This is not even CLOSE to the first time I’ve shared these – seriously I make these cookies for like every party! Always the same recipe, it’s easy to make and tastes great! So here are my Christmas cookies with a VIDEO! YAY! Videos are such a great way to show techniques like frosting cookies!
It’s all about getting the texture right! at first the frosting is thick – good for spreading with a knife – more grocery store style and GREAT for kids! Thin it down a little for a still thickish icing you can pipe but holds it’s shape – great for outlines and details! Finally thin it enough that it self smooths! perfect for a great base, swirling and stripes!
Now this isn’t royal icing – so while it crusts over and gets fairly hard it will still crush – BUT it tastes so much better than royal icing! so as long as you don’t need them to be rock hard this is a great option! if your going to add sprinkles do it when the icing is still fresh and wet and before it crusts over.
Now I use this dough year round – with the nutmeg – and love it, it holds it shape great so I can get a lot of detail in my cookies. The icing I prefer peppermint but SOME people don’t like peppermint year round (crazy) so you can always switch up the flavor – almond is another classic option! but really you could do anything!
Perfect Christmas Sugar Cookies and Icing recipes and decorating tips – video tutorial
Ingredients
Cookies
- 6 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 C Butter
- 2 C granulated sugar
- 2 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 C full fat sour cream
Icing
- 4 C powdered sugar
- 1/4 C whole milk
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp extract peppermint or almond
- Food coloring optional
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350
- Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg and powder in a bowl.
- In separate bowl cream the butter and sugar (use cookie paddles or dough hook this will get thick)
- Add the egg and beat again
- then add the vanilla and sour cream and beat it smooth
- Mix in dry ingredients and beat smooth – it will be thick.
- wrap up in wax paper or parchment paper and chill in fridge for 3-4 hours
- preheat oven to 350
- roll out to 1/4 inch and cut holiday shapes
- bake for 8-10 mins, until the edges get a slight golden color to them (don’t over bake) let cool
Icing
- Mix butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and peppermint in your mixer.
- it will be thick at first – great for spreading
- thin with milk to get a “toothpaste” thickness good for piping – great for outlining cookies
- thin more to create a icing you can fill in “color flow’ style for a smooth finish. The perfect thinness is when stop stirring the icing and count to 10 it gets smooth.
Video
Nutrition
Yvonne Disnute
Can’t wait to try them all. Keep up the good work.
Ashlee
thank you so very much!
Becky
You are adorable and these cookies look amazing!! Trying them today.
Ashlee Marie
thank you so much!
Audrey
I tried to make this icing and it came out with a grainy texture. Help! What did I do wrong? Thanks!
Ashlee Marie
because it uses powdered sugar there shouldn’t be any graininess. I wouldn’t know where that would come from unless the powdered sugar was a bad batch?
Erin
Canthis be made ahead of time and frozen for use later?
Ashlee Marie
you can freeze the dough, just let it come to refrigerator temp before rolling out.
Emma
Made these cookies yesterday with a different royal icing recipe. They were very easy to roll out (something I’ve had trouble with in the past using other recipes), and tasted good. However, I will say that if anyone is not a fan of a slight anise or licorice taste, I’d suggest leaving the nutmeg out and putting in a few more teaspoons of vanilla. I tend to like more sweet/vanilla tasting cookies, so I think I may tweak the recipe next time. Overall, nice consistency and easy to make, though! Thank you!
Wendy Horrell
I’m making cookie decorating kits so I don’t want to worry about the icing needing to be refrigerated since once they leave me it will be out of my hands how they are stored… what would you recommend for this icing? Replace the milk with water? Typically I would do a royal icing but want to make it more kid friendly and your recipe looks amazing!
Ashlee Marie
you can totally just use water.
Joyce
Would the doe be good if chilled over nite?
Ashlee Marie
you need to chill the dough a minimum of 4 hours but overnight is just fine
Pat
Can you make this icing ahead? If so how long ahead?
Ashlee Marie
if you make it ahead of time you’ll need to keep it covered with plastic right down on top touching the icing. or keep the icing in sealed bags until you use them.
Cindy
Hi Aslee Thanks for your recipe but I have to ask is that 1 or 2 eggs? Your printed recipe ays 2 but your video has one? Thanks Happy holidays Cindy
Ashlee Marie
I made a half batch in the video
Lisa
Will there much of a difference if I roll, cut then chill?
Thanks
Ashlee Marie
yes, they need to chill so the dough firms up enough to roll the dough out. It’s too wet to roll out when the dough is first finished. You can chill both times, but you do have to chill before rolling out.
Kate
Can the frosting sit out after it’s made?
Ashlee Marie
It will crust over if you leave it out, but it’s safe to leave out if that’s what your asking.
Cynthia
Ok, I am ready to roll these christmas cookies out! Just wanted to let you know that I watched A LOT of videos on baking and decorating cookies and your recipes and your video were too notch!! The best I saw. I will let you know how they turned out. Thank you Ashlee!
Ashlee Marie
I’m so glad you liked the video tutorial! thank you for taking the time to comment
Cynthia
Help! I Just finally made the icing but my Aspie teen is upset that the icing is yellowish due to the 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and the snowmen, candy canes and some parts of the Santa, Angel and snowflakes will not be a true white. Is there any way to brighten it now, at home? WITHOUT trying to find white food color so.close to.Xmas and then running out? Thanks!
Ashlee Marie
I’m so sorry, I add vanilla and butter and never had a problem with the icing not being white! We just made a batch of cookies last week and I was curious about your comment but the icing was totally white to me! gah, I am so sorry. in the future white gel dye or clear vanilla.