Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
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Every holiday season needs a batch of perfectly baked Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies! These perfect sugar cookies are soft, buttery, and topped with vibrant royal icing designs, making them an essential part of any festive celebration. Whether you're decorating with kids or adding a personal touch to holiday gifts, these cookies are a canvas for creativity and a nostalgic nod to Christmases past.
The Sweet History of Sugar Cookies:
Sugar cookies have been a holiday staple for centuries, originating in 18th-century Pennsylvania with the German settlers who created the "Nazareth Cookie." Over time, these simple, versatile cookies became associated with Christmas, thanks to their easy-to-shape dough and ability to hold intricate designs. Today, sugar cookies with royal icing are a beloved tradition, blending artful decorating with the joy of baking.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
Easy to Make and Decorate: Perfect for bakers of all skill levels. This sugar cookie recipe is stress-free and bakes up quickly. It’s perfect for baking with kids during the holidays!
Customizable Designs: Create cookies that reflect your holiday spirit. You can be as elaborate or simple as you wish. These cookies are a perfect base for buttercream frosting, too!
Deliciously Soft and Buttery: A classic sugar cookie flavor everyone loves. These cookies also bake flat, so they make a perfect canvas for royal icing designs.
Great for Gifting: Package these beauties for a heartfelt homemade present in a Christmas Cookie Box!
Gathering Ingredients:
Flour. All-purpose flour works best for this recipe.
Baking Powder.
Salt.
Butter. Make sure that your butter is warmed to around 62° F (16° C) for the best results while mixing.
Sugar.
Eggs. Bring your eggs to room temperature before mixing the dough.
Vanilla Extract.
Powdered Sugar. Sift your powdered sugar to avoid lumps in your icing.
Meringue Powder. To make these cookies safe to eat, I like to use meringue powder vs egg whites.
Gel Food Coloring. If you are going to be coloring your royal icing, I recommend using gel food coloring. It blends the best in comparison to water-based colorings, and you don’t need as much to get rich hues! This brand also makes plant based food colorings if you are trying to avoid artificial colors.
How to Make Sugar Cookies:
Step One: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Step Two: In an electric standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture, about 2 to 3 minutes. There may still be some larger clumps of butter and sugar, and that is perfect. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined, about 2 minutes.
Step Three: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until the dough just comes together and the ingredients no longer look separated, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Step Four: Divide the dough into 2 equal sized portions. Shape each half of dough into a disc and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days before baking.
Step Five: Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Then, roll out one half of the cookie dough to about 1/4-inch (6-mm) thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice. Knead the dough scraps back together and re-roll as needed. Repeat the process with the second half of dough.
Step Six: Arrange the cut cookies on the baking sheets about 2-inches (5-cm) apart and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Smaller cookies will need less time to bake and large cookies will need a bit longer.
Step Seven: Remove the trays from the oven and leave the cookies to rest on the trays for a further 5 minutes before transferring them to wire cooling racks.
Tips for Making Royal ICing:
To make royal icing, you need to combine powdered sugar with meringue powder and cold water. The process is extremely simple, but understanding how royal icing works will help you to create the correct icing consistencies to decorate beautiful cookies.
Mix Your Ingredients. To make royal icing, you will be mixing together powdered sugar and meringue powder. Then, you will begin to add cold water by the tablespoon (15 ml). The less water, the thicker your icing will be. The more water, the thinner your icing will be.
Piping Icing. To make royal icing cookies, you will want to have a set of icing that are of piping consistency. This means that they are thick enough to stand on their own without overly spreading or spreading at all. Piping icing is for creating borders and edges to your design, or adding small detailed elements like eyes, noses, ornaments, dots, lines, etc. For piping icing, when the icing is drizzled back into the bowl, it should leave a trace that takes about 20 to 25 seconds to disappear back into itself. If your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add more water.
Filling Icing. Filling icing is for exactly what you might think: to fill in your designs! Most sugar cookies have a large surface area where a single color will need to be filled in. Filling icing is thinner in consistency, so it easily spreads on its own or with the help of a toothpick. For filling icing, when the icing is drizzled back into the bowl, it should leave a trace that takes about 8 to 15 seconds to disappear back into itself. If your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add more water.
How to Use Royal ICing on Cookies:
Before your begin decorating your cookies, you will need to mix up your royal icings. For more
Step One: Mix your piping and filling icings. Separate the icings and color them according your preferences. I like to use small mixing bowls to make several colors at once, or disposable bowls can work if you are making these with kids or at a party or classroom setting.
Step Two: Transfer the icing to piping bags or reusable condiment bottles. Condiment bottles are preferable if you are working with kids or people who have trouble with their dexterity. They are much easier to hold and use!
Step Three: With the piping icing, create a border around the edge of your cookie’s design. You can create different borders for different colors, such as Santa’s hat and Santa’s beard, or the front of a house and the roof. You will want to wait for each different color to harden before touching it with a different color, or the colors may mix together!
