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Whether you’re baking with kids, making cookies for a holiday party, or putting together a plate for Santa, these cookies are easy to work with and perfect for decorating. The simple icing dries beautifully for stacking and gifting, while still staying soft enough for that classic homemade sugar cookie texture everyone loves.
If you’re planning your holiday baking list, try my Italian Christmas Cookies, Christmas Butter Cookies, Candy Cane Cookies, and Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies next. And don’t miss my full Christmas Cookie Recipes collection for even more holiday favorites.
Why You’ll Love These Christmas Sugar Cookies
- They roll out beautifully and hold their shape while baking.
- The cookies stay soft and buttery instead of dry or crumbly.
- The icing is easy to make and perfect for decorating.
- Great for cookie exchanges, holiday parties, gifting, and Christmas trays.
- The dough can be made ahead and freezes beautifully.
- Perfect for decorating with kids or creating more detailed holiday cookies.
✨ Before You Begin
✨ Chill the dough well. Cold dough is one of the biggest secrets to sugar cookies that keep their shape and don’t spread too much in the oven.
✨ Don’t overflour the dough. Too much flour can make sugar cookies dry and tough. Flour your surface lightly and add only what you need to prevent sticking.
✨ Roll the dough evenly. Keeping the dough about 1/4-inch thick helps the cookies bake evenly and stay soft in the center.
✨ Bake just until set. These cookies should not brown much. Pull them from the oven when the tops look set and the edges are just barely turning golden.
✨ Decorate completely cooled cookies. Warm cookies will melt the icing and make decorating messy.
Ingredients + Key Notes
⭐ All-Purpose Flour: Gives the cookies enough structure for rolling and decorating while still keeping them tender.
⭐ Baking Powder: Adds a light texture without making the cookies puff too much and lose their shapes.
⭐ Unsalted Butter: Butter gives these cookies their rich, classic sugar cookie flavor. Use softened butter so it creams properly with the sugar.
⭐ Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dough while also helping create that classic lightly crisp edge.
⭐ Eggs: Add richness, structure, and help create a dough that rolls out beautifully.
⭐ Vanilla Extract: Use good-quality vanilla for the best flavor. You can also add a small amount of almond extract if you love that classic bakery-style Christmas cookie flavor.
⭐ Corn Syrup: Gives the icing a pretty shine and helps it set with a softer bite instead of becoming rock hard.
⭐ Whole Milk: Helps thin the icing to the perfect decorating consistency.
🥣 How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
Here’s a quick look at how to assemble these easy Christmas Sugar Cookies (full instructions in the recipe card below).
Make the dough. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients just until combined.
Chill the dough. Divide the dough into discs, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This helps the dough roll out more easily and keeps the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
Roll and cut. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick. Use your favorite Christmas cookie cutters to cut shapes.
Bake. Transfer cookies to baking sheets and bake until the tops are set and the edges are just lightly golden.
Decorate. Once the cookies are completely cool, spoon or spread icing over the tops and decorate with sprinkles, colored sugar, or holiday candies.
⭐ Pro Tips
⭐ Work with smaller portions of dough. Keep the remaining dough chilled while rolling and cutting to prevent it from getting too soft.
⭐ Use parchment paper. It helps prevent sticking and encourages more even baking.
⭐ Re-roll scraps carefully. Too much extra flour from repeated rolling can make later batches slightly tougher.
⭐ If the dough gets soft, chill it again. A quick 10–15 minutes in the refrigerator can make decorating and transferring cookies much easier.
⭐ For cleaner icing, use a squeeze bottle or piping bag. This gives you more control than spooning icing over the cookies.
⭐ Let the icing fully set before stacking. This helps prevent smudging and sticking.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- Storing: I find these cookies store best in a tightly sealed container in a cool place. They don’t like to get warm and are a little bit fragile, so I prefer a rigid container over a ziplock bag.
- Can You Freeze These? Sugar cookies freeze perfectly. I like to freeze the cookies unfrosted and decorate them when I need them. You can freeze them icing and all, but sometimes the icing loses a bit of its texture when it thaws. For maximum freshness, wrap the cookies individually in cling wrap before tucking into their freezer container.
- You can also freeze the dough. It’s best to cut the dough into the desired shape and then freeze it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Transfer the frozen cookies to a freezer container. You can cook them straight from the freezer. The dough can also be frozen in a simple log shape, cut into circles when semi-thawed, and baked.
- Make-Ahead Tips: This dough likes to be chilled and will hold well in the fridge for a couple of days. As far as the icing goes, it’s not only one of the best tasting sugar cookie icing, but it keeps well in the fridge for a day or two. You can even store it in your piping bag ready for use!
- How Long Can You Keep These? Food handling guidelines indicate that cookie dough is best if it is used within 2 days of being made. In the freezer, the dough will hold for up to 3 months, and baked cookies are good for closer to 6 months.
