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The BEST Christmas Cookies EVER begin and end with this soft, chewy, simple sugar cookie recipe. Decorate them with royal icing and you have the perfect gift for neighbors and friends!
Baking a big batch of traditional Christmas cookies is one of our favorite family holiday traditions. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas until we’ve pulled out the cookie cutters and created these Christmas classic delights with our kids. There’s no need to buy them from the store; save lots of money and make them yourself! It’s such a fun way to spend a cold, winter afternoon with the littles (or not-so-littles). I find decorating the cookies quite therapeutic, and a fun and festive way to unwind!
In addition to being fun to make, the flavor of these holiday cookies is divine! Give ’em a try. Trust me, Santa loves them too! He can never take just one bite.
Ingredients in Christmas Sugar Cookies
- All-purpose flour – chef’s flour and baking flour can also be used.
- Cornstarch – helps with the neat edges.
- Salt – just a pinch to even out the sweetness.
- Butter – Keep the butter COLD for this recipe. The cookies will come out much better using cold butter.
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract (check out our tutorial on how to make your own vanilla extract)
- Almond extract
- Royal icing
- Christmas sprinkles
Supplies Needed to Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Christmas cookie cutters – Candy canes, Santa hats, sleighs, stars, Christmas trees, snowflake, and ornaments are all great cooking cutter shapes to have on hand.
- Icing bags (reusable or disposable)
- Icing tip couplers
- Decorating tips – I used a Wilton #3 round piping tip for the outlines- you can get them on Amazon (here) for about $1 or any craft store.
- Gel food coloring
- Squeeze bottles – These can be found on Amazon, at Walmart or any craft store for about $1 a piece.
- Toothpicks – These help to fill in the tiny little gaps and smooth over the icing.
- Christmas Sprinkles – Get creative and have fun with any kind of sprinkles you can find!
What Are Rolled Cookies?
Rolled cookies are cookies that are made by rolling out a stiff dough and then using a cookie cutter to cut various shapes. Shaped sugar cookies (like the recipe below) and gingerbread cookies are examples of rolled Christmas cookies. Rolled cookies are the easiest to decorate because they stay nice and flat, even after baking. In my opinion, besides being the most traditional Christmas cookies, they are also the most fun to decorate. Follow our guide and tips below to make these cookies perfectly every time!
How to Roll Our Your Sugar Cookie Dough Evenly
Use a rolling pin with guides to help roll out your dough to a perfectly even thickness (this rolling pin is my favorite). I like the ones where you can adjust the thickness by removing and replacing the different-sized rings. That way you can make them any thickness you want. I like mine on the thicker side, so I like to use the ⅜ ring when rolling out my cookie dough.
How to Get Neat Edges on Christmas Sugar Cookies
I WISH I could take credit for this one because it is such an awesome baking hack. Full credit goes to Allie over at Baking a Moment. She suggests adding in some cornstarch to get the edges just right. She is the first person I have ever heard of who has done this and it works beautifully! I swapped out a ½ cup of flour in my original sugar cookie recipe (our original recipe calls for 3 ½ cups of flour) for some cornstarch and it worked like a dream. I will always make cut-out cookies this way from now on! Be sure to check out Allie’s site for more genius baking hacks (and INCREDIBLY delicious-looking desserts and treats).
Christmas Sugar Cookie Icing
There are two schools of thought when it comes to the perfect sugar cookie: thick, creamy frosting atop a soft cookie, or shiny silky icing smoothly covering the cookie’s surface. For those shiny, beautifully decorated cookies, we recommend decorating Christmas cookies with royal icing. This recipe is so easy to make, and is enough to decorate dozens of your favorite Christmas cookies (see more on how to do this below).
If you’re not worried about presentation and just want to sink your teeth into a thick, creamy cookie, use our favorite cream cheese frosting. It’s so good, you could eat it by the spoonful! Top your Christmas sugar cookies with this luscious frosting to taste, add some sprinkles or candies, and call it a day!
Decorating Christmas Cookies
You can decorate Christmas cookies like a pro– it’s easier than it looks! To decorate the Christmas Cookies like we did, use royal icing and flood icing. Flood icing is just royal icing that is watered down a little bit.
