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Soft, chewy homemade Christmas Sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. This is the best cut out sugar cookie recipe!
Welcome to Day #7 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! I have loved creating new Christmas cookie recipes for you every single day.
I am sharing the classic Frosted Sugar Cookie Recipe. Don’t let the simplicity fool you. This is a phenomenal sugar cookie with the best Christmas cookie frosting. This sugar cookie recipe has soft and thick centers and slightly crisp edges.
One of the best things about making sugar cookies is that you get to be creative! You can choose the decorations, the type of frosting you use from buttercream to cream cheese to royal icing, and the colors. The possibilities are endless!
Why these are the Best Christmas Sugar Cookies:
- Made with only 7 ingredients (plus frosting!)
- The perfect rich, buttery flavor
- Soft chewy centers with slightly crisp edges
- The perfect canvas for creating beautiful AND delicious Christmas cookies!
The Best Frosting for Christmas Cookies:
The best frosting for sugar cookies is up for debate but I prefer a classic buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting. I love to combine my cream cheese frosting recipe and my buttercream frosting recipe to make the most perfect frosting for sugar cookies. The frosting recipe is simple and made with only 4 ingredients — butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. You can even add different flavorings like almond or peppermint.
You can choose your favorite color palette from red and green to white and blue for snowflakes or white and gold.
This year I decided to go with a classy gold and white theme and pipe the homemade frosting onto the sugar cookies and then sprinkle them with gold and white sprinkles. But you can sprinkle them with any color of your favorite holiday sprinkles!
This sugar cookie recipe is super simple and only calls for 7 ingredients. It makes super soft and chewy sugar cookies topped with frosting.
Roll Out Christmas Sugar Cookie Ingredients:
- Butter – use unsalted or salted butter in this recipe. If using salted butter, reduce the salt amount by 1/4 teaspoon. I suggest using high-quality butter in this sugar cookie recipe.
- Sugar – this sugar cookie recipe calls for granulated sugar only which gives it the perfect buttery edges.
- Eggs — this recipe calls for 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. The egg yolk brings moisture to the sugar cookies and helps to create chewy centers.
- Vanilla Extract — I suggest using pure vanilla extract. My favorite brands are Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract or Real Mexcian Vanilla.
- Flour — this recipe calls for all-purpose flour. You may use half cake flour for a more tender texture.
- Baking Powder – this is what gives the sugar cookies the best rise in the oven. I suggest using aluminum-free baking powder.
- Salt — the flavor enhancer and an integral ingredient in baking.
Sugar Cookie Frosting Ingredients:
- Butter — use salted butter in this frosting recipe. If you use unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the frosting.
- Cream Cheese — use full-fat cream cheese and ensure that it is softened to create the creamiest frosting.
- Powdered Sugar — if you want a thicker frosting, add 1/4-1/2 cup more powdered sugar.
- Vanilla Bean Paste — for the most vanilla flavor, use vanilla bean pasteor scrape the vanilla seeds from a vanilla pod.
This is the perfect Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe. This Christmas Cookie Frosting is made with butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste, for extra vanilla flavor.
Christmas Cookies Baking Tips:
- Use high-quality butter. This needs to be barely softened butter so you don’t want it to be too soft or melted.
- Chill the dough for about 1-2 hours to help keep the shape while baking. A pro tip is to roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it. This will make it so much easier to roll out. If you roll the sugar cookie dough onto a piece of parchment or wax paper, you can transfer it to a cookie sheet, cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to chill before cutting it into shapes.
- If you prefer thicker cookies, roll out the cookie dough thicker.
- Cut out the shapes close together. When cutting out cookie shapes, cut as close as possible to each other to get as many cookies as possible from the rolled-out dough.
- This recipe makes soft sugar cookies. If you want crisper cookies, bake them for 2 minutes longer.
- Use light-colored baking sheets for even baking.
- Let cookies cool before frosting!
What type of butter should I use in homemade sugar cookies?
I suggest using a high-quality butter. I would suggest Kerry Gold or any European butter. I also suggest Land O Lake and Challenge Butter as well.
BAKING TOOLS:
- Kitchenaid Mixer
- Light Colored Baking Sheets
- Wilton Dessert Decorating Tool — this is the easiest way to pipe frosting and whipped cream.
- Wilton Gold and White Holiday Sprinkle Mix
- Cookie Scoop
- Parchment Paper Sheets
HERE ARE THE FIRST DAYS OF THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES:
- Day #1: Soft M & M Christmas Cookies
- Day #2: Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Day #3: Chewy Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Day #4: Frosted Mint Chocolate Brownie Cookies
- Day #5: Raspberry Almond Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Day #6: Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Cookies
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Christmas Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (barely softened)
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 1/2 cups Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt (reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon if using salted butter)
Sugar Cookie Frosting:
- 1/2 cup Butter (softened)
- 8 ounce pkg. Cream Cheese * (softened)
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add egg and egg yolk and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.
- Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, depending on how thick you want your cookies to be. Lightly sprinkle one of the rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment paper on top. Place the second rolled-out dough on top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1–2 hours
- After the dough has chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Line baking sheets with parchment paper sheets. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and repeat the process.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place on a light-colored baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges but still soft in the center. Let cool.
Sugar Cookie Frosting:
- In a mixing bowl, cream softened butter and cream cheese for 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste. Ad more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting. If you desire a thinner frosting, add 1-2 teaspoons of heavy cream.
- Add food coloring, if desired. Spread onto cooled cookies or place the frosting in piping bags or decorating tool and pipe the frosting onto the cookies. Top with your favorite sprinkles. May serve chilled. If chilling in the refrigerator, make sure to place in an air-tight container.
Notes
- Use high-quality butter. This needs to be barely softened butter so you don't want it to be too soft or melted.
- Chill the dough for about 1-2 hours to help keep the shape while baking. A pro tip is to roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it. This will make it so much easier to roll out. If you roll the sugar cookie dough onto a piece of parchment or wax paper, you can transfer it to a cookie sheet, cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to chill before cutting it into shapes.
- If you prefer thicker cookies, roll out the cookie dough thicker.Â
- Cut out the shapes close together. When cutting out cookie shapes, cut as close as possible to each other to get as many cookies as possible from the rolled-out dough.
- This recipe makes soft sugar cookies. If you want crisper cookies, bake them for 2 minutes longer.
- Use light-colored baking sheets for even baking.
- Let cookies cool before frosting!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The perfect sugar cookies! Everything about these cookie will knock your socks off!
YUM! These are delicious!
I made these today and tried decorating them like you did and they turned out beautiful…..a big hit at my husband’s office party. A great recipe!
I made the cookie dough yesterday and will be making the cookies tomorrow. I’m still looking for all my cookies cutters.
I remolded my kitchen this past spring and I’m still unpacking everything. I can’t wait to make them. i love the idea of the frosting. I have a great selection of tip for piping so these look so pretty and elegant. I’m going to be trying these for sure.
Thank you Melissa for another great recipe. I hope your having fun with all of your baking and decorating the house things.
Merry Christmas, to you and your Family…..
You are the sweetest, Donna! Thank you so much!
These are the PERFECT sugar cookies! I made them for a party and everyone was obsessed!
These sound like what I am looking for. Does the icing get very hard? I’m looking for some that gets a little hard so I can stack them. Please help.
Thank you