happy baking and hope you LOVE your soft sour cream cookies!
Frosted Sour Cream Cookies
Soft, old fashioned sour cream sugar cookies with vanilla frosting. They are easy to make and have a melt-in-your-mouth, cake-like texture.
Ingredients
Sour Cream Cookies
- 2 cups (240g) flour
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Vanilla Buttercream
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 drop of red or pink food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Make the cookie dough. Whisk the flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and then set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on high spend in a mixer, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and beat it in, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then, beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth. If your sour cream is super cold, microwave it for 8 seconds first before adding -- this will help it incorporate better into the dough.
- Add in all of the flour mixture, and gently beat it in on low speed until just combined. Make sure to scrape dow the sides of the bowl here as well.
- Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hour, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 1.5 tbsp sized balls of dough onto the cookie sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn golden and middles are puffed up.
- Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Start by beating the butter for a minute in a mixer, then add the powdered sugar and continuing beating until combined. Add the vanilla extract, salt, milk, and food coloring (if using) and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy and smooth.
- Use a piping bag or offset spatula to frost the cookies and top with sprinkles if desired.
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