Amazing 150 Calorie Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies

Oh my gosh, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla filling the kitchen—that’s how you know the holidays have *really* started, right? Every year, I can’t wait to roll out the dough for my absolute favorite cookie. Forget those thin, crispy ones that shatter when you look at them funny! We are making the classics here.

These are sturdy, buttery, and they just melt in your mouth the second you bite in. My number one reason for loving this recipe so much is how wonderfully they hold their shape, making them the best canvas for all those colorful icings and sprinkles. Seriously, if you’re looking for consistently perfect cut-outs, you’ve hit the jackpot with these Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight. They’re simple, traditional, and they bring the biggest smiles to everyone’s face, which is really what holiday baking is all about!

Why This Recipe for Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight Works

You know the drill—you spend an hour rolling, cutting, and fighting with your cookie dough, only for them to balloon out in the oven into sad, puffy circles. It drives me crazy! That doesn’t happen with this recipe, trust me.

We keep the structure perfect by paying attention to two main things: the fat-to-flour ratio, which keeps the spread minimal, and the chilling time, which is non-negotiable!

• Perfect Texture for Cut-Outs: This recipe uses just the right balance of fat—that lovely softened butter—to the dry flour. It gives you a dough that’s firm enough to handle cookie cutters without turning into sawdust or melting into a greasy puddle. It’s all about that structural integrity so your stars actually look like stars!
• Simple Flavor Base for Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight: While these are perfect for icing, the cookie itself can’t be bland! We rely mostly on pure vanilla extract here. Don’t cheap out! Using good vanilla really lets that buttery flavor shine through. It’s a classic, clean taste that pairs perfectly with any sugary topping you decide to pile on.

Gathering Ingredients for Your Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

Okay, listen up! For holiday baking, you can’t just grab anything off the shelf. Since these cookies are simple, every single ingredient has to pull its weight, flavor-wise. We need quality stuff because the flavor doesn’t rely on heavy additions like chocolate or nuts; it relies on that buttery, sweet base. Don’t skip the chilling step later, but first, let’s make sure the pantry is stocked!

It’s simple; no weird extracts or specialty flours needed here. This is the classic pantry setup, but remember that the quality of your butter makes a huge difference in the final product. If you’re looking for more bread inspiration, check out this Italian Herb Bread article for comparison!

Dry Ingredients

These work together to give structure and a tiny bit of lift. Whisk them well so you don’t end up with a clump of baking powder in one cookie and none in another!

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients and Flavor

This is where the magic happens! The temperature of your butter is crucial here; it needs to be truly softened—you can press a dent into it easily, but it shouldn’t look oily or melted, got it? That creaming step later relies on that perfect texture.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step-by-Step Instructions for Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

Alright, time to get our hands messy! The process sounds long, but honestly, the active mixing time is so short. Just remember that every step is designed to give you those perfect, non-spreading shapes. If you’re looking for inspiration on other handheld snacks, you should check out this Ritz Cheese Cracker Sandwiches recipe while you wait for your butter to soften!

Mixing the Dough Components

First things first, grab a medium bowl and whisk together all your dry items: the flour, the baking powder, and the salt. We want those mixed thoroughly. In your big mixing bowl, use your electric mixer to cream that soft butter and the granulated sugar until it looks light and fluffy—this step adds the air, remember? Beat in your eggs one by one, making sure each one gets happily incorporated before adding the next, followed by the vanilla. Now, here’s where we show that authority: gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet stuff, but only on low speed until *just* combined. I mean it—stop mixing as soon as you don’t see white streaks anymore! Overmixing equals tough cookies, and nobody wants that tough cookie.

Chilling and Preparing for Baking

This is the most important part! Don’t even think about skipping it. Divide that perfectly mixed dough right into two equal patties, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and stick them in the fridge. You absolutely must chill them for at least one full hour. While that’s happening, go ahead and preheat that oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and get your baking sheets lined up with parchment paper. Parchment is your best friend here!

Rolling, Cutting, and Baking Your Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

Once the dough is firm and cold, dust your counter lightly with flour and roll out one portion until you get it about 1/4 inch thick. Now, have fun! Use your favorite cookie cutters to punch out the shapes. Place those beauties on your prepared sheets so they are about an inch apart. Pop them into the hot oven and bake them for just 8 to 10 minutes. Watch closely—you want the edges to be just lightly golden. They’ll still look a little pale in the center. Let them chill out right on the hot baking sheet for five whole minutes before you carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely. They *must* be totally cool before you even think about decorating them!

Tips for Success Making Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

You can follow every measurement perfectly, but if you mess up the handling, your beautiful shapes will still go rogue in the oven! Baking these sugar cookies is a lot like an afternoon crafting session—you need patience and the right tools. I’ve learned a few tricks over the years that keep my dough happy from the mixing bowl to the cooling rack.

If you’re thinking about how to store cookies after all this effort, you might want to check out this guide on button cookies for some general airtight container tips!

