These sour cream cookies are cakey, incredibly tender, and coated in a smooth buttercream that adds the perfect amount of sweetness! With no chilling, rolling, or cutting, making these cookies is as easy as it gets! Add different colors to your frosting and some sprinkles to easily decorate them for any occasion!
Sour Cream Drop Cookies Recipe
Grandma's sour cream cookies are tender, soft, and wonderfully cakey. They have such a subtle sweetness that they really do need the vanilla buttercream to round them out perfectly!
With absolutely no extra steps required, you'll be able to bake these up in no time! Grab some food coloring and you can easily decorate and customize the buttercream to suit whatever occasion you may be celebrating!
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🥘 Sour Cream Cookies Ingredients
In addition to some full-fat sour cream, you really only need common pantry staple ingredients to make these cookies! You may even be able to skip a trip to a grocery store!
Sour Cream Cookies
- Butter - ⅓ cup of butter that is softened at room temperature.
- Sugar - 1 cup of white granulated sugar.
- Egg - 1 large egg at room temperature.
- Vanilla - 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.
- Baking Powder - ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
- Baking Soda - ¼ teaspoon of baking soda.
- Salt - ½ teaspoon of salt.
- Sour Cream - ½ cup of sour cream. I recommend using full-fat sour cream for these cookies.
- Flour - 1¾ cups of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled.
Vanilla Buttercream
- Butter - ½ cup of butter (1 stick) softened at room temperature.
- Confectioners Sugar - 2 cups of powdered sugar.
- Vanilla - 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Of course, you can swap this out for your favorite extract flavor if you like (such as almond or lemon!).
- Heavy Whipping Cream - 2-4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, depending on your desired consistency.
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 How To Make Sour Cream Cookies
If you've ever baked cookies before, these sour cream cookies are just as easy. The buttercream is super simple, too! All you need is a baking sheet, your stand mixer, your measuring utensils, a silicone spatula, and a cookie scoop.
This recipe will make about 20 old-fashioned sour cream cookies.
Prepare The Cookies
- Preheat. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C/Gas Mark 4) and line a couple of baking sheets with some parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (silpat mat).
- Cream. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream ⅓ cup (76 grams) of butter until smooth, and then add 1 cup (200 grams) of sugar. Continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Mix. Add 1 large egg (50 grams), 2 teaspoons (10 milliliters) of vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of baking powder, ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) of baking soda, and ½ teaspoon (3 grams) of salt, and continue to mix until creamy.
- Combine. Add ½ cup (115 grams) of sour cream and then mix until well combined. Then, slowly mix in 1¾ cups (219 grams) of all-purpose flour until the flour is only just incorporated.
- Portion. Scoop large tablespoon-sized portions onto your prepared baking sheets, leaving space in between them for spreading.
- Bake. Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C/Gas Mark 4) for 8-11 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are a slightly golden brown color.
- Cool. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan before placing them onto a wire rack to cool entirely before frosting them.
Make The Frosting
- Beat the butter. Use either a hand mixer or your stand mixer to beat ½ cup (114 grams) of butter for about 5-6 minutes or until pale in color and fluffy.
- Add. Add 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) of vanilla extract and a small amount of the 2 cups (240 grams) of confectioners sugar.
- Mix. Mix at medium speed while alternating, adding the remaining confectioners' sugar and small drizzles of 2-4 tablespoons (30 milliliters) of heavy whipping cream (only using enough heavy cream to reach a firm but spreadable consistency).
- Beat. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, beat the mixture on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. *You can add more heavy whipping cream to reach your desired consistency, starting with a very small amount.
- Frost. Use a silicone spatula to spread your buttercream onto the cookies and serve.
🍴 What To Serve With Sour Cream Cookies
You can really customize the flavor of your sour cream cookies by mixing up what kind of frosting you use! Try them with some peanut butter buttercream, chocolate chip cookie dough buttercream, or lemon cream cheese frosting! Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Notes
- To make your cookies more even and uniform in shape, you can wet your fingers with water and pat the dough balls down slightly.
- Use gel food coloring to add some different colors to your buttercream frosting if desired.
- Check out all of my buttercream recipes if you want to try out a flavor other than vanilla!
- Your cookies need to be completely cool before adding any frosting, or the buttercream could melt.
🥡 Storing
Keep your sour cream cookies stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing Sour Cream Cookies
Freeze your cookies without any frosting for up to 3 months. Thaw to room temperature and then frost with fresh buttercream.
>>>>See all of my recipes here<<<<
❓ Recipe FAQs
At first glance, sour cream may seem like an incredibly odd ingredient choice for baking. However, using sour cream creates cookies that are moist, tender, and incredibly soft. This is because the acid in the sour cream helps to break down the gluten molecules into smaller pieces, producing an extra tender, cake-like cookie!
Sure! Buttercream is the classic choice for topping sour cream cookies, but you can feel free to use whatever kind you like the best! Try out some cream cheese frosting or royal icing!
Absolutely! These cookies freeze really well, but I recommend freezing them before adding any frosting. Simply pack them into a storage bag or container and freeze them for up to 3 months!
🍪 More Delicious Cookie Recipes
- Amish Sugar Cookies - Simple cookies that use common household baking ingredients.
- Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies - Tasty cookies that combine sweet white chocolate and tangy raspberries.
- Chocolate Cookies - Classic indulgent cookies that are rich, sweet, and decadent.
- Thumbprint Cookies - Beautiful cookies that are filled with jam or jelly.
- Lucky Charms Cookies - Sweet sugar cookies are topped with cereal milk buttercream and Lucky Charms cereal.
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies - Chocolate cookies are rolled in powdered sugar for a beautiful crackle effect.
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📖 Recipe Card
Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients
Sour Cream Cookies
- ⅓ cup butter (softened, at room temperature)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sour cream (at room temperature)
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (spoon and leveled)
Vanilla Buttercream
- ½ cup butter (softened, at room temperature)
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-4 tablespoon heavy whipping cream (plus more if needed)
Instructions
Prepare the Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (silpat mat).
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the ⅓ cup butter until smooth, and then add 1 cup sugar. Continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add 1 large egg, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt and continue to mix until creamy.
- Add ½ cup sour cream and mix until well combined. Then, slowly mix in 1¾ cups all-purpose flour until the flour is only just incorporated.
- Scoop heaping tablespoon-sized portions onto your prepared cookie sheets, leaving space in between them for spreading.
- Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 8-11 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are a slightly golden brown color.
- Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before placing them onto a wire rack to cool entirely before frosting them.
Make the Frosting
- Use either a hand mixer or your stand mixer to beat ½ cup butter for about 5-6 minutes, or until pale in color and fluffy.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a small amount of the 2 cups confectioners sugar.
- Mix at medium speed while alternating adding the remaining confectioners' sugar and small drizzles of 2-4 tablespoon heavy whipping cream (only using enough heavy cream to reach a firm, but spreadable consistency).
- Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, beat the mixture on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. *You can add more heavy whipping cream to reach your desired consistency, starting with a very small amount.
- Use a spatula to spread the buttercream onto the cooled cookies and serve.
Notes
- To make your cookies more even and uniform in shape, you can wet your fingers with water and pat the dough balls down slightly.
- Use gel food coloring to add some different colors to your buttercream frosting if desired.
- Check out all of my buttercream recipes if you want to try out a flavor other than vanilla!
- Your cookies need to be completely cool before adding any frosting or the buttercream could melt.
- To store: Keep your sour cream cookies stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: Freeze your cookies without any frosting for up to 3 months. Thaw to room temperature and then frost with fresh buttercream.
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