Cutout Sugar Cookies
My Cutout Sugar Cookies are a classic, festive cookie that are buttery soft and hold their shape when baked. They're made with simple ingredients: butter, powdered sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla. Use your favorite cookie cutters to make a variety of fun shapes and great creative with decorating using my easy icing recipe!
Servings 26 , 3 inch cookies
Calories 136kcal
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 1 recipe Sugar Cookie Dough
Easy Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 Tbsp. warm water
- 2 tsp. light corn syrup
- 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
- small pinch of salt
Instructions
For the cookies
- For the sugar cookie dough: you can make the cookie dough using the food processor or stand mixer method, whichever you prefer. Follow the same directions for dividing the dough in half, I like to make these cookies thicker for softer cookies, ~½ inch is perfect. Chill dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- When ready to cut into shapes and bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a few baking sheets with parchment.
- Use your favorite Christmas cookie cutters to cut out the cookies, and place them about 1-2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Repeat with the remaining dough. Re-rolling the scraps and chilling in between as needed if it gets too warm (I usually re-roll it and pop in the freezer between batches for it to get cold quickly) This recipe should yield about 24-26 cookies.
- Bake for 8-11 minutes or until edges are just lightly brown, edges look set, and the middles have puffed up a bit.
- Cool on the baking sheet for just 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing
- Add the powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl and set aside. In another small dish, combine the warm water, corn syrup, and vanilla and mix.
- Add this to the powdered sugar and mix to combine, it will be thick.
- Add the pinch of salt, mix again and taste.
- Check the consistency, if too thick you can add a small tiny drop of water and whisk it in. Or if too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar until perfect thick consistency.
- Use food gel colors to color the icing if needed. Divide the icing into bowls, and add just a few drops at a time. The colors will darken as the icing dries so be careful not to add too much.
- Decorate using the round piping tip (#4 Wilton) or piping bottles, outline the cookies first, then fill them in. You can decorate with sprinkles or dip in sprinkles then set up at room temperature until icing dries, about 1-2 hours. Get creative and have fun with it! Once icing harden they're easy to package or deliver to friends/family!
Video
Notes
- The dough will be soft but not sticky. It should be fine to work with once it's chilled, and easy to roll between the 2 sheets of parchment paper.
- Storage: At room temperature, store decorated cookies in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. Or you can freeze the decorated cookies for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 136kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1.2g