Tis' the season! I'm super excited which is why I decided to whip up this batch of Christmas themed sugar cookies! These are super crunchy, sweet but not overly sweet and 100% festive! These are perfect for people coming over, giving as a present or eating in front of the TV while watching Christmas movies (like I did! No shame!) Also, it helps that they're super easy to make which works well because the Christmas time is always super hectic!
Without further ado, let's get started!
CHRISTMAS ICED SUGAR COOKIES
INGREDIENTS
For the cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups plain flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the icing
Border Icing
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 - 2 1/2 tablespoons milk or water
- Food colouring (optional)
Flood Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons milk or water
- Food colouring (optional)
METHOD
For cookies
- Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy (avoid melting and instead use softened)
- Add caster sugar and beat well
- Add egg and vanilla continuing to beat well
- Combine sifted flour and salt
- Add to butter mixture, beating until blended
- Cover with Gladwrap and chill for an hour (this is essential otherwise the cookies will not hold their shape in the oven)
- Divide the dough in half and roll onto floured surface (aim for 1/4 inch thickness - refer to image below.)
- Cut with cookie cutters and place onto greased baking sheets
- Bake at 180 C for 8 - 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookie are lightly browned
- Allow to cool before icing (also essential otherwise the icing will melt off!)
For icing
Please Note: there are many different ways to ice cookies and if you're good with baking, you may wish to use royal icing. I, however, being lazy and a little inexperienced in the field of royal icing, decided to stick to border and flood icing, which is the simplest way that I know. I decided to pipe the icing on but you can spread it on if you wish using a butter knife.
The border and flood icing works together to create a lovely, glazed effect on the cookies. The border is to be traced around the edges to hold in the more watery icing which is flood. More information can be found here.
- Clear counter space. The icing takes 24 hours to dry if you want it to remain smudge free
- Prepare the border icing by mixing the sugar, vanilla, milk/water and food colouring. If you want the border icing to be completely white (similar to mine) use clear vanilla extract or do not use at all. The icing should be quite thick and if you drizzle from the spoon, the ribbon should hold for a few seconds before melting back
- Transfer to a piping bag and begin piping
- Allow the border icing to dry to touch
- Prepare the flood icing by mixing the ingredients
- Transfer to piping bag and pipe
- Store for 24 hours
- (Optional) Remake the border icing, transfer to piping bag and pipe decorations on top. They can be general or Christmassy.
Few Tips: As mentioned before, to keep the icing white, I did not add any vanilla essence as mine is slightly tinted and makes the colour an off white. However, if you have clear vanilla essence go ahead!
I also recommend doing both the border and the flood otherwise if only the flood is used, it will get messy. I suggest making sure you have the correct consistency as well and that the border isn't too thick and the flood isn't too thin.
And also, allow to dry the proper amount of time. What I did was do the border, wait for 24 hours, do the flood, wait for 24 hours and then make designs on top, wait for 24 hours. It did go over a few days but they came out smudge free.
Fun Variations: Feel free to get out Christmas themed cookie cutters like snowflakes and Christmas tress and use super Christmas colours like red and green. Another idea is before the icing hardens, to deck the cookies out in candy like Christmas coloured mnms or silver cashews. You may even wish to use a circular cookie cutter, cover the cookie in icing, allow to harden and then draw Christmas decorations on top in icing. There are many different things that can be done!
And if you're viewing this post after Christmas, why not just make regular sugar cookies without the holiday cutters and designs. You could write your friends initials on them or write happy birthday as a birthday present! The options are endless!
I also recommend doing both the border and the flood otherwise if only the flood is used, it will get messy. I suggest making sure you have the correct consistency as well and that the border isn't too thick and the flood isn't too thin.
And also, allow to dry the proper amount of time. What I did was do the border, wait for 24 hours, do the flood, wait for 24 hours and then make designs on top, wait for 24 hours. It did go over a few days but they came out smudge free.
Fun Variations: Feel free to get out Christmas themed cookie cutters like snowflakes and Christmas tress and use super Christmas colours like red and green. Another idea is before the icing hardens, to deck the cookies out in candy like Christmas coloured mnms or silver cashews. You may even wish to use a circular cookie cutter, cover the cookie in icing, allow to harden and then draw Christmas decorations on top in icing. There are many different things that can be done!
And if you're viewing this post after Christmas, why not just make regular sugar cookies without the holiday cutters and designs. You could write your friends initials on them or write happy birthday as a birthday present! The options are endless!
I really hope that the extra tips and notes I have written after my own experience are helpful! These are absolutely delicious and look fabulous when given to others. If you have any more questions about them, feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email. What is your favorite Christmas treat? Let me know in the comments! Till then, happy eating!
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