Christmas is the time for baking delicious cookies! These sugar cookies are a fun and easy recipe to make with your family. With their festive decorations and delicious flavor profile, it's no wonder why they've become such a popular favorite during the holidays. They will be sure to disappear quickly at your next Christmas party!
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💭 Why you'll love this recipe
- Super cute and festive! Who doesn't love a colorful cookie? The combination of sprinkles and icing will make these cookies look as good as they taste.
- Easy to bake with the whole family:Just mix everything together, roll out your dough, cut out shapes, decorate with icing, and voila! You've got yourself a tasty batch of holiday treats. If you're interested in simple Christmas cookies, don't forget to also check out my almond flour peanut butter cookies (just five ingredients!) and 3-ingredient Nutella cookies.
- They are absolutely delicious so you're unlikely to have any left, but even if you do, they make great gifts for family and friends! You can use these super cute holiday treat bags to take it up a notch!
📋 Ingredients and notes
To make these delectable Christmas sugar cookies, you'll need butter, an egg, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
To make the royal icing, you'll need powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar, egg whites, lemon juice, water and gel food coloring of your choice.
You'll also want holiday-themed cookie cutters to cut out the shapes (I love using these ones because they have comfort grips, which come real handy when you're making dozens of cookies!)
Notes and Variations
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar is really just blitzed up granulated sugar. So if you have a high-powered blender, literally dump some granulated sugar in there and give it a good whiz. That said, confectioner's sugar has a bit of corn starch in it which makes the icing a bit more easy to adhere to cookies.
- Substitute royal icing. This sugar cookie recipe is delicious as-is, so you can totally omit the icing or substitute with a simple cookie glaze if you don't want to ice the cookies. You can also color sugars and sprinkle on the cookies while still a bit warm as an alternative.
- Baking powder vs. baking soda. I use baking soda in this recipe because I like a thin, crisp cookie for icing. In general, baking soda spreads and baking powder puffs. So, adding baking powder will make the cookie puff up more!
- Add extra flavors or colors. I've kept this recipe quite simple, but you can add almond extract or other powdered flavors to the dough. You can also add food colors to the dough if you want to make colorful Christmas sugar cookies.
📖 Make amazing Christmas sugar cookies!
❗Make sure to plan head while making these cookies! The dough needs to chill so it doesn't spread out. Then, you'll want the cookies to completely chill before icing, and you'll also want the icing to have at least 24 hours to harden!
Make Christmas sugar cookies!
Add butter and sugar to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). Beat until it's soft and creamy — about 4 minutes to medium speed. You can go as long as 8 minutes here, since the creamier the mixture, the better.
Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
In another bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the flour to the creamed butter-sugar mix (~¼ cup at a time) and beat until it's completely incorporated, but don't overmix the dough
P.S., You can mix in some food coloring (gel or liquid) for festive color options! The dough should be smooth and sticky (like play doh).
Split the dough into two parts. Transfer both parts to a flat surface, cover it with plastic wrap or place them between two large sheets of parchment paper and flatten the dough using your hands and a kitchen dough roller.
Refrigerate overnight. When you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350°F and line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the paper wrap and use Christmas themed cookie cutters to cut the dough. I've used a Christmas tree, gingerbread man, and candy cane cookie cutter shape. Space them evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 8 minutes or just until the edges are golden brown. You don't want to over-bake the cookies! Let the baked cookies cool for at least 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack (they can break if you try to move them while they're still too warm).
Make royal icing!
In a medium bowl, combine the sifted powdered sugar with 2 egg whites and mix with a fork until incorporated. The egg whites add flavor and help ensure consistency.
Add lemon juice and mix on low speed with a stand mixer for five minutes until firm peaks are formed.
Separate the mixture into different small bowls for each color. Add 1 drop of coloring gel to each bowl and mix until the desired color is uniform. I used red, white and green to keep up with Christmas colors, but the sky is your limit!
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to avoid the icing dries out.
Decorate the cookies!
