Christmas Sugar Cookies with Icing
Christmas sugar cookies with icing that won’t spread in the oven sound perfect, right? These are our favorite cookies to make during the holiday season, plus we have included an egg-free, vegan option!
Why you will love our recipes for Christmas sugar cookies
- They hold their shape. When you make a cookie to decorate, you don’t want a dough that spreads too much in the oven.
- Our Christmas sugar cookies are perfect for decorating. Because they won’t spread, this recipe is the best recipe for holiday decorating! And not just for Christmas! We also use this recipe to make cookies for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Easter!
- These cookies are super versatile. You can make them as they are, but if you want to make them extra special, you can add cocoa powder, sprinkles, or other flavorings to the dough.
Ingredients
Flour: For sugar cookies, use a low-protein flour. The gluten in bread flour will make for a tough, less crumbly cookie, and that is not what we are after with this recipe. This is why we always use all-purpose flour. You can also make this recipe with your favorite gluten-free flour!
Sugar: Castor sugar works great, but you can use any sugar you like. If you want a deeper flavor, you can use brown sugar instead.
Butter: Using a butter that has a higher fat content is key to making a cookie that holds its shape. European-style butter has more fat and more flavor, so that’s why we highly recommend a butter like Kerrygold for this recipe.
Vanilla extract: Vanilla gives your cookies a warm, sweet flavor that is amazing with the richness of the butter. If you don’t have vanilla extract, you can use vanilla sugar, a fresh vanilla bean, or vanilla paste instead.
How to make Christmas sugar cookies with icing
You want to start by creaming the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Once your butter is lighter in color and has a soft, fluffy texture, it is ready for the next step. This can take up to 10 minutes, especially when you cream the butter by hand or when the room is cold, so don’t give up if it takes a little bit longer.
Next, we add the vanilla and egg. Mix until completely incorporated and you have a smooth mixture.
When the butter mixture is ready, you want to whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. This is to prevent overworking the flour. You don’t want any gluten to develop for the best texture.
Add the flour mixture and quickly fold it in. Knead the dough by hand until you have a smooth, soft dough, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the fridge and let it chill for at least one hour.
Take your chilled dough out of the fridge and roll it into a 1/4-inch thick disk.
Use your favorite cookie cutters to shape your cookies. For straight edges, press the cookie cutters down firmly and do not twist them when picking them up. Transfer your Christmas sugar cookies to your lined baking tray and bake them for 10-12 minutes.
How to make the icing and decorate the cookies
While your cookies are cooling, you can make the icing. You want to mix the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl until it has a thick but still pourable texture.
If you want to add color to your icing, you can do so now. Be careful not to add too much food coloring at a time because it tends to get darker while it fries.
Now comes the fun part: decorating your Christmas sugar cookies! Whether you use homemade powdered sugar icing or store-bought, it is crucial to let your cookies cool completely before decorating.
Our tips for the best Christmas cookies
- Don’t skip chilling the dough. This is super important. Chilling the dough improves the cookies’ texture and helps prevent spreading in the oven.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Room-temperature ingredients incorporate more easily, which helps prevent overworking the dough.
- Measure the ingredients on a kitchen scale. Cups will never give a really accurate measurement and can give you different results each time, even when you use the same recipe. This is why you should always use a kitchen scale. This not only improves your bakes, but it also saves dishes!
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The raw dough can be frozen for up to six months.
We haven’t tried this ourselves, but I can’t see why not! Let us know how they turned out.
Absolutely!! No one wants to add more load to your already busy schedule. We often use store-bought icing when we decorate our cookies, especially with smaller children.
Storage
Homemade Christmas sugar cookies will keep for a few days at room temperature. To prevent them from going soft, store them in an airtight container. You can also store them in the freezer. Frozen, they will last for up to six months. We don’t recommend decorating the cookies before placing them in the freezer. The sugar in the icing will absorb too much moisture and will become a soggy mess.
More of our favorite cookie recipes
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Christmas sugar cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
How to make Christmas sugar cookies
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until the butter is pale in color and has a soft, fluffy texture. This can take up to 10 minutes, so we like to do this with our stand mixer.
- Add the vanilla and egg and mix until combined.
- In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and fold it in.
- Transfer the mixture to a well-floured work surface and quickly knead it into a soft, smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least one hour but preferably overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C) and line your baking tray with parchment paper.
- Take your dough out of the fridge and roll it out until you have a 1/4-inch-thick disk.
- Cut out your cookies using your favorite cookie cutter and transfer your cookies to your baking tray.
- Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for 10-12 minutes.
- Take the cookies out of the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
How to make the icing
- Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl.
- Add the milk one spoon at a time until your icing has the right consistency.
- Add food coloring and let it sit for a few minutes before you start decorating.
How to decorate your Christmas sugar cookies
- Once your cookies have completely cooled, you can decorate them.
- Spread the icing on top of your cookies and add your favorite sprinkles.
- Let the icing set before serving.
