Christmas sugar cookies are the easiest way to turn an ordinary holiday baking day into something seriously special. These soft, buttery Christmas sugar cookies have lightly crisp edges, tender centres, and a simple homemade icing that makes decorating feel fun rather than fussy.
I love recipes like this because you get that gorgeous bakery-style finish without needing professional decorating skills. Grab your favourite Christmas cookie cutters, mix up a batch of colourful icing, and let everyone get involved.
Think Christmas trees. Snowflakes. Stars. Candy canes. Little gingerbread-style shapes. Even wonky cookies look adorable once they have a swipe of icing and a scattering of festive sprinkles.
And that is exactly why these easy Christmas sugar cookies deserve a spot on your holiday baking list.
They are pretty enough for a Christmas cookie platter, sturdy enough for cookie exchanges, and fun enough for a cosy afternoon of baking with the family.
Why These Christmas Sugar Cookies Are Worth Making
A good decorated sugar cookie needs to do more than look pretty.
The cookie itself should taste buttery and vanilla-rich. It should hold its shape instead of spreading into mysterious blobs. The icing should be easy to work with, smooth enough to decorate, and firm enough to set without turning the cookie into a rock.
This recipe is designed around all three.
The dough is simple. The ingredients are familiar. The chilling step keeps your shapes defined. And the icing can be tinted into classic Christmas colours like red, green and white.
The result?
Soft-centred Christmas sugar cookies with crisp edges, smooth icing and loads of decorating potential.
That makes these decorated Christmas sugar cookies especially useful when you want impressive holiday baking without spending an entire day in the kitchen.
What Makes These Cookies So Good
The secret starts with the butter.
Use softened unsalted butter so it creams smoothly with the sugar. This creates a rich, tender cookie with that classic homemade Christmas flavour.
Vanilla extract keeps the flavour familiar and comforting, while a tiny amount of almond extract adds extra depth if you enjoy that bakery-style taste.
The dough also gets a proper chill before rolling. This is important. Cold dough is easier to handle and helps your Christmas cookie cutters create cleaner shapes.
For the icing, powdered sugar creates a smooth finish, while egg whites help it set firmly enough for decorating and stacking once completely dry.
And you do not need to create complicated designs.
Simple dots.
Stripes.
Swirls.
Tiny stars.
A dusting of sprinkles.
Honestly, the easiest designs often look the most festive.
Christmas Sugar Cookies Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 350g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 226g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
For the simple royal-style icing:
- 450g powdered sugar
- 2 large pasteurised egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6–8 tablespoons water, as needed
- Red gel food colouring
- Green gel food colouring
- Optional white gel food colouring
- Christmas sprinkles or sanding sugar
This combination makes approximately 28–30 medium Christmas cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
How To Make Decorated Christmas Sugar Cookies
Start by whisking together the flour and salt.
In a separate large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until pale, smooth and creamy. This should take around 2–3 minutes.
Add the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract if using. Beat until everything is evenly combined.
Gradually add the flour mixture. Mix just until a soft dough forms.
Do not overmix.
Divide the dough into two portions and flatten each into a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
That chill gives the dough time to firm up and makes rolling much easier.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 175°C or 350°F.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough to approximately 6mm thick.
Now comes the fun part.
Cut out your Christmas shapes using trees, stars, snowflakes, candy canes, ornaments or your favourite seasonal cutters.
Transfer the cookies to lined baking trays, leaving a little space between each one.
Bake for approximately 9–11 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.
You want the centres to remain pale.
Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
Do not decorate warm cookies.
Let them cool completely first.
Make The Easy Christmas Cookie Icing
Place the powdered sugar and egg whites into a mixing bowl.
Add the vanilla and begin mixing on low speed.
Gradually add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the icing reaches the consistency you need.
For outlining cookies, keep the icing slightly thicker.
For flooding the centres, loosen it with a little additional water.
Divide the icing between small bowls and tint with gel food colouring.
Red, green and white are the classic Christmas combination, but you can also create gold, pale blue, pink or even icy silver-inspired decorations.
Transfer the icing into piping bags or small resealable bags.
Snip a tiny opening from the corner.
Start with a simple outline around the edge of each cooled cookie. Then fill the centre with thinner icing.
