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Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Blend

By: Author Kyla

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Categories Aromatherapy, DIY Bath and Body, Essential Oil Blends, Essential Oils

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Learn how to make sugar cookie essential oil! This sugary, delicious-smelling blend is the closest you can get to the aroma of freshly baked sugar cookies.

Sugar cookie essential oil.

An essential oil blend that smells like cookies? Yes, it really is possible! If you love gourmand scents, this is the blend for you.

There’s no need to use a synthetic fragrance oil to evoke the delicious aromas we associate with sugar cookies – sweet sugar, warm vanilla, and decadent, buttery cookie dough.

Because with a special combination of essential oils, you can create a natural sugar cookie scent that truly smells like the real thing.

Read on to learn how to make a sugar cookie essential oil recipe. You’ll also discover 5 other scent variations: vanilla cookie, oatmeal cookie, shortbread cookie, and a festive Christmas cookie blend for the holidays.

Not only can you use these cookie blends to naturally fragrance your home, such as in a diffuser or room spray, but you can also use them in a variety of homemade bath, body, and skincare recipes.

I’ve also included free printable essential oil labels to add the finishing touch to your homemade blend!

Table of contents

Years ago, my mom (and blogging partner) published an original sugar cookie essential oil blend, and this post was inspired by that original recipe.

At the time, there were already quite a few published sugar cookie blends. But most recipes used similar combinations of oils, and my mom wanted to create a blend that was unique to our blog.

I recall her trying countless essential oil combinations in her quest for the perfect natural sugar cookie fragrance.

It wasn’t easy, as most realistic cookie scents are made with synthetic fragrance oils, which we are both highly sensitive to. But she was determined to create a natural recipe with essential oils that smelled like authentic sugar cookies.

After lots of experimentation, my mom came across a unique oil that smelled remarkably sugary. She had never seen this particular oil used in a sugar cookie essential oil recipe before, and when she tested it, the cookie scent was unbelievable!

Her unique blend was originally published in our sugar cookie body butter recipe. Since then we’ve used the blend in a variety of DIYs, and we use it so frequently in our holiday skincare recipes that we thought it deserved its own post. (You can also find the recipe in Willow and Sage magazine.)

I’ve also since expanded on my mom’s original cookie blend, adding gourmand perfumery ingredients in my quest to create a variety of natural sugar cookie perfumes.

But before publishing my cookie perfume recipes (which I wear almost daily now!), we also wanted to share the expanded cookie essential oil blends for you to enjoy.

For more ideas on how to use our cookie blend, see the recipes below:

What do sugar cookies smell like?

Sugar cookies smell like a luscious combination of sugar, warm vanilla, and decadent, buttery dough, with an extra hint of sweetness from sugary frosting.

And that’s exactly what this sugar cookie essential oil blend evokes!

I know this might seem hard to believe, because the richness of butter and sweetness of sugar are not typically associated with any commonly used essential oils.

But you really can create a sugar cookie scent with essential oils, if you know which ones to use. And since essential oils are all natural, there’s no need to worry about any potentially toxic, artificial ingredients typically found in sugar cookie fragrance oil.

Sugar cookie essential oil blend.

Essential oils that smell like cookies

Once you have a collection of essential oils that smell like cookies and other baked goods, the possibilities are pretty much endless as to what kind of decadent blends you can create.

For instance, you can add a few drops of lemon oil for a lemon sugar cookie scent, chocolate essential oil for chocolate chip shortbread, or a dash of ginger and clove for a gingerbread essential oil blend.

Essential oils that smell like cookies include:

  • Bitter almond essential oil
  • Vanilla oleoresin
  • Butter essential oil
  • Tonka bean absolute
  • Copaiba oleoresin

Each oil already smells a like cookies right out of the bottle. For instance, bitter almond essential oil smells like almond cookies, and vanilla oleoresin smells like vanilla cookies.

But each oil smells even better in a blend – particularly butter CO2 extract, which creates the smell of rich, buttery shortbread cookies.

There are many different obscure essential oils you can use to create amazing natural cookie fragrances. They’re nice to have, but not always easily accessible for everyone.

So, I’ve included 2 ways to make this decadent DIY sugar cookie essential oil.

