Grinch sugar cookies have buttery soft centers and chewy edges. A simple sugar cookie dough is dyed green, rolled in sugar and topped with a red heart. This easy recipe is fun for baking with kids. The best festive cookie to add to your Christmas cookie plates! Oh, and did I mention they don’t need to chill either?!
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As a lifetime baker and busy mama, I have decades of sugar cookie making behind me. I make dozens of cut out cookies for holidays like Christmas, Easter and Halloween, but sometimes I crave all the classic sugar cookie flavor in a quick and simple recipe.
The holiday season is busy! Here’s my favorite: no chill, made with melted butter, no mixer needed cookie recipe. No decorating is required for Grinch sugar cookies and they are perfect for your Christmas parties. Great for your cookie boxes, cookie exchanges or just for fun with the kids. You'll be rewarded with soft cookies ready in a jiffy.
Christmas growing up always included watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch that Stole Christmas. This was before DVR’s or even VCR’s, so it was always fun to stay up late and watch the show on TV! These cookies bring back the nostalgia of the season for me.
If you love my red velvet sugar cookies or St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies, you will love this Grinch cookie recipe!
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♥️ where do I buy the red hearts?
Many grocery stores or craft stores (like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby) sell sprinkles in the cake decorating/baking section. The red hearts in these photos are from Trader Joe’s Valentine’s Day sprinkle mix. I also snuck in a few Brach’s cinnamon imperial hearts.
🛒 ingredients notes and variations
Please scroll to the printable recipe card at the end of this post for the full list of ingredients and baking directions.
This cookie recipe used melted butter, which gives them a nice chewy texture. It also means not having to plan ahead! #winning!
- Green food coloring ~ a gel based food coloring will give the best color with just a few drops. I like Chefmaster leaf green. 2-3 drops gives a nice green color. The green will lose some of its brightness while the cookies bake.
- Granulated sugar ~ granulated {or white} sugar brings that classic sugar cookie flavor. Used in the cookie dough and to roll the cookies in before baking.
- Vanilla ~ adds the classic sugar cookie flavor. You can use vanilla bean paste as a substitute. To give the Grinch cookies a flavor variation - add ¼-½ teaspoon of almond extract or peppermint extract. The addition of almond extract is my favorite!
- Baking powder ~ helps to create thick and chewy holiday sugar cookies. I recommend an aluminum free baking powder for the best tasting cookie.
- Red hearts ~ use either heart sprinkles or Brach’s cinnamon imperials that you might have leftover from making cinnamon blondies 😉
- Confectioners’ sugar ~ if you’d like to make with powdered sugar; use it to roll the cookie dough balls before baking. Granulated sugar gives Grinch sugar cookies a little sparkle. Powdered sugar gives them more of a “snowy” finish. You could also skip either of those sugars and use a green sanding sugar.
🥣 how to make no chill sugar cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line one baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Allow the butter to cool for 5 minutes. Then in a medium-large bowl, add melted butter, granulated sugar and kosher salt and stir until well combined.
Now stir in the egg yolk, vanilla extract and green food coloring, making sure everything is very well combined. I recommend going a little darker than you think with the green coloring. It will dull a little once baked.
Next add the baking powder and mix to combine.
Finally stir in the flour until just combined.
Take roughly 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball, then roll in granulated sugar, roll in your hands again and roll a second time in the sugar.
Place on the prepared baking pans, spacing 2 inches apart. Then lightly flatten each cookie with a flat bottomed cup to about ¼ inch thickness.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, the edges will be set and the centers may still look a little soft.
“Scoot” the cookies with a biscuit cutter or cup when they are hot out of the oven, if desired. Then lightly press a red heart into each cookie.
The grinch cookies can be rolled in confectioners' (also known as powdered sugar) or granulated sugar.
The top cookie is with powdered sugar and the bottom cookie is with granulated sugar.
The dough can be soft. If you are having trouble working with it, let it rest 2-3 minutes and it should be easier to work with.
💬 how to decorate
The beauty of this simple recipe is you can press a red heart onto the baked cookie and call decorating done ✅.
