Everyone needs a reliable Christmas cutout cookie recipe that becomes tradition to serve over the Holidays. I’ve followed this recipe for years and years. It produces the perfect sugar cutout cookie that isn’t overly sweet and perfectly pairs with the thick buttercream icing. This recipe utilizes vanilla extract and avoids almond extract altogether. You either love almond extract or hate it and I’m in the latter category. The icing is rich and thick and very buttery. The color comes out off-white and looks rustic and old worldly. My favorite way to decorate the cookies is to create a snow flocked look with the icing using a table knife. Just spread the icing on and then starting at the middle top, doing the right side first, use the knife to glide over the icing surface in a down and out motion. Mirror the same strokes on the left side, going from the middle out. This gives your cookies a finished look without having to dye the icing or decorate. You are free to decorate if you’d like as sprinkles will cling to the surface.
Tips for the Best Christmas Cutout Cookies
- FLOUR is your best friend. You must use flour on everything that touches the cookies: the surface you roll the dough out on, rolling pin, cookie cutters and dough itself. You’ll flour and re-flour everything over and over again.
- Once you’ve rolled out your first batch and you go to roll the scraps together, be sure to scrape the counter surface. You need to get the residual dough off the counter, or it could create a sticking point for the dough when you re-roll it. Flour again and then roll the scraps out.
- You need a flexible offset spatula to get the cookies off the counter. It’s a nightmare to do without it and you’ll end up altering the cookie shape too much by pulling it rather than gently lifting.
- You must line your sheet pan with parchment paper to avoid the cookies sticking.
- If you don’t have Christmas cookie cutters, use the opening of a drinking glass to create pretty circle shapes.
Christmas Cutout Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 1 1/2 c Kerrygold salted butter (3 sticks) softened
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 3 1/2 C flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 C Kerrygold salted butter (2 sticks) softened
- 4 C powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 TB milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
- To a separate bowl or stand mixer cream together softened butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla and continue beating until well incorporated.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat on low until everything is incorporated.
- Split the dough in half. Shape the dough into two discs, wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Liberally flour the counter, rolling pin and the cookie dough. Roll the dough out to 1/4" thick. I like to mark 1/4" on a toothpick and use that to measure the dough throughout. Just prick all over making sure the dough reaches the mark on the toothpick.
- Flour the cookie cutters every couple cuts. Cut out your cookies. Place on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in rounds on 350 for 9-10 minutes.
- Reroll out the extra dough and cut more cookies. Follow this process until the dough is all used up. You make need to re-refrigerate the dough.
- While the cookies bake make the icing.
- To a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or to a bowl using a hand mixer, beat softened butter until fluffy. Slowly add half the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla and half of the milk. Continue beating, adding the rest of the powdered sugar and milk. Beat until it's well incorporated, scraping the bowl down as needed.
- Ice cookies once they've completely cooled.