Take a break from the Christmas madness to make Christmas Cookies! These sugar cookies are classic vanilla biscuits that are made for cutting out shapes because they hold their shape perfectly when baked.
NO CHILL time, make them soft OR crispy. Ice them my EASY way, dip in chocolate, dust with icing sugar or serve them plain!
Christmas Cookies
What I call “Christmas Cookies” are simply vanilla biscuits cut out in Christmas shapes and iced with colourful festive frosting. They taste like shortbread cookies, but not quite as buttery or crumbly. They are as classic as vanilla biscuits can be.
This particular biscuit recipe is made for cutting out shapes – in this case, Christmas shapes. Most cookies spread snd puff up so they bear little resemblance to the shape you expected!
But these hold their shape perfectly – as you can see by the sharp ridges and corners in the photo below.
What you need for Christmas Cookies
The nice thing about these Christmas Cookies is that they’re made with pantry staples – so there’s no need to add to your ever growing Christmas grocery shopping list!!!
How to make Christmas Cookies
Unlike most cookie doughs suitable for cutting out shape, there’s no chill time required for this recipe. Ain’t nobody got time for chilling during Christmas madness – right??!
Bonus: the dough is easy to handle and can be scrunched up and rolled up again over and over until you’ve used up every scrap.
Because these are sweet vanilla biscuits, they are flavoured enough and sweet enough to serve plain. But if you are inclined to ice them, pop over to my Icing for Christmas Cookies (PS I also share my quick ‘n easy way to ice them!)
So. Many. Cookies.
A sight that will catapult anyone into serious Christmas spirit!!
Make these for Santa, your family, or (if you’re really feeling the holiday spirit) maybe even to gift to someone.
And don’t worry. This is a big batch recipe. Nibble away, no one will miss one or two or five!! 😉 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Christmas Cookies (Vanilla Biscuits / Sugar Cookies)
Ingredients
- 225g / 1 cup unsalted butter , softened (or use salted, skip salt)
- 1 cup caster/superfine sugar (granulated/ordinary white sugar ok too)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (55-60g / 1.9-2oz)
- 3 cups flour , plain / all purpose
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
Icing for Sugar Cookies
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy (1 minute on speed 5)
- Add egg and vanilla, beat until completely combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Start mixing slowly, then beat until the flour is incorporated – it will be clumpy.
- Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Pat together then cut in half, then shape into 2 discs.
- Roll out to 0.3cm / 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 0.6cm / 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies), sprinkling with flour under and over the dough so it doesn't stick.
- Use cookie cutters to press out shapes and use a knife or spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets. (Keep dough that doesn’t fit in the oven in the fridge).
- Bake for 10 minutes, swapping trays halfway (Note 2), until the surface is pale golden and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on trays (they will finish cooking on the trays).
Decorating options:
- Icing – see Icing for Christmas Cookies recipe.
- Melt chocolate then dip the surface into chocolate.
- Dot with icing sugar and decorated with silver balls
- Dust with icing sugar
- Serve plain! They are sweet vanilla biscuits so they are wonderful eaten just as they are!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published 2019. Reviewed and refreshed as needed every year or so. No change to recipe, it’s a classic!
Life of Dozer
When Dozer got his very own personalised Christmas cookie!!
Awesome recipe! They were easy to make, held their shape well and most importantly… very yummy! 😋 I found I only needed to bake them for 8 minutes at 180C no fan.
Nagi – can I freeze the dough? Thanks!
Hi Jackz – I haven’t tested freezing the dough but I am pretty sure it will be fine. Just defrost in the fridge and roll out as per the recipe. N x
Nagi, I wrapped the dough in clingwrap, put it in a ziplock bag and froze it. I defrosted it in the fridge a few months later and it was perfect. Fantastic recipe – tastes great and perfect for cutting shaped biscuits!
Thanks for the speedy reply, Nagi! 😊
Hi I have just made the dough but its too crumbly. Not sure how to save it once it’s already on the counter all rolled up, but crumbling. Should i put it back in the mixer with a bit more butter ?
Hi Rhonda – Did you roll it out and it’s crumbly? It comes together as you roll it out. If it is still crumbly after rolling out, you might have added a bit too much flour. Try sprinkling a tiny bit of water over the dough (like 1/2 tsp) then working it in to see if the dough comes back together. N x
LOVE THIS RECIPE! Another delicious hit – thanks Nagi!
