Every baker should have a sugar cookie recipe in their box. They are perfect for just about any special occasion, bake sale, a random Tuesday or holiday. If you are new to making sugar cookies, this is a perfect recipe to start with. It is delicious, simple to make, rolls out easily and the baked cookies are crisp and hold up well for decorating. You can start with a simple sprinkle of sanding sugar or go all in with royal icing.
I love a bright lemon cookie with lemon royal icing, so it balances the sweetness. Royal icing doesn’t just look pretty, but can actually add to the flavor of the cookie when made with something tasty like fresh lemon juice.
This is a recipe I have used for decades and it is featured in Zoë Bakes Cookies as the grand dame of holiday cookies. It reminds me of Christmas morning at my Granny’s house when I was a kid. She used red and green dusting sugar to finish her sugar cookies, which were always a bright shock of color in her holiday cookie tins. I love doing some fussy piping, it relaxes me, and a variety of colors and designs. It’s exactly the place to get creative and do your own thing.
If you are new to making sugar cookies, you’ll love the traditional and this Holiday Sugar Cookies recipe is a perfect one to start with. It is delicious, simple to make, rolls out easily and the baked cookies hold up super well for decorating. I suggest you start with a simple decoration and get more elaborate as you go along.
When my boys were young, budding cookie “artists,” the experience was less meditative but full of love and always entertaining. So when December comes around, I usually need a big stockpile of sugar cookie dough on hand, and this recipe makes a good-sized batch. I like adding both lemon extract and zest to give the cookie dough a bright flavor. Decorating the cookies with royal icing made with meringue powder makes a beautiful finish that dries hard and stays intact even if you are sending them to a loved one.
How to Ice Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Make the Royal Icing as directed. It should be thick enough to pipe and keep its shape, you don’t want it to spread on its own. It should be smooth enough to pipe in a smooth line. Fill a parchment paper cone about 1/3 full of the Royal Icing and pipe a border around the edge of your cookie.
Once all of your cookies have been outlined, add a few drops of water to a portion of the Royal Icing until it is thin enough to flood the center of the piped cookies. It should be about the consistency of molasses. Fill another parchment pastry bag about 1/4 of the way full. Carefully flood the area between your outline. Go slowly so as not to go over the lines.
Pro Tip: If you need to coax the icing to the edges, use a toothpick to drag the icing.
Once you’ve flooded the center of the cookie with the icing it will be shiny and wet, you can put decorations on the icing and they will stick. You can also let the icing dry and it will lose its shine but you can then pipe more decor over the icing. (The cookies below: the cookie in the foreground is wet and the one in the back is dry)
This recipe and technique are great for Valentine’s Day, Easter, and any other holiday or special occasion when you celebrate with sweets! Just use your favorite cookie cutters and away you go!
Tips & Techniques for Great Sugar Cookies
- Room temperature ingredients: Creaming the ingredients well will depend on you starting with room-temperature butter and eggs. This is essential when mixing by hand or with a handheld mixer, as I did in the video.
- Flavors: Many sugar cookie recipes call for almond extract, but I love to pump up the flavor with bright citrus. My recipe calls for fresh lemon juice and I also add zest and lemon extract. If you prefer a warmer flavor, you can add cardamom or cinnamon with almond extract for a completely different cookie. Have fun with it!
- Scrape that bowl: To make sure your ingredients get fully incorporated, it’s important that you scrape the bowl often with a rubber spatula. If you don’t scrape the bowl, butter can cling to the bottom and end up as lumps of butter in the dough. When you bake the cookies, those lumps of butter melt and create holes or pockmarks in the cookies.
- Make-ahead: I love that cookie dough can be made weeks in advance. This dough can be made a few days ahead and refrigerated or frozen for up to three weeks. If you’re freezing it, be sure to put it in the refrigerator a day before you want to use it so it can thaw.
- Chilled Dough: To prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling surface or using too much flour, make sure the dough is thoroughly chilled before rolling. Pressing the dough thin when wrapping it in plastic to chill will help it chill faster.
- Rolling on Silicone Mat: These reusable mats are my favorite material for rolling cookie dough since they are non-stick and require less flour than if you are rolling on a cloth or the counter. The other benefit is you can pick up the mat and place it in the refrigerator if your dough becomes soft.
- Rolling Pins: Use the one that is most comfortable for you. I like a pin with handles but you may prefer a dowel or tapered rolling pin. They will all work well.
- Re-rolling Scraps: When you are stamping out the cookies with the cutters, you’ll want to stamp them as close as possible so there isn’t a lot of cookie dough left over. That way there are fewer scraps to reuse. Because the cookie dough is rolled on flour, it will become dry if you re-roll too often so I suggest just doing so once, maybe twice if you don’t use too much flour.
