These are the cookies most American and British bakers call cut-out sugar cookies: a rolled butter dough cut with Christmas cutters and covered in royal icing, the kind that ends up in tins and cellophane bags for teachers and neighbors. This version is built so a star keeps all five points. It uses powdered sugar and two egg yolks instead of granulated sugar and a whole egg, has no baking powder, and goes into a 325°F (160°C) oven straight from the freezer. You’ll find the recipe for about 40 cookies, three icings to choose from, ways to decorate without piping tips, how long the icing needs before you can bag them, and a plan that spreads the work over the weeks before Christmas.
What to expect, and how long Christmas cookies take
How do you make Christmas butter cookies that hold their shape? Cream 1 cup (225 g) butter with 1 cup (130 g) powdered sugar, add 2 yolks, vanilla and 3 cups (375 g) flour with no baking powder, chill 2 hours, roll a scant ¼ in (5 mm) thick, cut, freeze the shapes 10 minutes and bake at 325°F (160°C) for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges just turn golden. Ice them once cold. 230 minutes for 40 servings.
The cookie is firm enough to hold icing and survive a trip in the mail, but tender rather than crunchy, with a fine crumb and a clean butter-and-vanilla flavor. It’s less sweet than most store-bought sugar cookies; the icing brings the sugar. It doesn’t puff or spread, so what you cut is what comes out.
Time. About 3 hours 50 minutes from mixing to the last sheet, though 2 of those hours are the dough sitting in the fridge and 40 minutes are three rounds of baking. Icing then needs 8 hours or overnight to dry, hands off. Easy: the dough is forgiving, and decorating is the slow part.
Ingredients for 40 cookies, and why they don’t spread
The dough makes about 40 cookies with 2½ in (6 to 7 cm) cutters, or 45 and up with 2 in (5 cm) ones.
- Powdered sugar, not granulated. It dissolves into the butter without beating in air. Granulated sugar gives a grainier cookie with a crackled top that spreads more.
- Yolks, not a whole egg. Egg white is mostly water, and the steam puffs and warps the shapes. The leftover whites make a half batch of Latin suspiros meringues, which use 2 whites to 130 g (⅔ cup) sugar.
- No baking powder or soda. Any leavening rounds the cookie off and blurs the star’s points.
- Butter in proportion. 1 cup (225 g) to 3 cups (375 g) flour is tender but still holds a sharp edge. More butter melts before the cookie sets.
Swaps and what they change
- Salted butter. Fine; leave out the ½ tsp salt.
- Margarine or spread. Not for this recipe: spreads carry extra water and the cookies soften and spread. A baking block works in a pinch, with less butter flavor. Shortening holds its shape but tastes of very little.
- One whole egg instead of two yolks. The dough gets stickier and the cookies widen slightly; give the cut shapes 15 minutes in the freezer.
- Almond extract. ½ tsp with the vanilla tastes like a bakery cookie.
- Flour. US all-purpose or UK plain flour. Never self-rising (US) or self-raising (UK), which already contain leavening.
Equipment, and what to use instead
- Stand mixer or hand mixer. By hand with a wooden spoon works if the butter is properly soft.
- Rolling pin. A smooth, floured wine bottle does the job.
- Cutters. Without them, draw a star or tree on card, cut it out, lay it on the dough and trace around it with a small knife. A glass makes rounds you can ice as ornaments.
- Parchment paper and a cooling rack. No rack: slide the parchment with the cookies off the hot sheet onto the counter.
How to make cut-out Christmas cookies
Mixing the dough
Soft but cool butter dents when pressed but isn’t shiny or greasy, around 65°F (18°C). Butter softened in the microwave makes an oily dough that spreads no matter how long you chill it. Cream it with the sugar for 2 minutes, until smooth, not until fluffy and white; extra air also makes cookies spread.
Mix the flour in only until the dough looks like damp sand that holds when squeezed, then finish by hand. Overworked dough bakes up tough.
Rolling to an even thickness
A scant ¼ in (5 mm) gives cookies sturdy enough to ice that still bite tender. At ⅛ in (3 mm) they turn crisp, break while you decorate and overbake within 2 or 3 minutes.
For even cookies, roll between two ¼ in guides: wooden dowels, paint stirrers, or rolling-pin rings. Rolling between sheets of parchment means no extra flour, so the scraps stay tender when you re-roll them.
Cracking at the edges means the dough is too cold: give it 5 minutes. Sticking to the cutter means it’s too warm: back in the fridge for 10.
The 10-minute freeze
Handling the cut shapes warms the butter. Ten minutes in the freezer firms it again, so the cookie sets in the oven before the butter can run. No freezer space? 20 minutes in the fridge.
Baking, and how to tell they’re done
325°F (160°C), one sheet at a time, middle rack, 12 to 14 minutes. Look for:
- a thin line of pale gold around the edges;
- a matte center with no greasy shine that doesn’t dent under a fingertip;
- light golden undersides.
