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Lofthouse cookies with pink icing and sprinkles on top on a wire rack.
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5 from 3 votes

Lofthouse Style Sugar Cookies

An easy-to-make recipe for Lofthouse-style sugar cookies produces soft, tender cookies. No need to rush out to the store to buy these when they are this easy to make.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time9 minutes
chilling time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 24 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, Canadian
Keyword: cookies, copycat recipes, dessert
Servings: 12 cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 2¼ cups cake flour
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp almond extract

Frosting

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp cream, 18% table cream
  • Food colouring
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

Cookies

  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat butter and powdered sugar together until creamy.
  • Add the egg, sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract, continuing to beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • On low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 375℉ and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Remove dough from the fridge and divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, rolling each into a ball.
  • Flatten the dough balls by placing them on a surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar and pressing down on the balls with a flat-bottomed glass dipped in powdered sugar.
  • Place the flattened cookie dough on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches apart.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should just be starting to turn golden. Don't overbake. These cookies are meant to be very light in colour.
  • Transfer immediately to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Frosting

  • Cream butter, then add sugar, vanilla, and cream.
  • Beat until smooth, adding a drop of food colouring at a time until the desired colour is reached.
  • Top each cookie with frosting and sprinkles.

Notes

All-purpose flour can be used in place of the cake flour by using only 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of flour and adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. 
The cookies can be shaped by flattening the dough balls between the palms of your hands.
For the icing, we like to use gel food colouring because a little goes a long way and it doesn't thin the frosting.