Take a break from the Christmas madness to make Christmas Cookies! These sugar cookies are classic vanilla biscuits that are made for cutting out shapes because they hold their shape perfectly when baked.
NO CHILL time, make them soft OR crispy. Ice them my EASY way, dip in chocolate, dust with icing sugar or serve them plain!
Christmas Cookies
What I call “Christmas Cookies” are simply vanilla biscuits cut out in Christmas shapes and iced with colourful festive frosting. They taste like shortbread cookies, but not quite as buttery or crumbly. They are as classic as vanilla biscuits can be.
This particular biscuit recipe is made for cutting out shapes – in this case, Christmas shapes. Most cookies spread snd puff up so they bear little resemblance to the shape you expected!
But these hold their shape perfectly – as you can see by the sharp ridges and corners in the photo below.
What you need for Christmas Cookies
The nice thing about these Christmas Cookies is that they’re made with pantry staples – so there’s no need to add to your ever growing Christmas grocery shopping list!!!
How to make Christmas Cookies
Unlike most cookie doughs suitable for cutting out shape, there’s no chill time required for this recipe. Ain’t nobody got time for chilling during Christmas madness – right??!
Bonus: the dough is easy to handle and can be scrunched up and rolled up again over and over until you’ve used up every scrap.
Because these are sweet vanilla biscuits, they are flavoured enough and sweet enough to serve plain. But if you are inclined to ice them, pop over to my Icing for Christmas Cookies (PS I also share my quick ‘n easy way to ice them!)
So. Many. Cookies.
A sight that will catapult anyone into serious Christmas spirit!!
Make these for Santa, your family, or (if you’re really feeling the holiday spirit) maybe even to gift to someone.
And don’t worry. This is a big batch recipe. Nibble away, no one will miss one or two or five!! 😉 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Christmas Cookies (Vanilla Biscuits / Sugar Cookies)
Ingredients
- 225g / 1 cup unsalted butter , softened (or use salted, skip salt)
- 1 cup caster/superfine sugar (granulated/ordinary white sugar ok too)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (55-60g / 1.9-2oz)
- 3 cups flour , plain / all purpose
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
Icing for Sugar Cookies
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy (1 minute on speed 5)
- Add egg and vanilla, beat until completely combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Start mixing slowly, then beat until the flour is incorporated – it will be clumpy.
- Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Pat together then cut in half, then shape into 2 discs.
- Roll out to 0.3cm / 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 0.6cm / 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies), sprinkling with flour under and over the dough so it doesn't stick.
- Use cookie cutters to press out shapes and use a knife or spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets. (Keep dough that doesn’t fit in the oven in the fridge).
- Bake for 10 minutes, swapping trays halfway (Note 2), until the surface is pale golden and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on trays (they will finish cooking on the trays).
Decorating options:
- Icing – see Icing for Christmas Cookies recipe.
- Melt chocolate then dip the surface into chocolate.
- Dot with icing sugar and decorated with silver balls
- Dust with icing sugar
- Serve plain! They are sweet vanilla biscuits so they are wonderful eaten just as they are!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published 2019. Reviewed and refreshed as needed every year or so. No change to recipe, it’s a classic!
Life of Dozer
When Dozer got his very own personalised Christmas cookie!!
Hi Nagi – thank you for sharing this recipe. I’m excited to try it. Just wondering how long can I freeze the baked cookies for? Thank you.
They should be ok for a month or so Jyotsna – if they last that long!! N x
Can i freeze the uncooked dough?
Yes you can Hannah! N x
These Are Honestly The Best Cookies Ever! Thank You So Much Nagi!
Hello Nagi!!!
I made the cookies and they were wonderful, just a bit too sweet with the icing on top. Can I reduce the sugar in the cookie recipe??
Hi! Would these work for biscuits I want to add fondant too? Thanks
Yes Leah, they will. N x
Hello Nagi!! I love your recipe! How can I Adjust the measurements to make this a chocolate cookie?
hiya use about 70g less flour and put in cocoa powder instead !
