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–+ servings
Assorted decorated Christmas sugar cookies on a cooling rack, featuring gingerbread men, snowflakes, stars, and holly leaves with white and green icing and festive sprinkles.

Best Christmas Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing Recipe

by Cassandra Morris
Make the best Christmas sugar cookies with this easy, no-chill recipe! These cookies are soft, buttery, and hold their shape perfectly, making them ideal for decorating with my simple icing. Great for holiday baking, this recipe is sure to become your go-to for festive, picture-perfect cookies that everyone will love.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 14 cookies

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies

  • 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon almond extract
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Easy Sugar Cookie Icing

  • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2-3 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • 4.5 - 5 tablespoons milk
  • pinch of salt
  • gel food coloring & sprinkles for decorating

Instructions

Make the Sugar Cookies

  • Mix the Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat the Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the room temperature butter and white sugar on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.
  • Add Egg and Almond Extract: Add the room temperature egg and almond extract to the bowl. Mix on medium speed for about 1 minute, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well combined.
  • Incorporate the Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until fully combined. The dough will be soft—use your hands to gather and form it into a smooth dough.
  • Roll Out the Dough: Place the dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness, ensuring even consistency.
  • Cut and Arrange Cookies: Cut the dough into your desired shapes using cookie cutters and place the cookies on a pachment lined baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between each one. Pro Tip: Make single batches for the best results—doubling the recipe can impact consistency.
  • Bake the Cookies: Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. The cookies may look slightly underbaked when you take them out, but they will continue to bake on the sheet as they cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Easy Sugar Cookie Icing

  • Prepare the Icing: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, light corn syrup, and milk until smooth and lump-free. The icing should be thick initially. Add additional 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until the icing reaches the desired consistency—when lifted with a whisk or spoon, the icing should fall back into the bowl in ribbons and hold for 3-4 seconds.
  • Color and Apply the Icing: Mix in your desired gel food coloring until fully combined. For the best application, use a squeeze bottle or try my favorite “Dip, Drip, and Flip” method: dip the top of a cookie into the icing, let any excess drip back into the bowl, and then flip it over onto a piece of parchment paper to dry. This icing recipe makes enough to frost approximately 24 cookies. Add sprinkles if desired.
  • Let the Icing Set: Allow the cookies to sit until the icing has set completely, which typically takes 12 to 24 hours. Feel free to sneak a taste after about an hour—I find it’s usually set enough to eat by then! Once fully set, these cookies are ready to be served or stored.