Everyone needs an Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe! These are buttery and literally melt-in-your-mouth delicious and my go-to sugar cookie dough. You can bake them soft or crisp. These Christmas Sugar cookies have been part of my holiday cookie-decorating tradition for years!
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I love festive holiday treats like melt-in-your-mouth Snowball Cookies, soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, and of course Baklava. These beautifully decorated sugar cookies are a beautiful addition to the Christmas cookie platter.
Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
I love simple dishes that use minimal ingredients. During the holidays, I love baking, but I don’t love the cleanup afterwards. This recipe for Christmas sugar cookies gives me the best of both worlds — perfect cookies and an easy clean-up. You also don’t have to chill the dough so you can cut and bake the cookies right away, saving you time. I’m so excited to share this recipe with you!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is cookie decorating, and my family has been doing this since the kids were tiny. The kids love the creative freedom to do what they want with their cookies, and of course, they are even more excited to eat them!
Whether you are planning a cookie-making party for your Christmas party or for the holiday cookie platter, you need a sugar cookie recipe that you can rely on. These cookies taste amazing, keep their shape, and are perfect for eating plain or decorating them with sugar cookie icing and sprinkles. Let’s get started!
Tips For The Best Christmas Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies may seem simple, but there are a lot of bad recipes out there! After much trial and error, I feel confident that I have mastered the art of the sugar cookie. Here are all the best tips and tricks I have gathered throughout the years to get the best flavor and texture:
Tip #1: Soften your butter
Butter should be softened at room temperature. If the butter is too soft or partially melted, you will end up with a sticky dough that is difficult to roll out.
Tip #2: Rolling Out Sugar Cookies Dough
Roll your dough out directly on a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper so you do not have to transfer your delicate shapes onto a baking sheet later. You can cut your shapes out right atop the mat and make your life a bit easier.
Tip #3: How Thick Should Sugar Cookies be Rolled Out?
Roll your dough out to about ¼-inch thick. This is the sweet spot. You’ll have cookies thick enough to keep their shape, while also thin enough to promote even baking.
Tip #4: Avoid Crumbly Dough
Crumbly dough makes for misshapen cookies that are prone to uneven baking. To prevent this, don’t overmix your dough. You want the dough to be as smooth as possible. However, if you do get a crumbly texture, add ½ tbsp of water, or milk to the batter and incorporate it until it remoistens the dough.
Tip #5: Avoid Overbaking
10 minutes might seem like a very short baking time for cookies. But, trust me, do not overbake them! At around 10 minutes, the edges of the cookies should just start to turn golden brown. This is the time to pull them! If you continue baking, you risk compromising that signature tenderness of a perfect sugar cookie.
How to Make Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Combine your flour, baking powder (make sure to use aluminum free baking powder) and salt together in a small bowl and set the dry mixture aside.
- Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, cream together your butter and sugar then add egg and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add the flour to the butter mixture in thirds, mixing until incorporated between additions.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and dust your work surface with flour to keep the dough from sticking. You can also dust the top of the dough lightly. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece to an even ¼-inch thickness. Lift the dough gently to ensure it’s not sticking to your counter before cutting out shapes.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes or freeze your dough for later use. Note that larger cookies will take slightly longer to bake. Transfer the cookies to a cookie sheet, keeping them 1 inch apart (they do expand a bit in the oven).
- Bake the cookies at 350˚F for 10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn golden. That’s your cue to pull them out. Let the cookies cool on the baking pan for 5 minutes so they are easier to move without cracking then transfer to wire racks and let the cookies cool completely before decorating.
Storing Sugar Cookies
The great part about this recipe is that it can be made a couple of days in advance and the cookies will still retain their freshness. Below, I will share how you should store them and also how you can freeze your dough or baked cookies for later munching!
- Storing Cookies at Room Temperature: Store baked sugar cookies on the counter in an airtight container. They will keep for up to a week. Remember, if you have decorated your Christmas Sugar Cookies, let the frosting firm up, and then store them between layers of parchment paper to prevent sticking and/or destroying your designs.
- To freeze baked sugar cookies: allow cookies to cool completely, then stack the cookies in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. Freeze cookies for up to 2 months. When you are ready to eat them, thaw at room temperature.
- To freeze your sugar cookie dough: roll it into a ball or a log. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container or freezer bag. The dough will keep for up to 2 months before you need to use it. When you are ready to bake, allow the dough to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, bring it to room temperature for 1 hour before you shape your cookies and bake them.
How to Decorate Christmas Cookies
To decorate sugar cookies, I love to use our 3-ingredient cookie icing from our Gingerbread Cookie Recipe, or you can make a royal icing, and add food coloring. To pipe the frosting, transfer to a squeeze bottle or little zip bags (handy and inexpensive for cookie decorating parties).
If you prefer, you can purchase an icing decorating kit with pre-made frostings in a variety of colors, which makes it easy. Don’t forget the Christmas sprinkles and crushed candy canes.