Dough Temperature Management

I cannot stress this enough: your dough needs to be refrigerator-cold when you roll it out. If you pull it straight from the fridge and it feels too hard to roll, don’t let it sit for too long on the counter before you start! Work quickly. The warmer the dough gets, the more that butter softens, and the more those cookies will spread like spilled milk in the oven. If you’re cutting out a massive batch, I actually like to roll out half, cut them, bake them, and then put the remaining dough back in the fridge while the first batch is baking. It’s an extra step, but it guarantees sharp edges every single time.

Expert Decorating Prep

This sounds silly, but if you try to ice a cookie that is even slightly warm, you are going to end up with a runny, smeared mess, trust me. The heat from the cookie melts the icing right away, and if you are using royal icing, it won’t set up properly. You need them to be completely, stone-cold to the touch before you begin applying any kind of glaze or frosting. I usually bake a huge batch one evening, let them cool completely, and then store them plain in an airtight container overnight. Then, the next day is dedicated to the fun part—the decoration!

Creative Variations for Your Festive Baking

While I absolutely adore this cookie just as it is—rich with vanilla and plenty buttery—sometimes I get the itch to change things up right before Christmas! The best news is that because the structure of this dough is so solid, you can introduce new flavors without worrying about spreading or strange textures. It’s so versatile!

If you feel like experimenting, maybe you check out how they handle cookies over at this carrot cake cookie recipe—it gives you an idea of how spices blend in, though we are keeping it simple here!

Flavor Swaps

The vanilla extract is our backbone, but you can easily swap it out for something fun. If you want a slightly deeper, almost marzipan vibe, switch the 1 teaspoon of vanilla for 1 teaspoon of pure almond extract. Just a note: almond is strong, so use your nose! Taste the dough before you chill it and see if you want to bump it up to a teaspoon and a half.

Another great idea for a brighter flavor, especially if you plan on using a simple powdered sugar glaze, is lemon. You can replace the vanilla with the zest of one whole lemon. Zest is flavor powerhouse, so you don’t need the actual juice or anything—just grate that bright yellow skin right into the butter/sugar mixture when you cream them together. Wow, does that make them taste festive!

Spice Additions

If you want to lean into that warm holiday feeling but keep them technically “sugar cookies,” spices are the answer. You add these right along with your flour, baking powder, and salt in the first step. I love adding just a tiny bit of warming spice.

• For a subtle warmth, try adding 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg to the dry ingredients. It gives a lovely depth that pairs surprisingly well with the vanilla.
• Or, if you need a real Christmas hug in a cookie, add 1/2 teaspoon of sweet cinnamon. You want to keep it low, though! We don’t want it tasting like gingerbread; we just want a background note. It’s a subtle trick that makes people say, “What is that amazing flavor?”

Serving Suggestions for Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

Once you’ve wrestled the dough into submission and they are cooled perfectly flat, the real fun begins: serving them up! These cookies look fantastic all by themselves, but a little effort on the presentation front can really make your holiday table pop. Since the cookie itself is the foundation, we want pairings and displays that let that buttery, vanilla goodness shine.

If you happen to be trying to find the perfect bread to serve alongside your rich holiday platter, you might find inspiration by checking out the Cheesecake Factory Honey Wheat Bread recipe on the site. It’s a totally different vibe, but it shows how much presentation matters!

Pairing with Beverages

These aren’t cookies that need a fancy mocktail to go with them; they look best next to the classics we drink all winter long. You want something warm to balance out that cold, sweet icing!

• When dunking is required—and it always is with a sturdy sugar cookie—you can’t beat a mug of fresh, hot cocoa. The darker the chocolate in the cocoa, the better it contrasts with the sweet vanilla icing.
• For the grown-ups, a simple, strong cup of morning coffee is perfect. The bitterness cuts through the sugar beautifully, making each bite of the cookie taste fresh.
• And, of course, for the kids (and me!), a big glass of super cold milk is the classic companion. It’s satisfying when you want that pure, clean sugar cookie flavor without any extra bells or whistles.

Presentation Ideas

Don’t just dump them on a plate! How you display these cuties truly elevates them from ‘homemade bake’ to ‘holiday centerpiece.’ Since these cookies hold their shape so well, you have tons of great options.

• My favorite look is using a tiered serving tray. I use the bottom tier for the cookies decorated with simple flooding (just one color), the middle tier for the cookies with intricate piping, and sometimes I reserve the top tier for cookies I’ve cut into simple circles and only dusted with powdered sugar. It looks so expensive!
• If you make simple shapes like stars or circles, you can carefully poke a small hole near the top before baking (make sure it’s big enough for a ribbon!). Once fully cooled and decorated, thread a piece of festive red or green ribbon through that hole, and suddenly, you have edible ornaments to hang on the tree or string together as a beautiful garland winding down your mantelpiece. People go nuts over that!

