This soft Christmas sugar cookie recipe requires no chill time. Make buttery, no spread cutout cookies that are perfect for decorating with sweet buttercream frosting for Santa, or any time of year!
Equipment
1 stand mixer You must use a stand mixer for this recipe. The dough is very thick and will break an electric hand mixer. I've also mixed this recipe by hand, but it takes some effort.
Ingredients
For The Cookies
1cupbutterunsalted, cold
1cupsugar
2largeeggscold
½teaspoonvanilla extract
3cupsflourplus more for dusting, use all-purpose flour
½teaspoonsalt
For The Frosting
1cupbutterunsalted, softened
1teaspoonvanilla
½teaspoonsalt
4cupspowdered sugar
food coloring
sprinkles
Instructions
Making The Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lay parchment paper on your cookie sheets and clean off a big area of counter space to roll out the cookie dough.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes with a stand mixer on low-medium.
In a small bowl crack the eggs and beat with a fork or a whisk. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture, then mix until well blended.
To your wet mixture add the flour and scatter the salt around the bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients well for a few minutes with a strong wooden spoon or a stand mixer on low and then medium until a dough forms. (Don’t try mixing this part of the dough with a hand mixer—the dough is very thick and may break your mixer!)
Lightly flour the counter and a rolling pin, keeping a small pile of flour at the edge of your workspace. Roll out your dough to a thickness of about ⅜ of an inch adding dustings of flour as needed. Use holiday cookie cutters between 3-4 inches and cut out your favorite shapes like circles, Santa, reindeer, stars, or trees.
Place all cookies on baking sheets and bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.
Making The Frosting
Place butter in a large mixing bowl. Cream butter on medium speed for 4 to 5 minutes with a stand mixer or hand mixer. Add vanilla and salt, then mix for one more minute until fully mixed.
Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing first on low speed, then on medium until well mixed. Scraping down the sides of the bowl each time before you add more sugar until a creamy frosting forms.
Split the frosting into smaller bowls, then mix in food coloring until you get your desired color. The frosting can also be left white if you prefer. You can then spread this frosting with a knife, or place it in a piping bag to frost the cookies and top with sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe makes about 18 total 4 inch cookies cookies or 24 total 3 inch cookies.
Rolling The Cookies To The Right Thickness
Placing two chopsticks on either side of the dough while you roll can help you roll the dough to about the right thickness, ⅜ of an inch in slightly thicker than most chopsticks.
Frosting Consistency
The frosting on these cookies is on the thicker side but is pipeable using a frosting bag. If you feel like it’s too thick, you can adjust with a teaspoon or two of milk to make it spread easier. How thick the frosting is can vary a little bit depending on the butter each person uses, and how packed full the cups of powdered sugar are, so don’t be hesitant to thin it a little if you need to. If it gets too thin, whip in more powdered sugar! I usually start with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time until I get my desired thickness.Placing the frosting in the refrigerator also will make the frosting thicken, but it can be rewhipped with a mixer as needed after refrigerating to be more spreadable again.