Hot from the oven they’re soft and bendy; they firm as they cool. Pulled when the tops color, they end up dry. At 350°F (175°C) they take 10 to 12 minutes and brown more at the edges.
Give them 5 minutes on the sheet before moving them, and ice only when completely cold: on a warm cookie the icing melts and runs off.
Why cut-out cookies spread or lose their shape
- Warm dough or melted butter. The usual cause. Chill the dough 2 hours and the cut shapes 10 minutes in the freezer.
- Baking powder or self-rising flour. The cookies rise, round off and lose detail.
- A whole egg, or overbeating. More water and more air make them puff.
- A hot baking sheet. Shapes laid on a sheet straight out of the oven start melting before they go in. Rotate two sheets, or cool one under the tap and dry it.
- Uneven thickness. Thin cookies burn before thick ones bake. Use guides and bake similar shapes together.
- Too much flour from re-rolling. Scraps rolled three or four times in flour bake up pale and hard. Roll between parchment, or re-roll only once.
Royal icing three ways, with meringue powder, egg whites or no egg
Royal icing is powdered sugar beaten with egg white or meringue powder. It dries hard and matte, so cookies can be stacked and bagged. A simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk is easier but stays softer.
| Icing | What goes in | How it dries | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal icing with meringue powder (the recipe card) | 450 g (4 cups) powdered sugar, 3 tbsp meringue powder, 90 ml (6 tbsp) warm water | Hard and matte; dry to the touch in 1-2 hours, fully in 8 | Gifting, stacking, detail work; no raw egg |
| Royal icing with egg whites | 2 pasteurized egg whites (60 g), 2 tsp lemon juice, 250-300 g (2-2½ cups) powdered sugar | Just as hard, a little glossier | When you can’t find meringue powder |
| Simple glaze, no egg | 260 g (2¼ cups) powdered sugar, 2 tbsp milk, 2 tbsp light corn syrup (UK golden syrup) | Firm outside, soft inside; slower to dry | Decorating with kids, eating at home; doesn’t stack well |
Royal icing with meringue powder
Meringue powder is pasteurized dried egg white with sugar and stabilizers. In the US it sits in the baking aisle of most supermarkets; in the UK it’s sold online and in cake-decorating shops. Pure dried egg white (albumen powder) also works with a little more powdered sugar.
Beat for 5 to 7 minutes on medium: it goes from a grayish paste to a bright white, matte icing that holds peaks. Keep the bowl covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap pressed onto the surface; uncovered, it crusts in about 10 minutes.
Royal icing with egg whites, and raw egg
Whisk 2 egg whites with 2 tsp lemon juice until foamy, add the sifted powdered sugar a spoonful at a time and beat 5 minutes, until it holds peaks. Add more sugar if it’s runny.
The whites in this icing are never cooked. Use pasteurized whites, sold in cartons in the dairy case, or pasteurized eggs in the shell. Fresh raw whites carry a salmonella risk, so skip them for young children, pregnant guests, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system. Carton whites can be slow to foam; beat a couple of minutes longer.
Simple glaze without egg
Stir 260 g (2¼ cups) powdered sugar with 2 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp light corn syrup (golden syrup in the UK) until it falls from the spoon in a ribbon that sits on the surface for a moment before sinking. The syrup adds shine and helps it set. Without syrup, use 3 tbsp milk; it dries matte and softer. Too thin, add sugar; too thick, add milk ½ tsp at a time. Spread it with the back of a spoon and cover it in sprinkles.
Outline and flood consistency
- Outline. Straight from the mixer: lift the spoon and the peak bends over at the tip. Use it for borders and details.
- Flood. Thinned until a line dragged through the icing in the bowl disappears in 10 to 15 seconds. Faster and it runs off the edge; slower and it shows ripples.
Color with gel or paste, a toothpick tip at a time. Liquid supermarket coloring thins the icing. Deep red and black darken as they dry, so stop a shade lighter than you want.
Decorating Christmas cookies without piping bags or tips
- Zip-top bag. Spoon in the icing, seal, push it into one corner and snip 1 to 2 mm (a sliver) off the tip. Smaller for outlines, a bit larger for flooding. One bag per color.
- Spoon and toothpick. Drop a teaspoon of flood icing in the center and push it out with a toothpick, stopping 2 mm (1/16 in) from the edge. No outline needed.
- Dipping. Hold the cookie by its sides, dip the top into flood icing, let the excess drip off and turn it upright. Fastest way to ice a big batch.
- Wet-on-wet. While the base is still wet, dot on another color and drag a toothpick through it: hearts, swirls or candy-cane stripes with no steady hand required.
- No icing at all. Brush the raw shapes with beaten egg and a few drops of water, scatter sanding sugar and bake. They come out shiny and ready to give.
Hanging them on the tree. Before baking, punch a 5 mm (scant ¼ in) hole near the top with a drinking straw. If it closes up a little, push the straw through again while the cookies are hot.
