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Sour cream cookies are deliciously rich and buttery, vanilla-scented, and crisp outside with a soft interior. They’re beautiful and impressive looking, but easy to make in less than 30 minutes with simple ingredients that you probably have in your pantry!
These are the type of cookies that make me think of afternoon tea. The swirls are so delicately pretty dusted with powdered sugar!
Enjoying a fancy teatime is always such a treat. I’ve been to a few different places – Harrods in London, The Plaza in New York, Ladurée in Paris, Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, and Russian Tea Room in Chicago – and as much fun as it is to get dressed up and go out, I have to admit, I think I might prefer making a beautiful afternoon tea at home! Planning it is half the fun. (Side Note: If you also enjoy afternoon tea at home, check out my coronation chicken recipe post where I talk about the afternoon tea party I planned for my grandmother and her friends.)
These simple, yet gorgeous cookies are the kind of dessert that I would love to include. They look fancy and elegant, but couldn’t be easier to make. And they whip up in less than 30 minutes! (N.b., if you’re looking for easy holiday cookie ideas, these are also a beautiful addition to a Christmas cookie platter.)
On any given day, these make a delicious sweet treat paired with a cup of coffee. You can sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar to make them extra pretty. And if chocolate is your thing (first of all, you’re my people), mini chocolate chips are a good addition to the dough. Another option is to drizzle melted chocolate on the cookies once they’re cooled. Or if you like jam shortbread sandwiches, go ahead and sandwich these cookies together (sandwiched with jam, they give off heavy mini Victoria sponge cake vibes).
These rich, buttery, vanilla-laced cookies are crisp outside and soft inside, and sure to be a new favorite!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy – In less than 30 minutes (including the time it takes to clean up the kitchen), you’ll have a gorgeous batch of delicious cookies!
- Small batch – I developed this recipe to make just 12 cookies. It’s perfect if you want a sweet treat to nibble on, but don’t need a big batch. On the other hand, if you’re making these cookies for the holidays or for a big group, the recipe is extremely easy to scale up!
- Great flavor and texture – These have a similar rich, buttery flavor as shortbread, but are a bit softer thanks to the addition of sour cream.
- Bakery quality – These swirled cookies are as pretty as the ones you’d get in a bakery!
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter – These cookies have a rich, buttery flavor. You can use salted butter and reduce the added salt by 1/4 teaspoon. (If possible, go for good quality butter here because you’ll really be able to taste it, and it makes a huge difference! I’m partial to Kerrygold.)
- Sour cream – Sour cream makes these cookies really special. It adds just enough tanginess to make the cookies a bit more interesting than regular shortbread, and it also makes them softer. If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can substitute with 1/4 cup Greek yogurt or 1 large egg.
- Vanilla extract – For flavor and aroma.
- Powdered sugar – The sweetener in our cookies.
- Flour – Use regular all-purpose flour.
- Salt – Salt pulls out the buttery, vanilla flavor profile in these cookies.
Step-by-Step Instructions: How to Make Sour Cream Cookies
- Make the dough. Add the butter, sour cream, and vanilla to a large bowl, and cream together until smooth (you use a handheld electric mixer or do this by hand). Stir in the powdered sugar, flour, and salt until combined.
- Pipe the dough. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe the dough out into round circles onto the baking tray, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake the cookies. Bake until the cookies are light golden on the bottom, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on the baking tray, and then remove with a thin metal spatula.
Storage and Freezing
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
You can freeze these cookies for up to 6 months. Wait to dust them with powdered sugar after they’re thawed right before you’re ready to serve them.
Variations
- Chocolate chip – Add 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter before piping.
- Chocolate drizzle – After the cookies are baked and cooled, drizzle a little melted chocolate on top, or dip the bottoms in melted chocolate. You can use white, milk, or dark chocolate here! (Take a peek at my Christmas shortbread cookies to get an idea for how they’ll look with a chocolate drizzle on top.)
- Jam sandwiches – Sandwich two cookies together with your favorite jam. Or use jam and buttercream if you like (similar to mini Victoria sponge cakes).
- Powdered sugar dusting – For an elegant look, sift a little powdered sugar on top right before serving.
Baker’s Tips For the Best Sour Cream Cookies
- You’ll notice there’s no egg in this cookie recipe; fear not, it’s not a mistake. Here the sour cream acts as an egg replacement.
- There’s also no leaving agent (such as baking powder or baking soda) in this recipe. Similar to shortbread (or brownies, for that matter), we simply don’t need it here.
- Once the dough is made, immediately transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe it. Don’t wait because the dough thickens as it sits due to the flour absorbing the liquid.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you can’t taste sour cream in these cookies. If you tasted one and didn’t know it had sour cream, it would be a nearly impossible ingredient to guess.
Sour cream does two things in this cookie recipe: 1) it adds a slightly tangy flavor to balance the sweet richness (without being a prominent flavor that you can pick out), and 2) it makes them a bit softer than regular shortbread cookies.
Yes. You can freeze these cookies for up to 6 months, but wait to dust them with powdered sugar after they’re thawed right before you’re ready to serve them.