This Holiday Sugar Cookies recipe is perfect for simple cut-out cookies and for building a more intricate sugar cookie house. I live in a big house that reminds me of a wedding cake or ornate cookie. In fact that’s why I fell in love with the house and always intended to recreate it in sugar. Once I finally did, it was so much fun, it became an annual tradition. Every year it gets a little more intricate and over the top, until eventually I will make one we can walk into.
Video
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 4 1/2 cups (540g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal Baking Salt
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 2/3 cups (332g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp lemon extract or any other extract you like
- Zest of half a lemon optional
Royal Icing
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners' sugar plus more to thicken
- 1/4 cup (30g) meringue powder
- 1/8 tsp Diamond Crystal Baking Salt
- 1/4 cup (60g) fresh lemon juice or water plus more to thin
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract or any other flavor
- food coloring optional
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition and scraping the bowl. Mix in the vanilla, lemon extract, and zest (if using).
- Add the flour mixture all at once and mix on low speed just until it all comes together. Scrape down the bowl, increase the speed to medium, and mix for 15 seconds.
- Press the dough into a disk, wrap it in a plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. It can be made a couple of days ahead or frozen for up to 3 weeks.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a rectangle 1/8 inch / 3 mm thick.
- Use cookie cutters to create fun shapes out of the dough. Place the cut cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving enough room for them to spread slightly, about 1 inch apart. If your dough starts to get warm and sticky, return it to the refrigerator, until firm, about 10 minutes. Warm dough will be difficult to work with.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, until just golden on the bottom—you don't want too much color on them. The baking time will depend on the size of the cookie. Let them cool on the baking sheets completely before decorating.
Make the Royal Icing
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, stir together the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, salt, lemon juice, and lemon extract on low speed until blended. Turn up the speed to medium-high and whip until light and fluffy, like meringue, about 3 minutes. It will be quite thick, and you need it this way to create glue if you are making a sugar cookie house. You can thin it with more water or thicken it with more sugar to suit your needs.
- Add food coloring (if using) to the icing at this point.
- Make sure to keep the icing covered at all times, since it dries hard and will develop a skin of hard icing within minutes. I use a damp clean kitchen towel over the bowl. If the icing sits for several minutes between uses, gently stir the bowl well before using, to get rid of any air bubbles, and to make sure the icing hasn't separated.
- Decorate the cookie as you see fit and leave out for about an hour so the icing can harden. The drying time will be determined by the humidity in your kitchen.
These cookies are so easy and fast! Our whole family loves the recipe.
Love this recipe. The lemon in both recipes just brighten it up and cut the sugar. Or it may just be that I love lemon in everything!! The recipe makes a large amount of dough so be prepared for lots of cookies. I also loved the royal icing! It did harden up quickly which made storing the cookies easy and made it convenient for the cookie boxes we gave away. This will be my go to recipe for sugar cookies in the future. Easy to make and very yummy! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
I love this recipe. The icing is my favorite. I made it with the lemon flavor and even my husband enjoyed them and he doesn’t usually like lemon.
This is a delicious sugar cookie. I don’t know if it’s my humidity but I was able to roll it out more as the dough warmed. If it is crumbly, warm it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Christine!
This recipe is absolutely perfect! The best cutout cookies I’ve ever made. My husband even mentioned the cookies were even better the next day. I was making these for kids so went more traditional with vanilla and a small amount of almond extract.
perfect sugar cookie dough! kids loved decorating them AND eating them!
Recipe worked great! Easy to follow.
These are our new go-to sugar cookies! My daughter and I baked them yesterday, and they are absolutely delicious. Adding the lemon zest to the cookies creates something truly magical. It really adds such a balance to everything and a freshness you don’t realize you need. I will never go back! Thank you Zoë!
Great addition to my Christmas Cookie Collection.
These came out so good that I couldn’t stop eating them. Immediately adding this recipe to my faves and will be repeated through out the year!!
This is a much better than average sugar cookie recipe. The tip about rolling the dough out on a silicone mat helped me a lot too. I am still learning how to use royal icing well, and I’m making some progress. The parchment cones are a good alternative to plastic piping bags and tips.
These are wonderful sugar cookies! The dough is easy to work with. I rolled it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper so not to add more flour. Thanks for having weights included in the recipe, it’s the only way I bake anymore.
Great recipe & I love the sugar cookie houses!
Zoe always has great recipes, including this one!
I love to make sugar cookies for the holidays. They are so special and fun to make. This is a great cookie! It is easy to work with, delicious and the bit of lemon in the icing gives it great flavor. This is my new go to cookie recipe!