After ensuring that the cookies are completely cool, place the icing in a piping bag, ziplock bag, or squeeze bottle. If using a bag, make a small hole in the edge. Using a squeeze bottle will likely be much easier!
Decorate the cookies as you desire. Allow the icing to dry completely (about 3 hours minimum, ideally overnight again) before serving. This is especially important if you plan to wrap the cookies or create treat bags!
👩🏽🍳Top tips for perfect Christmas sugar cookies!
Making Christmas sugar cookies (especially icing them!) can feel like a hard task sometimes. But follow these eight tips and you'll be sure to get them cute as a button the first time, and each time thereafter!
- Use room temperature (high quality) ingredients. This recipe relies on simple ingredients, so it's important to get as high quality ingredients as you can, and use them at room temperature.
- Don't overmix the sugar cookie dough. Over-mixing will cause the dough to become tough and chewy once baked. Once all of your ingredients are just combined, stop mixing! This is especially true if you’re using an electric mixer since it's super easy to overmix without realizing it.
- Roll out your dough before chilling! This is super important. Chilling the dough as a ball has never worked for me. So, use either a really non-stick baking sheet (like this one!) or roll dough between sheets of parchment paper so you don't need to keep dusting the surface all the time!
- Let the cookies rest. Allowing your dough time to chill will help keep it from spreading out too much while baking in the oven. The colder your cookie dough is when it goes into the oven, the better chance you have of getting those perfect shapes and crispy edges we all love in our sugar cookies!
- Use gel food coloring. Liquid food coloring can thin out your royal icing too much, making it difficult to pipe onto the cookie surface without creating a mess. Gel food coloring provides vibrant colors without compromising consistency, plus it won’t dilute or change the taste of your icing either!
- Make sure the icing is the right consistency. Royal icing should be slightly runny but still thick enough that it won't just run off of the sides of your cooled cookies when piped or spread on top. Too thin and you won't have enough structure; too thick and you won't be able get nice details when decorating.
- Add powdered sugar or water to get the right consistency before adding any food coloring or flavoring extracts. Adding a bit of water helps achieve a more liquid icing to cover bigger surfaces. Help yourself using a toothpick to work with the icing and cover all the surfaces. If you want to add Christmas sprinkles, do it before the icing dries out.
- Make sure the cookies are completely chilled before decorating. If they are completely cool, the icing will melt.
- Use a squeeze bottle to ice the cookies. I've found them to be way easier to handle than piping tips, and this is a great way to get the kids involved! These ones are my favorite because they come in different sizes!
- Allow at least 24 hours for the icing to set. This is important if you plan to make treat bags with cookies in order to avoid cookies sticking to each other.
Troubleshooting FAQs
This is likely because of too much flour. The best way to avoid this is to measure the flour carefully, and then add it about ¼ cup at a time. Adding all the flour at once can make it hard for the wet mixture to integrate properly with with flour.
Some amount of stickiness is expected (similar to Play Doh). This is likely because your butter is too warm (do not microwave your butter!) or not chilling the dough for long enough. To fix sticky dough, you can just chill the dough longer or add some more flour, about a tablespoon at a time to correct this issue.
Yes! I suggest freezing the dough until you're ready to use it, and you can make the icing and store it in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
The US FDA recommends that you shouldn't eat uncooked dough, batter or other foods containing raw flour. While many of us have probably grown up tasting or eating sugar cookie dough, it is actually not considered safe to consume due to the risk of bacteria.
🍴 Serving and storage suggestions
These cookies will last in the fridge, in an airtight container for about 3 to 4 days. But let's be real, who can resist the temptation of Christmas sugar cookies for that long?!
You can freeze the cookie dough for 2 to 3 months before rolling it out. Portion the dough and then roll it into small discs. Cover with plastic or beeswax wrap tightly and place in the freezer. When you're ready to bake, thaw completely, and then roll them out as you normally would.
