Lofthouse Cookies - flavor & frosting options! Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

These soft sugar cookies are like the Lofthouse cookies you find in your grocery store but better since they’re homemade! They are easy to customize so make them just the way you like.

Lofthouse sugar cookies, the soft white cookies with colorful frosting and sprinkles, are a perennial favorite. They are usually found in the bakery department of most grocery stories. I’m always tempted to put a package of them into my shopping cart.

Then I think, I can make those same cookies at home. Bet you knew I was going to say that!

Homemade cookies are always fresher, cheaper, and tastier. They don’t have preservatives, partially hydrogenated fats, or artificial ingredients, just wholesome ingredients right from your own kitchen. Compare store-bought cookies to iced oatmeal cookies, gingersnaps, or chewy chocolate chip cookies. No comparison!

About Lofthouse Cookies

This recipe is easy to make. These Lofthouse copycat cookies are really quite simple to make at home. And what can beat a soft, sugary cookie with creamy icing and fun sprinkles? They look beautiful on a cookie tray and they’ll disappear quickly. Let’s be real: cookies with frosting are always eaten before the other cookies. It’s just a fact of life.

You can decorate the cookies to fit the occasion. These soft frosted sugar cookies are really fun to customize too. They are a blank page. For Christmas, add a fun holiday twist by flavoring the cookies with peppermint extract and decorating them with Christmas colored sprinkles. Sprinkles come in every color of the rainbow so your cookies can match whatever occasion you want, green for St. Patrick’s Day, red and pink for Valentine’s Day, orange and black for Halloween, and I’m sure you’re getting the idea here.

Lofthouse cookies have a softer texture than regular sugar cookies, not crisp, but rather cake-like. The cookies are usually large (although you may make them whatever size you like!) and are always frosted with either white or tinted powdered sugar frosting and decorated with colorful sprinkles.

As always, look for the printable recipe card near the end of the post. It has complete instructions and nutrition information, as well as variations.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Butter: Both the cookies and the frosting contain butter. Make sure it’s softened to room temperature. Always use unsalted butter for baking unless stated otherwise.
• Sugar: To make the cookies, use granulated white sugar. The frosting is made with confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar).
• Eggs: You’ll need one whole egg and one egg yolk.
• Vanilla: Like most sugar cookies, Lofthouse cookies are flavored with pure vanilla extract. Keep reading for more flavor options.
• Flour: While I often use whole wheat flour for cookies, these sugar cookies just wouldn’t be the same with whole wheat. Make these treats with all-purpose flour.

Baking Tip!

To measure flour, always gently spoon it into a measuring cup before leveling it off. Scooping directly into the flour with the measuring cup isn’t recommended, because the flour becomes compacted and your cookies will be dense and dry.

See Also

Traditional Welsh Cakes Recipe

• Baking Powder: Provides leavening.
• Salt: Without salt, your cookies will taste flat. If you happen to use salted butter, you can omit the added salt.
• Milk: You’ll just need a few tablespoons to make the frosting. Any type of milk will work.
• Food Coloring and Sprinkles: These are of course optional, but they really are what makes these cookies so fun and attractive.

How To Make Lofthouse Cookies

The dough needs to chill at least one hour or overnight so keep that in mind. I’ll run through the basics here and give you lots of extra tips and encouragement.

Let’s get started! Make sure your butter is softened. If it isn’t, warm it in the microwave on very low power (10-20%) in one-minute increments.

Combine the ingredients. You’ll need a nice big mixing bowl. Combine the butter and sugar using an electric mixer or stand mixer.

The mixture should look light and fluffy. You can do it by hand but it takes a lot of arm power.

Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and continue to mix until everything’s creamy and smooth. Measure out the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the bowl. Stir all the ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix the dough.

Chill the dough. Wrap or cover the cookie dough and put it into the fridge for at least an hour. Overnight is fine, too, whatever works for your schedule.

Roll dough into balls. Once the dough has been chilled, you’re ready to form the cookies. Preheat the oven and get out a baking sheet. Scoop up a big spoonful of dough (about 2 tablespoons) and roll it into a ball.

Place it on the cookie sheet, flatten it slightly, and repeat. You’ll have about 18 big balls. Remember that the cookies will spread – these are pretty large cookies. I usually bake 9 at a time.

Bake: After the oven has been preheated, bake the cookies twelve to fourteen minutes. They should be firm and fairly white with just a teensy bit of golden brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven and let them cool a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before using a spatula to move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare the frosting. While the cookies are baking and cooling, you can whip up the frosting. Simply combine all the ingredients (butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and milk) in a mixing bowl. Use your mixer to beat the frosting until it’s light and fluffy. If it seems too thick and dry, add a bit more milk, and if it seems too thin, add a bit more sugar.

Frost the cookies. When the cookies are completely cool, frost them generously. There will be enough frosting to really pile it on. I tend to skimp a bit on the first ones I frost because I’m worried I’ll run out. Don’t worry — you’ll have plenty!

Add the sprinkles as you frost each cookie! The frosting hardens quite quickly and you’ll find that the sprinkles roll right off if you wait until the end. That’s a sad thing.

Enjoy these cookies with a glass of ice cold milk. That’s the way Santa likes his treat and with good reason. Cookies and milk just go together!

If you’re not into milk, a cup of hot coffee or tea is great, too. Try ginger spiced hot chocolate, it’s easy to make in the microwave. For adults, a White Russian or a Hot White Russian might be just the thing. Try homemade eggnog for a real treat!

FAQs

Make It Your Own

• Try different flavorings. Flavor the cookies and frosting with peppermint extract, almond extract, cinnamon, or any other flavoring you like.
• Tint the frosting any hue of the rainbow and add sprinkles to match the occasion or your mood.
• Chocolate Lofthouse cookies. Substitute ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder for ¼ cup of the al-purpose flour. Add cocoa powder to the frosting too. Decorate with chocolate jimmies if you like. Or try peppermint chocolate sugar cookies!
• Make bars instead. If you’re in a hurry, try making my sugar cookie bars with vanilla buttercream frosting. They have a similar flavor to Lofthouse cookies and the dough doesn’t need to be chilled.

Storage & Make-Ahead Tips

Store: Once the cookies have cooled completely and the frosting has hardened, store them in an airtight container for up to a week. Put a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper between layers so the cookies don’t stick together.

Freeze baked cookies: If you want to get a jump on cookie baking, these cookies can be made ahead and frozen for up to a month.

Freeze dough: Cookie dough will keep up to 2 months in the freezer. If you prefer freshly baked cookies, freeze the dough as is, or roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze individually on a tray. Once they’re frozen, place in a freezer safe container or bag.

To bake: Unshaped frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the fridge. The shaped cookie dough can be baked immediately, adding a minute or two to the baking time.