Sugar cookies are an all-year-round favourite biscuit with the crisp edges and soft centres. There are so many cut out shapes you can use to create unique designs, plus you can decorate all year round in different themes of Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, or just your Friday evening.
I started making sugar cookies when I was a uni student living out of home because I was short on money, but wanted to give my friends and family a thoughtful gift for Christmas. Along with Gingerbread Cookies, Christmas M&M Cookies and Rum Balls, they were everyone's favourite Christmas gift.
I've made these many times for many years so have a few tips and tricks up my sleeve so I can help you out!
Why you'll love this recipe
Easy. These sugar cookies come together really easily and are a fantastic Holiday activity for the whole family.
Flavourful. I have a secret ingredient in the sugar cookies that make these extremely more-ish. If you're after extreme flavour-packed, try my Pumpkin Spice Cookies.
Christmassy. You can dress the sugar cookies up like I've done with Reindeer Brownies or Brownie Christmas Trees, or even something as simple as Rudolf Tim Tams.
Ingredients
Sugar cookies involve very few ingredients and exact measurements, so there isn't really a lot of room for error. This is why I've given the measurements in grams (best measured using a kitchen scale) for the main ingredients instead of cups because it's more accurate.
Unsalted butter and sugar. Butter creamed with the sugar provides the base for the cookie. You want to make sure you're creaming correctly as this impacts the texture of the final cookie. It should end up in soft peaks after approx. 2 minutes of mixing.
All-purpose flour. Unlike Shortbread Cookies, I find you don't need to sift the flour in the sugar cookies.
Extracts. Vanilla extract adds flavour to the cookie base, but I have an extra secret up my sleeve. In addition to the vanilla in the sugar cookies, I add a touch of almond extract. It amplifies the flavour and I highly recommend you try it. You won't regret it!
Salt. Balances the sweetness from the sugar.
Baking powder. Adds a slight lift to the final cookie.
How to make sugar cookies with icing
- Cream butter and sugar
Add room temperature butter and sugar to a large bowl. Using a mixer (hand or bench), combine until they’re a creamy texture (approx. 2 minutes). Add extracts and eggs, and mix well.
- Mix dry ingredients
Mix dry flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Use your hands for the final part to form a dough ball and place on a lightly floured benchtop.
- Roll then chill
Use a rolling pin and roll the dough until it’s about 1cm thick.
Place on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days). - Shape
Remove from fridge and add the dough balls to a lightly floured benchtop and re-roll dough to desired thickness. You can make sugar cookies thick or thin, depending on your preferences. Use your cookie cutters to shape.
- Bake and cool
Add cookies to a lined baking pan (I like using my silicone baking mats as you can reuse them again and again which is essential for all the Christmas baking I do) and bake for 10-15 minutes @175C (depending on thickness). Let cool for another 15 minutes as this will help the centre harden.
- Decorate
See my suggestions below.
Sugar cookie decorating
There are so many different icing options you can make for your sugar cookies.
Cookie icing is ideal for beginners and uses icing sugar mixed with slightly melted butter, vanilla extract and water for consistency. If you like a bit of colour, you can add food colouring. Once mixed, you can then dip your cookies directly into the icing, use a piping bag for fancier options or spread using a knife or spoon.
There are other icing options out there that I haven't experimented with yet because I get a little inpatient when it comes to decorating. But, Sally's Baking Addiction has plenty of icing options for her sugar cookie recipe so you can take a look. Her recipe is actually my inspiration for this one!
Substitutions and Variations
Dairy-Free. You can make sugar cookies without dairy. I regularly use an oil-based butter called nuttelex which comes in olive oil or sunflower oil based. I don't notice a difference in taste or texture, and neither has anyone that I've given these to sample or as gifts.
Gluten-Free. I have made sugar cookies with almond meal before and it impacts the overall texture a little bit making the cookies a little bit more dense and rough (you may solve this by sifting the flour - lmk if you try), but they're still delicious.
Unsalted Butter. I recommend using unsalted butter because every brand has different salt contents. By using unsalted, you can control the amount of salt. If you only have salted butter, omit the additional salt added to the recipe.
Storing
Store sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
If they go hard (likely because the container isn't airtight), add a piece of bread which will help them keep their texture.
Freezing sugar cookies
Freeze Dough. To freeze, roll the dough until it's approx ½ cm thick (this will allow you to cut the cookies out directly from frozen). Then, wrap the sugar cookie dough in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. You can also layer the sugar cookie doughs on top of each other by placing a piece of parchment paper between. This will stop them from sticking together.
Thaw the dough at room temperature or you can cut them out immediately and cook directly from frozen (just add a couple extra minutes to the baking time).
Freeze Cookies. If freezing with icing, place in a single layer on a plate and freeze for 2 hours (this will help the icing completely set so it doesn't get ruined). Then, place on top of each other with a piece of parchment paper between the cookies (double protection for the pretty icing).
Alternatively, freeze the un-iced sugar cookies with parchment paper between.
You can freeze for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Plain or iced sugar cookies can be frozen for about 3 months. Make sure the icing is set in the fridge before lining them up to place in the freezer (otherwise you'll end up with icing spilling onto other cookies). Place them in an airtight container or a silicone bag to freeze.
You can also freeze the cookie dough. I like to do this as I use this sugar cookie recipe for Christmas and usually make LOTS! You can freeze for up to 3 months as well. I would suggest separating the dough into multiple balls, you can then flatten as you would normally and wrap in cling wrap before freezing.
To thaw the dough, bring to room temperature for about an hour before rolling out again and refrigerating.
You can store sugar cookies at room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container for about 1-2 weeks. As I live in Australia, I'll store mine in the fridge because Christmas time is waaaaaay too hot and the icing melts at room temperature.
Before you've chilled the cookie dough it's too soft to cut into the shapes (and they will spread too much in the oven). Once the dough is chilled, it's quite difficult to work with so you would have to use a lot of muscle strength to flatten out the dough before cutting it into shapes. This step really just saves you time and energy.
This depends on your preference! If you like extra thick and soft sugar cookies, roll the dough to about 1cm thick and cook closer to the 15 minute mark. I like mine a little in between and will normally roll to 0.5cm (just under or over depending on how many cookies I want).
Do you want more Christmas Recipes?
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It's your one-stop-shop for mains, sides and desserts
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Other Christmas recipes you might like
Recipe
Easy Sugar Cookies (with Dairy-Free option)
Ingredients
Cookies
- 280 g plain flour See Note 1
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 150 g white sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract optional but recommended
- 170 g unsalted butter room temperature (See Note 2 for DF)
Icing
- 350 g icing sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon butter slightly melted
- water for consistency
- food colouring optional
Instructions
Cookies
- Add room temperature butter and sugar to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or bench mixer, combine until they’re a creamy texture (approx. 2 minutes). Add extracts and eggs, and mix again until combined.
- Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) in a separate bowl. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Use your hands for the final part to form a dough ball and place on a lightly floured benchtop.
- Use a rolling pin and roll the dough until it’s about 1cm thick. Place on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
- Remove from fridge, re-roll dough to desired thickness and use your cookie cutters to shape.
- Add cookies to a lined baking pan and bake for 10-15 minutes @175C (depending on thickness). Let cool for another 15 minutes as this will help the centre harden.
Icing
- Wait for the cookies to cool before icing then combine icing sugar, vanilla extract, butter and food colouring together. Adjust consistency with water until it is as desired (add small amounts at a time)
- Spread on cookies (or dip the top of the cookie in).
- Refrigerate 4 hours until icing has cooled and hardened.
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