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. 
Loved this recipe! I want to make it for a party on Saturday. Can I make the dough on Thursday and keep it in the fridge until Saturday?
Hi Sofiya! I generally like to freeze cookie dough if I’m not using it within 1-2 days but that would be fine if your ingredients are fresh. Also, see the note above for “how to freeze cookie dough.”
It’s a good simple recipe a little dry though. I am wondering about the 1 tablespoon of baking powder that seems like a lot.
Hi Chelsee. They shouldn’t be dry. These keep their shape well but are soft. Using too much flour or over-baking would likely be the culprit. Be sure to check out my tutorial on how to measure ingredients here.
This isn’t something people intuitively know, and I only know because I’ve done a lot of baking as a Canadian. Canadian wheat is a little different in how much moisture it can soak up and retain, and when using an American recipe, will require less flour to reach the same texture threshold. Approximately one quarter to one third less flour is what I typically suggest for someone using Canadian flour.
To someone using Canadian flour making this recipe to start with 2 cups of flour, 2 and a quarter will probably be about perfect (that is approximately what I used), and to consider that “room temperature” in a colder climate may be cooler than room temperature further south. My house, for example, is currently 67 degrees F, and if someone’s room were set to 78F, more flour would be required to reach the ideal consistency, especially if planning to go the no-chill route.
I still chilled the dough for about an hour before doing the cookies, as, while it was firm, it was still a little sticky on the rolling pin without chilling it and the cutters I planned to use were fairly complex shapes. I think you could get away without chilling it with a properly greased rolling pin, and simpler shapes such as rounds. The resultant cookies were pretty good looking, all held their shape and none of the limbs of the most complex cutter shapes fell off once baked.
They tasted nice hot, we could not wait to cool and ice them to sample them. I saved some to ice tomorrow.
HI Ti, you are correct, Canadian flour has a different protein content and the total amount of flour will be different.
I wish I had read this earlier. 🙁 I am Canadian and I followed the recipe exactly and my cookies were very dry and crumbly which was extremely frustrating for me.
Hi, Chelsee. You’re Canadian, aren’t you? I know this because I had the same problem, but I solved it already. Canadian flour soaks up less moisture than USA flour. Something different about the wheat grown here. You’ll typically want to reduce flour by about one third in a recipe written by a blogger from the USA. I had to reduce flour in mine to 2 and 1/4 cups. I also reduced baking powder to 2 tsp and honestly should have taken it to 1 tsp, and will if I make this recipe again. Trust your instincts. A tablespoon is a ton of baking powder for a recipe that barely rises. It’s also possible your home’s “room temperature” is lower than the blogger’s, as harder butter will soak up less flour. If you’re keeping your house around 20C to save money, it’s very likely your room temperature butter is not as soft as someone living down south’s room temperature. Soften your butter a tiny bit in the microwave (not so much that it melts) and your recipe will soak up more of the flour and be less dry.
I know this doesn’t “need” to be chilled.. but I’d like to make the dough ahead of time. Would I just bring it to room temperature before using. Have you tried that and had success? Thanks!
Hi Dorothy! Yes- I’ve frozen this dough before and brought it to room temperature before using it.
Love this sugar cookie recipe. I’ve been using it for two years now and they don’t disappoint.
I’m so glad you love it, Megan!
Hi Natasha,
I love your recipes!!
Can I double the amount of measurements and the cookies will turn out the same?
Please answer ASAP as I have a gathering and need to make lots of cookies!!🥰
Hi Sevan! If your stand mixer is large enough, that would be fine.
Loved not having to chill the dough. Easy to roll, cut. Very happy.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Just to be certain, this recipe does not call for the dough to be chilled before rolling out and baking?
That’s correct, Alyssa. I hope you love the recipe!
Very average sugar cookies. Pretty flavorless, but frosting and decorations make a huge difference.
HI Kim, this is meant to be a classic sugar cookie which is what most people are looking for. We have tons of cookies with exciting flavors though if you check out our cookie category.
Made exactly as instructed. I’ve never had sugar cookies hold their shape so well. This will now be my go to recipe!
Yay! Thank you so much for this awesome feedback.
Can’t wait to make these! I have one question, will they turn out the same if I use coconut sugar? Thank you!
Hi Jacquelyn! I have not tested coconut sugar to know how they would be effected. Let us know if you experiment.
Hi Natasha. I’m concerned that the cookies will spread because of the baking powder in the recipe. I will be using cookie cutters and need them not to spread and hold their shape. Should I still include the baking powder?
Hi Karen! The recipe as written works great and they keep their shape. I haven’t tested it without baking powder.
Easy to make with the 4 year olds I work with! Tasted great
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Ida!
Hi Natasha, this is Angela. I tried the cookie recipe today and it was just wow!
We’re so happy to know that you enjoyed them!
I MADE THE SUGAR COOKIES AND YOUR IING BOTH WERE FANTASTI JUST LIKE EVERYTHING I OOK FROM YOUR WEBSITE THANK YOU
So glad to gear that, Andrew!
Natasha has done it again!! Absolutely the easiest roll & cut sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever made!! I will never try another one…this one is perfect!! I did add 1/2 tsp. of almond flavoring because I like it!!
Hi Margret! I’m so glad you love the recipe, Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Delicious but the shape didn’t hold during the cooking process
Hi Helen! These cookies should keep their shape well. A couple of things to help troubleshoot. Don’t over-mix the butter/sugar. If your butter is too warm or the dough sits out too long, it could be too warm and you may need to chill the dough to help. Be sure to measure your ingredients correctly. And lastly, be sure to let your oven fully preheat. If your oven is not hot enough by the time you start baking them, they could spread. I highly encourage the use of an internal oven thermometer if you don’t already use one. I hope that helps.
This is a great quick recipe. Mine took 2 mins. longer to bake. I’ll definitely keep using this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Diane! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times. It’s tasty and consistent.
Hi Lee! I’m so glad you love it. Thank you for the feedback.
Perfect sugar cookie recipe. Have used the same recipe for going on 4 years now. Family loves them.
Wonderful to hear! Thank you, Sasha!
these where the and softest cookies ever will use this recipe again tysm!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lilly!
Easiest and Best tasting, not so sweet, cutout cookie recipe! Definitely mu go-to in the future. Thank you
So glad to hear that, Laura! Thank you for sharing.
You need to add a homemade cookie icing recipe. Reference to a bottle icing seemed odd. Should the dough be refrigerated first to keep from spreading? I did, but the recipe didn’t say.
Hi! No, it is not necessary to refrigerate the dough. We use pre-made royal icing for our sugar cookies. They also have kits where you can mix your own ingredients and make it at home but I do not have a recipe for the icing.