These are fan-favorite cut-out Christmas sugar cookies! My recipe for sugar cookies promises flavorful cookies with soft and thick centers, slightly crisp edges, and flat tops for decorating. The dough comes together with 7–8 simple ingredients, and the cookies hold their cookie cutter shape in the oven. Decorate them with my easy glaze cookie icing, a wonderful alternative to royal icing. Get out your rolling pin and favorite cookie cutters and have fun!
The holiday season and a batch of decorated Christmas sugar cookies go hand-in-hand. Today’s recipe is a classic staple, and has been a popular favorite since I first published it in 2014. It’s basically my favorite sugar cookie recipe, but all dressed up for the holidays. And I love that you don’t need to mess with royal icing! The cookie icing below is unfussy and low maintenance, which is definitely appreciated if you’re baking a lot of cookies in December. 😉
One reader commented: “These are the BEST cookies! The dough is so easy to put together and to work with. They taste amazing; buttery and not too sweet. They cooked up perfect, just like you said, crispy on the edges with a nice soft middle!! And the icing… oh the icing! It’s the perfect consistency for using a squeeze bottle and yet it sets up firm and glossy so you can stack the cookies or pack and ship them. ★★★★★”
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Soft, thick centers with slightly crisp edges
- Irresistible buttery vanilla flavor
- Made from simple ingredients
- Leave plain or flavor with extras like maple, cinnamon, peppermint, and more
- Hold shape while baking
- Icing is manageable for young bakers and beginners
- Freeze beautifully
- Easy-to-follow recipe used by beginner and expert bakers alike
By the way, if you love sugar cookies, but aren’t up for decorating with icing, you’ll enjoy my stained glass window cookies, Christmas sparkle cookies, pecan sugar cookies, or drop Christmas sugar cookies instead.
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
You need 7–8 ingredients for the dough. With so few ingredients, it’s important to follow the recipe closely, because each one has an important job. Creamed butter and sugar form the base of the dough. Egg and flour provide structure, and vanilla adds flavor. I almost always add a touch of almond extract for additional flavor, and highly recommend that you try it too! You could also use peppermint extract or another flavor extract instead. Baking powder adds lift, and salt balances the sweet.
So many little ingredients doing big jobs to create a perfect cookie:
Success Tip: Make sure you start with proper room temperature butter. Room temperature butter is cool to the touch and about 65°F (18°C), which may be cooler than your kitchen. To test the butter to make sure it’s ready to cream, poke it with your finger. Your finger should make an indent without sinking down into the butter. The butter should not be shiny or greasy.
This is a recipe that requires some planning ahead.
After you make the cookie dough, it must chill for 1–2 hours, and up to 2 days. Chilling is a mandatory step. Without chilling, these cookie cutter sugar cookies won’t hold shape. You don’t want your snowman-shaped cookie turning into the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (though that could work for Halloween cookies).
Also, the icing recipe below needs at least 24 hours to dry/set (but you can certainly eat them prior to the icing drying!). This is much longer than royal icing, which usually dries in 2 hours. So even though we’re not messing with finicky royal icing, we do have to wait longer to stack/transport the cookies.
After you make the cookie dough, divide it in half:
And then roll out each portion of dough before chilling:
Let’s talk about rolling out this dough, because it’s an unusual order of steps.
3 Tricks to Rolling Out Christmas Cookie Dough
- Trick #1: Pay attention to the order of the steps. Notice how I roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it in the refrigerator? That’s the most important trick! Let me explain why I do this. Just like when you’re making chocolate chip cookies, to prevent the cookies from over-spreading, the dough must chill. If you’ve ever tried rolling out chilled sugar cookie dough, you may remember how difficult it is to roll out cold, stiff dough. So, roll out the dough while it’s still soft (right after mixing it together), and then chill the rolled-out dough.
- Trick #2: Divide the dough in half before rolling it out. Why? Smaller sections of dough are easier to roll out.
- Trick #3: Roll out the cookie dough directly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. Pick the whole thing up, set it on a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for two baking sheets in your refrigerator, simply stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other, with parchment paper or silicone baking mat in between. You can see me doing this in the video tutorial below.