Storage and Reheating for Your Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

Baking these cookies takes a lot of effort, and the last thing we want is to waste them! How you store them really depends on whether you’ve gone all-out with the icing or if you’re just keeping the plain cut-outs safe for decorating next week. For me, I always prefer to store the unfrosted cookies separately. It just gives me more control!

If you’re looking for the perfect way to finish off your sweets platter, you should see how amazing the Apple Crisp Cheesecake looks—it’s another great way to present a holiday dessert, even if it’s not cookie-shaped!

Storing Unfrosted Cookies

If you baked a massive batch and they are plain, you’ve got it easy! These cookies are super stable as long as they are fully cool—and I mean completely cooled down, not even slightly warm in the middle. Pop those crisp, undecorated cookies into a sturdy, airtight container. You can layer them with sheets of wax paper or parchment paper between the layers just to make sure they don’t stick together if things get a little humid, but honestly, that’s often overkill.

Stored this way at room temperature, these guys are good to go for almost a week! They actually stay wonderfully fresh, but I find they are best eaten within four days. This is my secret weapon for surviving holiday baking stress—I bake the plain cookies early in the month, and then I only worry about the messy icing part closer to Christmas!

Keeping Decorated Cookies Fresh

Once you’ve gotten those gorgeous icing designs on, things get slightly trickier. The main battle here is moisture, and whether or not your icing needs time to set up properly. If you’ve used royal icing, you need to let those cookies sit out, uncovered, for a good 8 to 12 hours. They might even need a full 24 hours, depending on how thick that icing layer is!

If you try to stack them or box them up while the icing is still soft, you are going to have smeared messes and ruined edges. It’s heartbreaking! Once that icing is rock hard, you can usually store them in a single layer in an airtight container, perhaps with a little piece of parchment separating any highly decorated ones so the details don’t smudge. But even decorated, I wouldn’t keep them for much longer than three or four days for the very best texture.

Frequently Asked Questions About Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight

I totally get it; when you put this much love into baking, you want to make sure you don’t mess up the final product! Rolling out custom shapes for decoration is exciting, and sometimes you just need a quick answer to make sure your cookies turn out picture-perfect. Here are the few things I always get asked about when people try this festive batch!

And hey, if you are looking for chewy options instead of sturdy cut-outs, you should totally check out this guide on soft carrot cake cookies for a totally different texture experience!

Can I use margarine instead of butter in these holiday cookies?

Oh, honey, please don’t! I know butter can be expensive, especially around the holidays, but for these Irresistible Holiday Sugar Cookies A Festive Delight, butter is key. Margarine and butter behave totally differently when they get hit with heat. Butter has a much higher fat content and, crucially, it has water content that creates steam and helps with tenderness. Margarine is mostly fat and water, but that fat structure just isn’t the same.

If you use margarine, your cookies will almost certainly spread out and flatten because the melting point is lower. They won’t have that lovely, crisp edge and they definitely won’t hold up to heavy icing as well. Stick to real butter—it’s worth the flavor and the shape alone!

How long can I chill the sugar cookie dough?

The recipe says a minimum of one hour, and you should always follow that minimum. But here’s a fun secret: you can absolutely chill this dough longer! If you wrap those two patties up tight, they can hang out in the fridge for up to three days.

When I pull dough that’s been chilling for two or three days, it’s rock hard, right? Don’t panic! If you try to roll it out straight from the fridge, it will crack and break apart. Just let it sit on the counter for maybe 10 or 15 minutes—just enough time for the chill to soften it slightly so it’s workable, but still super firm. If it gets soft while you’re cutting, toss it back in for 20 minutes!

Why are my cut-out cookies spreading while baking?

This is the number one complaint about sugar cookies, and it always comes down to temperature! It’s one of two things, usually: either your dough wasn’t cold enough when it hit the baking sheet, or your oven wasn’t fully preheated. If the dough starts softening before it sets in the oven, those butter particles melt too fast, and BAM! Pancake cookies.

Make sure your oven thermometer is accurate, too. I hate to say it, but sometimes the temperature dial is off! If you want those super sharp edges, your oven needs to be at a solid 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) before that first batch goes in. Follow the chill time religiously, and you’ll have sharp stars and perfect snowmen, I promise!

Estimated Nutritional Snapshot

Now, let’s be real, these are holiday cookies, and we aren’t making them for their low-calorie count, are we? Ha! But for those of you who like to keep track, I wanted to give you a rough idea of what you’re working with per cookie. Remember, this is just an estimate based on the standard serving size we got (about 3 dozen cookies), and it changes wildly once you start slathering on the royal icing!

These numbers reflect the plain baked cookie itself—a delicious, buttery base ready for decoration. Think of it as the starting point for your festive treat!

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 150
• Fat: 8g
• Saturated Fat: 5g
• Carbohydrates: 18g
• Sugar: 12g
• Protein: 2g
• Cholesterol: 30mg

Don’t let those numbers scare you! These are made with real butter and real sugar, and they taste like love because they *are* made with love. Enjoy them responsibly!

Print