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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
Filed Under
Natalya Drozhzhin
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Frosting how do you make so you can stack an frosting don’t smear
Hi Lauri! I put in my notes above that you’ll want to use royal icing for this. Royal icing dries and hardens so it allows you to stack the cookies. I do not have a recipe for homemade royal icing, you can purchase this pre-made royal icing or you can purchase a royal icing mix and make it at home yourself.
I was weary of making cut out cookies with my 3 year old grandson because the process has been so tedious with other recipes. This was not the case with this recipe. These cookies were PERFECT and so easy to make! It will be my go to for sugar cookies in the future.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Susan!
Hello:)
How long do these stay nice and soft, how long can I make these in advance?
Hi Mary, please see our ‘Storing Sugar Cookies’ section in the recipes. Yes, these can be made ahead.
I am on vacation without cookie cutters. Is it OK to use this recipe and roll the cookies into balls instead?
Hi Sarah. It would be best to you a glass of some sort instead.
another fantastic recipe! i added cherry flavored emulsion and vanila extract to the batter. my family and friends went nuts. five stars! these are wonderful!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lisa!
Hi Lisa! Do you mind sharing how much emulsion you added to the cookie recipe? Thank you!
I just made these for the first time. The dough turned out very easy to work with, and my clover cut outs held their shape. The flavor could be punched up a bit, but I will experiment with that in the future. This one is a keeper.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Kelly!
Made these cookies on Christmas with my 9yo daughter. They were easy and such a crowd pleaser! (great tip, as mentioned below, just measure the flour properly). Best recipe we’ve found for sugar cookies – thank you!
That is so sweet. I love to hear when Christmas food memories are made with children. Thank you for sharing that with me.
This is the first time I made sugar cookies that came out so good. I will be using this recipe from now on.
Hi Roxanne, I am so happy to hear that. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
I’ve got the mixture in the fridge right now and hoping that some resting will help it but like other reviewers I’ve had issues with this dough. It crumbled. It is not incorrect measuring or anything like that. It’s too much flour. I’ll see how it rolls out but meh. It’s not looking like this is going to have a good outcome.
Hi Elise, Be sure to measure by fluffing the flour first with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape off the top. If you push your measuring cup into a flour bin, you will get up to 25% too much flour. Also, do not tap the flour down in the measuring cup.
Thanks for the tip! I may try it again, because the batch I made went into the bin.
I think the other reviews were right; the dough was easy to work with, but they weren’t as sweet as normal sugar cookies. Excessive frosting compensated, but I’d rather enjoy the cookie alone.
Hi Kathryn, 1 cup of sugar for 3 cups of flour is pretty typical for sugar cookies.
I love that these aren’t overly sweet. Baked them for a kid’s birthday party for them to frost. They’re perfect for that.
Hi Carrol! I’m so happy you love it! We don’t like overly sweet desserts either, and I believe we found the perfect balance here. Thank you for your kind review!
I’m super excited to give these a try but I’m just wondering if I’ve read the recipe correctly. Is that really a full tablespoon of baking powder?
Hi Ashley! That’s correct. I hope you love the recipe!
Came out perfect. I live in Colorado so a high elevation, cookies often need more flour or they spread out too thin. This recipe was perfect as is and we definitely will be making every year!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
These are delish! Perfect sweetness and easy to work with. Great recipe, as always 🙂
Thanks so much, Meg! I’m glad to hear that.
These cookies turned out fantastic! I had to hold myself back from eating too many. I love how easy they were to make with my 5 year old. I substituted vegan butter (dairy allergy in our house) and they still turned out great.
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Hey Natasha can I use salted butter (if that’s all I have) and omit the salt? Would that work for these cookies?
Hi Katya, I have made this using unsalted only. I worry it would be too much salt, but it may work, vomiting the salt from the recipe. If you happen to experiment, I would love to know how you like that.
“vomiting” the salt from the recipe. . . now that’s a new one!
Ha! Yes- that’s a new one for me too. Omitting the salt is what I meant, of course.
I haven’t made sugar cookies in a long time. These were very easy to make and roll out. I will definitely be using this recipe again.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
You did a great job working on this recipe Natasha 🙂 this cookie is sooooo yummy 🙂
Thank you for that lovely compliment!
Frustrating dough, I even put in a bit less flour because I thought 3 cups was way too much, I thought right. This dough was impossible to work with. Also, 10 minutes., perhaps for cookies the size of a quarter, mine took 17 minutes and they’re not very good. For the time I spent making them, for the money I spent on the ingredients I would have been better off just buying them retail somewhere.
I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t had that experience but I have made these many times so I’m happy to help troubleshoot. First consider if any ingredients were changed or substituted that would affect the balance of wet to dry ingredients. Also, baking for 17 minutes would really dry out the cookies. They should be just barely golden at the edges and bottoms. Don’t wait for them to turn golden on top or they will be dry. Lastly, make sure your oven is preheating correctly. I highly recommend an in-oven thermometer to test that. My own oven says its done preheated when it’s always 25 degrees under.
OMG! Those cookies are the best! Soft and flavourful. Every single thing I do using your recipes turns out perfect! Thank you so much! ❤
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Edyta!
Hi Natasha! Can I add some cocoa powder to a part of the dough to make chocolate sugar cookies?
Hi Karen, I haven’t tested that to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Followed recipe and dough crumbled. Waste of time and ingredients.
Hi Felicia, I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds like maybe too much flour was added? Make sure to measure flour correctly for baking, otherwise, it can be up to 25% too much flour.
These were amazing!! I am gluten free but I’ve been craving a sugar cookie this Christmas. I subbed out my 1:1 GF flour and then followed the recipe exactly. My friends had no clue that these were gluten-free they were so delicious!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Jenn!