Decorated Christmas cookies, no-fail cut-out cookie and royal icing recipes (2024)

Make decorated Christmas cookies with these no-fail recipes for cut-out cookie dough and perfect royal icing.

The cookie recipe cuts out and bakes beautifully without changing shape, and the icing dries well enough for handling, freezing, and shipping, but it tastes delicious.

Christmas cookie decorating

As I said above, and as I’ve said repeatedly in the past 20 years, these are my never-fail, go-to recipes for cut-out cookie dough and royal icing to make decorated Christmas cookies.

You can also find the cut-out sugar cookie recipe and the royal icingin their own blog posts, but I put everything in one place for your holiday baking.

Or, you can find a copy of my book, Sugarlicious, somewhere in the world where it still exists.

To learn to decorate cookies, I offer a video course with an hour of instruction and free printables, The Sugar Academy Cookie Decorating for Beginners.

printable Christmas cookie recipes

TO PRINT THE RECIPES, CLICK HERE.

no-fail cut-out sugar cookie dough

Let’s talk about the cookie dough, first, and how it’s so awesome.

It is only six ingredients, and it’s easy to whip up quickly. It never spreads. At all. Like even a millimeter.

So you can cut out intricate shapes and not worry about losing the details.

It also tastes delicious, especially if you choose to add another extract with the vanilla (almond extract is my favorite).

I’ve seen people at parties hide cookies in their pockets because they are just that delicious. As for the chilling, you don’t necessarily need to chill the dough, but I find it’s so much more user-friendly if you do.

sugar cookie recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(can add 1 1/2 tsp almond extract here. Yummy. I do that.)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and blend well. Add extracts and blend.

Mix flour and salt and gradually add to butter and sugar.

Cover dough with plastic wrap (I usually put mine in a gallon size Ziploc bag) and chill dough for about 2 hours.

Working with about 1/3 of the batch at a time, briefly knead the chilled dough and roll about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake cookies on parchment paper-lined baking trays in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 12-14 minutes. Thicker cookies may need up to 20 minutes. Just watch for edges that are nicely golden.

make-ahead decorated cookie tips

You can make the dough and freeze it. Just let it rest at room temperature until it’s still cold, but easily pliable, when you’re ready to use it.

You can also cut out the cookies, bake them, and freeze the undecorated cookies. (For tips on freezing decorating cookies, see below).

perfect royal icing for cookie decorating

Next up, the perfect royal icing. This is similar to traditional royal icing, in that it dries hard enough to handle (and package! and ship!), but I add light corn syrup and Crisco to make it taste delicious and to ensure it doesn’t become brittle and rock hard.

The light corn syrup and Crisco are optional, though.

royal icing recipe

4 tablespoons meringue powder (available at many supermarkets and in most craft stores)

1/2 cup water

7-8 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tablespoons Crisco vegetable shortening (optional)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (optional)

Whip the meringue powder and water on high speed for until it’s fluffy and peaks form (use an electric hand beater or the wire whisk of your standing mixer).

Add 4 cups of the confectioner’s sugar and blend.

Add the extract, Crisco, and light corn syrup and blend well. Add 3 to 4 more cups of confectioner’s sugar until desired consistency. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.

tips on royal icing

I prefer to make my royal icing on the thick side. It’s always easier to thin the icing with water later. The thicker the icing, the less likely you’ll have splotches, too.

You may see the lines more, but the pros are worth it. If you let the cookies dry overnight, you can handle the cookies and package in cello bags with ribbon.

how to freeze decorated cookies

Place the well-dried cookies (left overnight to dry) in a freezer-safe ziploc in a single layer. Seal. For extra measure, stack the cookies in a large tupperware container to prevent breakage in the freezer.

TO THAW: Remove the cookies from the freezer and let them thaw completely in the ziploc. Do not open the ziploc until they thaw (it won’t take long, maybe an hour)

HOW TO DECORATE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

First, prepare decorating bags with couplers and decorating tips (round, sizes 2, 3, 4, and/or 5).

To decorate the snowman and swirl cookies

I cut out small circles. For the snowman, I outlined and filled the circle with Bright White icing using a size 4 tip.

After letting the icing set a bit, I topped the snowman with black dots using a 2 tip and an orange carrot nose using a 3 tip.

For the swirl, I first piped a red swirl with a 5 tip and immediately coated the swirl with red sprinkles. Then, I piped a white swirl.

To decorate the Christmas tree

I piped white on the branches using a size 4 tip. I then piped green branches with a 4 tip. I then added a brown trunk.

OTHER LINKS THAT YOU MAY NEED:

• Basic cookie decorating.
• All about food coloring.
• Cookie decorating supplies.