Hi Zoe!
Excited to try these. Question…
How big is the parchment paper that you use to make into a cone for the icing? How do you make the cone??
Thanks so much for inspiring me every day!
Faith
These are going to become my go to cookie for decorating.
If I am replicating the sugar cookie house Zoe made, should I double or triple the recipe?
Hi Natalie, great question. The recipe was recently updated to match the one in Zoë Bakes Cookies and you need just 1 recipe to make the sugar cookie house. Have fun!
Hi there! It says in the directions to add vanilla, but no amount is given? Thanks!
Hi Kate! Thanks for letting us know. This has been fixed!
The recipe calls for adding the salt twice? And there is a typo with the word “fitter.”
It’s fixed now. Thank you!
Looks so delicious and so beautiful! Perfect for Christmas!
Hi, For make ahead should i freeze before icing cookie?
Hi Ric,
Yes, freeze the cookies and then ice them, if time is permitting. The icing may get damaged if you freeze and stack the cookies. Be sure to leave the cookies wrapped as they are defrosting.
Cheers, Zoe
I made them today and they were quite good although really small cookies need 5-6 min top 😛 The dough was easily used and the icing a success.
Tip i made two dozens of 3cm xmas trees with green royal icing and then spread some colourful sprinkles on top (like this but only smaller: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gXpjXQMeWPA/TPURSvujGpI/AAAAAAAABRs/SVTpC3-4yes/s640/Christmas_tree_cookies_with_icing_and_sprinkles.jpg) they turned out amazing!!!! ps try them with red royal icing as well 🙂
Hi Kloklo,
They are beautiful! Thanks for the picture! Zoë
I’ve always wanted to try making these cookies. It looks wonderful…now I have a reason to. Thanks for sharing it to us avid bakers!
Tina
Manila< Philippines
Hi Joanne,
sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I found this recipe which I’ve not yet tried but I think should do the job nicely!
http://www.vegan-nutritionista.com/vegan-dessert-recipes.html
Good luck! Zoë
Zoe, Your decorating ideas are terrific. Love the piping first, so the ‘filler’ doesn’t run wild! And the Royal Frosting is one of my faves for quick drying. But…
Question: What do you suggest for quick drying for someone highly allergic to egg white?
Thanks!
Joanne
I Zoe
Thank you for all those lovely recipies. You are an inpiration. I spend great time cooking with the kids and surprise all family in Christmas eve.
Cristina
Portugal
We made these…Wonderful cookies. Easy recipe, easy dough to work with, EXCELLENT results. We even rolled a bunch up in balls and pressed big sprinkles in them. Yum. Thanks! Merry, Merry!
Hi Heidi,
You can use water or even lemon juice, if it goes with the flavor of your cookie. Just add a drop at a time until you have the consistency of molasses.
Enjoy and happy holidays!
Zoë
I was wondering about the royal icing and how exactly to thin it for the smooth look you show? what do I use to then it? water? and how much?
this is exactly what i was looking for! thanks!
I really love this idea, dears. My husband and I would love to do this. My name is Hans. I really feel that I need more information so my significant other and I may produce our own version. Thanks for the origianal idea, but please send me more info on how to make it. Thanks, hun and happy holidays,
Hans.
Hi Shelly,
Thanks so much!
Zoë
Your cookies are beautiful!!
Hi Patricia,
Great idea for your neighbor! Just make sure you always read the label on the ingredients just to make sure they don’t warn of the equipment being used for other nut production. I’m always surprised what shares machines with nuts!
Thanks! Zoë
these look great! I owe the neighbors some cookie. They have a peanut-allergic kid, which means i can’t use commercial chocolate chips, so these will fill the bill.
Hi Jennie,
Thanks! It is good to have an excuse to celebrate all year round!
Best, Zoë
Pretty! I can celebrate Christmas all year round with those cookies!
Hi Tracy,
I have the bag of Nestle chips on my counter just waiting for the butter to soften! I’ll write a post in the next couple of days! Thanks for checking.
I’m so thrilled you are baking so much bread.
Happy New Year!!! Zoë
hi zoe –
happy holidays!!
just checking that i’m not missing any info. about my chocolate chip cookie dilemma…
have you posted a response somewhere that i haven’t located – or is it still coming in the future?
cheers!
these cookies look gorgeous!
tracy
p.s. i’m on my 4th ‘bucket of bread’ since christmas!!(and keep ordering more copies of your book to give to friends!
everyone thinks i’m an AMAZING bread baker!!and that your’s is an AMAZING book!
THANK YOU THANK YOU!!