Sugar Cookie Essential Oil

Buttery and sweet, this homemade sugar cookie essential oil recipe smells like oven-fresh sugar cookies. The blend combines yummy vanilla with notes of tonka bean, bitter almond, and butter C02 extract for the best cookie scent!

Sugar cookie essential oil blend    

Where do I even start with this heavenly essential oil recipe? It smells like a tray of warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven and will have your family come running to the kitchen.

The cookie scent is more than enough to make you swoon. The blend smells just like freshly baked sugar cookies, only you can whip it up in minutes. Plus, it’s all-natural and free of the potentially hazardous stuff found in synthetic cookie fragrance oil.

You’ll learn 2 different versions. A simple recipe with everyday essential oils and an advanced blend that uses specialty oils to achieve the yummy scent of butter cookie dough. And the post includes 6 additional variations!

Sugar cookie is one of my favorite holiday scents. Some of my other favorites include gingerbread essential oil, candy cane essential oil, pumpkin spice essential oil, and this lovely Christmas tree essential oil.

What do sugar cookies smell like?

Sugar cookie is a warm bakery scent that smells like freshly baked dough, laden with sugary vanilla notes, a spoon of butter, and subtle hints of spices.

Okay, and how do we recreate that with essential oils?

The smell of cookies is a harmony of different scents. Most prominent is vanilla, but there are a few other essential oils, C02 extracts, and absolutes that you can incorporate to create the ultimate sugar cookie scent.

Some of these oils are typically utilized in natural perfumery, but you’ll find them rarely in aromatherapy.

Of course, you don’t need all of these oils. I just thought it would be helpful to have a comprehensive list of oils that can be employed to create sweet-smelling cookie and candy scents.

Essential oils that smell like cookies

• Vanilla: No sugar cookie would be complete without vanilla! The scent is available as vanilla oleoresin, vanilla absolute, or this botanical vanilla extract.
• Butter C02 has a rich buttery smell with milk/cream notes. It’s the best oil to replicate the aroma of buttery cookie dough. The oil is also an excellent fixative meaning it helps other scents last longer. Unlike all the other oils in this list, butter CO2 is animal-derived, not made from plant materials.
• Copaiba oleoresin has a warm, slightly woodsy, and sweet scent. It creates a delicious baked note.
• Beeswax absolute gives a warm, sugar-sweet smell similar to honey or pollen. Beeswax absolute is solid at room temperature and needs to be heated to become pourable. I’ll show you a sugar cookie perfume that uses it as a scent component.
• Cocoa absolute provides a chocolate scent. Add it whenever you want a chocolate or cocoa aroma.
• Tonka bean absolute has a sweet, toffee-like scent reminiscent of butterscotch. It’s perfect when you want something to smell like caramel or fudge.
• Coffee essential oil smells like freshly brewed coffee.
• Coconut pulp C02 features an incredible coconut scent. It’s perfect for achieving a macaroon-like smell or tropical aroma.
• Fenugreek CO2 provides a soft, sweet-spicy aroma reflective of maple syrup and licorice.
• Bitter almond has a nutty, sweet almond smell similar to marzipan. The oil smells exactly like the almond extract you use for baking.
• Balsam of Peru has a sweet, vanilla-like note. It’s a cost-effective alternative to vanilla absolute.
• Benzoin has a strong, balsamic vanilla note with cinnamon undertones. Benzoin is very thick and not soluble in oils. Because of that, benzoin is best suited for perfumery, not aromatherapy.

Ingredients for cookie essential oil

I have 2 sugar cookie scent recipes to share with you. One is a simple, 3-ingredient blend composed of essential oils you probably already have in your collection.

The other scent is a bit more complex and requires specialty oils. The quantities are enough to fill a 5-ml / 0.17 oz bottle.

Simple sugar cookie blend

This blend uses easy-to-find materials. The mixture is sweet with a strong vanilla aroma. Feel free to play with the ratios according to your preferences. You’ll need:

• 80 drops botanical vanilla extract
• 12 drops copaiba oleoresin
• 8 drops tangerine essential oil (can sub for sweet orange or mandarin)

Complex sugar cookie fragrance

To me, this is the most realistic cookie essential oil blend. It starts off strong with vanilla and has those sugary and buttery notes that everyone loves so much about sugar cookies. Here’s the roster!

