These sugar cookies are soft and thick with pandan and ube frosting on top are soft, fluffy, with a slightly chewy texture. They are so good!
Honestly, I’m not huge on cookies. I don’t bake cookies that often. I usually bake them for my kids. They love these soft and thick sugar cookies. We don’t like heavy and super sweet frosting on our cookies, but this light buttercream frosting with a touch of pandan and ube flavor is really good and not overly sweet.
What are Soft and Thick Sugar Cookies?
Soft and thick sugar cookies are cookies that have a slightly cake-like texture. They are not crispy or crunchy like traditional sugar cookies. Instead, they are soft, fluffy, and often have a slightly chewy texture
Soft and Thick Sugar Cookies with Pandan and Ube Frosting
Ingredients
- 113 g unsalted butter softened
- 85 g icing sugar
- 25 g egg room temperature, from 1/2 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients:
- 185 g cake flour
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
Buttercream frosting:
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
- 40 g icing sugar
- 30 g condensed milk
Flavoring:
- pandan essence
- ube extract
Decoration: (optional)
- sprinkles
Instructions
Prepare cookie dough:
- Whisk all the dry ingredients together to combine
- Please make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. Cream butter and sugar using a paddle attachment if you are using a stand mixer. Cream until they are fluffy and pale in color. Add egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix for few seconds. Sift in the dry ingredients and continue to cream just until combined. Do not overmix. There may be still some dry bits of flour on the side of the bowl. Just use a spatula to fold them into the cookie dough
- The dough is soft and sticky at this point. Scrape the dough using a spatula on top of a cling wrap and wrap with a cling wrap while roughly shape it into a disc. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours
Shaping:
- The dough is easier to handle after being chilled. Divide the cookie dough into 10 equal pieces. You can weigh the dough and divide into 10. Roll them into round balls and flatten into about 1/2-inch thick and about 3-inches in diameter. Place them on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 1/2-1 inch apart. They won't spread much
Baking:
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for at least 10 minutes. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 8-9 minutes. DO NOT overbake the cookies. They will appear still very soft when they are just out from the oven. Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet. Don't try to move them when they are still soft
Prepare frosting:
- You may not use up all the buttercream frosting, depending on how much you want to put on the cookies. They can be kept frozen and thaw at room temperature before using. They are really good that my kids who usually scrape off frosting from sugar cookies, asked for more frosting 🙂 If you have sweet tooth tough, you may find this frosting not sweet enough, in that case, feel free to increase the amount of icing sugar to your preference
- Place a softened room temperature butter in a mixing bowl along with the sugar. Whip on medium speed (speed 6 on KA) until the mixture is pale and creamy. Add condensed milk and whip again until it's fully combined. The buttercream texture should be smooth, creamy, and easily spreadable
- You can add few drops of pandan essence on half of the butter cream and few drops of ube extract on the other half.
Assembling:
- You can transfer the buttercream to piping bag and pipe the frosting on top for a neat look or just spread it on top of the cookies. Decorate with sprinkles if you wish
Recommended products:
Nutrition
Ingredients and substitutions
1. Unsalted butter
You can use salted butter and just omit the salt
2. Icing sugar/Powdered sugar
Icing sugar makes the cookies soft. DO NOT substitute with regular granulated or castor sugar
3. Eggs
I used large eggs that weigh 58-60 grams with the shell
4. Cake flour
Cake flour has the lowest gluten content and it contributes to the soft texture. If you use all-purpose flour, the texture won’t be the same
5. Cornstarch
Cornstarch also contributes to the tender crumbs in cookies
6. Vanilla extract
It adds a nice flavor to sugar cookies like this. Use high-quality vanilla extract and don’t use imitation
7. Baking soda and baking powder
Both are needed to give the cookies soft and airy texture
8. Cream of tartar
Cream of tartar provides the acidity that the cookies need without having to add any liquid. It works well with the baking powder and baking soda to create that airy texture
9. Salt
A pinch of salt enhances the overall taste of the cookies
10. Pandan essence
This is available in Asian grocery stores or here (affiliate link)
11. Ube extract
This is also available in Asian grocery stores or here (affiliate link)
12. Condensed milk
I use this for the frosting. It adds some sweetness and a rich taste to the frosting. You can skip it if you don’t have any
Step-by-step on how to make soft and thick sugar cookies
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together to combine
2. Please make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. Cream butter and sugar using a paddle attachment if you are using a stand mixer. Cream until they are fluffy and pale in color. 
3. Add egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until combined. 
4. Sift in the dry ingredients and continue to cream just until combined. Do not overmix. There may be still some dry bits of flour on the side of the bowl. Just use a spatula to fold them into the cookie dough
5. The dough is soft and sticky at this point. Scrape the dough using a spatula on top of a cling wrap and wrap with a cling wrap while roughly shape it into a disc. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours
6. The dough is easier to handle after being chilled. Divide the cookie dough into 10 equal pieces. You can weigh the dough and divide into 10. Roll them into round balls and flatten into about 1/2-inch thick and about 3-inches in diameter. Place them about 1 inch apart on a large baking sheet. They won’t spread much.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for at least 10 minutes. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 8-9 minutes. DO NOT overbake the cookies. They will appear still very soft when they are just out from the oven. Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet. Don’t try to move them when they are still soft
8. Place a softened room temperature butter in a mixing bowl along with the sugar. Whip on medium speed (speed 6 on KA) until the mixture is pale and creamy. Add condensed milk and whip again until it’s fully combined. The buttercream texture should be smooth, creamy, and easily spreadable
9. You can add few drops of pandan essence on half of the butter cream and few drops of ube extract on the other half.
10. You can transfer the buttercream to piping bag and pipe the frosting on top for a neat look or just spread it on top of the cookies. Decorate with sprinkles if you wish
How to store sugar cookies
1. Store the cookies in an air-tight container in one layer if possible. If you’re stacking the cookies in the container, place a layer of wax paper or parchment paper between each layer of cookies. This will help prevent the frosting from sticking to each other.
2. Keep at room temperature: Frosted sugar cookies are best stored at room temperature. Avoid storing them in the refrigerator, as this can cause the cookies to become stale.
3. Freeze for longer storage: If you need to store the cookies for a longer period of time, you can freeze them. Place the cookies on a baking sheet in one layer and freeze for one hour and then transfer to an airtight container or freezer bag. The frosting would have hardened and you can stack them up and they won’t stick to each other. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies at room temperature before serving
Did you make these soft and thick sugar cookies with pandan and ube frosting recipe?
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