I was on the lookout for the best cut-out sugar cookies. It is the holiday season, sugar cookies are a trend this time of year. I even tried a couple of recipes that were online to find the best one. Some of them used baking powder in them, some others used corn starch instead. Some required chilling others did not. The one that had cornstarch was the easiest to make in terms of cutting out and less chilling. However, they were a little hard in texture. But they still tasted good if you like a little crunch.
Finally, the recipe that we tried and all liked was inspired by the recipe by Sally's baking addictions. It had the right softness in the middle and a slight crunch. As it was the holidays, the kids were home and free to help. It was a well-spent time with my high schoolers baking and decorating.
Tips to make the best cut-out sugar cookies
One of the tips that I followed, and that is very useful, is to roll the dough before chilling. It is easier to roll at this point than after chilling. Chilling for one or two hours is important for this recipe as the dough is soft and smooth, although not sticky. If not chilled, it will not hold on to its shape while cutting and transferring to the baking tray. Divide the dough into two halves so it is easy to manage while rolling.
Place the dough between two parchment papers and roll into about ¼ th or ⅛ th of an inch uniformly. You can place the rolled dough in the refrigerator in the baking tray itself, covered with a cling wrap. The chilled and rolled-out dough really helps in easily cutting shapes using the cookie cutters. Coat the molds by dipping in all-purpose flour while cutting, to get nice clean edges. The remaining dough from the cookie cutters can then be rolled again and reused to make cookies.
Be sure to take the cookies out exactly at 11 to 12 mins or just before the edges get browned while baking. The cookies have just about the right amount of sweetness and maybe a little less sugary for some. But keep in mind, the frosting will have sugar as well.
The icing is very simple to make. All it needs is powdered sugar, corn starch syrup, vanilla extract, and few drops of food color gel. You can add colors of your choice and make pretty decorations. We used mainly red and green as it is Christmas time. Use a narrow and pointed tip attached to the piping bag to draw outlines and fill it with icing. Add sugar dust and colorful sprinkles to make it look festive. We were quite happy with the outcome and indeed a wonderful result for the first attempt.
Here are some other cookie recipes that are great for the holiday season chocolate chip cookie, bakery-style chocolate chip cookies, and almond flour chocolate chip cookies. Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Wishing you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, and joyous holiday season!
The best cut out sugar cookies
Ingredients
For Cookies
- 2 ¼ cups All-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
For icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 3 - 4 tbsp milk
- 2 ¼ tbsp corn syrup light
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- few drops food coloring or gel
- 1 bottle sprinkles
Instructions
To make Cookies
- Cream the butter and sugar for about 2 to 3 mins on high speed. Scrape the contents from the sides and mix as necessary.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on high speed for a minute .
- Next add the flour in small additions on low speed until they are all well combined.
- Take the ball of dough and divide into 2 portions.
- Roll the dough in between two parchment papers .
- Transfer to baking tray and cover with cling wrap .
- Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or upto 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
- Take the chilled and rolled out dough and cut into shapes using cookie molds.
- Transfer to the baking tray lined with parchment paper for baking .
- Bake for 11 to 12 mins until the sides are slightly brown.
- Cool on a cooling rack until completely cool.
To make Icing
- Mix all the ingredients in the "for frosting section" in a large bowl using a whisk
- Fill into piping bags with narrow tip.
- Decorate by making borders, filling with frosting and adding sprinkles as desired.
Nutrition
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Nisha, very useful tip for dusting the mould in flour for neat edges.
Cookies are creating perfect festive atmosphere. Loved the most bright green coloured one!
Thank you so much Deeksha, the Christmas colors indeed creates a festive look ! The green Xmas tree one is my favorite as well .Dusting the mold is truly a great tip and helps with neat edges .
These cookies look yummy! Great job on the decorating, too! I always like to start our holiday season with a batch of rolled sugar cookies to decorate. The little ones love helping. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Thanks a lot, Deborah! Yes, indeed the best way to start the holidays is by baking these sugar cookies. To decorate the cookies with kids is the most fun part!
Delightfully yummy! Nice job on decorating these cookies! They are so bright!🌲🌟😍
Thank you very much, we had a lot of fun decorating and yes the red green and white are really bright !
Super cute little cut out cookies. This is the same frosting I have always used and it comes out perfect.
