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I hope you’re loving the holiday cookie box series so far. The second recipe to include in your holiday cookie box are these frosted holiday sugar cookies!
These are so much better than what you get in the slice and bakes at the store. I’ve had them a number of times and honestly, the ones in the store aren’t even comparable.
They’re dry and not fluffy and soft at all. You have to make these frosted holiday sugar cookies from scratch. They’re incredibly easy too!
Frosted holiday sugar cookies
The best part of these frosted holiday sugar cookies is that you can choose the frosting color and decorations.
The base is just a soft, buttery sugar cookie and the frosting is up to you!
These are the perfect cookies to bake with kids and family. They’re easy enough to get everyone involved and you can let the creativity flow with decorations!
My favorite sprinkles are nonpareiles when it comes to decorating any cookie and they have all these different and pretty Christmas colored ones. They even have gold balls and stars that are included in the red and green ones I’ve seen online!
You can change up the frosting color if you want with different food coloring! I like using gel food coloring because it gives the most vibrant colors.
Tips to making a great frosted holiday sugar cookie
- Prep ahead of time and read the recipe. The dough needs to be chilled for an hour before handling so make sure you allot time for it. Maybe put on a movie or something!
- Work quickly. The warmth from your hands will warm up the butter in the dough so it’ll become harder to work with the warmer it gets.
- Use an electric mixer or hand mixer for the frosting. You want it light and fluffy!
- Make sure you let the cookie cool completely before trying to frost it! Otherwise, it’ll melt the frosting. Make sure to allot time for this too. Ideally, you could make the cookie base and frosting a day ahead of time so all of this is ready for kids to decorate and you don’t have to have a lot of waiting time with them.
Other sugar cookie ideas
Sugar Cookie Candy Cane Blossoms
Frosted Holiday Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ¾ cup (170 g) of butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup (150 g) of granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract or imitation vanilla flavor
- ⅓ cup (40 g) of powdered sugar
- 2 ¾ cup (344 g) of all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon of salt
For the frosting and decorating:
- ¾ cup (170 g) of butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) of powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract or imitation vanilla flavor
- 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons of green food coloring
- 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons of red food coloring
- Red and green sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Cream the butter and granulated sugar together.
- Add in the eggs, milk and vanilla extract and mix again until smooth.
- Sift in the powdered sugar and mix again until smooth.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add it to the wet ingredients and stir just until it all comes together.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C) and prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick spray.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and from 1-inch balls from the dough. Lay 6 out on the prepared baking pan and press lightly and quickly on the tops of the cookies with your fingers. (Quickly press and release or the dough will start to melt and stick to your hands.)
- Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until edges are about to turn a light golden color.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool for 7-8 minutes then remove and let them cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Repeat the process once the baking pan has cooled completely until all of the dough has been used.
- To make the icing, whip the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar and pour in the milk and vanilla extract. Whip again until the frosting comes together in a light, fluffy texture.
- Add half of the frosting to a separate bowl and add the green food coloring to it. Stir until it comes together and add more if you want a more defined color.
- Do the same with the red food coloring into the other bowl.
- Stir until combined and frost half of the cooled cookies with the green frosting and the other half with the red frosting.
- Sprinkle the green sprinkles on the red frosted cookies and the red sprinkles on the green frosted cookies, or decorate however you like.
- Let the frosting dry for 10 minutes before serving.
