The One and Only Christmas Sugar Cookie
This sugar cookie recipe is perfect for decorating. It’s simple to make and doesn’t spread during baking!
I call this the One and Only Sugar Cookie because it’s the bestest ever for Christmas Cookie decorating. It has the perfect texture to it…it’s not crisp (and in my opinion, shouldn’t be), but there’s a slight resistance when you bite into these soft, buttery cookies. They’ve also got the nicest hint of almond and vanilla. I recommend decorating these with a simple royal icing (confectioner’s sugar + water) and lots of colorful sprinkles, and hopefully you have more patience for decorating than I do. The moment I begin to start icing these things they usually just get eaten.
The One and Only Christmas Sugar Cookie
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 extra large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 7.5 oz all purpose flour, by weight (1.5 cups, measured)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer (read my creaming article if you need a review on how to do it properly). Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and beat until blended.
- In a bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar and beat just until the flour disappears. Scrape the dough out into plastic wrap. The dough may look slightly crumbly, but it should come together well as you shape it into a disk. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Flour your countertop, and roll the dough out to the desired thickness (I do somewhere between 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch thick). Cut the dough with your cutters and place on your baking sheet (no need to grease the pan or use parchment if you don’t want to). Refrigerate for 20 minutes, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 10 minutes until very faintly golden brown on the edges. Cool on a wire rack completely before decorating.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
30 Comments on “The One and Only Christmas Sugar Cookie”
Just made these using a cut out of the number 5 for a classroom bday celebration, and I just want everyone to know this recipe is great.
The recipe looked simple and perfect. Followed your recipe to the last measure. and was just trying to roll out the dough with my daughter who was really looking forward to cutting cookies. What a disaster. The dough rolled, but it was not easy – Kept breaking so patted it down with my hands. and then it was too sticky and too soft to lift off the counter – this after being in the refrigerator for over 3 hrs. what am i doing wrong 🙁
Hi Zee, based on the information you gave me, my best guess is that the butter was not softened/warm enough at first, but then it sounds like it was too soft toward the end (maybe after you had worked it on the counter). If the butter isn’t soft enough to form a cohesive dough from the start, it may break apart. I haven’t had it happen here but have with other butter-heavy shortbread style recipes. Hope that helps!
These were great, I made them for a big group thing and had someone asking around trying to get the recipe 🙂 (of course I shared & pointed them here).
That’s great Jacqueline, glad the recipe turned out well!!
love this cookies my daughter loves to help me when i do then
Hi Sandra, that is wonderful! I’m so happy you and your daughter enjoy making the cookies. Happy cooking!
Another great holiday recipe! All the kids in the family had a blast decorating these! I found that I needed to add quite a bit more flour because the dough was just way too sticky to play with after letting it chill. Has this happened to you? Or it could be possible that I missed something. As always, thanks for sharing!
Did you measure or weigh the flour? Sometimes that can make a big difference, and also the humidity in the air. It’s great to go with your gut though and make adjustments as necessary, which it sounds like you did!
Don’t be cruel and send me a doz….