Christmas Sugar Cookies
This Christmas sugar cookie recipe is perfect for making these fun cookies with royal icing for Christmas! Grab the free printable tag below to make a darling gift this year.
These classic sugar cookies are a fun way to celebrate Christmas at your next event or party! I’m a huge fan of creating treats for every occasion, especially delicious ones like these.
Too busy to make this right away? Pin it for later! Pin this post to your favorite board on Pinterest and it will be there when you’re ready!
This is my grandma’s classic sugar cookie recipe – time tested and delicious. The only thing that I have changed over the years is swapped out shortening for butter.
Use it with other fun seasonal designs, like these snowflake sugar cookies and snow globe sugar cookies. So pretty!
Sugar cookie dough is super versatile and easy to make with only a few simple ingredients, like butter, granulated sugar, and all-purpose flour, from the grocery store.
How darling is this snowman cookie?! He totally reminds me of Olaf!
Be sure to set aside enough time to decorate the cookies. You may even want to spread it out over a few days. When adding details, it’s important to wait until the layer of flooded icing is completely dry, otherwise the icing may crack and the colors will bleed.
Before you get started, make sure that you have everything that you need to make and decorate these cookies. I found our cookie cutters and icing bottles at Michaels, but you can also order them from Amazon below.
This post contains affiliate links.
Sugar Cookie Supplies
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cookie cutters
- Icing bottles
- Wire cooling rack
- Cookie scribe or toothpick
- Food writer
Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- White sugar – This is the sweet base that adds the perfect flavor to our treats.
- Unsalted butter, room temperature – Butter adds a rich, creamy flavor and helps create a soft texture.
- Egg – An egg helps bind everything together and adds a touch of richness.
- Milk – A splash of milk keeps the dough moist and enhances the overall flavor.
- Vanilla extract – This adds a warm, comforting flavor that really rounds out the sweetness. Almond extract could be used too.
- All-purpose flour – The base that provides structure without taking away from the delicious flavor.
- Baking soda – This helps the cookies rise and become light and fluffy.
- Salt – Just a pinch balances the sweetness of the cookies.
Tip: Pre-made Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough can be used to create these cookies as well. Simply add 1/4 cup of flour to the dough, combine well, and roll as directed. I love quick mom hacks like this!
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, milk, and extract. Mix on medium speed until a soft dough forms.
3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. This helps to prevent the dough from spreading when baked.
4. Dust your surface with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4″ thickness on the floured surface.
5. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes from the dough. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake until the cookies are lightly brown around the edges, about 7 minutes.
7. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool.
This recipe will make about 60 rectangular shaped cookies.
Use my Easy Royal Icing Recipe to make the best icing for these cookies! You will need light green, red, orange, blue, brown, black, and white royal icing that has been tinted with food coloring.
I prefer to use icing bottles over a piping bag because I find them easier to handle. Here I have our different colors of icing ready in each bottle.
My Royal Icing Tips
- If the icing is too hard, add more water, one drop at a time.
- If the icing is too soft, add more powdered sugar, one teaspoon at a time.
- Icing can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
- To use, mix the royal icing with a hand mixer so that it becomes smooth and shiny again.
- Flood consistency is reached when a spoonful dropped onto a flat surface takes 10-15 seconds to become completely smooth.
These instructions will show you how to decorate Christmas cookies like these ones. You can really get creative though and have fun with the process! There is no right or wrong way to decorate pretty holiday cookies.
How to Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies
Additional supplies: edible candy eyes and mini red M&Ms. It’s easiest to start icing by color with a large set of decorated cookies like this.
1. Flood two cookies with white icing and one with a squiggle of icing at both ends. Use a scribe to push icing into corners and pop any bubbles as you go.
2. Before the icing dries, add stripes of red and green to one of the white cookies. This technique is called wet-on-wet icing.
3. Use the scribe to pull through the stripes of icing on the cookie to create a zig zag pattern. Create two green triangle shapes on another cookie.
4. Before the green icing dries, add dots of white icing to create polka dots.
5. Flood a cookie with brown icing and another with red icing. Add polka dots to the red icing before it dries.
6. Add a blue scarf and orange nose to the white cookie.
7. Fill in the white squiggles with red icing. Add candy eyes to the snowman and reindeer cookie. Add another green triangle and polka dots to the tree cookie.
8. When the icing dries, finish off the reindeer by piping on brown antlers. Finish the tree with a brown trunk and add a black belt to the Santa cookie. Finish the snowman with a black food writer smile.
These Christmas cookies turned out to be simply darling! Far easier to create than you would think, all you need is a little patience and practise. These easy holiday sugar cookies make a delicious treat!
Sugar Cookie Reindeer
Allow the icing to completely harden for at least four hours before packaging or storing the cookies. These look amazing wrapped in cellophane or packed up in a cookie box.
Sugar Cookie Christmas Tree
Sugar Cookie Snowman
Add my free printable gift tag and voila! A darling gift to brighten any day!!
Be sure to check out all of my sugar cookie decorating for tons of ideas and hours of fun!!
This post contains affiliate links.
Some of My Baking Essentials
- I love using this non-stick bakeware for all of my baking.
- These silicone mitts are perfect for grasping hot pans and baking dishes.
- This Henckel Knife is my favorite for slicing and dicing in the kitchen.
- These parchment paper bags are perfect for packaging and these large Rubbermaid food storage containers are great for storing baking in the freezer.
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Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 4 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl with electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, milk and extract. Mix on medium speed until a soft dough forms.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. This helps to prevent the dough from spreading when baked.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Dust your surface with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4" thickness.
- Use cookie cutters to cut shapes from the dough. Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake until the cookies are lightly brown around the edges, about 7 minutes.
- Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool before decorating with
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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