How long royal icing takes to dry
- Outline, before flooding: 5 minutes.
- Flood, before piping another color on top without bleeding: 1 to 2 hours.
- Dry to the touch: 1 to 2 hours for royal icing.
- Ready to stack, bag or tin: 8 hours or overnight, in a single layer, uncovered, away from kitchen steam. In humid weather it can take a full day. The simple glaze takes longer and never sets hard all the way through.
Don’t put them in the fridge to speed things up: they sweat when they come out, and the icing turns tacky and the colors bleed. A fan on low in the room does help.
Baking Christmas cookies with kids
Split the jobs:
- Grown-ups: the mixer, the oven and anything hot.
- Kids: cutting shapes, scattering sprinkles and decorating.
- Their icing: meringue powder royal icing or the egg-free glaze, in zip-top bags with a tiny snip or in squeeze bottles. Have the icing made and the cookies baked and cooled before you call them in.
- No raw dough tasting. It contains raw flour and egg yolk.
With small children, 20 cookies fill a whole afternoon of decorating. Bake the rest for yourself to ice, or leave them plain.
Allergens. Contains wheat (gluten), egg (yolks, plus meringue powder or whites) and dairy (butter, and milk in the simple glaze). Check sprinkles and sugar pearls for nut warnings.
Christmas plan, how many to make and what to do ahead
Forty cookies fill 8 gift bags of 5, or a dessert platter for 12 to 15 people at 2 or 3 each, alongside Colombian natilla and Colombian buñuelos. For more, make two separate batches rather than doubling in one bowl; it mixes more evenly and the discs handle the same.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 months ahead | Dough discs, wrapped and bagged, in the freezer |
| The night before baking | Move frozen dough to the fridge, or make it fresh (keeps 4 days) |
| Day 1 | Roll, cut and bake: about 1 h 15 min with chilled dough |
| Day 1 or 2, afternoon | Make the icing and decorate |
| That night | 8 hours of drying in a single layer |
| Next day | Bag, tin and hand out; they keep 10 days |
Baking one day and icing the next, with the cookies in a tin overnight, keeps decorating day for decorating only.
On Christmas Eve they go well with a mug of warm Mexican Christmas punch, or a small glass of rompope, Mexican eggnog, for the adults. For a second kind of cookie on the platter, Venezuelan catalinas are soft and spiced, and Mexican polvorones are the crumbly, nutty opposite of these. For something fried and crisp, buñuelos de viento, Mexican rosette cookies, keep a week in a tin just like these.
Storing, gifting and freezing
- Airtight tin at room temperature: up to 10 days, layers separated with parchment, only once the icing is fully dry. Keep them away from the stove and sunlight.
- Gifting: cellophane bags tied with ribbon, one cookie or two back to back, or a tin with parchment between layers. Individually bagged cookies keep as long as tinned ones and the edges don’t chip. A small bag tucked beside a homemade panettone baked in a paper mold makes a fuller holiday gift.
- Raw dough: 4 days in the fridge or 3 months frozen, well wrapped. Thaw overnight in the fridge and roll when it bends without cracking.
- Baked, un-iced cookies: 3 months frozen in an airtight container with parchment between layers. Let them come to room temperature in the closed container before icing.
- Iced cookies: don’t freeze them. The icing sweats as it thaws, cracks, and the colors run.
Christmas cookie questions
Can I use granulated sugar instead of powdered? Yes, the same 130 g (⅔ cup), but the cookies come out crisper, slightly sandy and spread a little more. Or blitz granulated sugar in a dry blender until it’s a fine powder.
Why are my cookies hard? Usually overbaking until the tops colored, or re-rolling the scraps too many times in flour. Take them out when only the edges show color.
Why did my icing crack or get bubbles? Cracks come from very thick icing that dries outside before inside, or from moving cookies before they’re dry. For bubbles, tap the cookie on the counter right after flooding and pop any left with a toothpick.
Can I make the dough without a mixer or without chilling? Without a mixer, yes. Without chilling, no: warm dough sticks to the cutters and the cookies spread.
Christmas butter cookie nutrition
Per 2½ in (6 to 7 cm) cookie, one of 40, with its share of meringue powder royal icing, worked out ingredient by ingredient:
- Calories: 136 kcal
- Protein: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fat: 5 g, of which 3 g saturated
- Fiber: 0 g
- Sugars: 14 g
- Sodium: 31 mg
Without icing each cookie is about 90 kcal; the icing adds about 45, nearly all sugar. Butter is the expensive part, and it’s the one not to skimp on, because it’s the flavor. Save on decoration instead: white icing and colored sugar look as festive as five colors.
At home I split these over two days: dough and baking on the first, icing on the second with the table covered in paper. Nobody gets tired before the good part. I always pipe every outline first and then flood in the same order, assembly-line style, so by the time I finish the last outline the first cookie is ready to fill. Josnaisis.