The Best Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies (Easy No-Chill Dough!)
Inside: These homemade Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies are easy to make, tender, and buttery. And you don’t have to chill the dough!
Reader Review
I made these with my kids today and the cookies came out so delicious!
These sugar cookies…
- Don’t need to chill before rolling
- Roll out easily
- Keep their shape when baked
Plus they’ve got a little nutritional bonus because they use all whole wheat flour–yet are still tender and soft like cookies made with all-purpose flour.
The recipe is based on a roll-out sugar cookie recipe from a dear friend’s mom. I swapped in whole wheat pastry flour and tweaked a couple of ingredient amounts. Here’s how to make them.
Ingredients for Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
- Butter: I use salted butter. If you use unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the dry ingredients.
- Sugar: This recipe calls for white sugar
- Egg: Ideally at room temperature
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Flour: You have a few options here–you can use:
- Whole wheat pastry flour OR
- Half regular whole wheat flour, half all purpose flour OR
- All all-purpose flour
How to Make Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (such as Silpat mats).
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside.In a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer) cream butter and sugar well with your mixer on medium speed. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, adding one cup of the flour mixture at a time and mixing after each addition. Be sure all the flour at the bottom of the bowl is mixed into the dough, but don’t over-mix.
Do not chill. That’s important! This dough does not work when chilled.
Divide the dough in half and form two dough balls. Roll the first one onto a lightly floured surface about 1/8″ thick. This is a soft, moist dough so make sure both your surface and your rolling pin are floured. (Cover the bowl with the other dough ball using either a kitchen towel or plastic wrap.)
Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes in the rolled-out dough. Keep rolling out remaining dough scraps until it’s gone. Repeat with the second dough ball.
Place shapes on the prepared baking sheets and bake cookies for 6-7 minutes. They may be ever-so-slightly golden brown–and may even look underdone–but if you want them to be soft, you don’t want to over-bake them! If you prefer a crisper cookie, increase the bake time by a couple of minutes, or until they are more golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies FAQ
Can I use regular whole wheat flour?
I have tested this cookie recipe a few ways. It works best with either ALL wheat pastry flour or ALL all-purpose flour or half regular whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour.
What is whole wheat pastry flour?
Whole wheat pastry flour is made from a milder white wheat and has lower protein content than regular whole wheat flour. It’s great for cookies, muffins, and cakes (but not yeast bread). You’ll find it next to the flour in the baking section of the store or on Amazon.
If you can’t find whole wheat pastry flour and only have regular whole wheat flour, follow the recipe above using 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (measure the amounts, then sift together). I tested them using that ratio and they came out well.
What can I frost these cookies with?
I used royal icing for the cookies shown here.
How do I store these cookies?
Place cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and eat within 5-7 days for best quality.
How long do leftover cookies last?
These cookies will stay soft for days when kept in an airtight container. They’re best if eaten within 5-7 days.
Can I freeze these whole wheat sugar cookies?
Yes. Freeze the baked, unfrosted cookies in a freezer bag, pressing the extra air out before sealing. Defrost cookies, then ice with frosting.
Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies
These homemade Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies are easy to make, tender and buttery.
Ingredients
- Cookies:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar1 cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Move top rack to top one-third of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a mixing bowl of bowl of a standing mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and blend well.
- In a separate bowl, stir together baking powder and flour.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition. Combine just until all blended. Do not chill.
- Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies, place on prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies for 6-7 minutes.
- Let cookies sit one minute, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Notes
*Whole wheat pastry flour is essential to this recipe. If you can’t find whole wheat pastry flour and only have regular whole wheat flour, follow the recipe above using 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (measure the amounts, then sift together). I tested them using that ratio and they came out well.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1 CookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 261Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 76mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 2gSugar: 26gProtein: 2g
Step 2 says to mix in the egg but there is no egg in the ingredients list.
Oh gosh, that accidentally got left out when I typed up the recipe. Fixed now! Thank you for alerting me to that. 🙂
This is the cookie recipe I’ve been looking for for years! I’ve finished my Christmas baking but since I had a little time today (I know, weird at this time of year) I thought I’d give this a try. I’m so glad I did, it will me my new go-to. I’ve been looking for a cut out sugar cookie recipe that did not require chilling, was not difficult to roll out and most importantly kept the shape of the cut cookie. This recipe ticked all the boxes! Even re-rolling the dough had minimal distortion. The flavor is good! Like you describe, it’s not a super sweet cookie, but most people are going to either glaze or frost them and that has enough sugar! I have not tried your Frosting recipe, but maybe I will another day. I had to roll mine a little thicker, which required another 2 minutes of bake time, but other than that it worked great! It’s a bonus that they are made with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Thanks Sally! You’re a genius! Now, do you have any great bundt cake recipes that preserve the details of those all those beautiful pans on the market, tastes great, comes out of the pan easy and doesn’t require a billion ingredients? 🙂
Regina–I’m so glad to hear that! Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
ps: Wish I could help you on the bundt recipe. I had one of those pans but gave up (and gave the pan away!).
What’s the difference between White Whole Wheat Flour and Whole Wheat Pastry Flour?
Thanks!
Hi Doug–The pastry flour is more finely ground, so the baked goods ends up being lighter (whole wheat can produce heavier baked goods). Hope that helps!
Hi Sally. Pastry flour is made from “soft” wheat berries….. Regular is made from “hard” spring or winter wheat berries . That is the difference . Not the grind. Happy baking!!!
Yes, you’re right–I stand corrected! Thank you for that info. 🙂
I made these with my kids today and the cookies came out so delicious! I used whole wheat Atta flour (it’s what I had on hand) and they turned out perfect. I baked for 5 minutes.
Sally–thanks for letting me know! So glad you liked them.
Hey Dear, I’ll try to make them today but I would like to do half of them. Can I use half of all the ingredients and still 1 whole egg? Thank you
Hi Marta–I haven’t tried to cut the recipe in half. My suggestion is to make the full recipe and freeze the other half as baked cookies for later. Hope that helps!
So using whole meal flour is not good for this recipe?
I recommend the whole wheat pastry flour. I’m guessing the regular whole wheat flour would result in heavier, denser cookies.
I ended up making these cut out cookies with my 5 year old, completely on a whim. Absolutely delicious!! I did the half AP and half whole wheat flour since that’s what was on hand. They rolled out SO nicely! I over-baked the first batch because they didn’t look “done” enough, but I went back to the time listed in the recipe, which was the perfect amount!
Thanks so much for this keeper!!
Julie–Yay! So glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Where is the full list of ingredients?
Hi Teresa–sorry about that. There must’ve been some kind of glitch, not sure what happened there! But the full list of ingredients are there now. Thanks for letting me know.
This recipe also works amazingly with whole spelt flour. We liked them baked for about 10 minutes to be just a tad on the crispy side. They held their shape and we love love love the fact that they are no chill – ready to go. Thank you!
Hi Laura–I’m so glad to know they work well with whole spelt flour as well. Thank you for letting me know! 🙂
I have been making these cookies every Christmas since 2021. When I saw they were whole wheat, I knew I had to try them. They are fabulous! And no one in my family has ever even noticed the whole wheat-ness of them (and I have several family members who are convinced that whole wheat flour will probably kill them), they just mow them down.
Hee-hee! That’s so funny, Lori. And that’s the beauty of the whole wheat pastry flour–it’s a game-changer!
We make these all the time and love them. My teens go-to sugar cookie recipe, been making them for years. thanks Sally!
Love hearing that! Thanks Nicole.