Soft Frosted Christmas Cookies

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.

You're gonna want to save this soft frosted Christmas cookie recipe - it's perfect for any occasion.

These cookies are soft and extra thick, like irresistible little cookie pillows. A layer of sweet buttercream is the perfect complement to the lightly sweetened vanilla cookie base.

These cookie start with a soft sugar cookie base made with everyday baking ingredients like flour, butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then, they're topped with a piped rosette of sweet buttercream frosting and festive sprinkles.

Use food coloring to match any holiday or event, like Christmas, Valentine's Day, or Halloween. They're the perfect addition to your next holiday cookie tray.

Dough ingredients and substitutions

As with most baking recipes, there are not many substitutions I would suggest. Since baking is an exact science, all of the ingredients included are necessary and should not be substituted or omitted.

• Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter (you'll want to omit the salt listed in the recipe). Your butter should be room temperature - not cold, not melted.
• Granulated sugar - Adds sweetness and moisture to your dough.
• Large eggs - Eggs should be room temperature. Set them on the counter 1 hour before baking, or place your whole eggs in a small bowl covered in warm tap water for 15 minutes.
• Vanilla extract - Can be substituted with another extract, like lemon, maple, or peppermint, for a different cookie flavor. I recommend cutting other extract flavors in half - vanilla has a mild flavor in comparison to other extracts, like peppermint.
• All-purpose flour - 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 a recipe written for a particular flour will turn out better.
• Baking powder - Cannot be substituted with baking soda - these are two different ingredients that will react differently with the other ingredients listed. Check the expiration date before beginning - expired baking powder will result in a flat, dense cookie.
• Salt - enhances the flavor of your cookie and balances the sweetness (does not make them "salty").

Frosting ingredients and substitutions

• Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter (you'll want to omit the salt listed in the recipe). Your butter should be room temperature - not cold, not melted.
• Confectioner's sugar - Also called powdered sugar or icing sugar. The fine texture of confectioner's sugar allows it to blend seamlessly with the butter without adding a grainy texture. I do not recommend substituting with other sugars.
• Vanilla extract - Can be substituted with another extract, like lemon, maple, or peppermint, for a different frosting flavor. I recommend cutting other extract flavors in half - vanilla has a mild flavor in comparison to other extracts, like peppermint.
• Heavy cream - Thins your frosting slightly, while adding a creamy, whipped texture. Can be substituted with whole milk for as lightly thinner frosting.
• Salt - I recommend adding a pinch of salt to your frosting to help cut the sweetness.
• Food coloring - Optional, but makes it easy to customize your cookies for any holiday. Try pink for Valentine's Day, orange and purple for Halloween, or green for Christmas.
• Sprinkles - Nonpareils (tiny round sprinkles) or rainbow jimmies are great for decorating.

Can I make these without frosting?

This cookie base is written to be paired with a sweet buttercream frosting. The cookies themselves are not very sweet and work well with a frosting or glaze.

If you plan to change the recipe and make these cookies without buttercream frosting, I highly suggest rolling your cookie dough in granulated sugar before baking. I actually enjoyed this alternative so much that I made a recipe for it! See my recipe for soft sugar cookies for detailed instructions.

Room temperature ingredients

Room temperature ingredients are important when baking cookies because your ingredients will incorporate together into a smooth and even dough.

This will help to make perfect cookies, every time.

Place your eggs and butter on the counter top an hour before starting to bring them to room temperature.

Properly measured flour

Properly measuring your flour is extremely important in baking. The best way to measure ingredients is by using a kitchen scale (you can find gram measurements in the recipe card).

If you don't have a scale, I recommend the spoon and level method. Using a spoon, gently fill your measuring cup with flour, then level off the top with a knife.

By scooping your flour with a measuring cup directly from a bin, you're compacting flour into the cup and adding up to 25% extra flour to the recipe. This results in cakey, thick cookies that don't spread when baked.

Check out my post on 10 tips for baking cookies to see my flour measuring experiment!

Dough spreading issues

Are your cookies not spreading in the oven? The dough may be coo told (maybe left in the refrigerator too long), or too much flour was added to the dough (see section above).

• Leave your dough balls on the counter top to warm slightly before baking. Cold dough spreads less and warm dough spreads more.
• Use your hands or the bottom of a flour-dusted glass to press down on the dough balls before baking. This helps your dough balls spread more and creates a flatter top (this is also described in step six of the recipe card).
• If too much flour was added to your dough, you'll want to make sure your cookies aren't also overbaked - this combination results in a dry cookie.

Are your cookies spreading too much in the oven? This can happen when your dough is too warm or not enough flour was added to the dough to give it stability.

• Make sure not to skip the step of refrigerating your dough. This not only helps the flavors meld, but also makes the dough easier to roll into balls and helps it spread less in the oven.
• If your dough is still spreading in the oven, try refrigerating the dough balls (directly on the sheet pan if it will fit) for 10 minutes, then transfer directly into the oven.
• Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I do not recommend using a greased cookie sheet. A layer of grease/cooking spray makes cookies (of any kind) spread more in the oven.

Frosting your cookies

I chose to frost these cookies with a buttercream rosette. Check out this quick video on how to make a simple rosette with frosting.

It's surprisingly easy, and makes your soft frosted Christmas cookies look professionally decorated. Plus, you can frost a whole batch in minutes! It's really that easy.

Or, use a knife and spread your frosting onto each cookie. Just as easy and requires less tools!

If you'd like more detailed instructions on how to make my buttercream frosting recipe, check out the full post here: American buttercream frosting

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