Spoil your Dad this Father’s day with these super adorable sugar cookies! Frosted with buttercream and decorated with ‘best Dad’ stick figures, these cute cookies are sure to make his day!
Frosted Sugar Cookies
I don’t know a Dad that doesn’t love a cookie, so treat him this Father’s day to show him just how much you love him!
These square sugar cookies are topped with vanilla buttercream and decorated with cute stick figures. This is a great recipe that your kids can help you out with and they’ll have so much fun making them!
Tell Dad you love him in the tastiest way possible!
Be sure to try my Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies too!
Why You’ll Love this Father’s Day Recipe:
- Easy: These cookies are super easy to make and bake and so fun to decorate.
- Make ahead: These sugar cookies have a good shelf life and you can easily make them a day or two ahead of time. They are freezer friendly too!
- Delicious: These cookies not only look great, but they taste pretty amazing too! This is the Father’s Day treat that Dad will want every year!
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How to Make Father’s Day Cookies
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- Beat together the wet ingredients.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Roll out the dough and cut the cookies into squares.
- Chill before baking on a baking sheet and let cool.
- Beat together the ingredients for the buttercream and color portions with gel food coloring.
- Decorate the cookies with the buttercream.
Sugar cookies are so easy to customize. To add a unique flavor, add ½-1 teaspoon of your favorite extract to either the cookie dough or the buttercream frosting (or both!). I like almond, lemon, maple, or orange.
Crumbly or dry cookie dough is usually the result of overmixing or not enough of the wet ingredients. To fix a crumbly cookie dough, add water 1 teaspoon at a time and knead until the dough comes together. Sticky or wet cookie dough is usually the result of too much moisture. To fix sticky sugar cookie dough, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time and knead until the dough firms up. Make sure to flour the work surface and rolling pin to prevent the cookie dough from sticking while being rolled out and cut.
Cookies naturally spread while baking because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. To avoid too much spreading, chill the cookie dough in the freezer for 20 minutes before baking. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough and reroll the cookies.
If the buttercream is too thick, add in a small amount of water (a tablespoon to a full bowl or just a drop into a small bowl) and stir well to mix.
These buttercream decorated sugar cookies are sure to make Father’s Day memorable! We love the cute stick figure design, but feel free to decorate them just how you want! Whatever you decide, Dad will love them!
These made from scratch sugar cookies are super simple to make and are a great project for kids. I mean, what Dad doesn’t want to be woken up with cookies on Father’s Day?!
Make Ahead Instructions
This is a great make ahead recipe. Sugar cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The buttercream frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Let it come to room temperature for 1-2 hours before piping.
Storage Instructions
Store fully decorated Father’s Day cookie in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freezing Instructions
Both raw and baked sugar cookies, as well as buttercream frosting, freeze well.
- Dough: Cut the dough into shapes, arrange on a lined baking sheet, and freeze until solid. Transfer frozen dough to an airtight container or Ziplock bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Add an additional 2 minutes to the baking time.
- Cookies: Freeze fully frosted cookies in an even layer on a lined baking sheet until solid. Transfer to an airtight container or Ziplock bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Let cookies come to room temperature before serving.
- Frosting: Buttercream frosting can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature before piping.
Decorate
- Black and red are great Father’s Day colors, but feel free to divide the frosting up to make even more fun colors.
- Cut out different shapes, like circles for golf balls or basketballs or triangles for pizza or cake!
- Personalize your Father’s Day cookies with drawings of your dad’s favorite foods and activities!
Tips for Perfect Sugar Cookies
- Stop the Spread: To help prevent the cookies from spreading during baking, it’s important to freeze the cookies for at least 20 minutes before baking.
- Keep Them Thick: For soft and thick cookies, it’s recommended to use a rolling pin with thickness rings and use the ⅜-inch thickness ring. If you aren’t cutting these cookies out thick, you’ll want to reduce your baking time to reflect that (start checking cookies after 8 minutes instead of 12 minutes).
- Cutters: I used a 3½-inch square cutter. Use a similarly-sized cutter for the best results.
- Frosting Tip: If the frosting is not squeezing out of the bag smoothly, roll the piping bag between your hands to warm the frosting a bit, making it easier to squeeze. Do not microwave the frosting to soften it. This will lead to a melted mess!
These Father’s Day cookies are a tasty way to show Dad just how much you love him! Easy to make and so fun to decorate, these are sure to make his day. Be sure to save this recipe to make decorated sugar cookies for other occasions too!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Father’s Day Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter slightly melted
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring in black and red
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheet
- Rolling Pin
Instructions
For the Sugar Cookies
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.1 cup vegetable shortening, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.3½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until well combined and the dough starts to stick together, about 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.
- Sprinkle a clean work surface lightly with flour and place about ⅓ of the dough onto the prepared surface to roll out. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll out the dough to ⅜-inch thickness and cut out cookies into 3½-inch squares.
- Place the cut out cookies onto 1 prepared baking sheet. The cookies can be placed close together on the baking sheet for this step. Place the cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes before baking.
- While the cookies chill, preheat oven to 350°F
- Place 6 cookies onto the second baking sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 12-14 minutes for thick cut cookies or 8-10 minutes for thinner cookies. The tops of the cookies shoud look set (no longer wet but not yet brown), and the bottoms of the cookies should be slightly brown. The middle of cookies will still be slightly soft to the touch but will continue baking once removed from the oven.
- Repeat with remaining cookies. Let cookies cool completely before frosting.
For the Buttercream
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If the icing seems too thick, beat in a tablespoon of water.1 cup unsalted butter, 2½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Separate the buttercream into 3 smaller bowls to color. Use food coloring to color 2 of the bowls red and black. Stir completely to make sure all color is worked evenly into the buttercream.Gel food coloring in black and red
To Decorate
- Place the colored buttercreams into Ziplock bags and seal. Cut a small opening in the bottom corner of each bag. For background colors, the tips can be cut larger. For frostings you’ll be printing with, keep the tip cut small.
- Start decorating with background colors on all cookies. Simply start by lining the outside of the cookie then continue filling in following the shape of the cookie. Work on decorating cookies in layers – first the background color then print and stick figures.
Notes
- Stop the Spread: To help prevent the cookies from spreading during baking, it’s important to freeze the cookies for at least 20 minutes before baking.
- Keep Them Thick: For soft and thick cookies, it’s recommended to use a rolling pin with thickness rings and use the ⅜-inch thickness ring. If you aren’t cutting these cookies out thick, you’ll want to reduce your baking time to reflect that (start checking cookies after 8 minutes instead of 12 minutes).
- Cutters: I used a 3½-inch square cutter. Use a similarly-sized cutter for the best results.
- Frosting Tip: If the frosting is not squeezing out of the bag smoothly, roll the piping bag between your hands to warm the frosting a bit, making it easier to squeeze. Do not microwave the frosting to soften it. This will lead to a melted mess!
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