I make these Christmas sugar cookies for the holidays every year! Cut into festive shapes, they're perfect for decorating with icing and sprinkles.
Let’s make Christmas sugar cookies! My family loves breaking out our cookie cutters to bake these cookies for the holidays every year.
They’re classic cut-out sugar cookies, with crisp edges, soft middles, and a warm, buttery flavor from vanilla and almond extract. Made with a simple 8-ingredient dough, they hold their shape in the oven, which means that you can cut them into all kinds of holiday shapes.
While you could enjoy these Christmas sugar cookies plain, we think half the fun of making them is decorating them. Top them with icing, plus sprinkles, colored sugar, and/or candies for a festive holiday treat.
Why You’ll Love These Christmas Sugar Cookies
- They’re easy to make with 8 ingredients. You probably have everything you need already!
- They taste delicious, with a warm, buttery flavor.
- They’re perfect for decorating. Grab some holiday cookie cutters to cut out shapes, then top them with icing! I’m sharing a royal icing option and a non-royal icing option below.
- They freeze well. This recipe requires chilling the dough, so it can take several hours to bake and decorate these cookies. I like to break up the steps by baking the cookies, then freezing them so that they’re ready to decorate on another day.
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
You can find the complete Christmas sugar cookie recipe with measurements at the bottom of this post. For now, here’s a quick overview of how it goes:
Start by making the cookie dough. I use softened butter in this recipe, so I make the dough in a stand mixer (an electric hand mixer works too).
I cream together the butter and sugar, then add an egg to bind the dough together and keep the cookies soft. Next, I mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.
Finally, I gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until a soft cookie dough forms.
Next, chill the dough. Divide it in half, and form each half into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Tip: Don’t skip this step! Chilling the sugar cookie dough helps the cut outs hold their shape.
After the dough chills, roll it out. Place one disk on a lightly floured work surface, and use a rolling pin to roll it out until it’s 1/4-inch thick.
- Tip: If the dough is too firm to roll out right away, let it sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes to soften.
Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. Re-roll the scraps as necessary, and repeat with the remaining disk of dough.
Bake the cookies in a 350°F oven until the edges are just beginning to turn golden brown, typically 9 to 11 minutes. The cookies will still seem underdone in the middle, but they will set up as they cool.
Allow each batch to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips for Making Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Use parchment paper. It makes cleanup easy and helps the cookies bake evenly. I find that when I bake cookies directly on a baking sheet, they become too dark underneath.
- Bake one sheet at time. Temperatures can vary throughout an oven. For the most even bake, I recommend baking one cookie sheet at a time on a rack in the center of the oven. You don’t want cookies on a low oven rack to burn before ones on the top rack are ready!
- The bake time may vary. It will depend on the size of your cut-outs. I find that 9 to 11 minutes is a good range for most cookies, but if you have very small cookie cutters, start checking the cookies at 7 minutes. If you’re making large cookies, they may need to bake for 12 or more.
How to Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies
My favorite part of making these cookies is decorating them! Here are the two sugar cookie icings I like to use:
- Royal icing (pictured) – Made with meringue powder, this type of icing sets up with a firm texture, which makes it great for piping fine lines and flooding/filling in shapes. I’m sharing the recipe I use in the recipe notes below.
- A super simple sugar cookie icing – When I’m not planning to decorate sugar cookies with intricate designs, I make a super simple icing with milk (any kind) and powdered sugar. I start with 1 tablespoon milk and 3/4 cup powdered sugar and add more of each as needed to create a thick drizzleable consistency. This icing takes longer to harden. Store cookies in a single layer until it sets up.
Feel free to add food coloring to either icing to make your desired colors. After adding icing, top the cookies with candies, sprinkles, or colored sugar to make them look extra-festive.
How to Store
Store iced cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Unfrosted cookies keep well at room temperature.
These sugar cookies also freeze well. Seal them in an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. You can freeze them before or after decorating.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
If you love these Christmas sugar cookies, try one of these festive cookie recipes next:
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, 2 sticks, at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Royal icing, for decorating, optional (recipe in the notes below)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix to combine, then mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until combined. The dough will be soft.
- Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a ball, then flatten into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼-inch thick. If the dough is too firm to roll right away, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes, then transfer the cut-outs to the prepared baking sheets, re-rolling the scraps as necessary.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to turn golden brown. The cookies will seem underdone in the middle, but they will set up as they cool. The exact timing will depend on the size of your cookie cutters.
- Let cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, decorate with royal icing or as desired.
- Makes about 30 cookies. Exact yield will vary based on the size of your cookie cutters.
Notes
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