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 from our Easter Sugar Cookies Recipe 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)
- Gingerbread Man Cookies
- 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
Filed Under
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
Hi Natasha…very excited to try baking sugar cookies for the first time. My question is, will this cookie dough work in a cookie press? Thanks so much in advance! Patty
Hi Patty, to be honest, I haven’t tested this in a cookie press to advise. If you do experiment please let us know how you like that.
Also I found your youtube channel and was like: wait….WHAT. You should make a video on this recipe.
Thank you for that suggestion Lucca.
I LOVE this recipe I wish I could rate 10/5, I would like your permission to sell these, since it’s your recipe. Please get back to me soon :D. Thank you!
Hi Lucca, if you want to bake them and sell them you are free to do so. The only thing I do not allow is for my printed recipe to sold or reproduced in a cookbook or other publication without permission.
I wasn’t planning on it . Thank you!
Hi Natasha!
love love love your recipes all the time!
I want to make these cookies atleast a week and a half before the actual party. Can I make them a week ahead and refrigerate? without royal icing?
Hi Sam, yes that will work great to make the dough ahead and refrigerate it. Just make sure it reaches room temperature before you shape your cookies and bake them.
Hello Natasha,
Thank you for sharing all your recipes!
I would like to know how to make royal icing in order to decorate the sugar cookies.
Pretty please!!!
Hi Andrea, thank you for that suggestion. We ran out of time to publish a royal icing for the cookies. I would suggest googling for a Royal Icing. There are a couple of varieties out there: 1 with egg whites and 1 with meringue powder (no raw egg whites). Both work well, just depends on preference or if someone may be allergic to egg whites.
Can I use country crock spread instead of butter? I ran out of butter!
Hello Heather, I haven’t really tried using that substitute yet to advise. Please share with us how it goes if you do an experiment.
Recipe looks great! Are these the soft or the harder type of sugar cookie recipe? I prefer a crisp bite
Hi Deborah, if you cook them longer, they will become more crisp.
Great and perfect Christmas biscuits!
Really happy with this simple recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Irene!
Hey Natasha !
I am not using frosting only colored crystal sugar. When would I put that on. Thanks
Hi Pamela, I haven’t tried that, but you might try this method from Land O-Lakes for adding crystal sugar to cookies.
Amazing recipe!!!! Especially at a time when you are stuck with kids! So easy to prepare, and so yummy!!!! Thank you sooo much !!
You’re welcome, Mona! I’m so glad you and your family are enjoying this recipe.
Ohhhhh Natasha! Bless you for this recipe! It was a God send to me today! My usual recipe requires 2 hours of chilling and when I was surprised with a bunch of kids who wanted to make sugar cookies at 2pm this afternoon I knew I literally had no time for that! Then I remembered your post from the other day! It was a ray of sun for me because you said ” no chilling” required! It is amazing! And though I love my childhood Recipe…..this was soooooo much quicker, easier, and just as Delicious! I can’t thank you enough! You helped me give all my kidlets a great cookie experience! Merry Christmas and Thanks again! P.s. I’d post photos but can’t seem to find the option! Hahahaha
Hi Sharlene, I’m so happy you loved the sugar cookies and that makes me smile big knowing you got to enjoy your cookies sooner! Thank you for the amazing review. I don’t have a way to post a picture here but if you would like to post it on our private Facebook group that would be awesome or if you share it on your social media account, please tag me @natashaskitchen and #natashaskitchen so I can find it!
I’m definitely gonna make some Christmas cookies this year with my daughter. I’m wondering do you have to flour your cookie cutters before using them? I’ve had my cookie cutters for a long time but have never used them.
I have not had to do that with this recipe but it may help if your dough is too sticky.
I can’t wait for Christmas lm going to make it tomorrow. Thanks
You’re welcome! I hope you love this recipe!
Hey Natasha! I’ve seen other recipes where the cool the dough in the fridge for a couple hours before rolling it out so it’s not sticky, is there a reason why this recipe doesn’t require the dough to be refrigerated?
Hi Yana, it is not necessary at all to refrigerate the dough with this recipe and the dough does not stick. If you have any sticking, just dust your work surface and the top of the dough or your rolling pin lightly with flour. There is plenty of butter in the recipe that helps prevent sticking.
Can this dough be refrigerated still? Or will they not turn out as good?
Hi Inna, yes that will work great to make the dough ahead and refrigerate it. Just make sure it reaches room temperature before you shape your cookies and bake them.
Natasha, thank you for these great tips! What is the best recipe for Royal Icing for decorating the cookies?
🌲 Rose
Hi Rose, we ran out of time to publish a royal icing for the cookies. I’m hoping to have one up around Valentines day. I know it doesn’t help for Christmas! I would suggest googling for a Royal Icing. There are a couple of varieties out there: 1 with egg whites and 1 with meringue powder (no raw egg whites). Both work well, just depends on preference or if someone may be allergic to egg whites.
Hi. Do you put cookies in fridge before baking? So many recipes call for this. Thanks!!
Hi Cheryl, that is one of the things I love so much about this recipe – it is unnecessary to refrigerate the dough. I just baked up a batch yesterday and they came out perfect without needing to be refrigerated before baking.
We love making sugar cookies this time of year. Thanks for the detailed instructions and pictures. This recipe was easy to make! Happy holidays!
Hi Erin, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing that with me and Merry Christmas!!
I was so excited when I found this recipe this morning because I have all of the ingredients! Mine didn’t come out as pretty as yours but they were amazing! Thank you!
I love when that happens! That’s so great! Thank you for that awesome review, Lauren!
These cookies are so perfect! Sugar cookies are a must for Christmas and love this recipe.
Thank you Erin for your wonderful review! I’m so glad you love the cookies. I agree they are such a sweet and memorable Christmas tradition.
Can you share what frosting you used?
Hi Lana, There’s a link to the one that was used to make these cookies at the bottom of the recipe post. We didn’t have time to post a homemade one this year, but it is definitely on my list!
Is it just me, or is there no link?
Can’t find it.
Hi Olya, sorry that wasn’t more clear in the post. I’ll add an extra link above to make it easier to find, but it is currently in the decorating section. Here is the link to the icing decorating kit.
I couldn’t find the link for the icing, that was used. Can you please help? Thank you!
Hi Nataliya, the link can be found in the decorating section towards the bottom of the post. Here is the icing decorating set that was used from Amazon.