Christmas Sugar Cookie
Updated Dec 05, 2025
Christmas sugar cookies made with a classic vanilla sugar cookie base and a quick icing you can mix in minutes for decorating.
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My Christmas Sugar Cookies is So Good!
Christmas Sugar Cookies are THE holiday cookie recipe! It doesn’t get much more festive than crisp sugar cookies cut into fun shapes and decked out in colorful icing and sprinkles. I make these Christmas sugar cookies every year because they’re simple, reliable, and easy to decorate with the kids. The vanilla flavor is classic without being overly sweet, and the icing turns out glossy and pipeable without using egg whites. Christmas sugar cookies are also the one recipe that works for any shape or theme, so I can knock out a whole tray of holiday cookies with one batch of dough.
Christmas Sugar Cookie Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- Dry Ingredients: All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Wet Ingredients: Unsalted butter, egg, and vanilla extract (or almond extract).
Cookie Icing
- Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar. Make sure it’s well sifted.
- Milk: Any type of milk you have on hand.
- Peppermint extract: I love the festive flavor of peppermint extract, which pairs well with the vanilla in the dough, but you can use vanilla for a more classic take on Christmas sugar cookies.
- Food coloring: Optional—as you can see in the photos, you can do snowflakes without any coloring.
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
Let’s get started! Although I made the dough for this recipe in a stand mixer, you can also use a mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
Make the Sugar Cookie Dough
Make the Icing and Decorate the Cookies
Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
Christmas sugar cookies made with a simple vanilla dough and an easy icing that pipes cleanly without egg whites.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract or vanilla
- Food coloring optional
Instructions
Make the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add softened butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add vanilla and egg. Continue mixing for another 3 minutes to combine well.
- Add baking powder and salt, and combine well. Then, add 1 cup of flour at a time, mixing until just combined and no flour streak remains.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thick.
- Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, keeping each cut as close as possible to get the most out of each cut. Transfer cut-out cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Combine the scraps of dough and reroll to cut out more dough, continuing this step until all the dough is used.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie cutter you use. Remove from the oven when the bottom edges start to brown lightly.
- Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the Icing
- Add powdered sugar, milk, and extract to a small bowl and mix until smooth.
- If coloring, divide into separate bowls and add food colors as desired. Add to a pastry bag or squeeze bottle.
- Pipe icing onto cookies and allow to air dry until set. If adding sprinkles or edible glitter, do so before setting.
Equipment
Notes
- My Top Tip: Flour the cookie cutters if they’re sticking. Dip the cutters in flour, cut a cookie, dip again, cut again, etc. Sometimes the cookie cutters don’t stick to the dough, but if they do, this will help!
- Storage: Store your iced Christmas cookies in an airtight container after the frosting has set. (If you’re worried about smudging the frosting, you can place wax or parchment paper between the layers.) These cookies will last up to a week at room temperature when stored properly.
- Freezing: Freeze these cookies for up to 3 months. It’s best to store them before frosting them, but you can freeze them after frosting by placing them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, freezing until the frosting is solid, and then transferring to an airtight container or freezer bag.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 151kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 49mg, Potassium: 20mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin A: 188IU, Calcium: 21mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Recipe Variations
- Use another icing. If you have a favorite icing to use for Christmas sugar cookies, feel free to substitute that. My Homemade Small-Batch Buttercream will also work, but keep in mind you’ll need to refrigerate the cookies and you won’t be able to stack them.
- Add fresh citrus. I love lemon or orange zest in sugar cookie dough. Just skip the peppermint in the icing and use a splash of fresh citrus juice instead. I use about 1 tablespoon of zest in the dough for this recipe. Add it when you cream the sugar and butter.
- Add rice flour. If you like your sugar cookies very crisp, swap ½ cup of the all purpose flour for ½ cup of white grainy rice flour. It gives the cookies an amazing snappy texture.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t forget to soften the butter. When you gently press a finger into it, it should leave an indentation. Softening the butter helps it incorporate evenly into the rest of the dough.
- Flour the cookie cutters if they’re sticking. Dip the cutters in flour, cut a cookie, dip again, cut again, etc. Sometimes the cookie cutters don’t stick to the dough, but if they do, this will help!
- Make them frustration-free for little ones. If you’re baking with toddlers or preschoolers, I recommend spreading a base layer of icing onto each cookie and setting out sprinkles, sanding sugar, and M&Ms that they can use to decorate. This is much easier (and less messy!) than having them pipe the frosting.
- Chill the dough if needed. I love that you don’t have to chill this dough, but that said, if you are having a hard time rolling the dough out or it is sticky, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, the roll it out.
- Don’t use mint extract. Mint extract tastes like spearmint, not peppermint, which isn’t what we want for these cookies!
FAQs
How do I keep the rolling pin from sticking to the cookie dough?
If your rolling pin is sticking, you can lightly dust the top of the dough with flour. (You can also dust the rolling pin itself, but I find dusting the dough is much more effective.) Be sure to roll without using a lot of pressure, too.
Why didn’t I get 32 cookies from this recipe?
The yield in the recipe card is approximate because different sizes and shapes of cookie cutters will yield different numbers of cookies!
Are these cookies crisp or chewy?
These Christmas sugar cookies are crisp without being hard. If you’d like a softer cookie, you can under-bake them slightly.
Comments
The sugar cookies were soooooooo delicious!!!!!! The smell was amazing!!! I totally give five stars!!!๐ช๐โญโญโญโญโญ๐
Yay!! So happy you loved them, Evie! Thanks!!
Wondering if you can make dough ahead and put in the fridge until the next day to use ?
I haven’t tried it myself yet but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!! Please let me know how it turns out!
Your cookies are so cute, I just have to buy some cookie cutters. I have a question for you. My daughter tried making little houses with Graham wafers last weekend. I bought some icing for the cookies but it was a big disaster. Will your frosting be good for sticking the walls together? If not, what do you propose? Thank you.
Yay, I hope you enjoy the cookies! With a few modifications, I think this icing recipe could work for holding together your daughter’s graham cracker houses. I would add the powdered sugar, peppermint/vanilla extract, and (optional) food coloring to a bowl and mix, adding just one tablespoon of milk at a time until you get a fully mixed but thick icing paste. I think you will likely need 2 tablespoons, maybe 3, to get the correct consistency but it will require some experimenting! Good luck!!
Thank you for your answer. Have a nice day!
These cookies are delicious with the most perfect icing too! I used this recipe for my holiday baking and everyone loved it!! The cookie recipe was super easy to follow and makes the best tasting sugar cookies! The icing is perfect and sets amazing, giving enough time to decorate but then sets quickly after and just beautifully!! Canโt wait to try your other holiday cookie recipes!!!
Thank you so much, Zainun! Happy to hear that they were a hit among family and friends! Looking forward to hearing what you think of my other holiday cookies!