One blend uses simple, easy-to-find essential oils. And the more complicated recipe (based on the sugar cookie perfumes I mentioned) expands on the original blend, using specialty ingredients from my natural perfumery collection.

But there’s no need to purchase an entirely new essential oil collection for a cookie scent! The simple blend smells like delicious frosted sugar cookies on its own.

However, the more complex recipe is for those who would like to go the extra mile for a rich and buttery cookie aroma, as it contains an essential oil derived from real butter that adds even more depth to the fragrance!

If desired, you can read more information about each essential oil below the recipes. I’ve also included replacements for hard-to-find oils in the section on substitutions.

Sugar cookie fragrance oil in glass bottles

Here’s how to make a sugar cookie scent with essential oils:

32 drops vanilla essential oil
12 drops bitter almond essential oil
5 drops sweet orange essential oil
1 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil

25 drops vanilla essential oil
9 drops butter CO2 extract
8 drops bitter almond essential oil
5 drops tonka bean absolute
2 drops sweet orange essential oil
1 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil

I’ve included even more homemade cookie essential oil blends later on in this post.

For now, I’m going to delve into some more information about each essential oil. But if you’re not interested, you may wish to skip straight to the recipes.

Vanilla oleoresin

It likely comes as no surprise that vanilla is included in this cookie essential oil blend – you can’t recreate the classic aroma of fresh baked sugar cookies without it!

Unfortunately, due to a global vanilla bean shortage, vanilla oleoresin is not always affordable or easily accessible.

If you happen to have a bottle on hand, lucky for you! But if not, there are affordable substitutions that still evoke the sweet, creamy notes of vanilla without breaking the bank.

Simply Earth’s Vanilla Woods blend is the best vanilla essential oil substitution I’ve found. It’s a lovely combination of real vanilla enhanced with Peru balsam and benzoin.

It’s a bit richer and more balsamic than true vanilla – like brown sugar or vanilla syrup. But it allows you to emulate the sweetness of pure vanilla at a fraction of the price.

Simply Earth Vanilla Woods essential oil blend with sugar cookies.

If you’re looking for a vanilla substitute, you’re in luck, because Vanilla Woods is included in Simply Earth’s December 2021 Essential Oil Recipe Box. The box includes 4 full-size essential oils at a discounted price, along with extra ingredients to make 6 essential oil recipes.

If you’re interested in trying the box, you can use our code ALIFEADJACENTFREE to receive a $40 gift card with your purchase. The Vanilla Woods blend is also sold separately.

You can read our full Simply Earth review for more information. And for more vanilla oleoresin replacements, see the section on essential oil substitutions below.

Bitter almond essential oil

Vanilla plays an important role, but bitter almond essential oil is the real secret ingredient of this cookie essential oil blend.

What is bitter almond oil? Not to be confused with sweet almond oil, bitter almond oil is the incredibly fragrant essential oil expressed from crushed bitter almonds.

It’s very high in benzaldehyde, an aromatic aldehyde responsible for bitter almond’s potent, characteristic fragrance.

What does benzaldehyde smell like?

If there’s one way to describe benzaldehyde’s fragrance, it smells gloriously sweet, intense and sugary. But despite its name, it doesn’t smell bitter at all. (Ironically, I think it’s the essential oil that smells like sugar.)

Chances are, you already know benzaldehyde for its sweet, cherry-like scent associated with marzipan, almond baking extract, and amaretti cookies. It adds an intense, sugary sweetness to this cookie scented blend, for an incredibly realistic cookie scent.

This versatile oil blends well with a variety of other sweet scents. I also used benzaldehyde in my candy cane sugar scrub, and it plays a very important part in my sugarplum essential oil, too!

And of course, bitter almond is a key ingredient for an almond scented soap recipe.

Cookie essential oil with pink sprinkle sugar cookies.

Bitter almond oil vs benzaldehyde

Bitter almond oil is the complete natural essential oil, and benzaldehyde is the fragrance component extracted from the oil.

They aren’t technically the same thing, but they smell similar, and you can use them interchangeably for this essential oil recipe.

Is bitter almond oil dangerous?

