Christmas Sugar Cookies
How is everyone doing? Are you all ready for Christmas? We had our big party last night and gave everyone their Christmas gifts…so I am pretty much done now!!!
All I need to do is deliver a few more gifts that are all wrapped and ready to go. What a great feeling!
For dessert we had yummy sugar cookies and hot chocolate!
This is a favorite recipe of mine. They take a little bit of time because you make the dough, then chill it. You then roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters. Next you bake them and let them cool. Finally you frost them and decorate!
A little bit of a process, but oh so worth it!
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond OR lemon extract
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened (do not use light or fat free, they will not thicken up)
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
- 5-6 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream (can substitute with canned milk)
- 1. In a medium bowl, sift or stir the flour, (You must sift or stir flour, or the cookies will be too heavy!), baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- 2. In a large mixing bowl, whip butter until creamy. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond-or-lemon extract until well combined.
- 3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
- 4. Divide the dough and form into two disks. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- 5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter. Brush off any excess flour and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- 6. If not icing the cookie, you can sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- 7. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are just lightly browned on the bottom. Do not over bake if you want soft cookies.
- 8. Place cookies on a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cooled before icing.
- 9. Frost cookies and decorate as desired.
- 1. Place the butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. Blend with a mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- 2. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla or almond extract, and 5 Tablespoons of the cream. Mix until incorporated. If the icing is too thick and needs to be thinned, add an additional Tablespoon of cream, if too much cream is added, add a little more powdered sugar. ( I find that this a very soft icing and usually have to add a little more powdered sugar). Add food coloring if desired. Frost cooled cookies.
Now all you need is a big mug of creamy hot chocolate!
My friend, Leslie gave me this recipe several years ago, and I have to make a big batch of it every time the weather starts getting cold!
Here is the recipe: 
I was not a big hot chocolate lover until I found out about this recipe.
Now I am a huge fan!
Do you need a fun festive dessert for your big Christmas party? These sugar cookies are soft and the cream cheese frosting is the perfect finish for them. The sprinkles only add to the festivities and kids young and old will love them. I promise!
Wish I could send these through the computer to you! Just looking at them makes my mouth water!
Making cookies together with my mom was a fun holiday tradition. So go make some sweet memories with your family…you’ll be glad you did!
Hope your holidays are Sweet!
Thanks for Visiting!
The COOKIES are beautiful. Thanks for sharing and MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!
I have made the dough and it is in the fridge. YUMM!
I can’t wait for the hour to pass. About the frosting …..
Do you need to refrigerate the cookies after they have been frosted?
And can you freeze the cookies with the frosting on them?
So far these are GREAT!!!
Kris, You do not need to refrigerate the cookies after they have been frosted. I cover them so they don’t dry out, but I think they get better the second day! These cookies freeze really well with the frosting on! Good luck with your cookies! They are our favorite!
Hello Rita,
What brand of Unsweetened Chocolate squares do you use? I rarely buy them and I want to make sure it turns out as wonderful as your recipes look!
Sherrie, I used the “”Bakers” brand of unsweetened chocolate. I just buy it at the grocery store. The recipe calls for squares, but each square should equal 1 ounce. I noticed the last time I made this the squares are smaller than 1 ounce. Just make sure you use 5 ounces of chocolate for the recipe. Inflation! I noticed that there have been complaints about this, so it will be interesting to see if the company changes them back to 1 ounce!
I am SO EXCITED to try this recipe for the French Cocoa! We are having a family Christmas Eve party and I just added this to the menu. It might end up just being for me and the hubs after all the grandblessings leave to help us relax. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the fun recipe card. I love your printables and I love that you share!
Merry Christmas!
Korine, Good luck with this recipe. It is one of my favorites! Just a note…The squares of chocolate used to all be 1 ounce. Make sure you are using 5 ounces of chocolate because I noticed that the last boxes I bought, the squares are no longer a full ounce. You can figure it out, just be sure to use 5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate! Happy Holidays!
I have made this recipe twice in 2 days and cannot get the batter to form a dough thick enough to roll out. It is still a soft dough consistency. It just sticks to everything that touches it. What am I doing wrong. It is coming out to thin and runnie.
Jeanette, I am so sorry. I have no idea why your cookies are runny. I have never had that problem. Especially if you are putting them in the fridge for that long. It should be a little bit sticky before you put it in the fridge, but not runny. Hope you can figure them out because they are one of our most favorite cookies to make!
I have also left it in the fridge for over 2 hours. That still doesn’t help