The Only Sugar Cookie Recipe We Use for Christmas Cutouts
This is our family Christmas sugar cookie recipe, passed down from my great-grandmother and still made every year during our annual Cookie Day. These soft, old-fashioned cutouts roll beautifully, keep their shape in the oven, and are so fun to decorate with the kids.
I’ve been making these Christmas sugar cookies for as long as I can remember. They’ve always been a big part of our annual Cookie Day, a tradition that started when I was a kid and now continues with my own children.
We mix up big batches of red and green dough, pull out the tubs of sprinkles, and dig through our enormous collection of cookie cutters that has grown over the years. It’s messy, creative, and so much fun — exactly how the holidays should feel.
What makes these cookies even more special is that we only make them once a year. This is the Christmas cookie in our family, and I find myself craving them all year long. Watching my kids decorate them now, just like I did growing up, might be my favorite part of the season.
I’ve actually shared a handful of our family cookie recipes here on the blog over the years, but when I was going through my archives recently, I realized I never officially shared this one. It made a tiny cameo in a gift guide a few years back, hence the family photo shoot from 2022, But it has never lived in a proper recipe post and I want it here so I can reference it and so you can enjoy it too!
Why We Love This Recipe
There are a million sugar cookie recipes out there, but this one has truly stood the test of time in our family. It’s been in our family for over 100 years! Isn’t that wild?!
These cookies are soft, buttery, and easy to roll out, and the cut-out cookies always hold their shape — even with the tiny, detailed cookie cutters my kids inevitably choose. The dough comes together quickly with simple ingredients, and the short chilling time means you can get right to the fun part – the decorating.
Whether you brush them with egg whites and sprinkles like my great-grandmother did, or use royal icing for more detailed designs, these cookies turn out beautifully every single time. They’re a once-a-year tradition for us, and the end result is always a big, colorful plate of Christmas magic.
Ingredients
Method
- Set the oven to 350 degrees
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, mix together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream the butter and sugar: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and flavoring: Mix in the beaten eggs on low speed, then add the vanilla extract.
- Add color: Add food coloring to make red or green dough. Mix until evenly tinted.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients: Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until a soft sugar cookie dough forms.
- Chill for 10-15 minutes.
- Roll 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured board.
- Cut with cookie cutters.
- Bake on a greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
- When cool, use a brush to paint on egg whites and top with sprinkles.
Tips for Perfect Christmas Cut-Out Cookies
Use Cake Flour — It Makes All the Difference
If you make only one change to your usual sugar cookie recipes, let it be this – use cake flour. It gives these cookies their tender crumb and buttery texture, and it helps the dough roll out smoothly without getting tough.
All-purpose flour will work in a pinch, but cake flour is truly the secret behind why these cut-out sugar cookies hold their shape so well.
Roll to an Even Thickness (and Flour Everything!)
Rolling your dough to an even thickness is key for cookies that bake evenly and don’t brown too quickly. I aim for about ¼ inch thick every time. Once you bake that first sheet, you’ll know if you rolled them too thin (they’ll be crispy) or too thick (they’ll be puffy).
Be sure to use plenty of all-purpose flour on your board, your rolling pin, and even lightly dust the top of the dough as you go. This keeps the sugar cookie dough from sticking and makes it much easier to get clean shapes when using your favorite cookie cutters.
We then transfer them to a greased cookie sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to bake!
Our Old-School Decorating Method: Egg Whites + Sprinkles
Before royal icing was everywhere, my great-grandmother decorated cookies the simple way – by brushing each cooled cookie with egg whites and then generously topping them with sprinkles. The egg whites give the sprinkles something to cling to and then dry with a soft sheen.
It’s quick, kid-friendly, and still my favorite method for big batches. If we ever use royal icing, it doesn’t dry well and the cookies all stick together. The egg white and sprinkle method is the way to go!
Just add egg whites to a few small bowls and set them out on the kids’ decorating table, along with brushes. You dip the brush in the egg whites, brush your cookie, and then top it with sprinkles. Word of caution, you will be finding sprinkles on your floor until the 4th of July, but it’s worth it!
Other Family Cookie Recipes to Try
If you want to keep the baking going, we have a few more family favorites that make an appearance throughout the holiday season. I’ve shared many of these over the years, and they’re all tried-and-true classics in our house. I’ll link them below so you can bookmark your favorites for your next baking day!
- Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cowboy Cookies
- Coconut Crispies
- Finn’s Tips for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Peppermint Bark
Whether you’re trying one new recipe or making a whole assortment, I hope these cookies bring as much joy to your home as they have to ours.
Happy Baking!
These cookies have been part of our family for generations, and it makes me so happy to finally have the recipe living here on the blog. If you give them a try, I hope they bring the same joy, nostalgia, and sprinkle-covered chaos to your kitchen that they bring to ours every Christmas. Happy baking, and happy holidays!
