These old fashioned sour cream cookies are are perfect for any occasion. The delicious cookies are moist and tender with a light, slightly tart flavor. The secret ingredient is the sour cream which adds moisture to the cookie dough as well as a unique, tangy taste.
The sour cream cookie recipe is based off of a couple of similar vintage cookie recipes from my collection, then adapted for modern bakers. A perfect choice for Christmas or any celebration!
How to Make Sour Cream Cookies
Let's make a batch of these delightful soft sour cream sugar cookies. Follow along here for step-by-step instructions with pictures or hop down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
The recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.
Prep Time: 15 mins | Chill Dough: 1 hour | Bake Time: 10-12 mins
Ingredients:
Here is everything you need to make the best sour cream cookies.
Sour Cream Cookie Dough
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
Vanilla Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles or nonpareils optional
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. set aside.
Using a stand or handheld electric mixer and a large bowl, cream the softened butter together with the sugar.
Add egg, sour cream and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat at low speed until batter is smooth.
Slowly add the dry ingredients mixture to the bowl with wet ingredients while mixing.
Cover bowl of soft cookie batter (like a thick cake batter) with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour to firm up.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Scoop up 1 tablespoon sized dollops of cookie dough, roll into balls with wet hands and place the unbaked cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet, approximately 2 inches apart. (a small cookie scoop or large melon baller is handy for this TIP: coat scoop with cooking spray to keep sticky batter from adhering to it)
Place in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown at edges.
Allow cookies to rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the sour cream cookies have cooled, whisk the icing ingredients together.
Slather or drizzle icing over the cool cookies. Top with decorative sprinkles if you like while glaze is still wet. Allow the icing to set before serving or storing.
Variations of the Recipe
Here are a few changes you may prefer for your cookies.
- Top the cookies with buttercream frosting rather than icing if you like. Divide the buttercream frosting and tint with different food coloring for a colorful cookie platter.
- Add orange zest or lemon zest to the cookies and icing for a bright burst of flavor. Two teaspoons in the batter and one in the icing should do the trick. For extra citrus flavor, lemon extract can be swapped for vanilla.
Storing the Cookies
Store cooled sour cream cookies in and airtight container. If you have multiple layers, adding waxed paper between them will keep your tender soft cookies in best condition.
Sour cream cookies freeze well too. Well packaged in an airtight container, cookies will last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I hope you enjoyed this Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies recipe. For a few more classic cookies to add to your dessert trays, try my Snowball Cookies Recipe, Chocolate Shortbread Cookies Recipe, Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies Recipe or Cherry Almond Italian Cookies. For a couple more modern cookie choices, my copycat Subway Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies or no bake Avalanche Cookies are delicious options.
Sour Cream Cookies
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
- baking/cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
Sour Cream Cookie Dough
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
Vanilla Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sprinkles or nonpareils optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. set aside.
- Using a stand or handheld electric mixer and a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together.
- Add to eggs, sour cream and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat at low speed until batter is smooth.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl with wet ingredients while mixing.
- Cover bowl of soft cookie batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour to firm up.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Scoop up 1 tablespoon sized dollops of cookie dough, roll into balls with wet hands and place onto the prepared baking sheets, approximately 2 inches apart. (a small cookie scoop or large melon baller is handy for this TIP: coat scoop with cooking spray to keep sticky batter from adhering to it)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown at edges.
- Allow baked cookies to rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, whisk the icing ingredients together and slather or drizzle over the cookies. Top with decorative sprinkles if you like while glaze is still wet. Allow the icing to set before serving or storing.
Alma S says
These cookies were fabulous. A great sugar cookie alternative. I topped some of mine with cinnamon sugar and that was nice too.