30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (2024)

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (1)

One of the best things about the holiday season is all the sweet treats to bake and share with friends and family. We’re all about pies, cakes, candy, and bars, but the most quintessential Christmas dessert has got to be cookies. We’re big fans of sugar cookies in particular because they’re easy to bake, are super-versatile, and best of all, are fun to decorate. Bust out those cookie cutters and check out our top 30 holiday sugar cookie recipes for ideas—just don’t forget to bake enough to leave out for Santa too!

And don’t worry if you’re not the most confident baker. We’ve got all the tips you’ll need in our classic sugar cookie recipe (hint: chill that dough), as well as a few of our favorite frosting/icing recipes, like our royal icing, our cream cheese frosting, and our sugar cookie icing. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the idea of rolling and cutting out your dough, try adding different flavors to your cookies to jazz them up. Check out our brown sugar cookies, our chewy lemon sugar cookies, or our pumpkin sugar cookies for ideas—they’re still special for the holiday, but no cookie cutters needed. If all that STILL seems like too much, there’s no shade in using store-bought cookie dough and just doing your own decorating, like in our Rolo ornament cookies, our melted snowman cookies, or our sugar cookie trees. Bonus: These recipes are great for kids (and adults who feel like one this time of year).

If you are looking for more elaborate options, we’ve got ideas for you too. One way to take your sugar cookies to the next level is to change up the color of the dough, like in our checkerboard cookies, our Grinch cookies, our pinwheel cookies, or our candy cane cookies. If you’re confident in your decorating skills or want to try something new, take inspiration from our snowflake cookies, our Santa cookies, our ugly sweater cookies, or our Christmas tree cookies. You never know, you might end up finding a new cookie box favorite among them.

Though we do love sweets this time of year, one cannot survive on cookies alone. Check out our favorite Christmas appetizers, Christmas dinners, and Christmas brunch ideas too.

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1

Perfect Sugar Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (3)

This recipe is the only one you need. It embodies both form and function: Not only does it taste fantastically buttery with just the right amount of sweetness, it also holds its shape, is perfect for decorating, and will get you sharp, clean edges every time after baking.

Get the Perfect Sugar Cookies recipe.

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2

Christmas Tree Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (5)

It isn't Christmas without cookies, and this year, we're starting with these trees decorated with a super-simple marbling technique that's totally Tik Tok-worthy. It's perfect for getting kids involved or for using on other holiday cookie shapes, like candy canes done with a red and white marble or snowflake shapes done in blue and white. The possibilities are endless!

Get the Christmas Tree Cookies recipe.

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3

Christmas Pinwheel Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (7)

These easy pinwheel cookies are beyond mesmerizing but also so easy to make. Make a batch of our easy sugar cookie dough, then dye one half red. Then simply roll them together to create the swirl. The sprinkles are optional, but they add so much extra fun!

Get the Christmas Pinwheel Cookies recipe.

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4

Santa Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (9)

Here's a crazy idea that just might be brilliant: This year, leave the plate of cookies for Santa in his own image. He'll love sliding down the chimney to see his portrait! (Just don't forget the carrots and celery for the reindeer.)

Get the Santa Cookies recipe.

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5

Stained Glass Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (11)

Love sugar cookies but hate decorating them? These are for you! Simply fill cookie cutouts with hard candies like Jolly Ranchers, then bake. The candies will melt, then turn soft and chewy after cooling, adding a bright pop of color to your holiday dessert table.

Get the Stained Glass Cookies recipe.

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6

Rolo Ornament Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (13)

These are the perfect cookie decorating project for kids (and adults who just feel like one this time of year!). All you've got to do is snag some Lofthouse cookies and candy from the store, then get creative with the ornament decorations.

Get the Rolo Ornament Cookies recipe.

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7

Ugly Sweater Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (15)

Looking to really wow people at the Christmas cookie swap this year? Look no further than these gorgeous cookies. We know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but these stunners truly redefine "ugly sweater."

Get the Ugly Sweater Cookies recipe.

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8

Candy Cane Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (17)

These cookies look so much more complicated than they are. They're actually just a simple sugar cookie where half of the dough gets dyed red and then twisted together. So simple!

Get the Candy Cane Cookies recipe.

