Pastel Holiday Sugar Cookies decorated with royal icing and all the sprinkles – the perfect holiday tradition to share with your friends and family!
Our Key Ingredients
Pastry Flour
Pastry flour is going to be our best friend within this recipe! It has a lower percentage of protein than all-purpose flour. This factor allows our soft and tender sugar cookies to be the perfect texture.
No pastry flour? No problem! If you don’t have pastry flour at home, you can make your own substitute using all-purpose flour and cornstarch. We need to “weaken” our all-purpose flour by adding cornstarch and removing some flour.
Here’s how to make pastry flour! For every one cup of flour, remove two teaspoons of flour and add one tablespoon of cornstarch. Whisk to combine, and you’re all set!
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla extract is going to be our main flavor addition within this sugar cookie recipe! Whether you choose to use vanilla extract or substitute by using vanilla paste it’s essential that this ingredient is of high quality.
Making Holiday Sugar Cookies
Let’s get into the process of mixing and baking these Holiday Sugar Cookies!
- Sift all your dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together for 3-5 minutes then add the eggs while mixing making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding vanilla extract.
- Finally add dry ingredients in two parts, mixing until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and allow to cool in the fridge for 20-40 minutes.
- Roll out your dough onto a floured surface and cut out your cookie shapes using the cookie cutters of your choosing. Then, place the cut cookies in the freezer while preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment for 10 minutes -you don’t want to brown these cookies at all. Once you see even a hint of browning it’s time to take them out of the oven!
- Allow to cool for 3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then place cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Tips for decorating with Royal Icing
All of the cookies that are pictured have been decorated using royal icing! Here are some tips to keep in mind when using this mixture to decorate:
- Make sure to keep your royal icing bowl covered with a wet paper towel to make surer that it remains hydrated! If your bowl of royal icing is not covered, it will dry out quickly!
- I prefer to use gel food coloring when coloring my royal icing as it allows me to control how thin the icing is rather than thinning out the mixture due to the liquid of the food coloring
- Make sure to add any sprinkles you plan to decorate with soon after piping your icing! The nature of royal icing is that it dries rather quickly and if you miss your opportunity, the sprinkles will fall right off the cookies
Chilling & Freezing The Dough
Once you’ve mixed and cut your cookie dough, make sure to place the cookies in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. This chilling process helps to solidify the fat in your dough prior to baking. Since these cookies have a significant amount of butter, chilling the dough before baking your cookies from spreading in the oven and allows them to retain their shape.
Instead of baking all your cookies all at once, you can always create your cookie shapes, wrap them and then wrap them in the freezer. Then, bake-off what you’d like to decorate as you have the time!
Helpful Equipment for making Holiday Sugar Cookies
Holiday Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer
- Bowls
- Spatula
- Plastic Wrap
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutter
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Tray
- Ziplock Bags or Pastry Bags
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 2 cups (250 g) All Purpose-Flour, sifted
- 2 Cups (240 g) Pastry Flour
- 1/3 cup (42.67 g) Corn Starch
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (227 g) Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup (200 g) Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Royal Icing
- 3 Egg Whites, pastuerized
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 4 cups (480 g) Powdered Sugar
- Additional Hot Water as needed
- Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Dough
- Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together for 3-5 minutes
- Add the eggs while mixing making sure to scrape down sides of the bowl before adding vanilla extract.
- Add dry ingredients in two parts, mixing until combined.
- Wrap dough in plastic and allow to cool in the fridge for 20-40 minutes.
- Roll out dough onto floured surface and cut out your cookie shapes using the cookie cutters of your choosing
- Place cut cookies in the freezer while preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment for 10 minutes -you don't want to brown these cookies at all. Once you see even a hint of browning it's time to take them out of the oven!
- Allow to cool for 3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then place cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Royal Icing
- In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy.
- Add powdered sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny.
- Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired.
- Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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