This sugar cookie recipe is your go-to for perfectly shaped Christmas cut-outs every year. A tried-and-true Christmas tradition, these cookies roll out easily, hold their shape beautifully, and stay tender for days. They’re perfect for decorating or gifting.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Sweet and buttery with soft centers, lightly crisp edges, and perfect vanilla icing that makes every bite taste cozy and homemade.
- Technique: Chilled dough ensures cookies hold crisp holiday shapes without spreading.
- Prep Note: Make dough up to 4 days ahead, or freeze in discs for stress-free holiday baking.
- Swaps: Switch vanilla for almond or peppermint extract for festive flavor.
- Serving Suggestions: Decorate with frosting, royal icing, easy sugar cookie icing, or sprinkles for Christmas cookie trays.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: Unsalted butter adds rich flavor; softened but not melted butter creates the best texture.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla makes the cookies aromatic and cozy; swap a little for almond extract for that bakery-style flavor.
- Egg: Bring eggs to room temperature before adding, to help the dough mix evenly. (Quickly warm up cold eggs by placing them in a glass of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- All-Purpose Flour: Properly measured flour is important for baking. Lightly spoon into the measuring cup, then level to avoid dense dough.
How to Make Sugar Cookies
- Make the Dough: With an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in the egg, vanilla, and dry ingredients until a soft dough forms. Chill until firm.
- Roll & Cut: Roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness, cut into festive shapes, and place on baking sheets.
- Bake & Decorate: Bake until lightly golden on the edges, cool completely, then decorate with icing or sprinkles.
Pro Tip!
If the dough seems powdery or isn’t holding together, it has not mixed long enough. Continue mixing for up to 5 minutes more, and the dough will hold together.
Holly’s Pro Tips for Holiday Baking Success
- Use room temperature butter and egg for smooth dough.
- It is important to measure flour correctly. Avoid scooping the flour with a measuring cup, or it can pack the flour, resulting in a dry dough. Instead, lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup and use the straight edge of the back of a knife to level it.
- Roll dough between parchment sheets to prevent sticking. When rolling the dough, if it gets too soft, put it in the fridge for a few minutes. Don’t add too much flour when rolling the dough.
- No parchment – Skip baking the cookies on parchment paper or a silicone mat for this recipe. They hold their shape best on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake one tray at a time for even color.
- Do not place new batches on a warm cookie sheet. This will cause the dough to spread.
- For uniform cookie-cutter sugar cookies, roll to ¼-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. When rolling the dough, if it gets too soft, don’t add more flour. Instead, put it in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Freeze baked cookies, undecorated, for easy gift trays later.
Decorating Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Sugar cookies are one of the most popular cookie recipes for decorating. When my kids were small, we’d have fun with Christmas cookie cutters, stamped rolling pins, and colored frosting with plenty of Festive sprinkles and jimmies!
- To make Christmas sugar cookies, or any time of year cut-out cookies, ensure they’re completely cooled on a wire rack before decorating (or the icing will melt).
- You can decorate the baked cookies with soft frostings like buttercream frosting and embellishments, but our favorite is to use a simple sugar cookie icing or royal icing that finishes shiny and firm. Tip: Use gel food coloring for the prettiest colors.
- Another option is to melt chocolate chips and dip half of each cookie.
Storing & Freezing Christmas Cookies
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Refrigerate dough for up to 4 days before baking.
- Freeze dough disks or baked cookies (undecorated) in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
- Place a piece of parchment paper between layers to protect the frosting when storing decorated cookies.
Classic Christmas Cookies
Did you try this sugar cookie recipe? Leave a rating and comment below!
Equipment
- Baking Sheet ungreased, no parchment
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour *see note
- 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), add the butter and sugar. Beat on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes or until fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Gradually add the flour mixture with the mixer on low. Continue adding until all of the flour is added. Let mix until the dough holds together, about 5 minutes. If the dough is powdery or not holding together, mix it longer.
- Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a flat 5-inch disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or up to 4 days.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. While the oven is preheating, remove the dough from the fridge. If it has been in the fridge longer than 3 hours, it may need to sit out 15 minutes before rolling as the dough will be very firm.
- Sprinkle the work surface with a light dusting of flour (or powdered sugar) to keep the dough from sticking. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness.
- Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. The scraps can be re-rolled; chill them in the fridge if they soften too much.
- Place the sugar cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or just until cookies begin to brown on their edges.
- Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, transfer to a cooling rack, and cool completely before decorating.
- Once cooled, decorate with sugar cookie icing.
Video
Notes
- If the dough is powdery or not holding together, keep mixing it until it forms a dough.
- When using a stand mixer, make sure to use the paddle attachment instead of the wire whisk. The mixture may take up to 5 minutes of beating before it comes together.
- When mixing, all ingredients, including the egg and butter, should be at room temperature.
- Avoid scooping flour with the measuring cup. Lightly spoon flour into the cup, then level it with the straight edge of a knife.
- Chill the dough before rolling so the cookies do not spread and lose their shape. Roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. If the dough becomes too soft, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it. Do not add too much flour while rolling the dough.
- Do not place new batches of cookies on a warm pan, or the dough will spread.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 80 | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 22mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 124IU | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cookies, Dessert
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Any recommendations on how to sub the egg?
I have only made this recipe as written so I couldn’t say.
I came to this recipe from
A link In your gingerbread icing recipe. I have molds to make gingerbread house molds. Would you say this sugar cookie recipe would hold up as a wall? I hate gingerbread and the recipe that came with molds was only gingerbread.
Thank you for your advice!