What to Serve With Christmas Sugar Cookies
Cozy Holiday Drinks
Homemade Hot Chocolate — rich, creamy hot chocolate is the ultimate cozy pairing for decorated Christmas cookies.
Crockpot Hot Chocolate — perfect for holiday parties, cookie exchanges, and Christmas movie nights.
Holiday Dessert Favorites
Christmas Crack — sweet, salty, crunchy holiday treats that balance beautifully with buttery sugar cookies.
Haystack Cookies — an easy no-bake favorite that adds texture and variety to Christmas cookie trays.
Festive Baking Favorites
M&M Christmas Cookies — colorful holiday cookies that are always popular with kids and perfect for Christmas baking days.
Chocolate Snowball Cookies — rich chocolate cookies dusted in powdered sugar for a beautiful wintery addition to any holiday dessert spread.
Frequently Asked Questions
◆ Why did my Christmas sugar cookies spread?
Usually, the dough became too warm before baking, there wasn’t enough flour, or the dough skipped the chilling step. Keeping the dough cold is one of the best ways to help cut-out cookies hold their shape.
◆ How do I keep sugar cookies soft?
Avoid overbaking them. Pull the cookies from the oven when the tops look set and the edges are just barely turning golden. Store them in an airtight container once they’re completely cool.
◆ Can I make Christmas sugar cookie dough ahead of time?
Yes! The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature just until it’s soft enough to roll.
◆ Can I freeze decorated Christmas sugar cookies?
Absolutely. Let the icing fully harden first, then freeze the cookies in layers separated with parchment paper inside an airtight container.
◆ What icing works best for Christmas sugar cookies?
A simple powdered sugar icing works beautifully because it’s easy to spread or drizzle, dries nicely for stacking, and still has a soft bite.
◆ How thick should I roll out Christmas sugar cookies?
About 1/4 inch thick is ideal. This keeps the cookies soft in the center while giving them enough structure for cutting out and decorating.
Still have questions? Drop them in the comments — I love helping you cook with confidence! 💗
More Christmas Cookies to Bake Next
Sour Cream Cookies — soft, old-fashioned cookies with a tender texture and simple homemade flavor that’s perfect for the holidays.
Almond Crescent Cookies — buttery almond cookies dusted in powdered sugar for a beautiful bakery-style Christmas treat.
Italian Rainbow Cookies — colorful layered cookies with rich almond flavor that look stunning on holiday dessert trays.
Pignoli Cookies — chewy Italian almond cookies topped with pine nuts that feel extra special during Christmas baking season.
No Chill Sugar Cookies — quick and easy sugar cookies when you want homemade cookies fast without waiting for dough to chill.
Tried This Recipe?
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If you made these Christmas Sugar Cookies, I’d love to hear how they turned out! Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating and a review in the comments below — it helps our community of home bakers, and it absolutely makes my day. 💕
Still have questions? Drop them in the comments — I love helping you cook with confidence! 💗
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today — happy holiday baking, friends! ❤️ Kathleen
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing:
- 1 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 3-4 tablespoons whole milk
- food coloring, as needed
Decorations:
- colored sugar, jimmies, sprinkles
Instructions
Cookies:
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir in vanilla.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture and beat just until combined. Shape dough into a disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate a minimum of 1 hour up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets 1 inch apart and bake in preheated oven 6-8 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.
Icing:
- In a mixing bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth. Add more milk, a little at a time to thin icing to a pourable consistency. If desired, divide icing into smaller bowls and tint with food coloring.
Decorating:
- Set completely cooled cookies on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Slowly spoon/poor icing over cookies. Decorate with colored sugar, jimmies, sprinkles. Let icing set completely before serving or storing.
Fans Also Made:
Nutrition
Best and easiest sugar cookie!! Love them and the icing is just perfectly sweet but not too sweet.
Thank you for sharing this. Merry Christmas ?
Michelle, I’m so happy you enjoyed the Christmas Sugar Cookie recipe. Merry Christmas to you!! <3
Hello im excited to find a sugar cookie that is so good the hints helped out wonderful thank you. Do you email recipes?
Hi Sherry! I’m so happy to hear my tips are really helpful. This is one of my Mom’s favorite recipes <3 Yes, we have a newsletter that sends you a daily recipe that we'd love to have you join. You can access it directly from my website by filling out the boxes on the top pink banner or you can go directly to https://www.gonnawantseconds.com/subscribe/
Is this royal icing edible without breaking your teeth? Thanks!
Hi! Ruth! Yes, they’re certainly safe to eat (and a must-have for decorating cookies and cakes!). If you’re also concerned about the sweetness, you can add some lemon juice to balance it out. Hope this helps! ?