If you want to do more decoration, I would recommend frosting with buttercream. For a frosted sugar cookie, frost with my favorite American buttercream. I would bake the cookies and allow them to cool completely before decorating.
You can also use the above frosting with piping tips. This sugar cookie recipe makes drop cookies, so you will be decorating a round cookie. The buttercream can also be spread over the cookie with a knife or off set spatula.
Many sprinkle brands also sell “Whoville” sprinkle mixes, which would be super cute over buttercream!
👩🏻🍳 expert tips for the best simple sugar cookies
- Weigh your ingredients ~ I know I say this all the time, but weighing your ingredients is the most accurate and will give the best results. This is the scale I use in my kitchen. If you need a more economical kitchen scale, this Escali scale is also a great option.
- Use real butter, not margarine for the best tasting cookies; sugar cookie recipes are a good time to splurge on a premium butter like Plugrà or Kerrygold.
- Do not grease your cookie pans, which can make your cookies spread more. Use parchment paper or silicone baking mats instead.
- Bake on lighter colored baking pans as the Grinch cookies will bake more gently, which equals a softer cookie (these USA Pans are my favorite).
- Don't over bake the cookies. In my opinion, this is the number one reason home baker's cookies don't come out like bakery cookies. To keep the cookies soft and chewy we want the centers slightly underdone. They will continue cooking as they cool and the centers will firm up. Please remember your oven is different from mine and baking times may vary slightly.
- When adding the red candy heart, lightly press them into the cookie when they are hot from the oven.
- "Scoot" the cookies when they come out of the oven with a large round cookie cutter (I use this Ateco cutter set) or glass if you want perfectly round cookies. Scooting the cookies also helps to make them a bit thicker.
🫙 how to make ahead and store
Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 - 4 days.
You can also freeze the baked cookies once they have completely cooled. This is by far my favorite way to store cookies! The no chill Grinch cookies can go in a zip top bag or an airtight container; they will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months (often longer). This is a great option if you are baking lots of cookies for cookie trays/boxes or cookie exchanges!
Allow to defrost at room temperature, this takes about 15 minutes.
Remember to snap a picture and tag me on Instagram if you make these Soft and Chewy Grinch Sugar Cookies. It warms my heart to see you bring these recipes to life! Thank you for being here and happy baking.
If you make this recipe {or any recipe!} from two sugar bugs please come back and leave a review and a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating. I read every comment, and I LOVE hearing from you!
📖 recipe
Soft and Chewy Grinch Sugar Cookies
recipe created and tested by:
I highly recommend using weight (metric) measurements when available for more accuracy and the best results.
Please note
When using 2x or 3x ingredients, the grams in parenthesis DO NOT adjust, you will have to manually do that.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted (113g)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- green gel food coloring 2-3 drops
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (141g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar* for rolling (50g)
- 17 red heart sprinkles or cinnamon hearts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Melt the butter (½ cup/113g) and allow to cool for five minutes. In a medium bowl, add the melted butter, granulated sugar (¾ cup/150g) and kosher salt (¼ teaspoon) and stir until well combined. Now stir in the egg yolk (1 large yolk), vanilla (2 teaspoons) and green gel food coloring (I use 2-3 gel drops), making sure everything is very well combined.
- Next add the baking powder (¼ teaspoon) and mix to combine. Finally stir in the flour (1 cup + 2 tablespoons/141g) until just combined.
- Take roughly 1 tablespoon of dough (about 25g dough per cookie) and roll it into a ball, then roll in granulated sugar, roll in your hands again and roll a second time in the sugar. Place on the prepared baking pans, spacing 2 inches apart. Then lightly flatten each cookie with a flat bottomed cup to about ¼ inch. (The dough can be quite soft. If you are having trouble working with it, let it rest 2-3 minutes and it should be easier to work with).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, the edges will be set and the centers may still look a little soft. “Scoot” the cookies with a biscuit ring or cup when they are hot out of the oven, if desired. This helps to thicken the cookies and makes them perfectly round. Press the red heart into each cookie when hot from the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information is based on third-party calculations, is an estimate only and may not be entirely accurate. Actual nutritional values will vary based on brands used and portion sizes.
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