Skip to Content

Easy 5 Ingredient Delicious Meltaway Cookies

These cookies have the most amazing melt in your mouth taste! The unique texture is a cross between a sweet shortbread cookie and a Mexican wedding cake cookie. The soft buttery fine crumb flavor comes from 5 simple ingredients you just might already have in your pantry.

Delicious Meltaway Cookies

4 ball shape sugar cookies in a row with alternating green and red frosting on a white rectangular plate.

These soft, lightly sweet, buttery cookies are one of my family’s favorite! What makes this simple cookie so crazy delicious is the icing. They’re also very easy to make and you can have fun with them by adding food color, candy sprinkles or even a citrus zest to make these cookies very festive for this time of year.

The Ingredients You Will Need For This Simple Recipe

  • Salted butter (not margarine)
  • Confectioners’ sugar
  • All purpose flour
  • Cornstarch
  • Pure vanilla extract

The Ingredients For The Frosting

  • Cream cheese
  • Salted butter (not margarine)
  • Confectioners’ sugar
  • Pure vanilla extract

The Tools You Will Need

  • 2 mixing bowls
  • Spatula
  • Large spoon
  • Oven mitt
  • Cookie / Baking sheet
  • Parchment paper (optional)
  • Wire cooling rack
  • Mixer (either standup or hand held)
  • Pastry piping bag or a ziplock bag
Rows of uncooked cookie dough in the shape of small balls on a cookie baking pan.

Should I use parchment paper on the cookie sheet when baking?

 I don’t use it when making these cookies but you can definitely use it if you prefer.

Can I make these cookies with a different flavor?

Yes, you can! You can use pure almond extract instead of pure vanilla extract. You can also add lemon zest or orange zest to the dough or icing for a slight citrus taste.

Can I freeze these cookies?

Yes, I would recommend using parchment paper in between the layers and use a freezer-friendly container.

What if I don’t have a pastry piping bag?

No worries there! Just snip off one corner of a ziplock bag. It does the same thing but remember to only make a small opening on a diagonal for best results.

Other Holiday Snacks

A clear bowl with white frosting and green food coloring swirled in it with a spoon.

I absolutely love these baked cookies! You can press the dough down to make a flatter bigger cookie. My personal preference is to make them as cookie balls for a perfect 1 bite mouth cookie since their texture is so light and crumbly. I like to have some fun with the icing and divide it in two and add a few drops of food coloring to make them festive looking. They’re the perfect cookie and great addition to the holiday season!

Yield: 3 dozen

Easy 5 Ingredient Delicious Meltaway Cookies

Soft, lightly sweet, buttery cookies with cream cheese frosting

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Additional Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the cookies:
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) of salted butter at room temperature
  • ⅓ cup confectioners' 10x powdered sugar
  • ¾ cup cornstarch
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or pure almond extract)
  • For the frosting:
  • 3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) of softened salted butter
  • 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) confectioners' 10x powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • Food coloring if desired

Instructions

Cookies:

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

    If using parchment paper, prepare the baking sheet with it.

    1. Combine the sugar and cut butter in a large bowl and mix on medium speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes.
    2. Add the pure vanilla extract and mix until combined.
    3. Add the flour and cornstarch and mix on low speed until well combined.
    4. Add the flour and the cornstarch slowly and mix on low until combined.
    5. Using about a spoonful, round the dough into a small size ball and place them on the cookie sheet a few inches apart.
    6. Bake for 12 to 18 minutes (depending on your oven) or when the bottoms are slightly brown.
    7. Once you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute. Remember to use an oven mitt, the cookie sheet will be very hot!
    8. Then place them on a wire rack for cooling. Once they are completely cool, it’s time for the frosting!

    Frosting:

    1. In a small bowl, mix the softened cream cheese and butter on low speed until blended.
    2. Add the pure vanilla extract and blend. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Blend until smooth.
    3. Using a spoon or spatula, put the frosting in either a pastry piping bag or a snipped corner of a ziplock bag and squeeze frosting on top of each cookie.

Notes

The frosting is enough for a double batch of these awesome sugar cookies which is a good reason to keep on baking!

Skip to Recipe