Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies

Make Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies at home! Puffy sugar cookies are frosted with buttercream and topped with sprinkles for easy decorating.

I can’t tell you how long I’ve had Lofthouse style sugar cookies on my ‘must bake’ list. Too long, really. Whenever I see them in grocery stores I can’t help but smile. They are always decorated with sprinkles (yes!) and they are often seasonally themed; heart sprinkles for Valentine’s Day, red, white and blue sprinkles for July 4th and – you guessed it! My favorite version is Christmas themed with red and green sprinkles.

My riff on the classic.

There are scores of soft sugar cookie recipes floating around the web and all of them are very similar, but here’s where I didn’t follow the usual rules. It’s always the frosting on Lofthouse cookies that’s tinted vibrant colors, and not the cookie itself. When I mixed up the cookie batter it was beautifully pale – almost white! I knew it would hold color well so I divided the batter in two portions and tinted them red and green.

Perfectly balanced.

The baked cookies are puffy and very lightly sweet. I was almost disappointed because I felt they weren’t all that special on their own, but wow! After I tasted the frosted cookie I was hooked. The two components work so well together. The cookie portion brings texture and the frosting brings sweetness. I can’t say these are exactly like original Lofthouse cookies, but the recipe is delicious all the same.

A word about the cookie dough – it’s sticky! I was surprised that all the recipes I studied before making these barely mentioned this fact. I suggest chilling the dough in the refrigerator until it’s firm enough to handle. Be sure to read my note at the end of the recipe, too. There are a couple of different dough-shaping techniques.

These turned out really cute. They’re so colorful, I’d almost like to hang them on the tree!

Related recipe: Festive Black and White Cookies

Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies

Heather Baird

These cookies are puffy and very lightly sweet – the perfect vehicle for sweet buttercream frosting and lots of holiday sprinkles.

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

1 hour chill time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 37 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

  

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Cookies

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup full fat sour cream
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Red gel food color
• Green gel food color

Buttercream frosting

• 12 tablespoons butter softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
• Christmas-themed confetti sprinkles

Instructions

 

• Make the cookies: Cream the sugar and butter together until smooth. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Dough will be soft and sticky.
• Divide the dough in half. Return half the dough to the mixing bowl and add red food color; mix well. Turn the red dough out onto a piece of waxed paper and wrap. Wash the mixing bowl and return the remaining dough to the bowl. Add green food color and mix well. Transfer the dough to a piece of waxed paper and wrap. Refrigerate both portions of dough until semi-firm, at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough into portions, and roll between your palms. Lightly dust your hands and the dough with flour if sticky. Place dough balls on the cookie sheets 2inches apart. Gently flatten the dough balls with your palms. If there are streaks of flour on the cookies, gently dust it off with a soft pastry brush.
• Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are puffed and fragrant. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Make the frosting: Cream the butter with an electric mixer; beat in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Beat in the vanilla. If the frosting is stiff, beat in the milk or cream 1 tablespoon at a time until a smooth, fluffy consistency is achieved.
• Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting onto the cookies (I used a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped to get an evenly round layer of icing, then used and offset spatula to smooth it out). Cover the icing with confetti sprinkles soon after icing.

Notes

I tested two techniques for making these cookies. The first was rolling the dough into balls and flattening them (as indicated in the recipe) which worked pretty well but was very sticky and I had to dust my hand with flour constantly. The second time I dusted a work surface with flour, dusted a rolling pin, dusted the dough, and rolled the dough to a little less than 1/2-inch thick. Then I cut the dough into 2-inch circles. Both yielded good results, but the ball-rolling seemed to go a little quicker.

Keyword american buttercream, confetti sprinkles, sour cream

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