Make a batch of soft frosted Christmas cookies this holiday season. Thick, soft sugar cookies are topped with a layer of sweet homemade buttercream frosting. The perfect cookie for the holidays, and easy to customize for any time of year.
Used your recipe for my first foray into baking from scratch and they were a big hit at my family’s Christmas cookie baking get together today. Thank you for sharing the recipe for both the cookie and the buttercream. ★★★★★ - Janet
Recipe Summary
Flavor: Lightly sweetened, buttery, vanilla cookie base topped with sweet Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.
Texture: Thick, tender cookie base topped with creamy frosting.
Yield: 36 cookies
Similar to: Grinch Sugar Cookies and Soft Sugar Cookies
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Cookie dough ingredients
Dry ingredients - You'll need all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt for this recipe. I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. If you have a different flour on hand, I suggest searching for a recipe using your preferred type of flour. Many times it's not an easy 1:1 substitution and it's best to use a recipe that's developed for your preferred flour.
Wet ingredients - Granulated sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract add moisture and flavor to your cookies. Vanilla could be substituted with other flavors like peppermint, maple, or lemon in half the quantity (vanilla has a milder flavor compared to other extracts). Unsalted butter and the listed salt can be substituted with salted butter if desired.
Frosting ingredients - You'll need butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, salt, and optional food coloring to make the frosting. Sprinkles like nonpareils and jimmies are great for decorating.
How to make sugar cookies
- Cream together the butter and sugar using a hand mixer.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix until creamy and smooth.
- Slowly add dry ingredients and use a hand mixer on low to gently combine.
- Dough should look thick and barely sticky, but not dry or crumbly.
- Roll dough into 1.5 tablespoon balls (or use a medium cookie scoop).
- Place on a lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until tops look set and begin to crack.
- While cookies bake, prepare frosting and transfer to a piping bag with a Wilton 2D (or similar) tip. Once cookies have cooled, pipe a rosette of frosting on top.
Tips and tricks
Bringing ingredients to room temperature - Slice butter into small pieces or grate with the large side of a box grater. Place eggs in a bowl and cover with warm tap water. Allow your ingredients to set for 10-15 minutes using these methods.
Properly measure your flour - This is the #1 most common issue I see in baking. Adding too much flour to any baking recipe will make your dough dry. To properly measure flour, use a kitchen scale and the gram measurements in the recipe card below. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use a spoon to gently add flour into your measuring cup, then level off with a knife. Do not scoop flour directly from a bin. This compacts the flour into the cup and adds up to an extra 25% flour to your recipe.
Don't overmix the dough - Once the gluten (flour) has been added to the recipe, take care not to overmix the dough. Overworking the gluten can cause your cookies to turn out tough.
Piping frosting - I chose to frost these cookies with a buttercream rosette. Check out this quick video on how to make a simple rosette with frosting. You could also use a knife and spread your frosting onto each cookie. If you'd like more detailed instructions on how to make my buttercream frosting recipe, check out the full post here: Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Frequently asked questions
These cookies are decorated with a Wilton 2D tip. I use this Wilton cupcake decorating set along with this large coupler for easy frosting of cupcakes and cookies.
The cookie base is not very sweet on its own and is developed to be paired with a sweet buttercream frosting or icing. If you don't want to add frosting, roll your dough in sugar instead, like in my Soft Sugar Cookies recipe.
Add a slice of bread to your cookie storage container. This helps keep your cookies soft and moist for up to 5 days. Replace the bread slice as it dries out.
Sugar cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature. To help keep your cookies soft, add a slice of bread to the container and replace it as it gets stale. Dough and baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months in a tightly sealed, freezer-safe container. To thaw baked cookies, place on the counter top and allow to thaw for about 1 hour.
Troubleshooting
If your cookies turned out dry and bland, it sounds like too much flour was added to the dough. Extra flour (caused by scooping and compacting flour into a measuring cup) dilutes the flavors in the cookie dough (butter, sugar, salt, vanilla) and creates a dry, crumbly texture. Make sure you're using a kitchen scale or the spoon and level method (described in the recipe card).
The dough may be coo told (left in the refrigerator too long), or too much flour was added to the dough. Leave your dough balls on the counter to warm up before baking. This will help them spread more in the oven. If your dough looks very crumbly and dry, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time and mix to help bring your dough back to a slightly sticky consistency.
