The baseball cookies pictured below have been featured in a post on The Recipe Girl blog (with step by step instructions): Baseball Cookies. On another post, I detailed how to (step by step) make Soccer Ball cookies: Soccer Ball Cookies.

No Fail Sugar Cookies
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No Fail Sugar Cookies

This is a wonderful recipe for decorator cookies of any type. The dough rolls out easily and the cookies turn out sturdy and delicious.
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 8 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 23 minutes
Servings: 60 cookies (3 inch size)
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Ingredients

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
  • Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and dough comes together. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see tips below).
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure you let your oven preheat for at least ½ hour before baking these or any other cookies.
  • Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just beginning to brown around the edges. (Longer time for thicker cookies.)
  • Gently remove cookies with a spatula and let them cool on wire racks.

Notes

  • KitchenGifts.com tip for rolling out dough without the mess: Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to the desired thickness, then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Re-roll leftover dough and repeat the process. Add added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.
  • There are two icing recipes that work well with these cookies: Glace icing or Martha Stewart's Royal Icing

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 131kcal, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 23mg, Sodium: 113mg, Potassium: 18mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 206IU, Calcium: 17mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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47 Comments

  1. Sarah says:

    Is it ok to use the premade black frosting instead of making the black?

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I would think that would be tough. It won’t harden like you see in the pictures.

  2. Sinead says:

    This is my first time making cookies. I halved the recipe as didn’t want that many cookies. Dough came out fine but spread when baking. Can’t understand why and really disappointed as sought out this recipe so that I could create and decorate shaped cookies for my daughters birthday

    1. Lori Lange says:

      It’s hard to pinpoint where things went wrong. Did you use butter (not margarine?) I use this recipe every time I need cut-out sugar cookies, and I never have any problems!

  3. J says:

    I tried this just now but my dough was so runny, not a dough at all! I added at least 10 cups of flour to finally get the dough to come together. And I followed the everything in the recipe, help?

    1. Lori Lange says:

      You must have made an error somewhere… I make this recipe several times a year, as written. Definitely not a runny dough!

    2. Lori Lange says:

      I don’t understand what would make it runny… the only liquid in the recipe is eggs and vanilla…

  4. Gigi says:

    I asked about freezing this dough way back and said I would come back and comment if I tried it.

    Well, it works just fine! I made the dough about 3 weeks in advance, rolled it between parchment sheets then wrapped it tightly and froze it. When I took it out to cut and bake it worked just like it was freshly made – tasted fine as well!

  5. kristen says:

    BTW, for chocolate cookies, substitute 1 c. of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder and add an extra 3/4 c. of sugar. I actually find this version very good campared to the vanilla recipe. A teaspoon of coffee extract added is good too!

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Can’t wait to try this!

  6. kristen says:

    I agree with the issue of dryness all around. When you mix this dough, add flour gradually and use your hands to bind it together, otherwise it is crumbly. The cookies are good the first day, as someone else said, but are dry after that. There is just too much flour in it. The only good thing is you can roll them without chilling and the dough holds its shape when baked. However, I feel a recipe with less flour and a tad more butter, plus much less baking powder is better and stays moister longer. I no longer use the No Fail cookie recipe because it failed me!

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Weird- they are perfect for me every time! Do you use a stand mixer? Maybe that’s the secret- I always use my stand mixer- sometimes doubling the recipe too.

  7. Carolyn says:

    curious if you have any tips for adding cocoa powder to these to make them chocolate? I was going to make Darth Vader cookies and thought I would save myself ALOT of time icing by making the cookies chocolate!

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I’ve never done it so I can’t tell you for sure if it would work out okay or not!

  8. kristen says:

    I have found this cookie recipe to be great the day they are baked, however, if they are not eaten right away, I think they get somewhat dry even covered with royal icing. Adding more butter or less flour would help.

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I don’t have that experience w/ these. Room temp for days or frozen for weeks- still love them!

  9. Brandi Johnson says:

    I followed the recipe exactly as instructed. Chilled for an hour and went to roll it out and it’s crumbly like it needs a liquid…idk what to do other than add milk! I didn’t leave anything out. Frustrated…I obligated myself to make soccer cookies and wanted to give them time enough to dry as you instructed for the icing. Any advice would helpful…

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Was the dough too chilled and that’s why it would not roll out? I always use the method described in the tips- rolling the cookies out prior to refrigeration so that they’re just ready to cut and bake. Works perfectly.

  10. Nicki says:

    Do you know if anyone has tried replacing the eggs in this recipe with something else? My son has an allergy and I’m supposed to bring cookies for his school party next week. I usually use flax meal mixed with hot water to replace eggs I also have a box of egg replacer too. Thanks 🙂

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I’m not sure about that.