Bitter almond oil can be dangerous if you don’t buy it from a reputable source.

Natural bitter almond essential oil contains highly toxic prussic acid, otherwise known as hydrogen cyanide. So it’s vitally important to ensure your bitter almond oil has had this toxin removed.

Look for bitter almond oil labelled for perfumery or soap making, not bitter almond carrier oil. The oil must also be labelled as “rectified” or “FFPA” (free from prussic acid) in order to be safe.

You can also buy pure benzaldehyde for your sugar cookie oil, as long as it’s labelled for cosmetic use.

Butter CO2 extract

We already put the sugar in sugar cookies, so now it’s time for the next layer in this delicious fragrance blend: butter.

And what better way to add the decadent aroma of butter than with real butter essential oil? Or rather, butter CO2 extract.

While not technically an essential oil in the true sense of the word, this unique perfumery ingredient is exactly what it sounds like – a carbon dioxide butter extract.

With its rich, creamy, and buttery aroma, butter CO2 evokes scent memories of buttered popcorn, butterscotch, buttercream frosting, and shortbread cookie dough. It adds a sumptuous, fatty quality that completes this sugar cookie essential oil recipe.

Butter CO2 isn’t used for aromatherapy, so you’re more likely to find it in a natural perfumer’s collection than in an essential oil cupboard, as it’s used frequently in gourmand perfumes.

However, it’s definitely worth adding to your collection to add decadence to your essential oil blends. You can find butter CO2 extract on Etsy or from natural perfumery supply shops.

Tonka bean absolute

If there’s an essential oil that smells like cookies straight out of the bottle, it’s tonka bean!

Tonka bean absolute is like vanilla’s sweeter, spicier cousin. Where vanilla adds one-note sweetness, tonka bean adds a multifaceted, dessert-like aroma that smells like a bakery.

Depending on your nose, tonka bean’s sweet fragrance evokes notes of cookies, vanilla beans, cherries, marzipan, cinnamon rolls and caramel. And when paired with vanilla or Peru balsam, I think it’s the closest you can get to a caramel essential oil blend.

Tonka bean is another luxury perfumery ingredient that’s optional for this blend, but it’s worth the splurge for its rich, delicious aroma. It’s especially important for the oatmeal cookie blend (which can be found in the section below).

I also used tonka bean to add creamy sweetness to my festive eggnog room spray, and the delicious aroma of baked goods to my sugar plum essential oil recipe.

This is an oil I purchase frequently, though it’s not always available, and sells out quickly once restocked. You can also find tonka bean oil on Etsy or try this natural tonka bean fragrance blend.

Sugar cookie fragrance oil with essential oils on white marble plate.

Sweet orange essential oil

You might be wondering what a citrus oil is doing in a sugar cookie fragrance, but it’s there for good reason.

Sweet orange oil adds another layer of sweetness and dimension to the scent. It blends well with the other oils, so you don’t really detect any noticeable hints of orange.

However, sweet orange plays a bigger role in the Christmas cookie essential oil blend, where it pairs with cinnamon for a dash of holiday fruit and spice, like fruitcake or fruity shortbread.

Cinnamon leaf essential oil

While optional, a very small amount of cinnamon essential oil adds the finishing touch, imparting a hint of spice for a multidimensional cookie scent.

But omitting cinnamon will still leave you with a very sweet, cookie-scented essential oil. Cinnamon is more important for the holiday cookie blend, where its spiciness evokes the festive season.

  1. To make your sugar cookie blend, remove the dropper cap from a clean essential oil bottle. An essential oil bottle opener tool is very helpful for this purpose.
  2. Using a tiny funnel, carefully dispense each essential oil into your bottle. You can swirl the bottle gently after adding each oil to help combine them.

    Tip: thicker oils and oleoresins such as vanilla may be too viscous to pour easily. If your oil is stuck, you may need to gently heat the bottle under warm running water.
  3. Once you’ve added all oils, replace your essential oil bottle’s dropper top, screw on the lid, and shake gently to combine.
  4. Your sugar cookie essential oil is ready to use or gift. Its fragrance will develop even more over the next few weeks as the aroma compounds the essential oils mingle their fragrances.
  5. Don’t forget to apply your printable essential oil label, if desired.
DIY sugar cookie essential oil recipe.

