Lofthouse Sugar Cookies

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Lofthouse Sugar Cookies - www.motherthyme.com

Have you ever had one of those thick and cake like Lofthouse Sugar Cookies that are sold in many grocery stores?  If you have, you probably know how irresistible they are.  Each delicious bite delivers pure satisfaction to cure your sweet tooth.

Sure it may be easy to drop a package of these cookies in your cart while at the grocery store but with a few simple ingredients you can create these cookies anytime and what better time to start than making cookies for the holidays.


These cookies have all the goodness of those store bought cookies.  They are cakey and soft and topped with frosting.  These can be made all year round for all occasions and holidays;  just decorate them as you desire.  


When I was creating this recipe I tried a few versions.  What I think makes my recipe a hit is the use of cake flour.  If you don’t have cake flour, pick up a box and have it on hand.  Definitely try this recipe using cake flour.  I also add just a hint of sour cream, to add to the moist texture. 
Lofthouse Sugar Cookies
These cookies freeze well so you can start now with baking your holiday cookies or to  have a sweet treat on hand anytime.  To freeze, bake and cool completely.  Freeze without frosting in a freezer safe container or storage bag.

One thing I enjoy about making Christmas cookies is baking with my family.  I remember when I was young, making Christmas cookies was a tradition.  My mom would make the cookies in stages.   First we would make the cookies with our cut outs.  She would freeze them, and as we got closer to Christmas she would bring them out and make frosting in a variety of colors.  My brother and I would spend the day sitting at the kitchen table frosting cookies. I still remember those years, and being a mom I want to create those traditions with my children as those are memories I will always cherish.

It was so nice to bake these fantastic cookies with my mom and my aunt.  The holiday season can be a hectic time for many, but taking some time to enjoy simple pleasures like spending time with family cooking and baking is priceless.  

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies - www.motherthyme.com

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Lofthouse Sugar Cookies

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★★★★★

5 from 9 reviews
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups cake flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

  • 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 cups confectioners sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • food coloring (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl combine cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
  2. Using an electric mixer cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Add in eggs one at a time stirring after each addition.
  4. Stir in sour cream and vanilla until combined.
  5. Gradually add in flour mixture combined.
  6. Chill dough for at least one hour in refrigerator.
  7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  8. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  9. Roll 3 tablespoons of dough into a ball.
  10. Use flour on your hands if needed.
  11. Place ball on baking sheet and flatten to about 1/2 inch thick, molding sides to keep round shape if necessary.
  12. Continue with remaining dough, placing each 2 inches apart.
  13. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.
  14. Cool for a few minutes on baking sheet, and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
  15. Frosting
  16. Using an electric mixer combine butter and gradually add in confectioners sugar. When all sugar is added, pour in milk and vanilla and blend on medium until fluffy. Add in food color if desired.

Notes

For shapes- roll out chilled dough ½ inch thick on a well floured surface. Flour rolling pin and cut out to prevent sticking. Cut out desired shapes and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool for a few minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool.

Shapes will spread from the baking powder. To define the shape used after the cookie has cooled, place cookie cutter on top of cookie and firmly press all the way down, removing any access cookie for the edges.

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88 Comments

    1. I am NOT an avid baker, I don’t even cook that often to be honest. But you made this recipe so easy to follow, even I got it right! The cookies were soft and delicious. And the frosting was just sweet enough without overpowering the cookie. Even I made these turn out great!! So thankful I found your recipes!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply

  10. Do you think if you wanted to make the frosting a flavor, you could substitute the vanilla for any extract? Lemon/Orange/Peppermint, etc.. Or maybe adding cocoa to the dough to make the chocolate version? Thanks for this recipe! We love these cookies. 🙂

    Reply

  15. These look amazing? I would like to make these with the kids I babysit. Should I roll out the dough if I get the kids to cut shapes with cookie cutters?

    Reply

  24. I made these yesterday – they are so good! The softest cookies ever and the frosting is delicious. I added a 1/2 tsp of clear butter flavouring to make it even more indulgent.

    Reply

  25. OH Jennifer! Do you know how long I have have passed by these delicious cake cookies in the store, nearly in tears because I wanted them so desperately; remember my “fake food eating days”, wanting to drop several of them directly into by cart; opening them up before the dust settled from the slamming of my car door?

    a very long time!