Use a toothpick to gently move the icing into corners or pop small air bubbles.
Finish with sprinkles while the icing is still wet.
Allow the cookies to sit at room temperature until the icing is completely set.
Easy Christmas Cookie Decorating Ideas
You absolutely do not need to be a professional cookie decorator.
For Christmas tree sugar cookies, flood the cookie with green icing and add tiny white dots for ornaments.
For snowflakes, use white icing and finish with sparkling sanding sugar.
For candy cane cookies, alternate red and white stripes.
For stars, try white icing with red dots around the edges.
For Christmas present cookies, use a contrasting icing colour to create a simple ribbon.
Want something even easier?
Flood the entire cookie with one colour and add sprinkles.
Done.
That is your cute Christmas sugar cookies moment with almost zero decorating stress.
Pro Tips For Better Christmas Sugar Cookies
1. Chill the dough properly.
Skipping the chill can make the dough difficult to roll and increase spreading during baking. Give it time to firm up.
2. Avoid adding too much flour.
A heavily floured surface can make sugar cookies dry. Use just enough flour to prevent sticking.
3. Bake similar-sized cookies together.
Tiny cookies can finish much sooner than large ones. Keeping similar shapes together makes timing easier.
4. Let cookies cool completely before icing.
Warm cookies can soften the icing and make your decorations slide.
5. Keep unused icing covered.
Royal-style icing dries quickly when exposed to air. Cover bowls with plastic wrap or a damp cloth while decorating.
These little details make a surprisingly big difference.
How To Store Decorated Christmas Sugar Cookies
Once the icing has completely hardened, place the cookies in an airtight container.
For the best appearance, separate layers with parchment paper if your decorations are raised.
The cookies are perfect for holiday cookie trays, edible gifts, Christmas parties and cookie exchanges.
You can also make the dough ahead of time and chill it before baking, which is brilliant when your holiday schedule starts getting chaotic.
And honestly, December has enough chaos already.
Your cookies do not need to join in.
Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe Card
Yield: 28–30 cookies
Prep time: 25 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour
Bake time: 9–11 minutes
Decorating time: 30–45 minutes
Total time: About 2 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients
Cookies
350g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
226g unsalted butter
150g granulated sugar
1 large egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
Icing
450g powdered sugar
2 large pasteurised egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6–8 tablespoons water
Gel food colouring
Festive sprinkles
Method
- Whisk flour and salt together.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and smooth.
- Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract.
- Mix in the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.
- Divide into two discs, wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 175°C/350°F.
- Roll dough to approximately 6mm thick.
- Cut into Christmas shapes.
- Bake for 9–11 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
- Cool completely.
- Mix powdered sugar, egg whites and vanilla.
- Add water gradually until the desired icing consistency is reached.
- Tint into festive colours.
- Pipe, flood and decorate the cooled cookies.
- Allow icing to set completely before storing.
Estimated Nutrition Per Cookie
Based on 30 cookies, including icing:
Calories: 178
Protein: 1.7g
Carbohydrates: 28.9g
Fat: 6.4g
Saturated fat: approximately 3.8g
Sugar: approximately 19g
Sodium: approximately 55mg
Fibre: approximately 0.5g
Nutrition is an estimate and will vary according to cookie size, icing quantity and decorating ingredients.
The Christmas Cookie Everyone Wants To Take Home
There is something wonderfully nostalgic about a tray of Christmas sugar cookies decorated with bright icing and colourful sprinkles.
They look festive.
They smell incredible.
And they instantly make the kitchen feel like Christmas.
Best of all, this recipe gives you plenty of room to make it your own. Keep the designs minimalist or go completely overboard with sprinkles, icing details and glittery sugar.
These are the cookies for Christmas baking days, holiday parties, edible gifts and cosy afternoons with a mug of something warm.
So grab those cookie cutters, put on your favourite Christmas playlist and get decorating.
And when your tray is finished, I want to see it!
Share your cookie creations, your favourite decorating colours or the cutest Christmas shape you made. And if you love easy holiday baking ideas, make sure you join the newsletter for more festive recipes, Christmas dessert ideas, holiday cookie recipes and delicious inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