Step Four: Once the border has dried, using the filling icing to fill in the shape. Pipe filling icing all over the area where you want to fill. It will begin to spread on its own, but you will most likely need toothpicks to help spread the icing farther. If you notice any thin areas, add a bit more icing so that the surface dries evenly.
Step Five: It takes longer for filling icing to dry, so be patient! This can sometimes take up to an hour. I find that it’s easiest to make lots of royal icing sugar cookies in an assembly line. I pipe all of the borders for one style cookie, then fill them in, then begin on the next design.
Step Six: One the filling icing is dry and does not move after your gently press on the surface, you can begin decorating the tops of the cookies with piping designs such as ornaments, face details, stars, etc.
Step Seven: If you want to marble your cookies, pipe two filling colors together while they are still wet. Then, take a toothpick and drag it through the colors to marble the icings!
Serving Suggestions:
Serve these cookies with a mug of hot cocoa or a glass of milk for a classic holiday pairing. They also make stunning additions to cookie platters or festive dessert tables.
My 2024 Christmas Cookie Box
Final Thoughts:
Crafting Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing is a joyful holiday tradition! Whether you're a seasoned baker or just starting out, these cookies bring warmth, creativity, and deliciousness to your holiday season. These are the best sugar cookies and are so easy and fun to make with kids during Christmas. You will absolutely love making this easy sugar cookie recipe and learning how to decorate with royal icing. Share these cookies with loved ones, or keep a few for yourself—you’ve earned it!
xoxo Kayla
Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup (232 g) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 4 cups (460 g) powdered sugar, sifted and divided
- 3 tbsp (30 g) meringue powder, divided
- 7 to 10 tbsp (105 to 150 ml) cold water, divided
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
- Gel food coloring in assorted colors
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- In an electric standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture, about 2 to 3 minutes. There may still be some larger clumps of butter and sugar, and that is perfect. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until the dough just comes together and the ingredients no longer look separated, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal sized portions. Shape each half of dough into a disc and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F (191° C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set these aside for now.
- Bring the dough out onto the counter. If it has chilled for longer than 1 hour, let the dough warm up for about 10 minutes before rolling.
- Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Then, roll out one half of the cookie dough to about 1/4-inch (6-mm) thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice. Knead the dough scraps back together and re-roll as needed. Repeat the process with the second half of dough.
- Arrange the cut cookies on the baking sheets about 2-inches (5-cm) apart and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Smaller cookies will need less time to bake and large cookies will need a bit longer.
- Remove the trays from the oven and leave the cookies to rest on the trays for a further 5 minutes before transferring them to wire cooling racks.
- While the cookies cool, mix the royal icing. This recipe will make enough to decorate all of your cookies and probably a bit more!
- You will want to have 2 separate batches of royal icing, one for piping and one for filling the cookies. The piping icing is thicker and will retain its shape once piped. The filling icing is thinner in consistency and is used to fill large surface areas of cookies. You can mix up an entire large batch, if you choose. Below, I will share how to make equal parts of both icing consistencies.
- Begin by mixing the piping icing in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer. Mix together 2 cups (230 g) of the powdered sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons (15 g) of the meringue powder, and about 3 to 4 tablespoons (45 to 60 ml) of the water. At this point, you can also add vanilla to the icing if you prefer. The amount of water used will determine how thick the final icing is. Whisk the icing on high speed until it is thickened, about 5 to 8 minutes. For piping icing, when the icing is drizzled back into the bowl, it should leave a trace that takes about 20 to 25 seconds to disappear back into itself. If your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add more water. Cover the finished icing with a wet paper towel and plastic wrap, or transfer it to a piping bag. Next, make the filling iocingB
- Next, make the filling icing. Mix together the remaining 2 cups (230 g) of the powdered sugar, the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (15 g) of the meringue powder, and about 5 to 6 tablespoons (45 to 60 ml) of the water. At this point, you can also add vanilla to the icing if you prefer. The amount of water used will determine how thick the final icing is. Whisk the icing on high speed until it is thickened, about 5 to 8 minutes. For filling icing, when the icing is drizzled back into the bowl, it should leave a trace that takes about 8 to 15 seconds to disappear back into itself. If your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add more water.
- Separate your icing into small bowls and mix with gel food coloring as needed. Be creative here! Once colored, transfer the icing to piping bags or reusable condiment bottles. Then, begin piping designs on your cookies!*
- The icing can be used as soon as the cookies are fully cooled. To store the icing, keep it at room temperature and fully covered so that air cannot reach it, or it will begin to form a crust. It's best to keep it wet! It can be stored like this for several days and reused. It may begin to separate or even thin out, so just shake the bottle or put it back into a bowl or mixer and whip it for a few minutes.
Notes
*For tips on how to decorate your cookies, read the blog post above!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