    I could KISS you for posting this.
    Instead I’ve pinned them to TWO of my boards on Pinterest and I have to tell you – I’m METICULOUS about my boards and simply cannot adhere to duplicates; yet these precious beauties singly hold the honor.

    Bless you woman!!!

    Reply

  27. Any idea if these would work as cut out cookies? I definitely want to make them for Christmas, just don’t want to have to make two batches of sugar cookies!
    Thanks!

    Reply

  28. Hi Tahlia, Yes this dough will work for cut outs. After you make the dough, chill it in a ball in the refrigerator for about an hour. Roll the dough on a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick and cut out using desired shapes. You may need to flour your rolling pin as well. Bake for 8-10 minutes (less amount of time if you have a thiner cookie) until the edges just begin to become light brown. They will puff up a bit because of the amount of baking powder but you should still come out with a delicious cookie perfect for the holidays! Let me know how they turn out for you.

    Reply

  33. Hi!! I know I’m coming to the party a little late, but I just made this cookies and wanted to say that these are amazing! They are so soft, they melt in your mouth! Thank you so much for the recipe! I made half a batch with vanilla and half with lemon zest and lemon juice. They are incredible!

    Reply

  34. Hi, just another one coming late to the party. I also just made these cookies and they are amazing!! I must admit I was only making them for the kids in our family but after tasting them I know I will need to make more for the adults as well. Awesome cookie, thanks for the recipe, I will no doubt make these throughout the year!!

    Reply

  35. I was wondering if I make them at night can I leave them in the fridge til the next day and bake them off? So basically I want to know how long I can keep the dough in the fridge thanks!I’m so excited to eat these ツ

    Reply

  37. These are the best!! I just made my second double batch to take to my daughters school this week This is the ONLY sugar cookie my daughter will eat. Thanks for sharing your recipe. BTW its so hard to stop eating the cookie dough 🙂

    Reply

  38. These are soft fluffy and delicious, thank you SOO Much for this recipe 🙂 VERY close to the original in my opinion 🙂 Carm

    Reply

  40. Thank you, thank you for this fantastic recipe! I made these for my son’s first birthday party and they came out perfectly- fluffy, rich, delicious! My first foray into baking, but the recipe was easy to follow and they tasted out sooo yummy, just like I hoped they would! Thanks again!

    Reply

  42. Hi I just realized, I don’t have sour cream , so I used a substitue of butter and buttermilk hope they turn out!

    Reply

  43. Thank you for the recipe Jennifer (: they look yummy. Have you tried cookie cutter shapes with this dough? Does it take shapes nicely?

    Reply

  44. Smell amazing, Sadly I can’t get them to be like the famous yummy cookies. Decent, still looking for a better recipe:( They taste okay 🙁

    Reply

  45. I was very excited to try this recipe, however after baking I was rather disappointed. The cookies were dry compared to other recipes I have tried and they were flat. The taste was fantastic but I will stick to my other recipe.

    Reply

  46. I noted tht the lemon sugar cookies call for rolling dough 1/4 for shapes and the lofthouse says 1/2…is that correct?

    Reply

  47. Hello I see this recipe have a lot good reviews and I’m going to try it. I just want to know something I want to use cookie cutters so what about if I skip the baking powder or maybe I put 1 teaspoon? Thanks

    Reply

    1. Hi Jovana, I have made this recipe with cookie cutters before and they do spread. After they bake I will and cool I usually will go back and cut the cooked cookie with the cookie cutter again to get a more defined shape. You can also reduce the amount of baking soda to 1 teaspoon as you mentioned. Here is another link to where I created these cookies using a cutter: http://mothertimemarketplace.com/valentines-day-lofthouse-style-sugar-cookies/

      Reply

  48. I am an avid baker and these were nearly perfect! I had to adjust the frosting recipe a lot to get it to be the right consistency. The cookies are SO MUCH tastier after being chilled in the fridge overnight, too. Definitely better served cold. Thank you for this recipe!

    Reply

  49. I love these cookies! I have made them so many times using this recipe, and have gotten so many compliments. They’re perfect, and everyone says they’re even better than store-bought! Thanks for sharing such a marvelous recipe.

