This is my absolute favorite go-to Christmas recipe, I’ve made these cookies dozens of times and they always come out perfect! You can also use this dough to make stained glass cookies and heart cookies. Sugar cookies are a staple around the holidays and they come in so many different varieties. These Christmas sugar cookies have plenty of decorations with brightly colored frosting and festive sprinkles for an elegant presentation. Serve them alongside other treats such as funfetti cookies, rolo pretzels, peanut brittle and M&M cookies for the perfect dessert cookie tray offering.
Christmas Sugar Cookies Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs vanilla extract, salt, all purpose flour, powdered sugar, heavy cream, food coloring and holiday sprinkles.
How Do You Make Christmas Sugar Cookies?
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after you add each egg. Pour in the vanilla and salt, then slowly mix in the flour until a dough forms. Shape the dough into a disc, then cover it with plastic wrap and chill until firm. Preheat the oven, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Roll out the dough, and use cookie cutters to cut out whatever shapes you like. Place the dough shapes on the sheet pan and chill. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown, then let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack. To make the frosting, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and heavy cream, then beat until you have a smooth and creamy frosting. Divide the frosting into bowls, and add food coloring as desired. Spread frosting over the cookies, then top with sprinkles and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Cookies
The great thing about this sugar cookie dough is that it can be made in advance, and stays fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. I often freeze this dough in small portions, and we bake up a few cookies at a time when the craving strikes. It’s important to chill your cookies before you bake them, so you’ll end up with perfect cut-out shapes. I use gel food coloring to tint my frosting. It takes quite a bit of food color to get the bold colors in these photos. You can add a few drops at a time, stir until combined, then keep adding a little more in increments so you get to your desired color. Add the sprinkles to your cookies immediately upon frosting them, so the sprinkles will stick before the frosting has time to dry.
Flavor Variations
These cookies are delicious as-is, but you can add some other ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
Cookie Dough: You can add other flavorings to the dough including cinnamon, lemon zest or peppermint extract. Almond extract is also a great choice. Frosting: Feel free to add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder to the frosting for chocolate frosting. You can also add extracts such as peppermint, almond or lemon. Toppings: Instead of frosting, try dipping the cookies halfway in either melted dark chocolate or melted white chocolate. You can also swap out the sprinkles for a topping of crushed candy canes. Another option would be to make a royal icing instead of buttercream.
This is the only sugar cookie recipe you’ll need this holiday season. The cookies are tender and flavorful, and they hold their shape perfectly. Holiday sugar cookies make a festive and delicious addition to any dessert platter.