Decorating Steps
- For sake of ease, we usually keep the royal icing white and use that for the outline, but you can use any color. Place the icing in a piping bag with a #3 round tip and outline the cookies. Then, thin the remaining icing out, place it in separate bowls, and add the food coloring.
- Once you have it thinned and colored, pour the icing into individual squeeze bottles or individual icing bags. Fill in the outlines on the cookies with the flood icing.
- Then, use a toothpick to fill in any little gaps (see pictures to get an idea of how this is done). You can do the swirl designs by adding dots of different colors over your base color and swirling with a toothpick.
- Add sprinkles for more dimension and design. Be creative and have fun!
How to Freeze Sugar Cookies
One of the biggest perks of making these Christmas cookies is the ability to make them ahead of time. Here are a few tips for freezing cookies:
- Make sure to freeze them individually (flat, on a cookie sheet) until they’ve frozen completely.
- Once frozen, you can layer them in a freezer safe container using wax paper or freezer paper in between the layers.
- It’s best if you freeze the unfrosted cookies and then frost them before serving. But if you want to decorate the cookies with frosting before freezing, you can also do that. Be sure to freeze the frosted cookies completely, not touching, until frozen solid. Then, you can layer as directed above.
How to Store Christmas Sugar Cookies
Once you’ve decorated your masterpieces, these yummy goodies will stay fresh when stored in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap on the counter for about three days. You can also chill them in the refrigerator (I love my sugar cookies chilled before eating). If you freeze them, keep them in an airtight container or a freezer bag and they’ll stay nice and edible for up to a month in the freezer.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make them up to a month in advance and freeze them! Keep them in an air-tight container or in a freezer-safe zip-top bag.
We always put sprinkles on after baking, especially with these sugar cookies. The colors won’t bleed and they will stay better put on the icing.
Yes! Put the cookie tin or airtight container in a heavy-duty cardboard shipping box and make sure the cookies are surrounded with shipping peanuts or newspaper. To keep your cookies soft and chewy, add a small piece of bread or slice of apple to the container, which helps keep their freshness.
More Delicious Christmas Cookies
In my opinion, the more Christmas cookies during the holidays the better! We love our other Christmas treats including Christmas Charcuterie, Christmas Tree Cupcake Pull Apart, Homemade English Toffee, Chocolate Orange Cookies, Christmas Popcorn Recipe, Christmas Apples, and our Homemade Caramels Recipe. Here are some more of our favorites to make this time of year:
Elf Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies
Andes Mint Cookies
Chocolatce Marshmallow Cookies
Snowball Cookies
Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
Read more: The BEST Christmas Cookies – Quick and Easy Recipes
How to Make the Best Christmas Cookies
The BEST Christmas Cookies EVER (and How to Decorate Them)
Video
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter (1 cup = 2 sticks) keep the butter COLD until ready to use
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- royal icing see recipe links below
- Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir until well combined.
- Cut COLD butter into cubes (they don't need to be perfect) and add to the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl if you are using a hand mixer). Add sugar and mix together until smooth and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- Add 1 egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix until well combined. Add the flour/cornstarch mixture in and mix on low speed until crumbles form (if you are at a higher elevation and the crumbles seem a little too dry you can add a tablespoon or two of water, not too much though, you want it to be crumbly, not sticky).
- Remove crumbles from mixer and knead into a ball.
- Place between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to about 3/8-1/2" thickness (however thick you want the cookies to be is how thick you want to roll it out– these cookies aren't going to rise very much, if at all).
- Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the dough.
- Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool COMPLETELY before icing with royal icing or cream cheese frosting, (see links below for icing/frosting recipes)
Notes
- Try our Royal Icing Recipe and Flood Icing Recipe by clicking the link (This is the icing we used in the pictures above. Royal icing is ideal for beautiful, detailed decorating.)
- Or try our Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe (Cream cheese frosting is great for those who care less about the fancy decorating and instead prefer thick, creamy frosting that you can eat by the spoonful)
- Store these cookies for up to a month in the freezer. When ready to eat, bring to a cold temperature – not all the way to room temperature. They are best eaten cold.
TRULY the BEST COOKIE RECIPE EVER! Ever since using this recipe, our cookies come out wonderful, delicious and they keep their shape so that we can decorate. Thank you for giving us wonderful family memories every Christmas; this recipe is a game changer!