This can happen when your dough is too warm or your baking sheet is greased instead of using parchment paper. Put your cookie dough back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking to help them spread less in the oven.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Soft Frosted Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
Sugar cookies
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour, measured properly*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Buttercream frosting
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (284 g) confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- food coloring & sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Sugar cookies
- In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir (or use a mixer on low speed) dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Cover bowl and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Refrigerating allows time for flavors to meld and also creates a firmer dough that's easy to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Scoop dough using a medium cookie scoop or shape by hand into 1.5 inch balls.
- Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. As is, dough balls bake into thick, rounded top cookies (as shown in photos). Optionally, flatten balls slightly using your hands or the bottom of a glass dusted with flour (to prevent sticking). This helps your cookies spread more and makes a flatter top for frosting.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until tops look set and edges barely begin to brown (times will vary based on your own oven and size of cookies). Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Buttercream frosting
- In a medium bowl, add room temperature butter, confectioner's sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Whip until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Add more heavy cream as needed to achieve desired consistency.
- Spread frosting with a knife onto completely cooled cookies (warm cookies will melt frosting). Or, use a piping bag with decorating tip. Cookies shown are piped with a rosette using a Wilton 2D tip.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- * How to measure flour properly: For most accurate results every time, use a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
- Frosting alternatives: If you don't want to add frosting to your cookies, roll them in granulated sugar instead. The cookie base is lightly sweetened on its own and is meant to balance with the sweetness of the frosting.
- Storing dough: Cookie dough will keep in refrigerator for 2-3 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Storing cookies: Cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature or in the freezer for 3 months. Add a slice of bread to the cookie container to help keep cookies moist. Replace as needed (bread will dry out).
- More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
Very good soft cookies, close to my Aunt's SIL's cookies.
We don’t have confectioners sugar can I use granulated with a bit of confectioners sugar? Thanks so much!
Confectioners sugar must be used for the frosting. Granulated sugar will add a very noticeable, grainy, and unpleasant texture.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made it with my kids today and we loved it! The only thing I changed was to split the vanilla in half and add an equal amount of almond extract because we love almond. To me, this type of cookie is the perfect sugar cookie! They were so soft and buttery. 😍
I can't wait to make these cookies! I only have salted butter. Will that work? I could just omit the salt? Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Hi Amanda, yes! From the post above: "Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter (you'll want to omit the salt listed in the recipe)."
Used your recipe for my first foray into baking from scratch and they were a big hit at my family’s Christmas cookie baking get together today. Thank you for sharing the recipe for both the cookie and the buttercream.
Delicious! My husband ate 3/4 of the 1st tray- and I hadn't even iced them yet.
I’m making these tomorrow. I’m so excited to try them. Will follow up
These are awesome!!! My new favorite sugar cookie recipe 🙂
Hi Cindy, so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I freeze or refrigerate only the dough? For how long? TIA
Cookie dough will keep in refrigerator for 2-3 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, but the cookies didn't puff up or spread out at all. They just look like slightly-flattened (because I flattened them some with my hand before baking) dough balls. Maybe I should skip refrigerating the dough next time?
Hi Katie, I just added a section to this post about dough spreading issues. The dough may be coo told (maybe left in the refrigerator too long), or too much flour was added to the dough. Leaving your dough balls on the countertop to warm up slightly will help them spread more in the oven. If they're not puffing up at all, I'd also recommend checking the expiration date on your baking powder just in case. Hope this helps!
Thanks! Baking powder doesn't expire for a year, so I'm guessing I just didn't need the refrigerator step. Will try again another time!
Before refrigerating, the dough should feel slightly sticky and difficult to roll into balls. The refrigeration step is included in the recipe not only to allow the flavors to meld, but also to thicken the dough slightly and make it easier to roll into balls. If you're able to skip this step, it sounds like too many dry ingredients (or too few wet ingredients) were added to the dough, so they may taste floury when baked.
Can I roll the dough and make.cut out cookies?
This dough puffs up when baked, like a drop cookie, so it would be too sticky to roll out and wouldn't hold its shape when baked. Here's a great cutout cookie recipe I recommend: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/christmas-sugar-cookies/
Will this frosting harden? I need to be able to place the cookies in a ziploc baggie as treats for my daughter's daycare teacher and don't want the icing to get ruined....
Hi Archana! This frosting will form a crust on the outside, like frosting on a cupcake, if left out to dry for several hours. However, the frosting stays soft in the middle so with a bit of force (several cookies stacked on top of each other, or pressing down with your finger) the frosting will get misshapen.
Thank you!
Looks amazing.Can't wait to try.
Thank you!