Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe

This sugar cookie recipe makes the perfect roll out dough to make all kinds of shapes.  Perfect for decorating for any holiday.  Plus they are nice and soft and oh so delicious!

Making cookies at Christmas is a must at our house.  We make all different kinds of cookies, but lately I’ve loved making these sugar cookies.  I’ve probably made this sugar cookie recipe for every holiday this year.  It is the best for rolling out and cutting out shapes.  I knew I had to do some for Christmas.  My kids love to help me roll, cut and decorate these sugar cookies.

Yield: approx 3 dozen

Sugar Cookie Recipe

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Perfect sugar cookie recipe to roll out and cut out shapes.

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 9 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 9 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 sticks butter - room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1 TBL vanilla
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 5 cups flour

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix together until all incorporated.
3. Sift together dry ingredients and slowly add to sugar mixture and mix until all combined.
4. Dump dough out onto plastic wrap.
5. Wrap up and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
6. (Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. Just remove from fridge and set out for 15 minutes before rolling out.)
7. Unwrap dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
8. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on baking sheet 2 inches apart.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.
10. (I remove mine before edges start to brown.)
11. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then place on parchment or cooling rack to finish cooling.
12. Once completely cooled, time to decorate!

When I make sugar cookies I use store bought frosting for the cookies my kids decorate.  But I like to use royal icing when I decorate cookies by myself.  You can find my royal icing recipe at the bottom of this post here and see another tutorial for royal icing.  If you have a specialty baking store near by, you could probably find royal icing mix where you just add water and that works great too.

I am not a professional or a perfectionist when it comes to cookie decorating.  But they look decent when I’m done and they taste good, so people don’t mind that they aren’t perfect. 😉

Once I mix up the frosting and color it for what ever cookie I’m making, I fill a pastry bag with a small round tip. I usually use a Wilton #4 tip to do the outlining of the cookie.  I give the icing a little time to set up, but not much, before I go back and fill the center.  For your filling consistency royal icing you can use a spoon to put on the icing or change the tip size on your pastry bag and fill the inside of the cookie. I used this handy tool to help spread the icing and fill in any gaps.  But you could also use a toothpick.  I used some sprinkles to help decorate my cookies this time.  These stars were perfect for my Christmas trees.

When I started on my candy canes I made the white stripes at the same time I outlined my candy cane cookies.  I let them set for about 30 minutes to an hour before I went back and filled them with my green and red icing.  I also waited 30 to 60 minutes before I went back and decorated my Christmas trees.  I used a mix of sprinkles and icing to decorate my trees.

I made some cute gingerbread men and gingerbread women too!  I loved adding the holly berries to the gingerbread women.  I thought they were perfect on her skirt!

I let these cookies set up over night and they were still nice and soft the next day.  I think Santa would be a big fan of these cookies don’t you?

Have you ever made sugar cookies with royal icing?  What are some tips and tricks you’ve learned?

Happy Baking!

Liz