Christmas Butter Cookies with Powdered Sugar Icing are a MUST for the holidays. Simple iced cookies are one of the best treats for Christmas, and this easy butter cookies recipe is my FAVORITE. Make your favorite shapes with cookie cutters, and decorate however you like using our powdered sugar icing recipe!
Christmas Butter Cookies Recipe
Christmas Butter Cookies are a staple for the holidays! You can make them into any shape you want with a cookie cutter, and the powdered sugar icing is soooo delicious. My mom’s iced cookies are the best!
With Christmas just a few days away, it’s time to go into full-on cookie mode. Baking is such a fun thing to do this time of year, and Christmas Cookies win out over everything else. My Christmas Sugar Cookies are always a favorite, and Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are a new addition to the lineup. But these Iced Christmas Butter Cookies will always be an absolute classic!
This is the best butter cookies recipe out there (amazing flavor and texture), matched with the most amazing powdered sugar icing recipe. I really love butter cookies because they are perfect for decorating. You can make them super fun and festive for Christmas, or for any other holiday. Choose your favorite cookie cutters to make fun shapes, and use any food coloring you like for the powdered sugar frosting.
I made snowflake cookies, but you could make Christmas tree cookies, snowman cookies, or simple round cookies. Make them with the family and let everyone choose their own shapes and decorations. It’s a great Christmas activity with a tasty treat to enjoy at the end!
Make the perfect Christmas Butter Cookies recipe along with the most amazing Powdered Sugar Icing. These iced cookies are a MUST for the holidays!
Powdered Sugar Icing Recipe
This powdered sugar icing recipe is my favorite kind of frosting to use for iced cookies. It’s the perfect complement to the butter cookies, it looks beautiful, and it tastes SO good. I chose to do a blue and white marbled look for my snowflake cookies, and that’s what I’m going to show you how to make. However, you can follow the basic icing recipe and make single-colored frosting to decorate your cookies.
How to Make Icing with Powdered Sugar
This is a variation of my favorite royal icing recipe. The marbled effect takes a bit more work, but the powdered sugar icing itself isn’t complicated.
- Place confectioner’s sugar into the mixing bowl of a standup mixer.
- Stir together corn syrup, water, & almond extract in a large measuring cup. Then pour it over the confectioner’s sugar, with the mixer running on low speed.
- Turn the mixer to medium-low speed, and continue mixing until the glaze becomes smooth and creamy.
At this point, you can just stir in your preferred food coloring to make a single-color frosting. Or pour the glaze into separate bowls, and add different colors to each one if you want to have options while decorating the cookies.
If you want to create the marbled icing that I used, check the recipe card for detailed instructions.
How to Make Butter Cookies
This Christmas Butter Cookies recipe is so good. I just love the flavor and texture of these butter cookies!
- Beat butter and sugar together until light an fluffy, then add in egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Whisk together flour and salt in a separate bowl.
- Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Prepare the butter cookie dough (details in the recipe card), and then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- When ready to bake, cut the cookie dough into shapes, and places cookies on parchment liked cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F.
Once the butter cookies have cooled, you can move on to icing and decorating!
How to Decorate Christmas Butter Cookies
You can decorate your Christmas butter cookies however you like. You can order fun Christmas cookie cutters online, or find some at your local stores. Just cut the dough using any shapes before baking. Feel free to make as many different shapes as you want!
To glaze the cookies:
- Let the butter cookies cool completely before icing.
- Once you have your icing ready, pour half of into a bowl (bowl should be larger than your cookies, so you can dip them in). Cover the other half with plastic wrap and set aside until ready to use.
- Hold the cookies by the edges, upside down, and dip into the bowl of glaze. Lift it straight up, and let excess glaze drip off.
I really love the powdered sugar icing, but you can use other types of frosting if you prefer. Add some sprinkles for an extra flash of fun!
How to Store Butter Cookies
Iced butter cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Let the glaze dry completely before storing them; this could take 12-24 hours. To store them without icing, just make sure the cookies have cooled, and then they are ready to go.
These Christmas Butter Cookies do take a little extra time, but it’s worth it! The iced cookies are so much fun for Christmas, especially with the delicious powdered sugar icing. Everyone will love making them just as much as eating them. Happy Holidays!
See the recipe card below for details on how to make Butter Cookies & Powdered Sugar Icing. Enjoy!