Question for you – can these cookies be frozen (not the dough, but the cookies after baking) and then defrosted with no consequences? 🙂 Looking to make ahead for a party.
Hi S! I wouldn’t recommend that…the cookies will develop ice crystals in the freezer and will get soggy on thawing. N x
Can’t wait to try these. Can you use this as a base for stained glass cookies as well?
This recipe looks great. Will it work with food colouring?
I am looking forward to making these for friends, for a special celebration 🙂 I want to include their four-legged friends in the gift so will look for a dog biscuit version. I know you have Dozer cake recipes already, so thought I’d add a request for Dozer cookies one day please 🙂
Great idea!! 😄🐾🦴
Can the cookies be frozen so that I can make them soon and keep them til Christmas?
Hi Lynsey, are you wanting to freeze the dough or the cookies themselves? N x
Oh, I’m not sure. I was thinking the cookies, but even freezing the dough might be an option, so I could do some stuff now and minimise the amount needing to be done in the week before xmas. Is either possible?
Can the dough be made the day prior?
Fantastic recipe! I made these cookies with my 4 year old grandson. He wanted to make car shaped cookies. It came together quickly, and the dough was really easy to work with. We made very thick cookies, which came out lovely and tender. We decorated some of them with fondant icing (cut with the same car shaped cutter), fixed to the cookies using an icing sugar glaze as “glue”. We decorated others with the same glaze, topped with a combination of hundreds and thousands, and rainbow sprinkles. We had so much fun, and the cookies were delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Perfect Melissa!! N x
Phenomenal! I made these cookies a little bit thicker (about 0.6 cm) and they were so chewy and delicious. Not too sweet either! I dipped them in melted dark chocolate and they were a hit! Thanks so much! I can’t wait to turn these into Christmas cookies with your tips on icing!
YUM!!! Sounds perfect Judy! N x
This is truely an awesome recipe Nagi. It’s easy to come together (no stickiness, really easy to roll out (i always roll it between two baking sheets) and tastes yum. I make them into “side of tea cup cookies” (hearts that hang off the side of the teacup) with a corner dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkles – of course. Everyone is super impressed.
What a great idea Ana, I love it!! N x
New favourite cookie recipe. I bake sugar cookies every Christmas and these ones just replaced the one I’ve been using for the last 4 years! Super easy to put together, no chilling and easy to roll. Basically fool proof! Just made them for my niece’s first birthday ‘1’ cookies! Thanks again Nagi 🙂
I would like to bake your recipe. The AP flour, is it bleached or unbleached? And for other recipes on your page, are they bleached all purpose flour? Thank you
Hi Kemi, unbleached flour here 🙂 N x
Hi, These look delicious. Just wondering if you can add some cocoa to make them choc biscuits? Would you swap out the same amount of flour, or just simply add cocoa?
Hi Julie, cocoa would change the texture – it would be something I’d need to test sorry! N x
Made these for Xmas and they were very popular, thank you!! What is the serving size for the nutrition info, is it one cookie? Terrible question really as I understand it’s tricky to know because of different cookie cutter sizes. My cookies were about 7 x 5cm. Thank you 😊
Hi Rachael, nutrition is per cookie based on the fact that 40 cookies are made 🙂 N x
Loved making these with kids!! They turned out so good. My first time making cookies from scratch. Made the icing too and had so much fun icing cookies with kids. Ours were not as good looking as yours but tasted yummy!! Can I use cookie stamps for this dough?? I want try that next time
Hi Amnah, the taste is ALL that matters – I’m so glad you loved them !!! You can definitely use a cookie stamp for these 🙂 N x
I made these cookies as Christmas gifts for my clients this year and WOW were they a hit! They held together perfectly and tasted delicious! Thank you for this wonderful recipe from Australia 🙂 xx
I’m so glad you loved them Elise!! N x
Can I use these biscuits to hang on a Christmas tree and will they still be crispy
Very tasty cookies. However, you absolutely need to chill these. Otherwise they will break apart on you and stick to the counter.
Hi Aisha, unless you’re in a super hot climate, you definitely shouldn’t need to chill the dough. Did your dough resemble the texture shown in the video? Could you have perhaps mismeasured something? N x
Merry Christmas Nagi and Dozer! And, also the Christmas cookie recipe is the best I’ve ever made! You are so right, they are delicious and hold their shape versus the kind that puff up and spread out losing their shapes! Couldn’t make the royal icing as I didn’t have corn syrup — but next time! Hope Santa brings you both everything you want and more!
Very good,But the dough is really sticky