After the rolled-out dough chills for at least 1–2 hours, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, and re-roll your scraps. Remember, you have two slabs of dough.
Arrange cookies on a lined baking sheet. I usually get about 2 dozen 3-inch cookies from this recipe. Here’s some of the cookies before baking:
And after baking:
Use My Easy Cookie Icing
My easy cookie icing recipe below is a great alternative to traditional royal icing. It’s like a very thick opaque glaze and comes together quickly with a fork and a mixing bowl. This is one of my favorite ways to decorate sugar cookies because it’s low maintenance, but still delivers pretty (and tasty) results. I have a separate cookie icing page dedicated to it, and it can be used on pretty much any cookie cutter cookies like gingerbread cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, Valentine’s Day cookies, or Easter cookies.
Here’s why you’ll love this cookie icing:
- 5 basic ingredients
- Can tint the icing different colors
- Can use squeeze bottle or piping tips to decorate
- Manageable for everyone
- Doesn’t dry into hard cement texture
- After it dries, you can stack, freeze, and transport cookies
You need confectioners’ sugar, water, vanilla extract (replace with water to keep the icing stark white), a touch of corn syrup, and a little salt. The corn syrup gives the icing sticking power and creates a beautiful sheen when the icing dries. The icing sets after 24 hours, so you can easily stack these Christmas sugar cookies for storage, transport, or even shipping.
Yes, you can create gourmet-looking Christmas cookies like the ones above without royal icing!
Christmas Sugar Cookie Tools
Before I leave you with the recipe, let me suggest some useful sugar cookie tools. These are the exact products I use in my own kitchen:
- Electric Mixer: stand mixer or handheld.
- Baking Sheets: I use and love these baking sheets.
- Parchment or Baking Mats: silicone baking mats or parchment sheets (for rolling out & transferring the rolled-out dough, and for baking the cookies).
- Rolling Pin: This is my favorite rolling pin. If you have difficulty evenly rolling out dough, try this adjustable rolling pin. It’s really helpful!
- Cookie Cutters: If you’d like suggestions for cookie cutters, I love Ann Clark brand. (Not sponsored, just a genuine fan!) The pictured shapes came from this holiday cookie cutter set.
- Food Coloring: Liquid food coloring can alter the consistency of the icing, so I recommend gel food coloring. I like Americolor brand.
- Squeeze Bottle: To make decorating a breeze, use a squeeze bottle. They’re less intimidating than piping tips and very easy to use. If you want to use a piping tip, I love Wilton #4 for decorating sugar cookies. (You’ll also need a disposable or reusable piping bag if using a piping tip.)
These baking tools would be great to add to your holiday wish list. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out my Holiday Baking Gift Guide. Lots of fun ideas in there, either for yourself or other baker friends! You can also review my recommended Best Cookie Baking Tools and Cookie Decorating Supplies for even more suggestions.
Cookie Decorating Party
Are you hosting a cookie decorating day or party? Here’s my How to Host a Cookie Decorating Day guide with my best success tips, recommended supplies, and timeline for prep. This page is especially useful if you’re hosting a cookie decorating day for kids!
Craving More Christmas Cookies?
- Peanut Butter Blossoms (same base dough as these peanut butter cookies!)
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Lace Cookies
- Homemade Gingerbread House
- Spritz Cookies
- Butter Cookies and Chocolate Butter Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Pinwheel Cookies
- Hot Cocoa Cookies
And here are 75+ Christmas cookies with all my best success guides & tips.
PrintChristmas Sugar Cookies Recipe with Easy Icing
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 24 3-inch cookies and 1.5 cups icing
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Cut-out Christmas sugar cookies with crisp edges and soft centers. This icing recipe is so simple, making decorating hassle-free!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*
Easy Icing
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (omit and replace with water for stark white icing)
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup*
- 4.5–5 Tablespoons (67–75ml) room temperature water
- pinch salt*
- optional: gel food coloring & sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Make sure you have allotted enough time (and enough counter space!) to make these cookies. The cookie dough needs to chill, the cookies need to cool completely, and the icing needs 24 hours to completely set. If enjoying right away and hardened icing isn’t a concern, you’ll only need about 3–4 hours to make these.