The sugar cookies should work as walls but they will definitely be more delicate than gingerbread would be. Make sure to pack the molds firmly and bake them for the full cook time in order to get the best results. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
What happens if you use self rising flour?
We’ve only made the recipe as written Faye. I’d think they would rise a lot and not hold their shape as well since there is more baking powder in self rising flour than we add in this recipe.
I have made this recipe over a dozen times and it always turns out perfect. Yesterday I was not paying attention and added too much flour ♀️ which resulted in a crumbly dough that would not stick together. I added just under 2 tablespoons of water to the dough to get the consistency right and it was saved! You wouldn’t even know I messed up!! SWP Employee
Thanks so much for sharing your great tips Samantha! Glad you’ve enjoyed these as much as we do.
Holly, do I need to adjust this recipe if I live in High Altitude (Colorado).
Thanks,
Michelle
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of experience with High Altitude cooking so I can’t say for sure.
I love these cookies! Super easy and delish and they turn out every time. Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you loved these Sydney!
This recipe is perfect! I made the dough last night and left it in the fridge until this afternoon – it was very hard coming out of the fridge so I actually preheat my oven to about 125 and then turned it off – then i cut my dough balls in half and put them in the oven as it was cooling just until the outside was squishy enough to shape and mold the ball! Worked like a charm!
The cookies themselves rolled beautifully and cooked perfectly! They held their shapes and I ended up with 55(!!) bat and ghost cookies! Thank you for the recipe! Such a delicious cookie!!
this recipe was so easy and turned out great, family loved it!
I’m so glad your family loved these Sarah!
Recipe was incredibly dry and crumbly. Had to throw it out.
Oh no, so sorry to hear that Michaela! Did you mix it well, if not mixed long enough it can appear dry if the butter doesn’t completely mix in? When measuring flour did you scoop the flour into the measuring cup or use the measuring cup to scoop the flour from the bag directly? That can affect the density of the flour. Did you substitute the butter for margarine? That could contribute to it as well. Hopefully, this helps!
This recipe was a disaster. You need to specify that the butter needs to be soft . And also 3 cups of flour is way too much.
2 1/2 is plenty.
Wasted so much time and following your recipe.
We made 4 batches of these cookies exactly as written and this weekend and had no problems with the dough being dry. You’ll want to ensure when you measure your flour that the flour is measured by lightly spooning it into the measuring cup (and not scooping it with the measuring cup as this will add extra flour causing a dry dough). Hope that helps.
We tested one batch reducing the flour by ¼ cup and the dough seemed ok but the cookies began to spread and didn’t hold their shape quite as well.
Came out crumbly (followed every recommendation about butter and flour), I squished it together. Put in fridge overnight to chill to make in the morning and the dough is rock hard. It’s been out for an hour now and no change. So bummed I just didn’t get the regular mix, that always works.
I can’t say for sure why yours was dry and crumbly Chris. We made multiple batches and did not have this problem. Did you mix it well? If not mixed long enough it can appear dry if the butter doesn’t completely mix in. When measuring your flour, did you scoop it with the measuring cup or sprinkle it into the measuring cup? (scooping can add extra flour).
Love all your meals
This recipe is amazing. However, after making several batching and them being perfect, they now are very soft and fragile. I refrigerate the dough (usually overnight) use the same measurements etc. any advice?
Hmm, that is strange Brandi! I am not sure what changed this time. They should be soft but not to the point of becoming fragile. It could be a results of too much butter?
Best with salted or unsalted butter
I prefer unsalted.
How long can you chill this sugar cookie recipe? Also can this recipe be frozen and kept for travel. Making cookie dough today ( weds.) And plan to roll out on Sat. Would that be fine ? Thank-you Sandra B.
Yes, it should be fine to make on Wed and roll on Sat. Once baked and cooled, this recipe can be frozen.
Do you have to chill it for 4 hrs or overnight?
The dough is chilled to make it easier to handle while rolling and to ensure it doesn’t spread too much.
Do you have to refrigerate the dough
Yes, the dough is chilled in step 4.
But does it have to be exactly 4 hours? Or can it be less? Like 2hrs?
You could probably do a little bit less. I would flatten the dough into a disc shape so it chills all of the way through. If you find your first tray spreads too much or the dough is difficult to work with (sticky) you’ll want to chill it a bit more.
Hi Holly. I just put together this dough. I used your exact measurements but the dough was way too dry. I had to add 2 tbl of milk to get the correct consistency. It’s cooling in the fridge now. Thoughts?
I can’t say for sure why yours was dry. Did you mix it well, if not mixed long enough it can appear dry if the butter doesn’t completely mix in. When measuring your flour, did you scoop it with the measuring cup or sprinkle it into the measuring cup? (scooping can add extra flour).
How long can these cookies last after baking?
Hi Kendall, if you can resist them ;) they should last week or two or you can freeze them for up to a few months.
Will the cookie taste different if you use butter (salted or unsalted) versus margarine?
Hi Marikay, it should taste fine but margarine won’t allow the cookies to hold their shape as well so they will spread out more and not keep their fun cookie cutter shapes.
Can I make a couple of the dough and freeze it and then that way when I want more just have it already ?
Yes, this dough freezes well.
Is this something that can easily be multiplied?
Will it hurt anything if I chill the dough longer than 4 hours? I am wanting to make it a day ahead so things will be prepared for our baking day.
Thank You!!!
Definitely Katie! You can easily double this recipe and it is totally fine to refrigerate it overnight as well! Have fun on your baking day.
Is this plain or dr flour
Plain
I made this with sprinkles and i didnt freeze it, and ohmygosh it was soooo good. 10/10 recommend making
Thanks Hali! These are so yummy, glad you love them!