I make these Christmas sugar cookies for the vacations yearly! Lower into festive shapes, they’re good for adorning with icing and sprinkles.

Let’s make Christmas sugar cookies! My household loves breaking out our cookie cutters to bake these cookies for the vacations yearly.
They’re traditional cut-out sugar cookies, with crisp edges, smooth middles, and a heat, buttery taste from vanilla and almond extract. Made with a easy 8-ingredient dough, they maintain their form within the oven, which suggests you could minimize them into all types of vacation shapes.
When you might get pleasure from these Christmas sugar cookies plain, we predict half the enjoyable of constructing them is adorning them. Prime them with icing, plus sprinkles, coloured sugar, and/or candies for a festive vacation deal with.
Why You’ll Love These Christmas Sugar Cookies
- They’re simple to make with 8 elements. You most likely have every little thing you want already!
- They style scrumptiouswith a heat, buttery taste.
- They’re good for adorning. Seize some vacation cookie cutters to chop out shapes, then prime them with icing! I’m sharing a royal icing possibility and a non-royal icing possibility beneath.
- They freeze nicely. This recipe requires chilling the dough, so it may take a number of hours to bake and enhance these cookies. I like to interrupt up the steps by baking the cookies, then freezing them in order that they’re prepared to embellish on one other day.

Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
You will discover the whole Christmas sugar cookie recipe with measurements on the backside of this put up. For now, right here’s a fast overview of the way it goes:
Begin by making the cookie dough. I exploit softened butter on this recipe, so I make the dough in a stand mixer (an electrical hand mixer works too).
I cream collectively the butter and sugar, then add an egg to bind the dough collectively and maintain the cookies smooth. Subsequent, I combine within the vanilla and almond extracts.
Lastly, I regularly add the dry elements and blend till a smooth cookie dough kinds.

Subsequent, chill the dough. Divide it in half, and type every half right into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap every tightly in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 2 hours and as much as 2 days.
- Tip: Don’t skip this step! Chilling the sugar cookie dough helps the minimize outs maintain their form.

After the dough chills, roll it out. Place one disk on a evenly floured work floor, and use a rolling pin to roll it out till it’s 1/4-inch thick.
- Tip: If the dough is simply too agency to roll out straight away, let it sit at room temperature for five to 10 minutes to melt.
Use cookie cutters to chop out your required shapes. Re-roll the scraps as crucial, and repeat with the remaining disk of dough.
Bake the cookies in a 350°F oven till the sides are simply starting to show golden brown, usually 9 to 11 minutes. The cookies will nonetheless appear underdone within the center, however they are going to arrange as they cool.
Enable every batch to chill on the baking sheet for two minutes earlier than transferring to a wire rack to chill fully.
Ideas for Making Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Use parchment paper. It makes cleanup simple and helps the cookies bake evenly. I discover that once I bake cookies instantly on a baking sheet, they develop into too darkish beneath.
- Bake one sheet at time. Temperatures can range all through an oven. For probably the most even bake, I like to recommend baking one cookie sheet at a time on a rack within the heart of the oven. You don’t need cookies on a low oven rack to burn earlier than ones on the highest rack are prepared!
- The bake time could range. It is going to rely on the dimensions of your cut-outs. I discover that 9 to 11 minutes is an effective vary for many cookies, however you probably have very small cookie cutters, begin checking the cookies at 7 minutes. For those who’re making giant cookies, they might have to bake for 12 or extra.

Adorn Christmas Sugar Cookies
My favourite a part of making these cookies is adorning them! Listed here are the 2 sugar cookie icings I like to make use of:
- Royal icing (pictured) – Made with meringue powder, one of these icing units up with a agency texture, which makes it nice for piping fantastic traces and flooding/filling in shapes. I’m sharing the recipe I exploit within the recipe notes beneath.
- An excellent easy sugar cookie icing – Once I’m not planning to embellish sugar cookies with intricate designs, I make a brilliant easy icing with milk (any form) and powdered sugar. I begin with 1 tablespoon milk and three/4 cup powdered sugar and add extra of every as wanted to create a thick drizzleable consistency. This icing takes longer to harden. Retailer cookies in a single layer till it units up.
Be at liberty so as to add meals coloring to both icing to make your required colours. After including icing, prime the cookies with candies, sprinkles, or coloured sugar to make them look extra-festive.
Retailer
Retailer iced cookies in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 4 days. Unfrosted cookies maintain nicely at room temperature.
These sugar cookies additionally freeze nicely. Seal them in an hermetic container or freezer bag and freeze for as much as 3 months. You possibly can freeze them earlier than or after adorning.

Extra Christmas Cookie Recipes
For those who love these Christmas sugar cookies, attempt one in all these festive cookie recipes subsequent:

Christmas Sugar Cookies
Serves 30
These Christmas sugar cookies are good for the vacations! They’ve crisp edges, smooth middles, and a scrumptious buttery taste. Youngsters and adults will love adorning them!
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In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the flour, baking powder, and salt.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or utilizing an electrical mixer, cream the butter and sugar till mild and fluffy. Add the egg and blend to mix, then combine within the vanilla and almond extracts.
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Progressively add the dry elements, mixing on low velocity till mixed. The dough will likely be smooth.
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Divide the dough in half. Kind every half right into a ball, then flatten right into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours and as much as 2 days.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two giant baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough on a evenly floured floor till about ¼-inch thick. If the dough is simply too agency to roll straight away, let it sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes to melt. Use cookie cutters to chop out desired shapes, then switch the cut-outs to the ready baking sheets, re-rolling the scraps as crucial.
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Bake, one sheet at a time, for 9 to 11 minutes, or till the sides of the cookies are simply starting to show golden brown. The cookies will appear underdone within the center, however they are going to arrange as they cool. The precise timing will rely on the dimensions of your cookie cutters.
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Let cool on the baking sheets for two minutes earlier than transferring to a wire rack to chill fully. As soon as cool, enhance with royal icing or as desired.
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Makes about 30 cookies. Precise yield will range primarily based on the dimensions of your cookie cutters.
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