Slice and Bake Cookies
These iconic and simple slice and bake cookies have slightly crisp corners, a soft center, and are easy to customize for any holiday, season, or occasion.
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Table of Contents
- About Slice and Bake Cookies
- What are slice and bake cookies?
- Do you need to chill the dough?
- Can you roll out slice and bake cookie dough?
- How long do these cookies last?
- Can you freeze slice and bake cookies?
- Notes & tips for slice and bake cookies
- More delicious cookie recipes
- How to make slice and bake cookies
- Recipe Details
About Slice and Bake Cookies
If you love bakery-style slice and bake cookies (or even the dough you can pick up from the grocery store), you’ve gotta try this homemade version.
Because not only are these cookies simple and quick to make, they’re also very versatile. Simply switch out the sprinkles for other colors, flavors, crumbled candy, chocolate chips – or any other topping you can imagine!
What are slice and bake cookies?
Slice and bake cookies is a name for a specific method of forming dough for cookies. To do this, you mix the dough like normal, but once prepared, you roll the dough into a log-like shape and then slice it width-wise to form individual cookies.
Once baked, slice and bake cookies are usually easy to identify by their sharp edges and uniform shape, as seen in the pictures here.
If you’ve ever purchased a roll of premade cookie dough from the grocery store, most likely they were also slice and bake cookies.
Do you need to chill the dough?
This particular recipe calls for chilling the cookie dough for three hours (or up to overnight).
I know it can be frustrating to put your baking on hold, but when it comes to cookies, chilling the dough is totally worth the impact it has on your baking.
The short explanation for chilling has to do with the butter. The firmer the butter is at the time of baking, the slower it will melt, which makes cookies less likely to spread while baking. So, as a general rule of thumb, chilling the dough will lead to more dense, fluffy cookies while not chilling will lead to flatter, chewier cookies. This is not always the case, though. Whether you need to chill depends largely on the amount of butter used AND the composition of the other ingredients.
For this particular recipe, chilling the dough is what helps slice and bake cookies keep their iconic sharp edges and uniform shape.
If you’d like a more indepth explanation of chilling dough (with examples!) then check out this article: To Chill or not to Chill.
Can you roll out slice and bake cookie dough?
If you’re looking for cookies you can roll out and cut shapes from, I recommend making these rolled sugar cookies instead.
How long do these cookies last?
Once prepared, these cookies can be stored in a sealed container on the counter for up to one week.
Can you freeze slice and bake cookies?
If you’d like to always have a batch of these cookies on hand, the easiest way is to freeze them for later. There are two ways you can do this.
To freeze the raw dough:
- Mix all ingredients, then separate the dough into two portions. Roll each piece of dough into a log, then wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in a freezer bag or sealed containers.
- Place the dough in the freezer.
- Cookie dough can be stored for up to six months. When ready to bake, thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then slice and bake cookies like normal.
To freeze the baked cookies:
- Bake and allow to cool completely.
- Store cookies in a single layer in a freezer bag or storage container. If you need to stack the cookies, separate each layer with a sheet of wax paper.
- Baked cookies and be stored for up to three months.
Notes & tips for slice and bake cookies
- If you’re doing a lot of holiday baking, I highly recommend having some silicone baking mats on hand. Baking cookies takes enough time without having to cut or measure parchment paper.
- Plus, some quality baking sheets are a must for a cookie baking extravaganza!
- For this recipe, I highly recommend using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. This recipe would be difficult to make by hand with a whisk.
More delicious cookie recipes
How to make slice and bake cookies
This next part is only a photo tutorial of the recipe steps. If you’re looking for the full recipe measurements and instructions, scroll down to Recipe Details.
Step 1 – Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl) cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Step 2 – Mix in the egg, vanilla, and salt until incorporated.
Step 3 – Slowly mix in the flour until the dough is crumbly.
Step 4 – Turn off the mixer and add the sprinkles, then use a spatula to gently fold them into the dough.
Step 5 – Separate the dough into two pieces. Lay each piece on a large piece of parchment paper and roll them into a log-like shape. Wrap the dough in parchment paper.
Step 6 – Chill!
Step 7 – When ready to bake, unwrap the dough logs, and use a knife to slice them width-wise to form the cookies. Place the sliced cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat this step until all the cookies are formed.
Step 8 – Bake!
Step 9 – Serve and enjoy!
Slice and Bake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon holiday jimmies, (sprinkles)
Instructions
- Prepare your work area by laying out two large pieces of parchment paper nearby.
- Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl), beat together butter, sugar, and light brown sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy.
- Drop mixer speed to low and add egg yolk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until blended, about 1-2 minutes.
- Keeping mixer speed on low, slowly scoop in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until flour is incorporated and there are minimal clumps, about 2-3 minutes.
- Remove bowl from mixer. Add holiday jimmies to bowl and use a spatula to gently fold them into the batter.
- Divide dough in half and place a piece on each sheet of prepared parchment paper. Roll the dough into a log shape, keeping the thickness slightly smaller than the desired size of your cookies (for example, a little less than 2 inches in diameter.) Wrap the dough log in the parchment paper.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, then set aside.
- Unwrap dough logs from parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut the cookie dough into 1/4 inch slices, then place the cookie on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this step until all the dough have been sliced, spacing each cookie at least 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges begins to turn golden brown.
- Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Serve cookies immediately.
Nutrition
I do my best to provide nutrition information, but please keep in mind that I’m not a certified nutritionist. Any nutritional information discussed or disclosed in this post should only be seen as my best amateur estimates of the correct values.
