This Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe Will Make Your Christmas Cookie Dreams Come True
For our ‘Grammable Holiday Cookie Guide, we’ve teamed up with cookie artist Vickie Liu to help you create some of the prettiest cookies on the block! Get ready for serious inspiration, whether you’re a total cookie newbie or a next-level baker.
If there’s one recipe you 100 percent need to crank out some seriously beautiful holiday treats, it’s the classic, basic sugar cookie. Some of the most intricately ordained, masterpiece cookies (like millennial pink ornaments, jolly reindeer, and llamas) begin with a simple foundation. Let’s start with this recipe we love for a vanilla-bean-speckled version that’s sure to hold its own under all that royal icing.
Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe
(Makes approximately 40 small cookies)
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add vanilla bean and egg. Mix until just incorporated. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
2. Gradually add flour (you may not need the full three cups), and mix until dough forms and pulls away from the bowl. Divide dough into two even discs and wrap in cling wrap, then refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.
3. When ready to roll dough, pre-heat oven to 350°F and line baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
4. Using a rolling pin, roll cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4-inch in thickness, and use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes.
5. Transfer cookies to a baking tray using a lightly floured spatula. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before baking.
6. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or when edges begin to brown. The time will be dependent on size and thickness of cookies.
7. Allow to cool on tray until warm to touch, then transfer onto a wire cooling rack before decorating.
Show us your favorite Christmas cookie ideas by tagging us on Instagram + using the hashtags #bcfoodie and #britstagram! And be sure to check out our Pinterest account for more holiday treat ideas.
(Recipe via Vickie Liu; photos via Brittany Griffin/Brit + Co)
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.