- Make the cookie dough: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using), and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be a bit soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1–2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2–3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with second piece of dough. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Arrange cookies on baking sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake for 11–12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. No need to cover the cookies as they cool.
- Make the icing: Using a fork, stir the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, and 4.5 Tablespoons (67ml) of water together in a medium bowl. It will be very thick and almost impossible to stir. Switch to a whisk and whisk in 1/2 Tablespoon (8ml) more of water. If you lift the whisk and let the icing drizzle back into the bowl, the ribbon of icing will hold shape for a few seconds before melting back into the icing. That is when you know it’s the right consistency and is ready to use. If it’s too thick (sometimes it is), whisk in another 1/2 Tablespoon (8ml) of water or a little more until you reach the proper consistency.
- If you’re tinting the icing another color, stir in the food coloring. You can pour some icing into different bowls if using multiple colors. When tinting icing, use only 1–2 drops at first, stir it in, then add more as needed to reach your desired color. Remember, color darkens as icing dries.
- Decorate the cookies: You can dip the cookies into the icing or use squeeze bottles or piping bags (reusable or disposable) fitted with piping tips (I usually use Wilton Piping Tip #4). Decorate your cookies as desired. If using the squeeze bottles or piping tips, I usually outline cookies with icing first, then fill in the middle. If adding sprinkles on top of the icing, add them right after applying icing on your cookie.
- Let icing dry/set: Feel free to enjoy cookies before icing completely dries. Icing dries in 24 hours. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help slightly speed up the icing setting. Once the icing has dried, these cookies are great for gifting or for sending.
- Cover and store decorated cookies for up to 5 days at room temperature or up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months before rolling it out. Prepare the dough through step 4, divide in half, flatten both halves into a disc as we do with pie crust, wrap each in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the discs in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 5, then chill rolled-out dough in the refrigerator for 45 minutes–1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Make-Ahead Instructions & Storing Icing: If not decorating right away, cover the icing tightly and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. You can store in piping bags (with clips or rubber bands to seal ends), in squeeze bottles, or covered in bowl or container. Bring to room temperature before using. If icing has thickened up, add a few drops of water and mix in to thin out. Depending how you stored the icing (squeeze bottle/piping bag/container or bowl) shake squeeze bottle to mix/massage piping bag to mix/whisk in bowl or container to mix.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets | Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Holiday Cookie Cutter Set | Cooling Rack | Squeeze Bottle | Piping Bag (Disposable or Reusable) | Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit | Couplers | Wilton Tip #4
- Room Temperature Butter: Room temperature butter is essential. If the dough is too sticky, your butter may have been too soft. Room temperature butter is actually cool to the touch. Room temperature egg is preferred so it’s quickly and evenly mixed into the cookie dough.
- Flavors: I love flavoring this cookie dough with 1/2 teaspoon almond extract as listed in the ingredients above. For lighter flavor, use 1/4 teaspoon. Instead of the almond extract, try using 1 teaspoon of maple extract, coconut extract, lemon extract, or peppermint extract. Or add 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon. If using lemon extract, you can also add 1 Tablespoon lemon zest.
- Corn Syrup: Corn syrup gives the icing sticking power and creates a beautiful sheen on the dried icing. I don’t recommend skipping it, but you can if absolutely needed.
- Salt: I know salt isn’t a typical ingredient in cookie icing, but it helps offset its sweetness. You need just a small pinch.
- Yield of Icing: This amount of icing is enough for icing 2 dozen cookies. You’ll have plenty if you want to divide it and tint the batch multiple colors, too. Icing can easily be halved by halving all of the ingredients. (Still add a tiny pinch of salt.)
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
The most perfect sugar cookies! Never need to search for another recipe again. They were fun to decorate.
The bake time is entirely too long. I had faith in this recipe because of the reviews even though I’ve never seen a sugar cookie recipe that recommended more than seven or maybe eight minutes for baking. when I took these cookies out, they were burnt to a crisp. I used the leftover dough after the first failed attempt and baked them for five minutes and 35 seconds, and they came out perfectly. Just a warning to those who may try it in the future.