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9

Snowflake Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (19)

These elegant snowflake cookies turn our best-ever sugar cookie dough into a magical work of art. Trust us: You don't need any special kind of decorating expertise to pull these off—just a snowflake cookie cutter and some decorating sugar pearls.

Get the Snowflake Cookies recipe.

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10

Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies

This recipe yields cookies that are soft and citrusy sweet with a perfect chewy center. They take very minimal effort, and the hardest part will be letting them chill in the fridge. Be patient! That rest time will be worth it for the crinkly texture it provides.

Get the Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies recipe.

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11

Melted Snowman Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (23)

Easy sugar cookies get turned into the cutest snowman cookies. Use our favorite sugar cookie icing and homemade or store-bought cookies to make these super-simple.

Get the Melted Snowman Cookies recipe.

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12

Checkerboard Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (25)

Checkerboard cookies are a classic vanilla and chocolate sugar cookie that look far more complicated to make than they actually are. The two colors are made from the same dough, with half getting some cocoa powder added to it. Feel free to add in a little food coloring to the doughs instead and make the checkerboard pattern any color you desire.

Get the Checkerboard Cookies recipe.

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13

Brown Sugar Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (27)

These brown sugar cookies are chewy, sweet, buttery, and caramelly. They're also big, which we firmly believe a cookie should be. They get baked until the edges are just set, and as they cool, they start to wrinkle and the centers will be chewy and soft with slightly crunchy edges. 😍

Get the Brown Sugar Cookies recipe.

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14

Copycat Crumbl Chilled Sugar Cookie

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (29)

Crumbl’s chilled sugar cookie may no longer be on their permanent menu, but now you can make it at home to have any time you want. Their signature giant cookie is an almond sugar cookie with a pretty pink frosting. It doesn't traditionally have sprinkles, but we think they're fun!

Get the Copycat Crumbl Chilled Sugar Cookie recipe.

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15

Grinch Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (31)

Not everyone's all about the Christmas cheer, and that's okay! These adorable sugar cookies will warm hearts even if they're 10 sizes too small this holiday season.

Get the Grinch Cookies recipe.

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16

Creme Brûlée Sugar Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (33)

Caramelized sugar is our new favorite frosting sub (though don't worry, there's a little cream cheese frosting under there too). Don't have a kitchen torch? Try sticking these under the broiler.

Get the Creme Brûlée Sugar Cookies recipe.

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17

Royal Icing

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (35)

Have you ever wondered how the icing on store-bought sugar cookies has that perfectly smooth, flat, matte look? The answer is royal icing! Follow our tips and you too can decorate sugar cookies like a pro.

Get the Royal Icing recipe.

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18

Leg Lamp Cookies

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (37)

We know you'll be whipping up Christmas cookies this holiday season, and there's no better way to stand out from the crowd of classic chocolate chip and basic sugar cookies than with a platter of these gams, which fans of the movie A Christmas Story might deem hotter than "electric sex" and "indescribably beautiful." 😉

Get the Leg Lamp Cookies recipe.

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19

Holiday Cookie Pops

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (39)

Everyone decorates Christmas sugar cookies with icing, and we think not enough people roll them in sugar and turn them into pops. Pro tip: Dunk ’em in your hot cocoa.

Get the Holiday Cookie Pops recipe.

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20

Cream Cheese Frosting

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (41)

The Delish team's love for cream cheese is no secret, and this recipe showcases exactly why. Buttercream is great and all, but cream cheese frosting is arguably the most delicious option for topping all sorts of desserts, especially sugar cookies.

Get the Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.

30 Sugar Cookie Recipes To Make Your Christmas Extra Sweet (2024)

FAQs

How to make cookies more sweet? ›

Add a Pinch of Salt

Salt is a great flavor enhancer because it can increase the perception of sweetness in a cookie. You may not equate saltiness to a sweet flavor for desserts, but it's a well-known baker's hack. The next time you're baking cookies, add a pinch or two of salt into the dough.

What happens when you add extra sugar to cookies? ›

What happens if you increase the amount of sugar called for in cookies? Conversely, when you increase the sugar in cookies, you'll get cookies that spread more and have an ultra moist and chewy texture in addition to a sweeter flavor.