These Christmas sugar cookies (plain or decorated) freeze well for 2 to 3 months after being baked! Similar to making treat bags, you'll want to wait for the icing to set completely. Using a narrow freezer-safe container (like this one), place a row of cookies, then place a piece of parchment paper to cover the cookies, then add another layer of cookies and so on. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
If you like this recipe, check out my Christmas cookie recipes:
Did you make this recipe?! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Please leave a comment and a star rating and let me know how it went! We love hearing from you, thank you so much
📖 Recipe
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoons table salt
Royal Icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar , sifted finely
- 2 egg whites
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- water
- 1 pack gel food coloring, as many colors as you wish
Instructions
Make Cookies
- Add butter and sugar to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). Beat until it's soft and creamy — about 4 minutes to medium speed. You can go as long as 8 minutes here, since the creamier the mixture, the better. Add egg and vanilla and mix until just combined.
- In another bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Slowly add the flour to the creamed butter-sugar mix (~¼ cup at a time) and beat until it's completely incorporated, but don't overmix the dough. The dough should be smooth and sticky (similar to play doh).
- Split the dough into two parts. Transfer both parts to a flat surface, cover it with plastic wrap or place them between two large sheets of parchment paper and flatten the dough using your hands and a kitchen dough roller.
- Refrigerate for at least 5 hours and up to 2 days. I typically like to chill it overnight. This allows the cookies to not spread too much and keep crisp edges when you bake them.
- Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F and line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the paper wrap and use Christmas themed cookie cutters to cut the dough (If the dough is too sticky to work with, take the dough to the fridge five minutes before cutting it). Dip the cookie cutters in some flour to make this process easier.
- Bake for about 8 minutes or just until the edges are golden brown. You don't want to overbake the cookies!
- Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. (they could break when still warm).
Make Icing
- In a medium bowl, combine the sifted powdered sugar with 2 egg whites and mix with a fork until incorporated. The egg whites add flavor and help ensure consistency.
- Add lemon juice and mix on low speed with a stand mixer for five minutes until firm peaks are formed.
- Separate the mixture into different small bowls for each color. Add 1 drop of coloring gel to each bowl and mix until the desired color is uniform. I used red, white and green to keep up with Christmas colors, but the sky is your limit!
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to avoid the icing dries out.
Decorate the cookies
- After ensuring that the cookies are completely cool, place the icing in a piping bag, ziplock bag, or squeeze bottle. If using a bag (like shown in the pictures in my post), make a small hole in the edge. Using a squeeze bottle will likely be much easier!
- Decorate the cookies as you desire.
- Allow the icing to dry completely (about 3 hours minimum, ideally overnight again) before serving. This is especially important if you plan to wrap the cookies or create treat bags!
Notes
- Use room temperature (high quality) ingredients, especially butter.
- Don't overmix the sugar cookie dough. Once all of your ingredients are just combined, stop mixing!
- Roll out your dough before chilling! Use either a really non-stick baking sheet (like this one!) or roll dough between sheets of parchment paper so you don't need to keep dusting the surface all the time!
- Let the cookies rest. The colder your cookie dough is when it goes into the oven, the better chance you have of getting those perfect shapes and crispy edges we all love in our sugar cookies!
- Use gel food coloring. Liquid food coloring can thin out your royal icing too much, making it difficult to pipe onto the cookie surface without creating a mess.
- Make sure the icing is the right consistency. Royal icing should be slightly runny but still thick enough that it won't just run off of the sides of your cooled cookies when piped or spread on top. Too thin and you won't have enough structure; too thick and you won't be able get nice details when decorating.
- Add powdered sugar or water to get the right consistency before adding any food coloring or flavoring extracts. If you want to add Christmas sprinkles, do it before the icing dries out.
- Make sure the cookies are completely chilled before decorating. If they are completely cool, the icing will melt.
- Use a squeeze bottle to ice the cookies. I've found them to be way easier to handle than piping tips, and this is a great way to get the kids involved! These ones are my favorite because they come in different sizes!
- Allow at least 24 hours for the icing to set. This is important if you plan to make treat bags with cookies in order to avoid cookies sticking to each other.
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