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Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are a must for the festive holiday season. It’s a celebration of the happiest time of the year.
It’s always so much fun to make Christmas sugar cookies because the cookies are cut out from the dough into festive shapes of Christmas trees, stars, snow angels, candy canes, snow flakes and more.
The best part of it all is decorating the cookies with icing, frosting and sprinkles.
This is the world’s best sugar cookie recipe because it’s Alton Brown’s recipe.
How to Make Sugar Cookies?
It’s every easy to make homemade Christmas cookies. The recipe calls for simple pantry ingredients:
- Unsalted butter.
- Sugar.
- All-purpose flour.
- Egg.
- Milk.
- Baking powder and salt.
The first step is to make the cookie dough using a stand mixer. Next, you roll out the dough on a working surface and cut out into desired shapes.
The final step is to bake the cookies in the oven and store the cookies in an air tight container.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Freeze the Cookie Dough?
I don’t recommend freezing the cookie dough because you’ll need to thaw to room temperature before cutting out to cookies.
You may chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before rolling out.
You may also chill the cut out sugar cookies for 30 minutes before baking.
How Do I Decorate Cookies?
For holiday-themed cookies, you can decorate them with icing, frosting, sprinkles, nonpareil and/or cupcake gems and pearls.
What Kind of Sugar Cookie Frosting and Icing to Use?
You can make sugar cookie frosting and icing from scratch.
You can also get the icing and frosting from the stores, for example: Betty Crocker Cookie Icing and Frosting.
How Many Calories per Serving?
Each sugar cookie is only 65 calories per piece.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve the cookies with other festive treats and cookies. I recommend the following recipes.
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Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Powdered sugar for rolling out dough
Instructions
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, covered and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sprinkle a flat working surface with powdered sugar. Working on the dough one at a time. Sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, place the sugar cookies 1-inch apart on a baking sheet.
- Bake the sugar cookies for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven.
- Let cool on on wire rack. Serve as is or decorate with cookie icing, sprinkles or nonpareil. Store the sugar cookies in airtight containers for up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
The best!
can i use water instead of milk to make these sugar cookies, in my baking i do not use diary products so that I am able to serve my desserts with meat. I do not always have almond milk available and wanted to know if I can use water in a pinch to achieve the same results.
thank you
milk would be nicer.
I really like your article about suger cookie recipe. Thanyou for writing this post.
Are these cookies soft or hard cookies?
It’s not soft cookies but not too hard either.
I am looking for those exact decorations , where did you buy those from?
Hi Judy, I got them from Albertson’s. It’s Betty Crocker Cookie Icing, Cup Cake Gems (Green and Red Pearls). :)
Looks nice and I would like try baking. May I know how heavy is 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of sugar?
Just use an American cup.