How do you adjust the sweetness of cookie dough? ›

Adjust the other ingredients: You can try adding a bit more of the other ingredients to balance out the sweetness. For example, you can add a little more flour, butter, or any other dry ingredients called for in the recipe. This can help dilute the extra sugar and bring the flavors back into balance [1].

How to improve sugar cookies? ›

From the dough to the baking to the icing, our guide will leave you with the perfect sugar cookie this holiday season.
  1. Opt for Room Temperature Eggs. ...
  2. Splurge on "Pure" Vanilla Extract. ...
  3. Whisk the Flour. ...
  4. Chill the Dough. ...
  5. Refrain from Overmixing. ...
  6. Go Easy on the Flour. ...
  7. Bake on Parchment Paper.
Dec 16, 2014

How do you mix cookies so that the sweetness of the cookies are greater than K? ›

To do this, two cookies with the least sweetness are repeatedly mixed. This creates a special combined cookie with: sweetness = (1 × Least sweet cookie + 2 × 2nd least sweet cookie). This occurs until all the cookies have a sweetness ≥ 𝑘.

How to make cookies sweet after baking? ›

Per Insider, pastry chef Pippa Allen recommends sprinkling coarse salt over warm, fresh-baked cookies, which extracts the sweetness that's already there.

What is the best sugar for cookies? ›

In that role, white sugar aerates the dough when creamed with butter for thick and puffy cookies. Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more.

What happens if I forgot brown sugar in my cookies? ›

What happens when you bake without brown sugar? To be succinct, the resulting baked good could be slightly drier or more crisp. Without the excess moisture from the molasses in the brown sugar, the final cookie won't be as chewy and the final bread might be drier.

What does too much brown sugar do to cookies? ›

Brown sugar adds a beautiful color as well as a more complex flavor. They'll also make cookies chewier, softer, and thicker than white sugar. Adding too much can result in dark brown cookies. Adding too little results in paler cookies.

Can you over beat sugar cookie dough? ›

There are several issues at play with over-mixing. The first is aeration: If too much air is incorporated into the butter-sugar-egg mixture of cookie dough, for example, the cookies—in the oven for relatively a short amount of time, and without structural support from the sides of a pan—will rise, then fall.

Should you let sugar cookie dough rest? ›

"This allows the dry ingredients time to soak up the wet ones, which results in a firmer dough. It leads to a marvelously chewy, chocolate-rich cookie." So yes, resting your cookie dough makes better cookies.

Can you over mix sugar cookie dough? ›

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer.

Are sugar cookies better with butter or shortening? ›

Which One Should I Use in Cookies? Basically, cookies made with butter spread more and are flatter and crisper if baked long enough. However, they are more flavorful than cookies made with shortening. Cookies made with shortening bake up taller and are more tender, but aren't as flavorful.

What is the secret to a good cookie? ›

The key is to always use top-quality ingredients as they'll result in a better cookie; it really is that simple.
  • Always use butter.
  • Choose the right sugar.
  • Choose the right flour.
  • Check your flour is in date.
  • Choose the right kind of chocolate.
  • Cream the butter and sugar.
  • Beat in the eggs.
  • Fold in the flour.

What is are some key tips in ensuring a successful sugar cookie? ›

Bake the cookies on the middle rack of your oven to ensure they are evenly baked. I also recommend baking these sugar cookies one tray at a time. Don't overbake the cookies. Taking the cookies out just as they begin to turn golden at the edges is key to soft, thick sugar cookies that aren't dry or crunchy.

How to add sugar to cookie dough? ›

For cookies that call for creaming the butter and sugar, add the sugar, then chill the dough, at least 2 hours or overnight to let the sugar dissolve. You know it is working if the sugar crystals in the dough are about as dissolved as they would normally be when you start baking and shaping the cookies.

What happens if you don't add enough sugar to cookies? ›

Sugar sweetens the cookies and makes them an enticing golden brown. Adding too little sugar can affect the taste and texture of cookies. Adding too much can cause them to be brittle. Take your time creaming the sugar and butter together at the beginning.

What gives cookies more flavor? ›

Caramel or regular popcorn, salty potato chips, and pretzels are especially good ideas; just break up any large pieces by roughly crushing them as you add them to the dough. It might be old hat by now, but it's still true: Salt makes cookies taste better.

What does brown sugar do to cookies? ›

Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.

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