7 drops Vanilla Woods or vanilla oleoresin
2 drops sweet orange essential oil
2 drops copaiba essential oil
1 drop cassia or cinnamon essential oil

Want to make your room smell like cookies? Here’s an alternative sugar cookie diffuser blend without bitter almond, using only essential oils recommended for aromatherapy.

Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Diffuser Blend Graphic

Bitter almond oil is not recommended for aromatherapy, as benzaldehyde is a respiratory irritant1. Though it’s commonly used in air freshener products, it can cause issues when inhaled for an extended period of time.

This makes bitter almond oil unfit to use in a continuously running essential oil diffuser, as diffusers release far more oils into the air than a few spritzes of cookie room spray.

However, you can still use the blends with bitter almond in passive diffusers or wax melts, as these two diffuser methods do not nebulize the essential oils directly into the air.

Either way, diffusing these cookie essential oil recipes will make your home smell like a bakery!

Sugar cookie essential oil recipe in glass bottle.

60 drops vanilla essential oil
20 drops bitter almond essential oil
14 drops sweet orange essential oil
6 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil

With hints of fresh fruit and festive spice, this holiday essential oil blend smells just like a Christmas sugar cookie.

64 drops vanilla oleoresin
18 drops tonka bean absolute
18 drops bitter almond oil

Pure, sweet vanilla shines through in this easy cookie scent blend!

48 drops vanilla oleoresin
24 drops butter CO2 extract
18 drops bitter almond essential oil
10 drops tonka bean absolute

This decadent essential oil combination smells like rich, buttery shortbread cookie dough.

50 drops tonka bean absolute
20 drops bitter almond essential oil
20 drops vanilla essential oil
5 drops copaiba oleoresin
5 drops sweet orange essential oil

With its sweet, slightly nutty fragrance, this blend will fill your home with the aroma of freshly baked oatmeal cookies.

Cookie Essential Oil Blend. Infographic with 6 recipes, including sugar cookie, vanilla cookie, and Christmas Cookie essential oil blend.

Tips and essential oil substitutions

  • This sugar cookie essential oil recipe makes 100 drops, or enough to fill a 5ml dropper bottle. However, larger bottles will give you more space for your printable label.
  • If you’re going to add your cookie scented oil to any DIY bath and body recipes, be sure to not exceed 2% total concentration for skin safety.
  • Always choose an amber glass bottle for your scent blends to protect fragile essential oils from light.
  • Ideally, your sugar cookie blend should be kept in the fridge for freshness, as benzaldehyde oxidizes easily.
  • Butter CO2 extract can be added to any of the cookie essential oil blends to add a buttery richness.
  • If you’re looking for a really easy blend, you can create a simple cookie fragrance blend using only vanilla and bitter almond oil.

Tonka bean essential oil substitute

If you don’t have access to tonka bean oil, you can substitute more vanilla oleoresin. However, just know that the final result won’t be exactly the same, as nothing truly recreates tonka bean’s complex cookie dough aroma.

Vanilla oleoresin substitutes

  • Tonka bean absolute: Tonka bean can be used in place of vanilla for a slightly spicier, caramel-like sweetness.
  • Peru balsam oleoresin: Peru balsam has a rich, balsamic, vanilla-like aroma. While not quite as gourmand as vanilla, it’s plenty sweet enough when paired with bitter almond oil.
  • Vanilla essential oil blends: A vanilla essential oil blend allows you to enjoy vanilla’s aroma at a more affordable price. I love Simply Earth’s Vanilla Woods blend. It’s creamy with a hint of bubblegum-like sweetness from benzoin.

Bitter almond oil substitute

Unfortunately, there are no substitutes for bitter almond oil or benzaldehyde, as nothing compares to their sugary, nutty aromas. So if you’re going to splurge on one specialty essential oil for this cookie blend, make it bitter almond oil!

Cinnamon essential oil substitute

If you don’t have cinnamon leaf or cinnamon bark, you can also use cassia essential oil to add a sweeter spiciness to your cookie blends. And if you aren’t a fan of spice, copaiba oil adds an even more subtle, sweeter hint of spice.