This just happened to me I don’t make sugar cookies so I didn’t think twice until just got them and the bottoms burned to a crisp
Hi Samantha, So sorry this recipe gave you trouble. We roll the dough to about a quarter of an inch thick and use 3 inch cookie cutters. If your dough is thin or you are using smaller shapes, your bake time will be shorter.When making any cookies we always recommend watching the cookies instead of the timer – they are finished baking when the edges are just beginning to brown. Hopefully this helps if you decide to try them again.
I accidentally cooked mine for almost 15 minutes and they were perfect. It all depends on the oven and your pans (and, like the author suggested, the thickness of the dough). Did you use aluminum sheets? Were they dark? How spaced out were your cookies? Best practice is always to watch and use your best judgement for something like a cookie, regardless of your timer. Common sense told me to cut out the cookies BEFORE refrigerating the dough for two hours because if you follow this recipe exactly and have to re-roll out scraps , those scrap cookies will be a different temp going into the oven. That decision affected my bake time hugely but obviously paid off. So I’d rate this a 3 or 4 for the flavor and texture of the end result, but I would say there is not enough detail about the technique here for anyone who isn’t super comfortable making cookies with refrigerator doughs. Love this blog generally, though!
Also, I hope this doesn’t come across as rude. That’s not at all my intent. Just providing some potentially helpful pointers for the future! After rereading the recipe, I see that there’s a link to a post about cookie pointers, so I’m guessing some of these suggestions were included there so that the author doesn’t have to reiterate them on every single cookie recipe.
I made these 2 days ago and when I baked them, they didn’t hold their shape well. Now they all look bloated. 🙂 What did I do wrong? I followed the ingredients to a “T” (I used a scale as well) and all the special instructions.
Hi Alison, if they didn’t hold their shape well, your butter may have been a bit too warm. (Here’s more on what room temperature butter really means.) You’ll also want to make sure the dough is cold going into the oven, so feel free to pop the shapes back into the refrigerator for a bit before baking. Hope these tips help for next time!
Hi! How many cookies does this make… it may have already been said…
Hi Ava! About 24 3-inch cookies.
What color green have you used on the Christmas tree icing?
Hi Cynthia, this is AmeriColor’s Leaf Green gel food coloring.
Hi Sally i was wondering if i could replace confectioners sugar with normal sugar for the icing???
Hi Victoria! Granulated sugar will yield a very grainy icing. Best to stick with confectioner’s sugar here!
Sally I made these cookies this weekend with grandkids. They were wonderful. I’ve had sugar cookie recipes from many people over the years. These are really amazing.
So excited to try your different cookie recipes over the holidays.
Thanks. Denise B. Sugar Land, Tx.
Another excellent from Sally! Thinking about adding peppermint extract to the icing instead of almond. Any reason I shouldn’t do it? Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, You can swap out the almond and use peppermint instead. Happy baking!
I have never one time successfully made sugar cookies. They’re either giant blobs, hard as a rock or paper thin. This recipe was PERFECT! The cookies were great and the frosting was too and it was all so easy. I will only make these from now on!
How do you get the icing in the squeeze bottle?
Hi Maureen, you can just pour it right into the bottle from the bowl, or mix it up in a liquid measuring cup with a spout for easy transfer.
Hi Sally, if I don’t have unsalted butter, can I use salted butter instead? Will it effect the outcome of the cookies?
You can, Donna. Just leave the added salt out of the cookies.
Love your cooking Sally Thanks for the info
Hello,
Curious, when it comes to icing the sugar cookies: do you make one batch of thicker royal icing for the sides of the cookies (to contain the rest for he icing used in the middle of the cookies), or just use the same batch for the sides and center ?
I just use the same batch for outlining and flooding. But I don’t really do complicated decorating! The glaze icing above and this royal icing recipe are great for both outlining and flooding.
Thank you for your tips!
Best sugar cookies and the dough is so easy to put together! The squeeze squirt bottle is great! We make them every year.
Can you freeze this dough?
Hi Elizabeth, absolutely! See recipe Notes for freezing details.
