Classic Holiday Sugar Cookies Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 19, 2024 • 3 min read
The best sugar cookies are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and perfectly smooth on top for easy decorating.
Learn From the Best
6 Things You Need to Make Sugar Cookies
Make sure you have everything you need for your next holiday baking project.
- 1. Sugar cookie dough: For best results, make the dough the day before you plan to bake and decorate the cookies.
- 2. Cookie cutters: Whether you're using festive shapes or simple rounds, cookie cutters are a must for sugar cookies.
- 3. Food coloring: If you're making colored sugar cookies, gel food coloring is easier to incorporate than liquid food coloring.
- 4. Cookie icing: Royal icing, made from confectioners' sugar and egg whites, is a favorite because it's easy to work with and hardens when dry.
- 5. Piping bag and tips: You can make most designs using a few disposable plastic piping bags, a coupler, and a fine tip.
- 6. Small bowls: If you're working with multiple colors of icing, keep each color in its own small bowl with a dedicated spoon or spatula. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap to keep the icing from drying out.
4 Tips for Decorating Holiday Sugar Cookies
For spectacular holiday sugar cookies, follow these baking and icing tips.
- 1. Refrigerate the cookies before baking. This helps the cookies keep their shape by preventing them from spreading out too early in the baking process.
- 2. Work quickly. Royal icing dries quickly, which is great because it allows you to decorate with multiple colors on the same cookie. But when working to fill an area with color (known as "flooding"), make sure you work quickly enough that the icing won't dry before you've filled the entire area.
- 3. Make a border with icing. When making a filled design, always pipe the border first. This will help the icing stay within the lines.
- 4. Let the icing dry completely. Royal icing will start to harden within a couple of minutes, but give cookies about four hours to dry completely before storing. To protect your designs, store cookies on their sides between sheets of parchment paper.
Classic Holiday Sugar Cookie Recipe
makes
About 3 dozen cookiesprep time
30 mintotal time
8 hr 42 mincook time
12 minIngredients
- 1
In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- 2
Place butter and sugar in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add egg and vanilla and continue to beat on low speed until fully incorporated.
- 3
Add the flour mixture and continue to mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Form the dough into two balls.
- 4
Wrap the dough balls in plastic wrap and then flatten into two discs. Refrigerate overnight or up to four days, or freeze up to one month.
- 5
When you're ready to bake, remove one disc from the fridge and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- 6
To roll the cookie dough, first shape the dough into a thick rectangle.
- 7
Cover the rectangle with a sheet of plastic wrap and roll dough ¼ of an inch thick. Pastry rulers or rings that fit onto the ends of your rolling pin can help you get the thickness just right. Use a rubber bench scraper to smooth out the top of the dough.
- 8
Remove the plastic wrap and cut out cookies as efficiently as possible to avoid overworking the dough. Form the remaining dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, flatten into a disc, and refrigerate if needed. Repeat the rolling and cutting process.
- 9
Arrange cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet, and refrigerate about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 10
Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, about 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
- 11
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
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