However, you can also simply omit the spice oil completely.

A cute label can make your homemade essential oil blend look just like a fancy, store-bought sugar cookie fragrance oil.

Simply sign up using the email form below to get your free printable labels delivered directly to your inbox! You’ll receive both label styles so you can choose your favourite.

I used these square labels and their brand’s online label making tool, though the correct label size will depend on the size of your essential oil bottle.

Sugar cookie fragrance oil with essential oils pictured on white marble plate.

Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Recipe

Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Learn how to make sugar cookie essential oil + several other cookie scent blends! With sweet vanilla, tonka bean, and real butter oil, these mouthwatering recipes smell like sugar cookie fragrance oil, but made with natural ingredients instead.

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Blend

Butter Cookie Essential Oil Blend

  • 50 drops vanilla essential oil
  • 18 drops butter CO2 extract
  • 16 drops bitter almond essential oil
  • 10 drops tonka bean absolute
  • 4 drops sweet orange essential oil
  • 2 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil

Christmas Cookie Essential Oil Blend

  • 60 drops vanilla essential oil
  • 20 drops bitter almond essential oil
  • 14 drops sweet orange essential oil
  • 6 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil

Vanilla Cookie Essential Oil Blend

  • 64 drops vanilla oleoresin
  • 18 drops tonka bean absolute
  • 18 drops bitter almond oil

Shortbread Cookie Essential Oil Blend

  • 48 drops vanilla oleoresin
  • 24 drops butter CO2 extract
  • 18 drops bitter almond essential oil
  • 10 drops tonka bean absolute

Oatmeal Cookie Essential Oil Blend

  • 50 drops tonka bean absolute
  • 20 drops bitter almond essential oil
  • 20 drops vanilla essential oil
  • 5 drops copaiba oleoresin
  • 5 drops sweet orange essential oil

Equipment

Instructions

    1. To make your cookie oil, first remove the dropper cap from a clean essential oil bottle. An EO bottle opener tool is very helpful for this purpose.
    2. Using a tiny funnel, carefully dispense each essential oil into your bottle. You can swirl the bottle gently after adding each oil to help combine them.

      Tip: thicker oils and oleoresins such as vanilla may be too viscous to pour easily. If your oil is stuck, you may need to gently heat the bottle under warm running water.
    3. Once you've added all oils, replace your essential oil bottle's dropper top, screw on the lid, and shake gently to combine.
    4. Your sugar cookie essential oil is ready to use or gift. Its fragrance will develop even more over the next few weeks as the aroma compounds mingle their fragrances. Don't forget to apply your free printable label, if desired
    5. Use your DIY essential oil blend in homemade skincare recipes such as bath bombs, body butter, melt and pour soap, or for perfumery. Or, use as a natural cookie fragrance oil for aromatherapy products such as candles or room spray.

Notes

  • This sugar cookie essential oil recipe makes 100 drops, or enough to fill a 5ml dropper bottle. However, larger bottles will give you more space for your printable label.
  • If you're going to add your cookie scented oil to any DIY bath and body recipes, be sure to not exceed 2% total concentration for skin safety.
  • Always choose an amber glass bottle for your essential oil blends to protect fragile the oils from light.
  • Ideally, your cookie essential oil should be kept in the fridge for freshness, as the benzaldehyde in bitter almond oil oxidizes easily.
  • Butter CO2 extract can be added to any of the essential oil blends to add a buttery, rich fragrance.
  • If you're looking for a really easy EO blend, you can create a simple cookie scent using only vanilla oleoresin and bitter almond oil.

If you don't have a particular oil, see the section on essential oil substitutions.

Sugar cookie diffuser blend

Bitter almond oil is not recommended for aromatherapy, as benzaldehyde is a respiratory irritant. So I made an alternative cookie diffuser blend using only essential oils recommended for aromatherapy:

7 drops Vanilla Woods or vanilla oleoresin
2 drops sweet orange essential oil
1 drop copaiba essential oil
1 drop cassia or cinnamon leaf essential oil

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© Kyla | alifeadjacent.com
Cuisine: Aromatherapy / Category: Essential Oil Blends

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