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!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, a few more success tips, and a list of helpful tools.
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 many years ago. 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. 😉
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, brown sugar cut-out cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, Valentine’s Day cookies, or Easter cookies.
(I also have a recipe for thick cookie buttercream, if you’d like that option!)
Here’s why you’ll love the cookie glaze 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! For more decorating inspiration, see my video tutorial on how to decorate sugar cookies.
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 guide of Holiday Gifts for Bakers. 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.
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
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Christmas 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 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) 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, and optional salt 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I will never make this again. Even when I separated the dough into four parts, it would lose its chill quickly and become impossible to work with except by sprinkling a LOT of extra flour. Once I reshaped and rerolled the cuttings, which only worked with lots of extra flour on top, the dough would become too soft to separate from the shaped cookie cutters. My kitchen was not that hot.
My little guy loves baking with me, but is allergic to egg. Do you have a recommended substitute that would allow us to make this recipe?
Hi Jacadi, I don’t have a reliable egg substitute for this particular sugar cookie recipe. Perhaps another reader can chime in if there has been one successfully tested!
I’ve had great success swapping for room temp. Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup per egg!
For the icing recipe, do you think maple syrup could be substituted for the corn syrup?
Hi Michelle, we don’t recommend using maple syrup to replace the corn syrup. If you don’t want to use corn syrup, you can leave it out.
I have to use Gluten free flour Is the ratio for this flour the same as regular flour?
My neighbor has a granddaughter that is Gluten free So I’m making her some cut outs for her Thanks
Hi June, we haven’t tested this recipe with a 1:1 gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you decide to try it!
Do you sell a cookie cookbook?
Hi Carol! Yes, Sally has a Cookie Cookbook – more on that on her Cookbooks Page.
This cookie & icing recipe comes highly recommended from my D-I-L, so anxious to try! Regarding the icing, I’ve always used a quick set version but now wondering if I use multiple colors of icing, will they bleed together (even tho I’ll still outline & fill in ea color separately). Have you had any problems?
Hi Kim! They will bleed together a bit. We love our royal icing for more detailed decorating.
These are my favorite to make during the holidays! I may have missed this in all the notes but how many drops would attain the amazing green on the Christmas tree cookies?
Hi Allison! For that green, I believe it was 2 or 3 drops of leaf green and 1 teeny tiny dot of black (to dull out the color). Americolor brand gel coloring.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe with my granddaughter today. The only problem is my hand held mixer does not have a paddle attachment. Do you think I will still be able to mix all the ingredients?
Hi Nancy, absolutely! You can use the regular beaters on a hand mixer. Hope the cookies are a hit!
These look so delicious! Have you made them with an egg substitute? I would love to make for my son’s school but there is kid with an egg allergy, so I’m being sensitive to that.
Hi Cassy! We haven’t tested any egg substitutes in this recipe but let us know if you do.
I have made these a couple of times before and have been delighted with the results!
I did have a question though, I want to try and make a copy cat of pillsbury’s shape sugar cookies (so a round cookie with a Christmas tree in the middle). Do you think this recipe would work well for the dough, or would your pinwheel cookie recipe be better?
Hi Katherine! Both doughs are the same (mostly) as our very popular and versatile sugar cookies, which is what we would use to try that!
Hi Sally! Which book is this recipe included in?
Hi Spring! This sugar cookie recipe can be found in Sally’s Cookie AddictionSally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook.
Hello, Could I refrigerate the dough without roiling it out first?
Hi Ana, the dough gets harder and more difficult to roll after chilling. We highly recommend sticking with the recipe as written!
Can I use regular food coloring or will that disrupt the nature of the icing?
Hi Heidi, we strongly recommend gel food coloring. It allows for the most vibrant colors and doesn’t alter the consistency of the icing. If using liquid food coloring, you may need to cut back on the added water.
This recipe was perfect and my cookies hold their shape. I followed the recipe exactly the first time and made them again by doubling it. Came out great both times!
We come to this recipe every Christmas! It’s our tradition. I’ve struggled with cookie cutter recipes in the past but these have great flavor and the dough is easy.
I’ve made these cookies tons of times and they’re always a hit!! Silly question, could I use two egg yolks instead of a whole egg in this recipe? I’m also making meringues and I am trying to find ways to use the extra yolks!
Hi Hailey, you can certainly try that. I haven’t personally tested it.
Hi Sally! Can I double this recipe or is it better to work with separate batches?
Hi Lucy! This recipe doubles well.
I’m wondering if you press these down with a cookie stamp? I have a set but I’ve never used them.
Hi Katrina, we’ve used a cookie stamp with our sugar cookies before (like we did for the little snowflake cookies on top of these Christmas cupcakes). Just make sure the dough is extra cold going into the oven so that the design holds shape. We also have this cinnamon brown sugar stamped cookie recipe that you might enjoy!
Can the icing be made a day before usage or will it harden? Also, is this a good icing recipe to use with my students (grades 3-5) or will it be to difficult as it takes 24 hours to set and they would be taking it home right after?
Hi Naomi, yes, you can make the icing a day ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. See our easy icing post for more make ahead details. It does take 24 hours to fully set, so they wouldn’t be ideal for packaging in a bag right after, although you could use a flat bakery box so that the icing can set while being transported. Hope this helps!
I absolutely love your sugar cookie recipe! I’ve used it for a couple years now and always get raving reviews!
Would they work for a pinwheel sugar cookie? Wanting to surprise my family with a different take on these yummy cookies this year 🙂
Hi Victoria, I’m so glad you enjoy these! I use a slightly different dough to make pinwheel cookies, so they hold shape better. I recommend using that dough (and the instructions) instead.
Gingerbread dough is great to work with !!!! Great recipe but I personally think it needs more ginger and cinnamon added than the recipe calls for ! Maybe a preference thing!!!!!!!
I wanted to ask about the icing! I’ve used royal icing frequently but want to try your cookie icing this time. How long does it typically take to crust to flood a middle section? For instance, I’ll be using your recipe for pumpkins so I would outline and do the two sides of the pumpkin and do the middle once there’s a small crust to leave definition. Or, is this icing recipe consistency not particularly best for this type of cookie decorating? Thank you for any insight!
Hi Kathleen! This icing needs at least 24 hours to fully dry/set. You could use it for that type of decorating, and you could probably get by with a shorter time before icing the middle section. But definitely wait the full 24 hours before stacking and transporting. Hope you enjoy it!
Love this icing! And the sugar cookies turn out great every time. I noticed you use this recipe a lot which is why I tried it. Thank you for sharing!
Hi these Christmas cookies look amazing. Unfortunately I do not have corn syrup. Kindly advise if I can use glucose syrup and what qty.
Hi Niri, yes that’s a fine swap. Use the same amount, so a 1:1 substitution.
I am so glad to see an icebox recipe that tells you to roll the dough before refrigerating. I struggled for years with the “chill before rolling ” instructions. I got so frustrated that I gave up for a long time, then realized one day that it made more sense to roll between paper and then chill. I love making icebox cookies now!!
Great cookies and excellent instructions. The icing is really easy.
Love these! It’s my basic sugar cookie recipe from now on and any time of year.
Definitely the easiest icing! Cookies taste great too. I used this icing for the fireworks design you shared.
Amazing cookies! Nice and soft and very easy to make. Love decorating these with the simple icing. I use the squeeze bottle.
A great dependable recipe. We make them all the time with different cookie cutter shapes and designs through the year. The icing is very easy and kids enjoy helping. Thanks Sally!