Christmas sugar cookies are practically a holiday requirement, right up there with tangled Christmas lights and pretending you don't know who ate the last piece of fudge. These buttery cutout cookies hold their shape beautifully, so you can turn your kitchen into a Christmas cookie decorating extravaganza without worrying about your snowmen melting into suspicious-looking blobs. Grab the sprinkles, embrace the chaos, and remember that crooked candy canes taste just as good as perfect ones.
Looking for plain rolled sugar cookies you can make all year long? Try my classic sugar cookie recipe, too. Because limiting sugar cookies to December seems unnecessarily cruel.
Table of Contents
This post may contain affiliate links. If you grab something through them, I earn a small commission-at no extra cost to you-and I appreciate it more than good coffee.
🥰 Is this Christmas sugar cookie recipe for you?
- You want cookies that behave themselves. These Christmas sugar cookies hold their shape instead of spreading into unidentifiable holiday blobs.
- You love a good decorating party. Break out the frosting, sprinkles, and questionable artistic talent. Everyone gets to play.
- You like soft, buttery sugar cookies. Tender cookies with lightly golden edges that taste just as good plain as they do decorated.
- You need to work ahead. Make the dough the night before and save the rolling, cutting, and decorating for another day. Or, freeze for later.
- You believe homemade beats perfect. Crooked stars, lopsided trees, and candy canes that look vaguely suspicious are all welcome here.
- If you are looking for a sugar cookie that's more of a drop cookie you'll love these big, chewy bakery style sugar cookies
🧾 Ingredients
Nothing unusual, no mysterious baking supplies you'll use once and then discover in the back of the pantry three Christmases from now. These homemade Christmas sugar cookies start with everyday baking staples, plus a little almond extract for that classic bakery-style flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Gives the cookies structure so they hold their festive shapes.
- Baking powder: Provides just enough lift to keep the cookies tender.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out that buttery flavor.
- Butter: Melted and cooled slightly before mixing. No waiting around for butter to soften!
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps create that classic sugar cookie texture.
- Eggs: Bind everything together and give the dough richness.
- Vanilla extract: Adds that familiar, cozy homemade sugar cookie flavor.
- Almond extract: The little secret behind that old-fashioned bakery flavor. A little goes a long way!
📖 Recipe
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 ½ cups butter, melted
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper, if desired.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir the sugar into the melted butter. Set aside until the mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
- Add the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla, beating until everything is well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until no streaks of flour remain.
- Cover the dough and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the cold dough to about ⅛-inch thickness.
- Use your favorite cookie cutters to make Christmas shapes, then arrange them on ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheets.
- If decorating with colored sugar, lightly brush the unbaked cookies with melted butter and sprinkle with colored sugar before placing them in the oven.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the edges turn lightly golden. Remove the cookies before they begin to brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding icing or other decorations.
Notes
- Yield varies with the size of your cookie cutters.
- Rolling the dough about ⅛-inch thick will give you a crispy sugar cookie while rolling the dough ¼-inch will keep them softer.
- Use just enough flour on the counter to keep them from sticking.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
Love this recipe?
Subscribe to the free membership group and never miss another recipe!
😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
Even Christmas sugar cookies can get a little cranky. Here's how to keep your holiday baking from turning into a festive crime scene.
🎄 The dough is too sticky to roll out. It hasn't chilled long enough. Pop it back into the refrigerator or freezer until it's firm enough to handle. A little flour on your rolling pin helps, too.
🎄 Your Christmas trees turned into Christmas blobs. The dough probably got too warm while you were cutting out shapes. Chill the cutout cookies on the baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes before baking to help them hold their shape.
🎄 The cookies are tough instead of tender. Too much flour can make them tough. Measure your flour carefully and stop mixing once everything comes together.
🎄 The edges are brown and the cookies are crunchy. They've baked too long. Pull them out when the edges are just beginning to turn golden. They'll firm up as they cool.
🎄 The cookies are sticking to the cookie cutters. Dip the cutters in flour between cuts and give them a little shake to remove the excess. No need to wrestle a gingerbread man out of his own head.
🎄 Your icing is sliding right off. The cookies may still be warm. Let them cool completely before decorating unless you're going for the melted-snowman look.
If you are planning to send some cookies and holiday treats to loved ones be sure to read the How to Ship Cookies article on Restless Chipotle. I outline how I shipped cookies to my kids when they were overseas.
🍽 More Christmas cookies recipes
If you're making cookies for a cookie exchange be sure to check out this round up of over 90 holiday cookie recipes.
🏡 There's something about making Christmas sugar cookies that brings out the kid in everyone. Maybe it's the smell of cookies baking, the mountain of sprinkles on the counter, or the annual discovery that nobody in the family has any artistic talent whatsoever.
Perfectly decorated cookies are lovely, but the crooked Christmas trees and slightly deranged snowmen are the ones everyone remembers. So turn up the Christmas music, make a glorious mess, and enjoy yourself. The memories last a whole lot longer than the cookies do.
Comments
No Comments