Thank you so much Jere! Ah I see, this is a fool proof recipe for sure . There's also just about enough to mix with different colors .
Beautiful Presentation.
Thank you very much for the appreciation!
You make it look and sound so easy! My wife and I normally hit a church "cookie walk" fundraiser for our sugar cookies, but since that isn't an option this year (COVID protocols), we are going to try making our own and letting our 4-year-old decorate them with icing. Wish us luck!
Oh I see, but this is truly a no fail recipe .I am sure you will breeze through making this . Good luck with it ! Kids usually have a great time decorating , so it will be fun as well.
Wow these look like they came from a bakery! What a beautiful job!
Thank you so much Diane for the wonderful comment, that is a great compliment coming from you as you are an avid baker yourself !
Love these beautifully decorated cut-out cookies. Thanks so much for sharing egg-free sugar cookies recipe & also for sharing wonderful tips.
Thank you so much Megala for the appreciation . Glad the tips are useful. But this recipe does have egg in it .I guess you could use baking soda and vinegar or apple-sauce as a replacement .
Yes, Nisha after cooling the dough must be cut correctly. Colorful cookies and it looks terrific. Greetings friend 💕
Cooling and chilling the dough definitely does make it easier in the cutting process! Thank you for the wonderful comments appreciate it!
I enjoyed seeing the photos on Instagram yesterday and now I'm getting the details here! YUMMY 😋 Happy Christmas!
Thank you so much dear Christy for stopping by, appreciate your support! Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
Nom nom, a classic for Christmas!
I saw these on your Instagram - they're very cute, and I love your decoration designs! xx
Yes Caz a Christmas favorite indeed. Thank you so much for the comments and stopping by!
It's been so long since I made sugar cookies, and it's good to be reminded in a post like this that they are fun and worth making. Great tip about rolling out the dough before refrigerating it!
Thank you so much, Beth. So glad to hear it brought back fun memories of making them. The tip about rolling the dough before chilling really saved me some effort for sure :).Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
owww. They are so pretty. Always wanted to try to cook something like that. Thanks for recipe, will make my homemates happy with these ones!
Thank you so much! They are really fun to make and taste delicious as well. Hope you like them as much as we did. Enjoy!
Sugar cookies are so much fun to make. The kids love decorating them with different coloured icings and toppings.
Yes they are fun indeed . Thank you so much!
These sugar cookies are super inviting and cute, Nisha! love the colorful idea and festive shapes , I'm sure my kids would love these , going to try the recipe with different shapes , thanks for this recipe my friend!
Thank you so much Aarthi ! Hope you have a fun time with your kids baking and deocrating them .
love the tips. I enjoy making cookies for festive season. It was what my husband and I did on our first official date. Love the tips!
Thank you so much ! That must have been a lot of fun . Glad to hear you loved the tips.
These sound great! I am a firm believer that a sugar cookie needs to have that soft center. Otherwise, it just tastes overdone to me, as if someone left it baking for too long, drying it out... I know that some recipes give that consistency without overbaking, but that's still where my mind goes when eating them lol
Yes exactly right , it is very important not to overbake and take it out exactly at the right time . Thank you so much for your comments.
I LOVE making sugar cookies! Well, I love making all kinds of cookies, but sugar cookies are so much fun to decorate ☺️ You can cover them in royal icing, fondant, even buttercream if you can to get really fancy! Plus, they're so nice and sweet. I personally love dipping them in a cup of tea or hot chocolate - they are perfect for this time of year 😋
Thank you so much ! Yes all those frostig sounds on the sugar cookies sounds delicious . I agree decorating the sugar cookies is the most fun part . Love the plain ones as well , as you mention dipping it in a hot cup of tea .
Wow! These are really cute. We were supposed to make some sugar cookies last Christmas but ran out of time. Thinking of making one for new year instead. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you so much , they will be great for any celebration and new year sounds just perfect ! Happy baking , enjoy!
These are so adorable 😍 👏
Thank you so much!
On Christmas we did a lot of cookies, some of them were to show them to our teachers since my kids do online school!
Oh ! wonderful to hear that . I'm sure the kids would have enjoyed baking and showing them to their teachers .
The cookies look super tempting 😋
Many Thanks Smitha, they turned out really good.