Love this recipe and used it lots of times! My question is this time I frozen the iced cookies for 2 weeks. I put them on the counter to thaw and the icing has blotchy white on them. I dyed them pink. I froze them in freezer bags and not sure why this happened! Will they go away as they thaw? Help please! Thank you!!
Hi Barb, that can happen sometimes with this icing. I find it doesn’t happen as much if I replace some of the water with milk. If you try them again and want to freeze the iced cookies, you can replace half of the water in the icing with milk.
Hii can you use any syrup or does it have to be corn?
Hi Elvisa, you could use honey instead of corn syrup.
I am anxious to make these for the young children in my family. My little niece is severely lactose intolerant. Would vegan butter or margarine be an acceptable substitute? Thank you.
Hi Christine, we haven’t tested it ourselves, but you might try a plant-based butter instead. The results may be different but let us know if you give it a try!
Hi, could maple syrup replace the corn syrup or honey?
Hi Anya, we don’t recommend using maple syrup or honey to replace the corn syrup. If you don’t want to use corn syrup, you can leave it out.
Used this to make castle cookies. The cookies tasted really good. The dough was too sticky for the detailed parts of my cutter. I had to roll them a bit thinner so I could use the cutter, but then most of them broke as they were not super firm cookies. They did keep their shape much better than other recipes I have tried. If you are doing simple cutouts with only a little detail and can keep them thick this is probably a good recipe, but it isn’t a good recipe for all kinds of cut out cookies.
I made these yesterday and they were fantastic. The hint of almond flavoring is a wonderful addition to a classic cookie. Thanks
Did anyone else have an issue of this recipe only yielding 12 cookies? I’m confused why it states 24. I rolled it out to 1/4” measured and strategically placed the cutters to yield the most.
Hi Chris, Thank you for trying this recipe. How large were your cookie cutters and did you re-roll the scraps after you cut out your first 12 cookies? Our cookie cutters are between 3 and 4 inches depending on the shape and after you cut out the first 12 or so, re-roll whatever dough is left and cut out more shapes.
Perfect icing recipe!
We don’t have corn syrup in the UK what’s a substitute for that
Hi Jess, The corn syrup is what gives the icing fabulous shine. You may leave it out if you aren’t concerned about shiny, glossy icing. Or you could try honey in it’s place.
I think you could substitute with Lyle’s Golden Syrup in the UK.
Have you tried swapping the almond extract for lemon juice? My husband is obsessed with all things lemon. I love the consistency of your dough.
Hi Melissa! Instead of almond extract you can use lemon extract. It would be difficult to get the lemon flavor to come through with lemon juice without adding too much moisture to this dough. Hope he loves them!
I also have used lemon zest in my sugar cookies to add a nice hint of citrus. Just use vanilla and a teaspoon or 2 of zest.
These cookies turned out awesome. This will be my go recipe for sugar cookies and the royal icing.
This recipe has been a breeze. First sugar cookie recipe to actually turn out right. And the icing is fantastic!!
Thank you so much Sally. You are my go to for recipes.
These are the best cookies exactly the way the recipe reads. However, we have a kid who developed a dairy allergy. Can I replace the butter with plant based butter?
Can you sub almond flower?
Hi Haylee, We don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different baking properties and is not a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes for you!
Hi Sally,
I just made these with my kids and they look delicious!! This is maybe a dumb question but we iced them and I know they need to dry for a day. Do I leave them on the counter ( uncovered) for 24 hours or put in the fridge?
Thanks!!!
Andrea
Hi Andrea, Yes, that’s correct– leave out on the counter as the icing dries. Enjoy!
So excited to try this recipe! Thank you for the clear instructions 🙂
Can you roll the dough after chilling instead?
Hi Nicole! We find the process detailed above to the best way to roll out these sugar cookies, as the cold dough can be difficult to work with. But you certainly can roll after chilling if you prefer.
Hi! Excited to try these cookies, is there a frosting recipe that can be used instead of icing? I know it’s harder to decorate, but my sister prefers frosted cookies to iced ☺️
Absolutely – you can use this vanilla buttercream instead.
Thank you thank you thank you sharing this of the most perfect cookie I’ve ever made thanks to you!!
Thank you these are delicious and easy! The trick with the parchment paper is the best! Happy Holidays!!