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. 
I’ve been using the recipe for several years now and I find it to be the best I’ve tried several different ones just to try, but always come back to this I’ve even ordered your cookbook very good stuff
Found the taste kind of bland. Could i add almond or orange extract, or something else perhaps for more taste? Also the dough was hard to work with, too crumbly. Not sure what I did wrong. Butter was room temp and I used all purpose flour.
Hi Anna, the dough is normally very easy to work with. Did you remember to add the egg? Also, if you are adding flour, make sure to measure correctly for baking. If you push the measuring cup into your flour bin, it can compact the flour and you’ll end up with a dry and crumbly dough.
Hi! I measured all ingredients with a scale. Dough turned out very crumbly, I actually had throw it out😔. Really don’t know what I did wrong!
Hi Kari! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you use the metric converter button in the recipe card? Was you butter soft? Did you use all purpose flour? A dry dough is due to having the wrong wet/dry ingredients ratios. We’ve had really results with this recipe as written. I would verify everything was measured correctly.
Mine was quite crumbly as well. I added about 1.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil and it fixed it.
Hi Natasha,
How many eggs would I use if I don’t have large eggs?
Thank you,
If you’re using medium eggs, you can add one extra egg. Just adjust it according to the size of your eggs.
This dough was so dry and crumbly I had to add milk and an extra egg and I didn’t add the whole flour mixture just to get it to be a somewhat good consistency.
Hi Sadie, when adding the flour, make sure you measure it correctly. If you push the measuring cup into your flour bin, it compacts the flour and you’ll end up with too much flour and a dry and crumbly dough.
I got confused and used the first directions which did not include the egg. My dough was not dough. I tried to add it in after but all the ingredients were already mixed. This website layout was extremely confusing. I now see the proper directions lower down.
Hi Alexandra, Oh no! I apologize for that oversight. I have updated the instructions with the photos above. The egg is definitely important.
I followed this recipe exactly down to measuring the flour correctly. The dough was super crumbly and it was very hard to roll out and cut shapes and then transfer them to a baking sheet. I don’t know what I could have done differently but I will not be making these again unfortunately.
Hi Jen, I haven’t had that experience but I am happy to help troubleshoot. A crumbly texture is usually due to not enough liquid ingredients or too much dry ingredients. Did you make sure to add the egg and the same amount of butter?
These cookies rolled out beautifully and taste very good, but they are rock hard when you bite into them. Anyone else have that or?????
Hi Rose! Did you bake them too long or roll them out too thin? This can happen if they spend too much time in the oven. I would also ensure you’re measuring your flour correctly by fluffing the flour and spooning it into your measuring cup then leveling it off.
Hi Natasha! How long will the dough last in the refrig if I make it ahead of decorating day? Thanks! Merry Christmas!
Hi Doreen! You can refrigerate it for a few days. Just let it warm up a little bit so you can roll it out when you’re ready to use it.
Natasha hola desde Colombia 🤗 como medir la mantequilla de las galletas?
Translation: Natasha, hello from Colombia 🤗 How do you measure the butter for cookies?
Hi Adell! If you click on “metric” in the recipe card, it will convert the ingredients for you to weight. You will need 227g.
🤗👏🙏muchas gracias por contestar tan rápido
mine were to crumbly when I was trying to roll them out
You probably did what I did and used the first directions which did NOT include the egg. If you scroll down, the proper recipe is lower down.
My cookies tasted good but they spread out to much. Didn’t make out the shapes very well. What can I do?
Hi Jacqueline! It could be that the cookie dough was too warm. You can chill it in the refrigerator for a bit if needed. Make sure you oven is fully preheated before you start baking them. I would also ensure you’re measuring all of your ingredients correctly. I have a tutorial on How to Measure Ingredientshere.
Is it fine to use salted butter instead of unsalted butter?
Hi Ashmita! If you do, don’t add salt like the recipe states.
Make this recipe every year for the last 40 years!! My family asks for them all the time
is it really 1 Tbsp of baking powder? Or is it 1Tsp?
Hi Sara! That’s correct, 1 tablespoon. I hope you love the recipe!
What effect does the baking powder have on the end result? I see so many recipes that do not include baking powder.
Hi Glenda! The baking powder gives these a puffy, soft, cake-like texture.
This recipe doesn’t require letting the dough sit in the fridge for an hour?
Hi Jacqueline, that’s right it is not required, you can of course if that is your preference, but this recipe doesn’t need it. I hope that helps.
Made your recipe with vegan butter because of a dairy intolerance and they turned out perfect. I thought maybe they would spread but the edges were nice and crisp and the cookies tasted delicious.
Hi Sarah! Thank you for sharing that with us. Glad they turned out well for you.
Can I use 1/4 of salted and 1/4 of unsalted butter and just omit the tsp of salt?
Hi Elizabeth! That should be fine.
I haven’t made sugar cookies in years and this year I thought it would be nice to share with my grandkids. This recipe is great! Dough is easy to work, doesn’t stick and is delicious!!
Theses cookies are amazing. Simple the best and the easiest recipe i ever tried. And i tried so many and was never happy with the results. Thank you!
this was such an easy bake and also delish
Please get rid of the advertising. It takes too long to write the recipe down & it’s very frustrating
That’s like telling you to not drive to work.