Thanks for the tip about higher elevations! Made these in Calgary, AB, Canada, (1045 masl) and added 1 tbs of water – they turned out fabulous! Will definitely be making them again!
I made these last year and gave them out to my family and friends along with several other baked goodies. These were by far the biggest hit! And so beautiful! I couldn’t believe how pretty they came out on my first try, even without piping bags! Although I regretted that choice and will definitely use them this year. Cannot recommend this recipe enough! So simple and delicious.
Are these cookies soft or crunchy?
They should be soft! If they turn out crunchy they are over-baked.
thank you for this great Christmas Cookie recipe! I can’t wait to try it out!!
I have never had any luck with other sugar cookies recipes keeping the shape once baked. They always spread into blobs. Do you have any advice or tips?
Keeping the dough cold is super important to the cookies keeping their shape. I would recommend putting the cookies back in the freezer for a few minutes right before you bake them. If your kitchen is warm, sometimes handling the dough to get it in the right shape and onto the cookie sheet can warm it up too much. One last tip – instead of greasing your cookie sheet, use a silicon baking mat or parchment paper instead. I hope this helps! Happy Holidays!
I do not see anywhere in the instructions that we are supposed to chill the dough first, how long are we supposed to chill it before we cut the cookies out?
Thanks for catching that. I got this recipe mixed up with another. I have edited the comment for clarity.
I’m still not clear if we’re supposed to chill the dough before rolling it out.
You don’t have to chill the dough before rolling it out!
What if I do not have almond extract, can I just omit that, or should I add more vanilla extract in?
You can omit the almond extract, that should be fine!
Do you use plain flour, or self rising.
We use all-purpose flour!
Has anyone tried recipe with a cookie stamp?
To be honest, I haven’t baked the cookies yet. But I just have to say, you have the most beautiful, well organized, informative web site ever! Kudos to your web master! Can’t wait to jump in and bake! The recipe rating is an estimate since I haven’t actually baked them yet. But based on my experience, it looks great!
Delicious
Very tender cookies, good plain, but frosting added takes it to the top level.
Thanks for sharing
How long ahead of time can you make the royal icing? How long does it keep? Hours days? Also, I’m going to make these for some teachers how far in advance would you say I can bake the cookies and frost later?
Royal icing lasts about 2-3 days in the fridge. As far as the cookies, you can make them up to 3 months in advance if you store them in the freezer.
Can I use unsalted butter in this recipe ?
Sure!
I’ve not had a lot of success decorating Christmas cookies so I’m going to use all your tips!
I’ve never made sugar cookies from scratch before but your recipe has inspired me to try! I love all of the decoration ideas too! 🙂
Oh wow, these Christmas cookies are so cute! Definitely the recipe to keep handy for these holidays! 🙂
These look so cute and festive! I know my nieces will love making these with me, they look like such a fun activity to do with kids!
I think I’m a thick cream chees frosting ‘you can eat by the spoonful’ gal. YUM! Love all your tips and thanks for including two different icing options! This post is a great holiday resource!
Can you freeze the cookie dough until ready to bake?
Sure! Just thaw it before baking.
No cream in ingredients, no amount. Then in directions it says add sugar and cream.
When we say cream in that instruction we are referring to “creaming” the butter and sugar together. Creaming means to mix it together until it is light and fluffy. Sorry for the confusion!
Finally a dough that isn’t so sticky it’s impossible to use! These came out wonderful. They taste great too; perfect amount of sweetness. Rolling between parchment paper is great tip. This will be my go-to recipe for Christmas sugar cookies.
I’m in the midst of making them too. What cream? How much
When we say cream in that instruction we are referring to “creaming” the butter and sugar together. Creaming means to mix it together until it is light and fluffy. Sorry for the confusion!
Thank you!!!!! You make my life better by sharing your gift of making the kind of food that is so ☆FUN to make and wonderful to eat 🙂 merry christmas!
Thank you so much for your kind review! We are so glad you love our recipes!
Hi what type of flour is used self raising or plain ? Also what is corn starch thank you
Plain, all-purpose flour! And cornstarch is the starch derived from corn kernels. You can find it in the baking aisle!