Maple cut out cookies are soft, easy to make cookies that are perfect for fall. Maple flavored sugar cookies are frosted with a maple glaze and sprinkled with walnuts.
Fall has a new favorite flavor in town - maple. If you're over pumpkin spice and salted caramel, you'll love these maple glazed cut out cookies.
These sweet cookies are soft and chewy while maintaining their shape while baking. The cookies are lightly flavored with maple then topped with a maple glaze made from maple syrup.
Serve these maple glazed cookies in the fall with a batch of apple cider, at Thanksgiving, or on your next Christmas cookie platter. Top with chopped walnuts for extra flavor and texture.
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.
- Sugar - Granulated sugar is used for best flavor and texture.
- Maple extract - Adds flavor to the cookies. Could be substituted with vanilla extract to make vanilla cut out cookies.
- Eggs - Adds moisture and structure.
- Flour - I've only tested this recipe using all-purpose flour, so I can't say for sure how other flours would turn out. Have a different type of flour on hand? Instead of wasting ingredients, I highly recommend searching for a recipe that's written using the ingredients that you have on hand.
- Salt - Enhances the flavor of the cookies.
- Leavening - Baking powder is needed for this recipe, not baking soda. The two are not interchangeable.
- Frosting ingredients (not shown above) - Confectioner's sugar and maple syrup are needed to make a simple icing.
- Walnuts - Optional, but add a nice texture and crunch to the cookies.
Tips and tricks
Don't substitute ingredients - Each ingredient serves a purpose in the recipe and shouldn't be substituted or omitted.
Room temperature ingredients - Make sure you're using room temperature ingredients, not melted or cold. Room temperature ingredients emulsify when mixed with the sugar, creating a creamy, even dough.
Chill dough - Once your dough is mixed, wrap it up and place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Your dough can rest as long as 24 hours if you'd like to make it the day before.
Handle dough as little as possible - When you are ready to roll out the dough, try not to handle it too much with your hands. This warms up the dough faster, causing it to spread in the oven.
Dust everything with flour - Think about everything that’s touching the dough: the counter top or parchment paper, cookie cutters, rolling pin, and even your hands. A little flour will help the dough from sticking.
Cookie cutters - I used this leaf cookie cutter set which includes the maple leaf and acorn. Any cookie cutter shapes will work with this recipe.
Storage
Cookies will keep for 5 to 7 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the cookie container and replace when it dries out.
Once cooled completely to room temperature, cookies can be frozen for up to three months. To thaw, place on the countertop to bring to room temperature.
Frequently asked questions
Too much flour will cause your dough to be dry, crumbly, and tough. The most accurate way to measure flour is with a kitchen scale. If you don't have a scale, spoon your flour into a measuring cup, then level off with a knife. When scooping directly from a bin with a measuring cup, this compacts the flour into the cup, adding up to 25% extra flour to your recipe.
1. Use parchment paper, not a greased baking sheet. Grease on a baking sheet will cause cookies to spread more than they should.
2. Chill dough before rolling it out. Chilled dough spreads less in the oven.
3. Don't place dough on a hot baking sheet. This will cause your dough to spread before it even makes it into the oven.
4. After you've cut out your cookies and placed them on the baking sheet, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. This helps cookies hold their shape while baking.
No, maple syrup would add too much moisture to the dough, causing the cookies to spread in the oven.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Maple Cut Out Cookies
Ingredients
Cutout Cookies
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (148 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon maple extract
- 2 ¾ cups (330 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Maple Frosting
- ¾ cup (85 g) confectioner's sugar
- ¼ cup (28 g) real maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60 g) chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
Cut out cookies
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer (or stand mixer), cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and maple extract and beat until fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until just combined (do not overmix). Shape dough into two round discs and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove one disc of dough at a time from the refrigerator.
- Dust counter top, rolling pin, and top of dough with flour. Roll dough out to ¼" thickness, dusting with additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. Using cookie cutters, cut into various shapes and place onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake cookies for about 8-9 minutes, or until cookies just begin to lightly brown around edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Maple glaze
- In a bowl, combine confectioner's sugar and maple syrup, using a whisk if needed to remove clumps. Glaze should be smooth and shiny.
- Using a small spatula, the back of a spoon, or a butter knife, gently coat each cookie with a thin layer of glaze.
- Allow cookies to dry for several hours before stacking and/or storing.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Your cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Do not grease your baking sheet - grease causes cookies to spread more in the oven. Parchment paper or a silicone baking mat provide the best results.
- Leftover dough and leftover baked cookies (that have been cooled completely) can be frozen in a tightly sealed freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
I've made these twice now as sugar cookies rather than maple. I followed the suggestions of the author by measuring ingredients by weight (gram) and simply swapping in vanilla versus the maple extract. I make one disk versus two, and roll a thicker dough on silicone (so no additional flour required) and cutting with cookie cutters. Glazed with vanilla extract, confectioner sugar & water. The BEST holiday sugar cookies we've had! Thank you so much for the recipe and great suggestions!
Thanks so much for the great review, Ash!
These look really good. I'm going to try them!