Decorated Christmas cookies have a way of making the holidays more merry and bright, even if you aren’t the best at decorating. The perfectly imperfect ones are the most endearing anyway.
Christmas Sugar Cookies make my heart so happy because they unlock sweet memories over the years, like the cookie decorating party in the photo above when my husband and I hosted the family Christmas Eve party.
I’d love to hear about your special Christmas traditions around cookies in the comments below.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
These are our best-loved (and reviewed) Christmas cookies to fill up your holiday cookie tray. These are well-loved by all ages and you’re sure to find some new favorites in this list. Looking for more Christmas recipes and inspiration? Check out our Christmas archives here.
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Meringue Shell Cookies
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Madeleine Cookies
- Polish Cookies (Kolaczki)
- Angel Wing Cookies
Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, (large)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, (measured correctly)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder, (use aluminum free)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F with a rack in the center. Whisk together flour with baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- Using a stand-up or handheld mixer, beat the butter together with sugar. To the mixture add vanilla extract and egg and beat to combine.
- To the butter mixture, add flour in 3 parts until fully incorporated.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll into ¼-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes.
- Bake cookies on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet at 350˚F for 10 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden.
- Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely and decorating with cookie icing.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
This recipe is amazing! I love the way the cookies came out. So tasty that my grandkids loved them. Best recipe ever!
Can you freeze or refrigerate the cookies after they have icing on them?
Hi Ira! Yes, you can. See my instructions in the post above for details.
they are the best sugar cookies i ever tried.
Thank you for the wonderful feedback, Veronika!
Excellent easy recipe. I used organic cane sugar which is more coarse than regular white sugar and they still turned out great. I put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes before using it because I found it easier to handle.
I know that the baking powder and salt go in with the flour prior to being added to the butter and sugar, but unless I completely missed it I don’t think adding the baking soda and salt is written in the steps of the recipe.
Kids had fun decorating which is all that matters to me. We will make this recipe again for sure. Thanks Natasha! Happy Holiday.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Gillian!
Turned out perfect! I don’t care for icing, so I dusted mine with red and green sugar. Very festive! Just sweet enough. Taste more like butter/shortbread than sugar cookies. I like the texture, not hard. The key is not to roll them too thin. Make sure your dough rolled evenly for consistent results. I had better results with larger shapes than small and pointy ones that dried too much around the edges. No issues with texture unlike others reported. Chill the dough slightly if it’s hard to work with. Happy baking!
I’ve made these 3 times.If you follow the recipe it should come out perfect this time I’m not going to need all the dough.Does it freeze well and for how long?
Hi Nicole! Yea, it does. See my note above in the storage instructions section.
I made this recipe to the letter with zero deviation. It’s fantastic. It has a cup of sugar so not lacking in sweetness. Easy to manipulate, did not crumble when rolling out. Kept its shape in the oven without spreading too much so you can pack the cookies on a pan. This recipe is a keeper and I will be making again.
Hi VA, I’m so happy you loved the Christmas Cookie recipe!! Thank you for sharing your great review and Merry Christmas!
These cookies came out horrible. We didn’t even bake them. The dough was so sandy. We tried to salvage them, but they ended up in the garbage. This was a waste of time and horrible recipe. I don’t understand how it got such good reviews?
Hi Jessica! I’m sorry to hear that. It has great reviews because the recipe works.
I would be happy to help troubleshoot so you can get the same results. A few things to check- was your butter softened? It needs to be cool but pliable. If your butter is cold, it won’t cream properly. Did you use granulated sugar? Using a coarser sugar, like raw or turbinado can make the dough gritty. Be sure to measure your flour correctly. A dry/gritty dough could also be due to using too much flour. I have a tutorial on How to Measure Ingredients (Wet and Dry) here. I hope that helps.
Same here and I followed it to a T. It’s like it’s lacking something it’s so dry.
I’ve been making this recipe for a couple years & the cookies always come out perfect. Make sure you don’t scoop your measuring cup into the floor bag. That will pack the flour & give you too much. I used to measure floor incorrectly years ago.
Hi
I followed the recipe and I can taste the baking powder. 1 tablespoon seems too much.
Hi Anya! 1 tablespoon is correct. Are you using aluminum-free baking powder or double-acting baking powder? I would also sift your dry ingredients together to ensure proper distribution.
The reviewer left this comment because the recipe says tbsp (ie tablespoon). I thought this was way too much and luckily found the reviewer’s comment. Please change the recipe to help others avoid this mistake.
Hi Amy, I have made these many times with 1 Tablespoon of baking powder and it works well. Tasting the baking powder is unusual unless your baking powder has aluminum as an ingredient or if someone accidentally uses baking soda which would be way too much. I hope that helps.
Best dough I have ever worked with. Great tasting cookies.
Hi Joanne! That’s so great to hear. Thank you for sharing.