Let’s kick off cookies’ biggest time of year with the most essential recipe: Christmas Sugar Cookies. Soft, tender, and surprisingly easy to make, these are THE perfect cutout sugar cookie for the holidays.
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The best Christmas cookie recipe.
This melt in your mouth cream cheese sugar cookie recipe has been my go-to roll out cookie dough since well before I was tall enough to preheat the oven. It’s also a reader favorite here on Well Plated!
- These chewy Christmas sugar cookies are sturdy enough to mail in a care package (maybe with some Bourbon Balls and Salted Caramel Truffles?), but they remain magically soft up to a week after baking. They’re great for freezing and both the dough and the frosting are very forgiving, so much so that little ones can easily help to make and decorate them.
Unfortunately, a lot of good sugar cookies are ruined by hard or flavorless frosting, but this recipe won’t let you down. It sets enough to where you can stack the decorated cookies without messing them up, but it’s soft enough to bite into easily. No one wants to bite into hard frosting!
Key Ingredients
You’ll find the full list of ingredients in the recipe card below, but here are some notes to keep in mind.
- Cream Cheese. While they don’t taste like cream cheese, cream cheese is the secret ingredient that makes this sugar cookie dough so easy to handle. It tenderizes the cookies and adds a subtle tang that balances the sweetness of the sugar and frosting.
- Flour. All-purpose flour works best for this recipe. Be sure to measure properly. If you add too much flour, it will make the cookies tough.
- Butter. For melt in your mouth Christmas sugar cookies!
- Vanilla + Almond Extract. Adds delicious, complex flavor to the cookies. Don’t skimp and ensure you use pure (not imitation) extracts.
- Lemon Zest. My secret ingredient. You’ll love the addition!
- Decorations! Top your cookies with sprinkles, candy, sparkling sugar, or whatever your heart desires.
5 Star Review
Made these over the weekend with my kids—they are PERFECT! This will be my go-to cut out cookie recipe now. The dough was really easy to work with too. My only regret is not doubling the recipe. We devoured the whole batch in 2 days!
— Joan —
How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookies
Mix the Wet Ingredients. With an electric mixer (or stand mixer), cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Finish adding the wet ingredients.
Finish the Dough. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Chill the Dough. Chilling is absolutely critical for easy handling! Divide the dough into quarters and roll them between two sheets of parchment paper; thicker dough will give you plusher, more tender cookies. Refrigerate the dough until you’re ready to roll and cut.
Cut the Cookies. Place the dough on your counter one sheet at a time (i.e., leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator until you’re ready to roll it), remove the top sheet of parchment, and cut away. Re-roll the scraps and repeat. If at any point the dough becomes too sticky to handle, simply pop it back into the refrigerator for a few minutes.
Bake. Place the sugar cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes at 350 degrees F, until pale golden at the edges. Let them cool completely before you frost them.
Frost. Stir together the ingredients. For colored frosting, add a few drops of food coloring. Frost and decorate the cookies. ENJOY!
Christmas Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 2 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese at room temperature (do not use fat free)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
For Decorating:
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles
- Colored sugar
- Other decorations as desired
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the egg and beat until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and beat for 1 minute, scrape down the bowl once more, then beat in the vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon zest until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, mixing just until fully incorporated and a soft dough is formed.
- Divide the dough into quarters. If using the dough within 24 hours, roll each quarter to a 1/4-inch thickness in between two sheets of parchment paper (alternatively, you can store the dough in a ball or disk and roll out when ready to cut and bake). Be careful not to roll the dough any thinner or the cookies will not be as soft. Keeping the dough flat, transfer it to the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Repeat with the remaining dough (it is fine to stack the dough “flats” on top of each other to save space). If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, divide the dough in half, pat each into a disk, then wrap each disk tightly in plastic and freeze in a ziptop bag for up to 1 month. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then proceed with the recipe as directed.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Remove one of dough flats from the refrigerator. (If you stored the dough in a ball or disk, roll it to a 1/4-inch thickness now, between two layers of parchment paper.) Remove the top layer of parchment paper, then with cookie cutters, slice the cookies into desired shapes. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, until barely lightly golden brown and the edges are dry. The cookies will look slightly underbaked. Let cool completely.
- To make the frosting: In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons milk as best as you can (the frosting will be very solid at this point). Beat in the corn syrup and almond extract until the frosting is smooth and glossy. If the frosting seems too thick, add more milk, one teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. If making colored frosting, add a few drops of food coloring until you reach your desired color intensity. Frost and decorate the cookies as desired. Let the frosting set for a few minutes, then enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Store leftover baked cream cheese sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, separating the cookie layers with wax or parchment paper, for up to 4 days or freeze frosted or unfrosted for up to 2 months.
