3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies (No Spread)

A plate full of sugar cookies with rainbow sprinkles. A small ramekin of sprinkles and a glass of milk are positioned next to the plate.

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My 3 ingredient sugar cookies use butter, sugar, and flour, with no eggs or vanilla. I roll the dough balls in sugar, freeze them for 20 minutes so they don’t spread, and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes. They come out soft in the middle with lightly golden edges. One batch makes about 20 cookies.

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Chill Time20

Total Time40

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 171kcal

Author: Samantha Erb

Equipment

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

1 cup salted butter (2 sticks) room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar 132g
2 cups all-purpose flour 250g

For Rolling and Topping

1/4 cup granulated sugar 50g
1/4 cup rainbow jimmies sprinkles optional

Instructions

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Place 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and 2/3 cup sugar with a hand mixer until fluffy.
With the mixer on low, add the flour and blend until well combined and smooth. The dough should be soft and smooth, not crumbly.
Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll it between your hands to form a smooth ball.
Roll each dough ball in the bowl of sugar and arrange them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press each one down with the back of a spoon until it's about half as tall.
If desired, lightly press a few sprinkles into each cookie. Freeze the baking sheets for 20 minutes, or refrigerate for 1 hour. While they chill, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until they puff up and the edges just turn lightly golden.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven. If you want perfectly round cookies, gently swirl a glass around each one right away, since they're fragile while warm. Set the sheets on a wire rack and let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

If you don't have salted butter, use unsalted butter and mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt when you beat together the butter and sugar.

For the best texture, measure the flour by either weighing it or spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off. Weighing it is most accurate. Too much flour can make the cookies dry and crumbly.

The cookies can also be chilled in the fridge for up to a day.

Use jimmies instead of nonpareil sprinkles when possible. They have a waxy coating so the colors won't bleed into the cookies while baking.

Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the dough before baking, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the fridge overnight before scooping and baking as usual.

Nutrition