• 60 drops botanical vanilla extract
• 20 drops butter CO2 extract*
• 10 drops tonka bean absolute*
• 5 drops copaiba oleoresin
• 5 drops bitter almond oil*

*Be sure to buy the 1-ml sample sizes, which only cost $2 to $3 each.

I’m not the first blogger to enlist bitter almond as an ingredient for a sugar cookie blend. Suburban Simplicity uses a combination of vanilla and bitter almond to scent her sugar cookie body scrub.

I am however the very first blogger to create sugar cookie essential oil with tonka bean and butter CO2 extract.

Sugar cookie diffuser blend

Before committing to a full batch, give the recipe a test run and mix up this scaled-down cookie diffuser blend. Again, we have a simple and advanced version.

Simple blend

• 8 drops botanical vanilla extract
• 2 drops copaiba oleoresin
• 1 drop tangerine essential oil (can sub for sweet orange or mandarin)

Complex blend

• 7 drops botanical vanilla extract
• 3 drops butter CO2 extract
• 2 drops tonka bean absolute
• 1 drop copaiba oleoresin
• 1 drop bitter almond oil

How to make sugar cookie essential oil

Once you see how quick and easy this tasty essential oil recipe is, you’ll never buy a premade essential oil blend again! It just takes a little over 5 minutes to make sugar cookie scented oil.

1. Open bottle. Remove the dropper cap from a 5 ml amber glass essential oil bottle. This recipe makes approximately 5 ml, but you can reduce or double the ingredients to adjust the amount.
2. Add essential oils. Place a small funnel in the opening of the bottle and add the essential oils into the funnel. You can do this step without a funnel, but this method helps to avoid spills.
3. Close bottle. Attach the dropper cap and screw the lid on tightly.
4. Mix. Gently shake the bottle to combine the oils and optionally apply the printable label.
5. Rest. Let the blend develop for 1 to 2 days before use. The fragrances need time to mingle together and change a little during this period.

Variations

• Frosted lemon cookies: 55 drops vanilla + 20 drops copaiba + 20 drops lemon + 7 drops tonka bean
• Cinnamon swirl cookies: 65 drops vanilla + 25 drops cinnamon bark + 10 drops sweet orange
• Fudge stuffed cookies: 60 drops vanilla + 33 drops tonka bean + 7 drops cinnamon bark
• Chocolate chip sugar cookies: 50 drops vanilla + 25 drops cocoa absolute + 18 drops copaiba + 7 drops tonka bean
• Peppermint sugar cookies: 70 drops vanilla + 15 drops copaiba + 15 drops peppermint
• Mocha mint cookies: 55 drops vanilla + 20 drops copaiba + 12 drops peppermint + 12 drops coffee

How to use sugar cookie essential oil

• Aromatherapy: Diffuse the sugar cookie essential oil recipe around your home or add a few drops to a relaxing roller blend.
• Home scents: Cookie oil is a great scent for candles, wax melts, and air fresheners.
• Skin care: Use sugar cookie essential oil to infuse body butter, lotion, creams, or sugar scrub.

FAQ

Is the blend edible?

No, this homemade sugar cookie essential oil is reserved for your nose only! Don’t be tempted to season baked goods or desserts with this sugar cookie essential oil. Essential oils are for aromatherapy and topical application only and are not safe to be eaten.

Is cookie essential oil safe for skin care?

Yes, you may scent bath and body products with this DIY cookie scent oil. If the blend includes bitter almond, make sure the oil is prussic acid-free.

Never apply the scent oil undiluted and use it at a 2% to 4% dilution rate.

Is this the same as a sugar cookie fragrance oil?

No, sugar cookie fragrance oil and essential oil are different things. The term “fragrance oil” suggests that the materials are of synthetic origin, whereas essential oils are made from natural plant materials.

Can you use baking extracts to make a sugar cookie scent?

Sure! For an edible sugar cookie blend, try combining 4 parts vanilla extract, 1 part bitter almond extract, and 1 part butter aroma.

Storage and shelf life

• Label + packaging: To protect your sugar cookie essential oil from degrading, store it in an amber glass bottle. You can download the printable labels below.
• Storing: Store the blend in a dry, cool place away from direct sunlight, for example, a cupboard or drawer. Keep the bottle tightly closed, so the oils aren’t exposed to air and oxidize.
• Shelf life: The essential oil should keep well for 12 to 18 months.