- Dough can be prepared through Step 3 and stored covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 day or frozen for up to 3 months. Let stand at room temperature until soft enough to scoop, then bake as directed (if frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator first).
- Shaped, unbaked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze: place the unbaked cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, freeze until hardened, then transfer to a ziptop bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding a minute or two to the baking time.
- If you want to make a monster batch of cookies, this recipe can be doubled.
- Do not substitute the corn syrup—it is key for icing that sets up but still stays soft. Normally I’m all for baking without it, but here it is worth it.
Nutrition
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We absolutely loved them. They are our family tradition. All the kids comer over roll, cut, bake, and decorate. Soft, delicious and easy to prep the dough a day ahead.
This is very similar to the recipe that I use, Simma’s bakery Cream Cheese Cutouts, which appeared in the JournalSentinal many years ago. I don’t use baking powder, and ‘my’ recipe calls for a half cup less of flour, 3 ounces of cream cheese, and an egg yolk. Similar but not the same. I’m going to give ‘your’ recipe a try. I LOVE your recipes and cookbooks! I even gave my 12 year old vegan granddaughter a copy of your latest g=cookbook for her 12th birthday! Merry Christmas!
Jean, this is the nicest note THANK YOU! (and Simma’s rocks!!) Merry Christmas!
Great recipe, and oh so flavorful! You’ll never want to eat a commercially prepared cutout again! I’ve made 8 dozen cutouts so far this year and will be making more. Rolling the dough between sheets of parchment paper is genius, and keeps extra (cookie toughening) flour from being incorporated into the dough. Tip: peel the parchment paper from both sides of the dough sheet, then set the dough back onto the paper prior to cutting. Then the cookies release so much easier from the parchment paper. I have made and froze the sheets of dough, well wrapped, and I’ve also frozen the cutouts unbaked, and then baked as needed. Also, a company called JosephJoseph makes an awesome rolling pin that has rolling pin with hard plastic discs that screw onto the ends, giving you a uniform dough height (available on Amazon). And the mini pie crust cutter holiday shapes sold at Williams Sonoma make beautiful embossed miniature sugar cookie cutouts. The design really shows up when sprinkled with colored sugar. I’ve been baking cutouts for decades so thought I’d share a few additional tips with your readers! Great recipes, Erin. I’m a big fan of yours!
Thank you so much for sharing this! Happy Holidays!!
These sugar cookies worked well for my sons car themed 2nd birthday party yesterday. We loved the hint of citrus from the lemon zest, such a great addition. We tried our best to keep the dough cold but when I was trying to stamp the cookies we found it worked better with flash freezing the dough but I understand most people will probably frost the cookies I just thought we could avoid the additional sugar- these were perfectly sweet and balanced even without frosting! Also I know mine were slightly overbaked but hubby is Brit so prefers biscuits with a bit of crunch.
They look fabulous Sarah! Thanks for sharing!
Has anyone tried this with gluten free flour?
Hi Marie! I think you’d have good success with a 1:1 sub like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur! I haven’t done it but those 2 flours work well for me in cookies.
Great recipe. Chewy and delicious. Dough was easy to work with. Rolling between parchment paper was a great tip. Icing was the perfect addition to the cookies. This will be my new Christmas sugar cookie recipe!
SO glad to hear it Kim! Thank you for taking time to share your feedback, it means a lot!
So glad to hear! Thank you Kim!
Easy to make, decorate and eat!
So happy to hear it Dean, thank you!
I hadn’t made sugar cookies from scratch in likely 25 years. This recipe was not intimidating at all for a novice, and my 13-year-old daughter and I loved it! The cookies came out tender & looking slightly underbaked…exactly as described, which was a good thing! If you wait until they become slightly golden around the edges, you’ve actually waited too long to take them out. I recommend nine minutes, but every oven is different. The frosting needed only 1 teaspoon additional milk to reach the consistency we wanted, and it was easy to work with. My daughter noticed the cookies tasted slightly like the frosted cookies you can purchase at Panera! We love those so in my opinion this recipe was a complete winner!!
So pleased to hear it, thanks for sharing this kind and detailed review!
Reliable sugar cookie recipe that I’ve been making every year with my kids! The cookies are tender to eat but sturdy enough for kids to cut into shapes. Always a hit!
Makes me so happy to hear, thank you Melissa!
We absolutely loved it! These cookies are delicious! The lemon zest paired with almond and vanilla is so elevated and wonderful! These are going into the Christmas rotation each year!
So happy to hear! Thank you Jen!