These Christmas sugar cookies are the best with a soft texture, sweet buttery taste and decorated with an easy icing. These festive cookies are perfect for the holiday season!
Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe
We adapted these Christmas sugar cookies from my favorite sugar cookie recipe and they not only taste great but their texture works perfectly with cookie cutters. They are soft and fluffy, with a texture that holds its shape no matter how you roll and shape them!
These easy cookies are so festive cut into holiday shapes and then topped with a foolproof pipeable sugar cookie icing or royal icing. These are the perfect cookies for Santa, to add to a Christmas dessert board or make for a cookie exchange.
Need more Christmas cookies for holiday baking? Try Mexican wedding cookies, candy cane cookies and chocolate chip cookies!
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Butter: Let the unsalted butter sit out on the counter top until it is at room temperature. Soft to the touch, but not too soft that it will melt the cookie dough when baking.
- Sugar: Adds a little sweetness to the dough!
- Eggs: Use large eggs to get the best consistency.
- Vanilla and almond extract: The blend of these two extract gives these cookies the best flavor.
- Flour: Binds the dough together, making it firmer and less sticky. You can also use some while you are rolling out the dough on the countertop.
- Baking powder: This is an agent that will aid in puffing up the cookies as well as holding the shape of the cookie once it is done cooking.
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
Cream butter and sugar together, then mix in eggs, vanilla, almond extract and sour cream until combined. Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
Divide the cookie dough in half, then wrap each half in plastic wrap. Then let the dough chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. If it feels too sticky to roll out, add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour.
Cut out the shapes with your favorite cookie cutters and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 375°F for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling wire rack to cool.
Once the cookies have cooled all the way to room temperature. Start making the frosting and ready to frost each of the cookies.
Baking Tips
For the best Christmas sugar cookie recipe follow these tips.
- Chill the dough. For the best sugar cookie recipe, refrigerate dough for at least 1-2 hours before cutting out your shapes. This helps prevent spread. No time to chill dough? Make drop sugar cookies instead!
- Parchment paper. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper then you don’t have to peel up the shapes. Just transfer parchment paper onto the pan.
- Dust cookie cutter. Before using cookie cutter, dust it in flour or powdered sugar first. This allows for an easy removal and keeps the dough from getting stuck.
- Bake same size cookies. Because you’re using different types of cutters, the cookies will be all different sizes. Make sure to bake similar sized cookies together.
- Icing. While sugar cookie is my favorite, royal icing is also great to make the perfect sugar cookies recipe.
- Add sprinkles right after icing. Make sure to add any sprinkles or sanding sugar immediately after you ice or frost your cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, if you prefer the flavor of a classic buttercream frosting, then you can definitely use that to frost your cookies too. A powdered sugar icing has a consistency similar to a glaze or like gingerbread house icing, which makes it great for dipping the tops of the cookies or spooning on top.
After cookies have cooled and icing has set, store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
The dough freezes beautifully – so you can absolutely make it ahead of time and freeze it for later. Simply wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Then store in the freezer for up to 4 months. You can also make the dough 2-3 days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Yes, you can freeze the baked sugar cookies (without the icing). Let them cool after baking, then wrap with plastic wrap, add to a freezer bag and then store in the freezer. Then pull them out to thaw a few hours at room temperature before decorating.
Are you looking for more cookies recipes? Try this ginger molasses cookies, cinnamon roll cookies, or these delicious eggnog cookies.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
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Christmas Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (345 g) butter , 3 sticks at room temperature
- 2 cups (390 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 5 cups (650 g) all-purpose flour , spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups butter and 2 cups sugar. Beat until creamy. Add in 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and mix together until combined.
- Combine dough. In a separate bowl, mix 5 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined.
- Chill. Split dough in two and place in saran wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Do not skip this step.
- Roll out dough. Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out the dough about 1/2 inch thick on a baker's mat or a clean counter top. I like to sprinkle some powdered sugar on the rolling pin so the dough doesn't stick.
- Cut with cookie cutters and then place onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until the center is barely set. Do not let the edges or bottoms brown. Watch carefully the last minute of baking. Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.
- Cool and frost. Allow to cool and then frost as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Freezer-Friendly, Frosted Cookies, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly, Nut-Free, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Okay. My family’s tradition every year is to make sugar cookies every year with my grandma and all the grandkids and great-grandkids. I kid you not, this is the BEST recipe we’ve ever used! Ones we’ve tried before were either too dry, didn’t roll out well, or just didn’t taste good once they came out of the oven. But this is the one!! We’re so grateful to have found it and tried it because it is perfect! It has made making memories with our grandma while she’s still here so much sweeter ❤️ Look no further for the best sugar cookie! LOVE!!
Ah, love to hear that! So glad they were a hit! Thanks for your review :)
The Best sugar cookies ever! My kids enjoyed decorating them and of course they tasted just as good as they looked!! We love all I heart nap-time recipes!! ❤️
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the sugar cookies! Thanks so much! So kind!
These are our favorite sugar cookies! We make these for Santa every year ❤️
Ah love to hear that!!
These turned out wonderful!
Love to hear that Fanni! Thanks for your review :)
This cookies were be perfect for my kids as a treat for Christmas. They love to decorate cookies, so I will let them do that. Thanks x
These are so cute! Great tip about chilling the dough too – it worked a treat! Thanks.
So glad to hear! Thanks for your review :)
One of the easiest Christmas treats I’ve tried! My family enjoys these cute sugar cookies, they are so tasty and beautiful. Would love to have these for the holidays. Highly recommended!
So glad your family enjoys the Christmas sugar cookies!
The perfect treat for Christmas! The kids will love this!
These are fantastic. They turned out great! Thanks!
So glad they were a hit! Thanks for the review!
I am so exited to try this recipe for my Christmas Eve dinner
Any Tipss?? <3??
Don’t add too much flour or over work the dough. Roll them out thicker and don’t overbake. Take them out before the edges look even slightly golden. Good luck!
A great sugar cookie recipe! A nice dough to work with and I really like the sour cream addition. They bake up great and hold their shape well.
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for your comment and review, Rachel :)
💗 These are the best tasting sugar cookies I’ve made in a while! Others always spread, but these kept their shape, puffed up beautifully, and the dough was really easy to work with. I had so much fun with my daughter baking and decorating these for Christmas. She mainly ate the frosting and sprinkles, 😉 but we had fun, and that was the point. Thanks Jamielyn!
Love to hear you had so much fun making these with your daughter! So special. Happy holidays, Melinda :)
One of the best recipes!! I loved making these for date night & having a decorating contest with my hubby! So much fun and I’d highly recommend it to anyone.
That sounds like so much fun! What a great idea. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe :)
I made these for Halloween and the kids loved them!
Yay! So glad they were a hit :)
We made these at Christmas and loved them. We have since made them for Valentines and now Easter!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for your comment, Kristie!
These are the cutest! Recipe is perfect, the dough comes out lovely and makes it incredibly easy to work with. My decorating skills need some help though ;)
These baked up perfectly! They’re my go-to Christmas cookie recipe!!!
These are the best Christmas sugar cookies!! My girls will love these sugar cookies. A great way to keep the weekend cravings ready. Thanks for such an amazing recipe plus the fewer the ingredients married is the making.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them! :)