Hi Nagi, Are you able to freeze these once made? I need to make hundreds for a fundraiser so need to start early and defrost nearer the time to decorate. Thanks
Hi Mev
Did you end up freezing these biscuits and did they turn out ok after defrosting? I need to make and freeze to travel to Qld
Hi Lyndall, yes I froze about 100 in ziplock bags of 20 per bag. They defrosted fine and there was no issue with quality or freshness.
Hi Lyndall, yes I froze about 100 in ziplock bags of 20 per bag. They defrosted fine and there was no issue with quality or freshness.
Thank you so much
Hi Nagi, would switching plain flour with whole meal plain flour make a difference to the recipe?
Hi Nagi, will I be able to reduce the amount of butter without affecting the taste/texture of the cookies? If so, how much should I use? Thanks 🙂
I don’t suggest changing that sorry Azalea! N x
Hi Azalea,
Did you end up making and freezing these biscuits? If so how did they turn out once defrosted. I need to make some for a wedding and they need to travel to QLD
I trippled this recipe and split it into 3. Chocolate chip, Chocolate choc chip and peanut butter. Just added the flavours into the recipe
This recipe is wonderful, so many people commented. I wanted something ‘christmas-y’ without having time for the Icing, so I added the finely grated rind of an orange to the dough, and pressed a sprinkle of sugar into the top before baking. Perfect! Thank you for sharing.
That’s a great tip, Sherrie!! N x
These cookies were seriously so good! And easy too! Especially the icing, chefs kiss!
I used granulated sugar instead of castor sugar but it still worked out! Dough was very crumbly and I was worried it wouldn’t work out but I was able to squish the dough together and roll it out. The dough didn’t stick to the rolling pin! Even had my 9 year old helping roll the dough and stamp out cookies with no issues. Also didn’t have to chill the dough between batches which was a huge plus!! Cookies turned out great!
Best cookies ever!! Decided to try last minute, so happy I did…quick, easy and crispy. I have never commented on a recipe before, that’s how good they are!
I haven’t baked a cookie in 40 years because I’m blessed to have some great cooks in my life that keep me out of the kitchen. This year my family moved to Thailand and my culinary support crew are on the other side of the globe. These were easy to make on short notice for the holidays and came out great. 🙏
I was skeptical but the cookies turned out Perfect!!!!! It was soooo good even without icing that I ate a good amount before the icing made it on. The one thing I would say is when I added all the ingredients together it was incredibly crumbly but then I added a smidge of soft butter and a smidge of egg whites and continue mixing and it eventually turned into a rough lump. Still crumbly but workable. Thanks so much for this super easy and delicious recipe!
Made these cookies with my little daughter yesterday during Chritsmas Eve and they were easy to make and delicious. Love the icing too. However, I added few drops of lemon to the icing to make it less sweet.
I can’t cook to save my life. And I hate the kitchen but it’s Christmas so… these came out PERFECT!!!
I hate cooking… I hate baking. I hate the kitchen. I cannot and hate following recipes…. I said alright let’s do this. These came out PERFECT!!!
Hi Nagi,
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. Big hugs for Dozer!
I also have a golden, she’s 11. I don’t feed her sugar for obvious reasons. They are precious our dogs. I have two other lil dogs.
Hey, do you think this cookie mix would be ok if I froze it. ?
Something’s come up and I need to postpone making them, I’ve just made the mix and would rather freeze it than storing the cooked cookies
I’ve just prepared the mix, not sure what I did wrong..(?) Followed proportions..its a little crumbly. If its still crumbly when i go to cook them, what do I add to stop that?
I’ve popped it in the freezer
Please forgive me.. This is my first time!! But.. My cookie batter turned into a big crumbly mess! I think I melted the butter too much instead of it being “softened” but not sure if that’s the problem..? But the batter won’t stick together or roll without crumbling. Any suggestions?? Or do I need to start over?? Thanks!!
hi i am 7 and i love your baking is so good . today i am making the vanilla cookies with my mom and my dad and my sister i love your recipes hope see you one day