    Reply

  51. this is my go to sugar cookie recipe.. LOVE them.. I have made them several times. I have some cooling on the stove right now and just need to make frosting 😀 thank you so much

    Reply

  52. I was so excited to try these- I’m sorry to say I was sorely disappointed. I followed the recipe down to a science. I even went out and bought the things I didn’t have. For one, 12 minutes is not enough. I tried 17 and they were still doughy. They just fell apart as soon as I tried to transfer them to a rack. Now for what it’s worth, they’re good. Not like lofthouse, but still fluffy and yummy. The icing was the real killer. It isn’t thick and sweet. It’s thin and buttery, I personally don’t like buttercream, and certainly not for cookies. It feels like I’m eating really sweet, really thin butter. I Feel like I wasted 20 dollars. Better off just buying these. I appreciate you trying to recreate the cookies though. It’s just not the same.

    Reply

  53. These were so fantastic! I made them yesterday with my children for Easter. I let the dough chill in the fridge overnight since I didn’t have time that day. I made some with the 3 Tbsp of dough and they were huge!…which was just fine of course. 😉 I also made some 1/2 the size and they baked up in about the same amount of time… 14 min. They’re the BEST sugar cookies I’ve ever had and the frosting is soooo good! We had so much fun decorating them with different colored frosting and sprinkles. Thank you for helping us make some very delicious memories. 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

      1. Thanks Jennifer! I think I’m going to tackle these for Thanksgiving dessert – a little orange frosting with multi-colored leaf-shaped sprinkles 🙂

        Reply

  56. I just finished cooking these cookies and I will tell you it is the closest recipe I have found after trying many that just weren’t worth the trouble of making again. This is the real deal! And tips: Get a small bowl of flour to repeatedly dip your fingers in because the dough is very sticky. I used an ice cream scoop to get a steady sized cookie. Also the cake flour, sour cream and wax paper are essential! While there is a teeny tiny difference in these and the store bought ones, they are still equally as addictive. I may have added a slight too much cake mix. Will definitely make these again to find out. I highly recommend this recipe. ?

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  57. I have been wanting to try to make these lofthouse sugar cookies again because I love these cookies, they are so delicious and addictive to eat. I have looked at multiple recipes for these cookies and each one uses a different amount of sour cream, I’ve seenrecipes that call for 2tbsp, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cups, 1 cup, 1 1/2 cups and some call for greek yogurt instead. There are so many different recipes for these cookies I don’t know which recipes have the exact same texture and taste as the lofthouse sugar cookies I get at Walmart. Has anyone tried other lofthouse cookie recipes? Which taste most like the store bought ones? what amount of sour cream is best? I tried a recipe last year which called for 1 1/2 cups of sour cream and the dough tasted awful(I love eating sugar cookie dough) so I know 1 1/2 cups is to much. How much do I use???

    Reply

  58. Just thought I should say that I’ve made these cookies multiple times now, and they’re the absolute best cookies I’ve ever had! Tonight I modified the recipie by substituting one cup of flour for 3/4 cup of cocao powder, and using the cookies for whoopie pies! The dough is chilling right now, but the bit I licked off of the spatula seemed pretty good!

    Thanks for such an awesome recipie!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  60. Hi! I’ve just stumbled upon your blog, and I must say I love it!
    So. You seem like just the baking brainiac I need in my life right now.
    I’ve been looking and comparing lofthouse cookie recipes for MONTHS now, as they’re my girlfriend’s favorite, and I still can’t find just the right one. Looking forward to trying this recipe because of all your great reviews!
    How is the texture of these cookies? I’m thinking of adding a teaspoon of baking soda by the looks of the recipe (just to get them fluffier like the store ones), but what would you recommend? The store cookies are so freaking difficult, let me tell you. They’re dense but fluffy. How does that even make sense LOL. Surprisingly enough, I have’t tried a recipe with cake flour yet. That would take care of the density issue, 3 teaspoons of baking powder makes me a little iffy. Maybe adding a teaspoon or so of cream of tartar? The cookies look absolutely amazing, but still not quite the texture I’m looking for.
    Thank you so much!

    Reply
  61. Pingback: Most Popular Christmas Cookie Recipes - Around My Family Table

  63. I tried using this recipe with the baking powder reduced to 1 Tsp and the called for amount of flour only I used Almond Flour that I sifted 4 times. The dough wouldn’t even form after more than an hour chilling and the dough ran everywhere once in the oven even after doubling the baking time the cookies are sticky anf fall apart.. So…. I added two more cups of the almond flour and increased the baking time to 15 minutes. The result is a delicious, nutty tasting cookie that looks like the Loft cookies and works very well with cutters. Thank you for posting your recipe !

    Reply

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