More Beautiful Cookie Recipes to Make
- Ma’amoul (Middle Eastern Date-Filled Cookies)
- Fresh Strawberry Cookies
- Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
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Sour Cream Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter on the soft side of room temperature (partially melted)
- 1/4 cup sour cream at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350F. Get out a large baking tray (don't grease it or line it).
- Make the dough. Add the butter, sour cream, and vanilla to a large bowl and cream together until smooth (you use a handheld electric mixer or do this by hand). Add the powdered sugar, flour, and salt, and stir to combine. The dough should be wet.
- Pipe the dough. Immediately transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (don't wait because the dough thickens as it sits due to the flour absorbing the liquid). Pipe the dough out into about 2 1/4-inch circles onto the baking tray, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake. Bake until the cookies are light golden on the bottom, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Cool. Cool on the baking tray and then remove with a thin metal spatula.
Notes
- Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This recipe makes 12 cookies; each serving is 1 cookie.
- Make Them Extra Pretty: If desired, serve with a dusting of powdered sugar on top.
- Storage: Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: You can freeze these cookies for up to 6 months. Wait to dust them with powdered sugar after they’re thawed right before you’re ready to serve them.
- No Egg: You’ll notice there’s no egg in this cookie recipe; fear not, it’s not a mistake. Here the sour cream acts as an egg replacement.
- No Leavening Agent:There’s also no leaving agent (such as baking powder or baking soda) in this recipe. Similar to shortbread (or brownies), we simply don’t need it here.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
Free Bonus
Faith, thank you for monitoring and answering all these comments. I had some of the same questions! Can’t wait to bake these tomorrow in prep for the holidays. I will make sure to chill the piped dough before baking and pipe starting from the center. I was considering putting a stripe of red food coloring in the piping bag to give the cookies a red swirl but I’m kinda nervous to try it on the first batch. Have you tried this before?
Liz, I haven’t tried it, but that would be so pretty and festive. Please let me know how it goes if you try it with the red stripe!
My cookies looked beautiful on the tray, but fell flat in the oven and lost their texture/shape. What do you recommend?
Teresa, I apologize for my delayed reply, I wanted to test a theory I had! The other day I noticed that a tub of sour cream I had opened a couple days prior had turned quite liquidy; even after stirring, it was a lot looser than it was when I first opened it (I checked the date and it was well before the “best by” date). It made me wonder if the thickness/texture of the sour cream could impact these cookies. Also, the other factor that could be contributing is how “softened” your butter is. It should be quite soft, but only be partially melted, if at all. (I recommend very soft or partially melted butter because otherwise the dough is too difficult to pipe.)
This week I did a bit of testing with a variety of sour cream textures ranging from thick to thin, and I came to the conclusion that the best way to mitigate the difference in the resulting cookies is to briefly chill the dough (about 20 minutes) on the baking tray after it’s piped but right before it’s baked. Then bake it immediately from the fridge (I had to increase the bake time to 18 to 20 minutes, 18 for softer inside and 20 for a touch crisper; don’t forget these cookies will crisp more as they cool, so I don’t recommend baking them longer than that). No matter how runny the sour cream was (or if I softened the butter a tad too much), this brief chill made sure they kept their pretty shape after baking.
I hope this helps!
Hello! Can I freeze unbaked batter in individual balls to bake for later?
Rachel, Yes! To do so, pipe the dough into circles on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Pop the tray into the freezer until the dough circles are frozen solid, then store the frozen dough in an airtight container or freezer-safe plastic bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can bake these directly from frozen; place them on a baking tray and bake at 325F until the bottoms are light golden, about 18 to 20 minutes.
Very delicious. I used almond flavoring. Will make this again for sure
Thank you so much for being so generous with your recipes! These turned out great and were super easy. I appreciate it!
Sally Ann, Thank you so much for your kind comment, it made my day. I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
can you add Dutch chocolate to these
Christine, The recipe will work with chopped chocolate added, but depending on how large the pieces of chocolate are, you might have trouble pipping the dough. Another option is to dip one side (or the bottom) of each cookie in melted chocolate after it’s baked and cooled.
No cookie press or tips; can these be made by drop or roll technique ? HELP..want to try since looks so so good
Nancy, Thank you so much! I think this dough would work well if you want to roll the dough into 1 or 1.5-tablespoon balls, arrange them on baking trays, slightly flatten them, and bake as directed. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try! :)
When piping, do you start in the middle or the outside
Jackie, I like to start in the middle and work out from there.
Can they be frozen without losing flavor or texture?
Paula, Yes, these cookies freeze very well. After freezing, I like to re-crisp them briefly in the oven, here’s how to do that: 1) thaw the cookies to room temperature, and 2) put them on a cookie tray in a 350F oven for 3 to 5 minutes.
Can I triple the recipe for a large batch?
Vickie, Yes, this recipe is very easy to scale up.
Can’t wait to try these cookies. Thanks for sharing!
What size tip did you use for piping?
Judy, I used the Kayaso 1C piping tip, which is 1.2 inches at the base, 1.9 inches tall, and 1 inch at the top.
Will the dough be stiff? I made some butter ones but the dough was really hard to pipe.
Audrey, The dough is really nice for piping; it’s stiff enough to hold its shape when baked, but not too stiff to pipe. :)
Can they be made with a cookie press?
Barbara, Yes, this recipe works well with a cookie press!