Sour Cream Cookies

You are going to fall in love with the melt-in-your-mouth almost cake-like texture of these yummy Sour Cream Cookies! Fluffy, super soft, and topped with a rich buttercream frosting, they can be decorated to match any occasion whether it’s Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, or a special birthday. So get ready to delight your taste buds and impress your loved ones with this classic old fashioned sour cream cookies recipe!

Jump to:

• 🌟 Why this is the best Sour Cream Cookies recipe
• 📝  Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 🍫 Flavor Variations & Substitutions
• 🎓 Expert tips
• 🥣 Equipment notes
• ❓Recipe FAQs
• 🍪 More Cookie Recipes
• Sour Cream Cookies

🌟 Why this is the best Sour Cream Cookies recipe

1. Amazing texture: Why add sour cream to cookies!?! To give them an incredibly soft, light, and fluffy texture like cake! The added sour cream creates a cookie that just melts in your mouth.
2. Delicious taste: The combination of butter, vanilla, and a hint of tang from the sour cream makes the cookies delicious! And the rich buttercream frosting adds the perfect creamy finish.
3. Easy recipe: Also called Amish sour cream cookies, they are great to make with kids. Made with basic pantry ingredients in a few simple steps, this cookie recipe is foolproof. 
4. Versatile cookies: They can be easily customized to suit any holiday or theme by adding food coloring to the buttercream frosting or decorations like sprinkles.

📝  Ingredient notes

For the Sour cream cookies

1. Unsalted Butter: Always use unsalted butter in all baking recipes to control the amount of added salt! The butter must be at room temperature. 
2. Granulated Sugar: Used to sweeten the cookies and make them tender. 
3. Vanilla Extract: For the best flavor, use pure vanilla extract or make your own homemade vanilla.
4. Egg: Helps to bind the dough together in cookie recipes. The egg should be at room temperature. 
5. Sour Cream: The star of this cookie recipe! Use full-fat sour cream at room temperature. Greek yogurt can be used as a sour cream substitute. 
6. All Purpose Flour: Simple white flour works perfectly.
7. Baking Powder: Just like baking soda it’s a leavening agent. If needed, a baking powder substitute will work too.
8. Salt: Enhances the taste of the sour cream flavor and balances the sweetness.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the Buttercream frosting

1. Unsalted Butter: Makes the frosting rich and creamy. You must use room-temperature butter. 
2. Powdered Sugar: Gives the buttercream a touch of sweetness! Make sure to sift your powdered sugar for a smooth consistency.
3. Sour Cream: Use the same room temperature full-fat sour cream as in the cookie dough. It adds a hint of tang to the buttercream. 
4. Food Coloring: It’s an optional ingredient that you can add to color the frosting for different occasions. Gel food coloring works best as it doesn't add any additional liquid to the frosting.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. Step-by-step process of making Sour Cream Cookies

1. In a large bowl, whip the room-temperature butter and sugar together for a few minutes with an electric hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy. Then whip the egg and vanilla extract into the mixture. Now, fold in the ½ cup sour cream.
2. Sift the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt into the bowl with the butter mixture. Then use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the dry ingredients just until combined. Be very careful not to overmix the cookie dough. 
3. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
4. Use a cookie scoop or spoon to form the dough into 18 cookies and place them about 2” apart on the prepared baking sheets. The cookies need room to puff up.
5. Transfer the baking sheets to the fridge to let the cookies chill for at least 1 hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F (no fan). Then bake the cookies for about 14 minutes or until the bottoms are fully baked but the tops are still pale.
7. Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.

💡 Top Tip: Set a timer so you don’t accidentally overbake your cookies. But if you do have a baking mishap, don’t worry! I’ve got some tricks to save burnt cookies!

2. Make the buttercream frosting

This is a super delicious buttercream recipe that uses much less sugar than normal American buttercream and the added sour cream makes it even more balanced. You do not actually have to use several cups of powdered sugar to achieve a fluffy buttercream!

1. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the room-temperature butter and sifted powdered sugar together for about 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy.
2. Then, add the room-temperature sour cream and then whip for a few more seconds. Then add the food coloring, if using.
3. Use a spoon to frost your cookies with the buttercream.
4. Enjoy the cookies immediately or store them in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container.

💡 Top Tip: You must let the sour cream cookies completely cool before you frost them. Warm cookies will melt the buttercream.

🍫 Flavor Variations & Substitutions

It’s super easy to customize this sour cream cookies recipe to suit any dietary restrictions with substitutions or dress them up to suit any occasion! 

1. Extracts: Try using almond extract for a nutty flavor or even coconut extract for a tropical twist. 
2. Spices: Add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon for a warm aromatic touch or some pumpkin pie spice for a hint of fall flavor!
3. Mix-ins: Make sour cream chocolate chip cookies by stirring some chocolate chips into the batter. If you like nutty cookies, try adding some chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds.
4. Citrus: For a burst of citrusy flavor, mix the zest of lemons, limes, or oranges into the dough or frosting. 
5. Toppings: Decorate your cookies with sprinkles, nonpareils, colored sugar, toasted coconut, or even some yummy strawberry shortcake crumble! You could even drizzle them with some caramel or homemade pecan butter.
6. Frosting: Use my Nutella frosting for a layer of chocolate or keep them light with my no-butter cream cheese frosting.
7. Glaze: Finish them with coffee glaze or maple glaze. Or, give them a fruity finish with the blueberry glaze used on my blueberry donuts!
8. Flour: Make the cookies gluten-free by using a different type of flour.

To become a pastry pro and learn even more, check out my baking guides!

🎓 Expert tips

1. Your butter, egg, and sour cream must be at room temperature. This ensures that the cookie dough blends together properly. 
2. Sift the dry ingredients together before adding them to the dough. Sifting removes any lumps and helps to make the cookies lighter.
3. If the dough is too runny to scoop the cookies, refrigerate it for a few minutes to firm up, and then proceed with scooping your cookies. 
4. You must chill the cookies on the baking sheets for at least 1 hour. This prevents them from spreading too much and turning into flat cookies! 
5. The bottoms of your cookies should be fully baked, but the tops should still be nice and pale. This is not a cookie that turns golden in the oven.
6. Let the fragile cookies rest on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They need this time to set.
7. Whip the buttercream just until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Overbeating can cause air pockets and ruin the texture. 

🥣 Equipment notes

Now that we’ve answered, what are sour cream cookies!?! Let’s talk about some tools that will help you to achieve the best results.

A digital scale is an absolute necessity to ensure that your ingredients are accurately measured, which plays an important role in the taste and texture. In addition, a digital oven thermometer allows you to closely monitor the temperature of your oven and bake a perfect batch every time!

When it comes to making the cookies, an electric hand mixer is needed to efficiently cream sugar and butter to form the base of the dough and whip the frosting to a perfect fluffy consistency. And a rubber spatula is an invaluable tool that every baker should own to gently fold wet and dry ingredients together without overmixing.

For baking, you need a couple of good quality sheet pans for even heat distribution. Then once the cookies are baked, a cooling rack is needed to finish the cooling process before topping them with frosting! 

❓Recipe FAQs

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