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This easy recipe for Christmas sugar cookies makes the best no-spread cookie dough. These delicious Christmas cookies are perfect for decorating and sharing with family, friends and Santa!
Our Favorite Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
It wouldn’t be Christmas without decorated sugar cookies! My mom and grandma made them every year, and I loved decorating them! That dough was a little tricky, so my baker daughter and I tweaked the recipe until we got a cookie dough that doesn’t spread, holds its shape and makes cookies with the perfect texture every time.
Grandma’s Christmas sugar cookies recipe had almond extract, which I love. It doesn’t taste like a sugar cookie without it! These cookies have a slight buttery taste and the right amount of sweetness on their own — even before they are decorated. But of course, you want to decorate them for the holidays.
We love using royal icing, but we take a short cut to make the icing, plus a touch of corn syrup to make the icing nice and shiny. You can use your favorite frosting or a super simple powdered sugar glaze for decorating. There are no rules when it comes to decorating cookies at Christmas! Be sure to check out more of our holiday cookie recipes like pizzelle cookies, chocolate chip cookies and molasses cookies. Or try this easy Christmas cookie dip or cookie bar variation!
Ingredient Notes
Here’s a quick overview of what you need to make the sugar cookie dough — and why. Full amounts are in the printable recipe card below.
- Butter — softened at room temperature until you can easily make an indentation on the top with your finger. It should not be so soft that it is melting.
- Granulated sugar – sweetens the dough
- Vanilla extract — for classic sugar cookie flavor
- Almond extract — adds another layer of flavor. You can use all vanilla flavoring if you don’t like the taste of almond.
- Egg — acts as a binder
- Salt — to counter the sweetness. I always use salted butter, but unsalted butter also works.
- Baking powder — to help the dough rise
- All purpose flour
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
First, you need to cream the butter and sugar until very well blended. I use a hand mixer, but you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you have one. Gradually add the dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a spatula. The dough should be very soft. Roll the dough out on plastic wrap to slightly over a quarter inch thick, and wrap it well before placing it in the fridge to chill.
We usually make the dough in the evening and chill it overnight. You can actually leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. When you are ready to bake, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, and bake. I recommend using parchment paper or silicone baking mats to line the cookie sheets.
How to Decorate Christmas Cookies
Like I said before, there are no absolute rules for decorating. I feel like everyone has a favorite way to decorate cut out cookies. We have used buttercream icing — too sweet, a simple glaze — takes awhile to dry, and even a can of frosting. The kids used to slather the cookies in frosting and pile on m&m’s and candy when they were small.
Now that my kids are older, we love getting fancy with the icing. I love the look of royal icing, but it’s tricky to work with. So, we use meringue powder to make an easy royal icing, and the cookies are decorated and ready to eat in no time.
If you want the look of bakery shop cookies, I recommend using tipless piping bags, toothpicks or a cookie scribe to spread the wet icing and gel food coloring. You can also use your favorite holiday sprinkles.
Storage and Freezing
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. You can freeze the undecorated cookies for up to 3 months, then thaw and decorate.
You can freeze the wrapped raw dough for up to 3 months. Then, thaw the dough, cut out shapes, bake and decorate.
Recipe Tips
Always chill the dough. This is essential for cookie dough that is easy to work with and doesn’t spread.
You may need a little extra flour when rolling the cookies out.
Don’t over bake. Bake until the cookies no longer look wet and the edges are just very slightly brown.
Adding a tablespoon of light corn syrup to your icing will make it extra shiny.
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with an electric mixer until smooth
- Add in the granulated sugar and mix together until fully combined, light and fluffy. This will take at least 5 minutes
- Mix in the vanilla extract, almond extract and egg
- Add in the salt, baking powder and half of the flour. Mix well
- Add in the rest of the flour and mix until fully combined. To avoid overworking the dough, finish mixing with a rubber spatula
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts
- Place each portion onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ⅜ inch thick
- Cover rolled out dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight
- After the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350℉
- Unwrap the chilled dough and use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes
- Place cut out cookies 2 inches apart onto a prepared baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
- Bake for 10-14 minutes or until cookies are no longer oily looking and have lightly browned edges
- Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Made these for our Annual Family Christmas Cookie Bake. They were great! Tasted fantastic and kept their shape well! Making another batch today for Christmas day.
I’m so glad you liked the cookies, Anne. Thanks!
Followed this recipe to make cookies as thank you gifts and they turned out amazing! The dough was very easy to work with and the cookies held their shape after baking! Everyone loved them!
I’m so happy to hear this, Julie! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Hello Dee! I made my dough last night and I can’t wait to bake these cookies tonight! Your decorations are so cute, and I was wondering if you would be willing to share your royal icing recipe?
Hi Valerie. We use meringue powder for the icing. Every brand will be a little different, so just follow the instructions on the package and add the extracts according to the recipe card. 🙂