If you like these Christmas Butter Cookies, you’ll love all of our other easy Christmas cookie recipes:
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Splatter Paint Christmas Cookies
- Chocolate Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Mint Cookies
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Chocolate Spritz Cookies
- Nutella Snowball Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Milano Cookies
- Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (2 Flavors)
Christmas Butter Cookies with Powdered Sugar Icing
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter 226 grams, room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar 135 grams
- 1 large egg 50 grams, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 grams
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract 1 gram
- 1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest 2 grams, optional
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 295 grams
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar 452 grams
- 6 tablespoons white corn syrup 117 grams, divided
- ½ cup water 114 grams, divided
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract 3 grams, divided
- Food Coloring Soft Gel Paste food color works best
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer until lighter in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.1 cup unsalted butter, ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- Beat in the egg, vanilla, almond, and lemon/orange zest (if using) until well blended.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.2¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture all at one time and mix on low speed until just incorporated.
- Lay out a sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper and sprinkle a little flour on top.
- Divide the dough equally into 2 portions (more if you have doubled the recipe).
- Using lightly floured hands, hold 1 portion of dough and gently shape it into a disc.
- Place the disc on the floured paper roll gently into a ¼-inch high oval or rectangle.
- Lift the paper and place it on a cookie sheet.
- Repeat the process until all the dough is used.
- Tightly cover the pan of all the layers of dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350°F.
- When ready to bake, take out one sheet of dough at a time and cut into the desired cookie-cutter shapes.
- Place the cut-out dough on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn.
- Take out of the oven, remove from the baking pan and cool on a cooling rack.
- Once completely cooled, the decorating fun can begin.
For the Icing (SEE NOTE)
- Place the powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and turn the hand mixer to the lowest speed.4 cups powdered sugar
- In a large measuring cup, stir together the corn syrup, water, and almond extract.½ cup water, 6 tablespoons white corn syrup, ¾ teaspoon almond extract
- With the mixer running, slowly drizzle ½ cup of the corn syrup mixture over the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides as needed. The glaze’s consistency should be similar to sweetened condensed milk. (Set the reserved corn syrup mixture aside to use only if needed.)
- Turn the mixer to medium-low and mix until the glaze is smooth and creamy. If the glaze is too thick, stir in reserved corn syrup mixture, 1 teaspoon-at-a-time, until it is the correct consistency. If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time.
- Pour half of the glaze into a small shallow bowl – be sure the diameter of the bowl is larger than the largest cookie. Cover the remaining half with plastic wrap to avoid a hard shell forming on top.
- Air bubbles will form in the glaze, but just take a small spoon and stir it slowly through the glaze to get rid of them.
- Get a drop of food coloring on a toothpick and swirl it through the glaze. Begin with a tiny amount (gel food coloring is potent) and be sure not to mix the glaze too much or the glaze could turn into a solid color.Food Coloring
- To glaze a cookie, have a second bowl sitting next to the bowl with the glaze.
- Hold onto the cookie by the edges and turn it upside down. Dip the top of the cookie into the glaze being sure the glaze covers the entire surface of the cookie. Lift the cookie straight up out of the glaze and hold it above the second bowl. Allow the excess glaze to drip off (about 5-10 seconds). Once the glaze stops dripping, flip the cookie over and place it on a cooling rack.
- Allow the glaze to dry completely before storing the cookies in an airtight container. It is best to let the cookies dry 12-24 hours before storing.
Becky's Tips
- NOTE: These are instructions for making the marble technique pictured above. You can also simply make the icing and stir in whichever colors you like, then decorate. Enjoy!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave a comment!
These are gorgeous! I love the color!
Thanks so much Lauren.
These cookies are my new holiday must have treat. They are a labor of love but after your first bite, you know it was all worth it! Thank you!
I love the way you think!
Beautiful AND delicious — total winner!
Thanks so much Tara!
Looks like a great recipe! I may have to try some cutouts this holiday season!
Hope you love them!
These are just so beautiful – almost too beautiful to eat. ALMOST!! :)
Ha! YAS girl!
Can I make these in advance and freeze them? Would I freeze the dough, or bake the cookies and freeze them?
Thanks!
I would like to know the same thing, could these cookies be frozen?
Does the icing dry to the touch?
Please post the recipe for the sugar cookies with icing . I’m having trouble finding it on your link . Thanks so much !
hi linda, thanks for stopping by! the recipe is in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. you can print it as well. if you can’t see it (i think you need flash player) let me know and i’ll email it to you. hope you like it!
Much too cute to eat!!
My favorite Christmas cookies are Spritz. I like the mold and Christmas colors. It’s fun to have the grandchildren over to decorate. They’re fun and small. I love them.