The best part about the holidays? Making, decorating and eating Christmas sugar cookies, duh! I always look forward to going to my parents’ house for the holidays and spending one full day in the kitchen with my mom making up yummy treats that last us to the new year.
Growing up, I remember making a ton of the peanut butter blossom cookies. My family is full of peanut butter lovers so you can imagine how hard it’s been dating a boy who’s allergic to peanuts 😂
But over the last few years, we’ve started adding Christmas sugar cookies to the bunch. Yes, they are delicious but they’re so fun to decorate. Most people add lots of the frosting on top so they’re essentially covered in it. At our household, we like to make cute designs without loading on the frosting. Less sugar and just as delicious. Plus the royal icing is really tough to master.
Honestly, these cookies are really good without the icing so feel free to omit it altogether. Since the ingredients are pretty basic, we usually make a few in dog bone shapes and give them to our dog in small pieces. It’s the holiday, they should get to enjoy treats, too!
This is NOT an original Breathe Sweat Eat recipe but they’re too good not to share. I’m not quite sure where my mom found the recipe but we’ve been making them since 2017 and love them. The almond extract in this recipe makes the taste so unique and delicious, couldn’t recommend these enough.
Ingredients You’ll Need For These Easy Christmas Sugar Cookies
Butter: You’ll need 2 sticks of butter (gasp, I know, but it’s worth it). My dad is lactose intolerant and we’ve made them with Country Crock’s plant based butter and it worked like a charm.
Sugar: Any kind of granulated sugar will work here although we usually use cane sugar.
Powdered Sugar: Did you know you can make powdered sugar by putting normal sugar in a blender on high for a few minutes? This could save you a trip to the store if you don’t have any on hand.
Egg: One whole egg. If you’re vegan, you should be able to use a flax egg.
Vanilla and almond extract: I know you have vanilla extract in your cabinet, but you may need to add almond extract to your list. It’s essential for this recipe. You definitely COULD omit it if you don’t have it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
All purpose flour: We have always used all purpose flour, but you could probably swap it for whole wheat, although I haven’t tested this before. I’d avoid using oat or almond flour here since it won’t have the same flavor or texture.
Salt: Any kind of salt will work here, let’s not overthink it.
MORE YUMMY TREATS TO TRY:
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Simple & Easy Christmas Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer, optional but highly recommended
- Cookie sheet
- Plastic wrap
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie cutters
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened 2 sticks
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 2¾ cup flour
- Pinch salt
Royal Icing
- 3 tbsp meringue powder we use Wilton's brand
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 5 tbsp water
- food coloring of choice optional
Instructions
- Add softened butter, sugar and powdered sugar to a stand mixer or use a hand mixer in a large bowl until soft and fluffy. If you don't have a mixer, you can whisk by hand in a large bowl.
- Add in the egg, vanilla and almond extracts, salt and flour until well combined.
- Wrap dough in a sheet of plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sprinkle flour onto clean counter top and roll dough with a rolling pin to about ¼ to ⅓" thick. Add extra flour in wet areas of the dough as needed to avoid it from sticking to the counter or the rolling pin.
- Use cookie cutters of choice to cut out dough. When you're done cutting the cookies, you can roll remaining dough again and repeat to get the most cookies out of the dough.
- Place cookies on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.
- Let cookies cool while you make your icing of choice.
- Combine royal icing ingredients in stand mixer — meringue powder, powdered sugar and water. Blend on high for 10-12 minutes.
- Once icing is mixed, add in food coloring and mix for a minute.
- Take a large ziplock bag, cut a small slit in the corner and add an icing tip, if you have one.
- Immediately add some of the icing to the plastic ziplock bag. Drape a damp towel over the stand mixer bowl covering any remaining icing to keep it from hardening.
- Start decorating the cookies with the royal icing and sprinkles. Once decorated, enjoy the cookies & have a happy holiday!