Cut-out cookies made from sugar cookie, gingerbread, and shortbread dough bake into perfect, frosting-ready creations. Cut-Out Butter Cookies are as pretty as they are yummy. Make the holiday baking season memorable with fun cookie cutters.

Decorated Christmas Cutout Cookies Recipe. Nutritional Facts.

Use this recipe for sugar cookie cutouts, adapted from "Martha Stewart's Cookies," to make adorable Santa Cookies (pictured) or charming One-Piece Cookies, a perfect. These are the best soft cut-out sugar cookies you will ever make! Easy recipe and fun to decorate.

Soft Cut- Out Sugar Cookies. Sallys Baking Addiction. Soft cut- out sugar cookies with crisp edges and room for lots of icing and sprinkles. Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes and have fun baking and decorating! Today is my birthday and I’m sharing a recipe I have been working since my last birthday. I kid you not. This recipe was supposed to go in my cookbook last summer, but I just could not get the texture perfected!

Disappointment after disappointment. I was going for a soft centered, yet slightly crisp edged roll out sugar cookie.

A cookie that would keep its cookie cutter shape in the oven, a recipe without any crazy ingredients, and one that was easy and approachable for everyone. Cut- out sugar cookies are so temperamental! But luckily, I finally got it right. Happy birthday to me indeed! Calabrese Pizza. Cut- out sugar cookies are all the rage during Christmas time. I remember making and decorating dozens and dozens of them with my sisters growing up. We’d have them covering every inch of the counter!

Our decorating “skills” probably seemed atrocious to others, but when sugar, butter, icing, and sprinkles are involved – who cares what the package looks like right?! I’m so excited to share this recipe with you; I could hardly wait until December. Instead of snowflakes and santa hats, you’re getting hearts and hot pinks and rainbows. Lucky for you, my decorating skills have vastly improved over the years! Let’s get down to it. The recipe? It’s not complicated!

It just took me a good while to find the perfect combination of butter and sugar, flour and leavener. Start with the right consistency of unsalted butter. This is so important!

Butter must be softened, but not melty in the slightest. You should be able to press your finger into the stick of butter and make an indent easily, without your finger sliding anywhere.

Firm, but not cold. Lightly softened is what you should go for. Here is a good visual. You’ll need 3/4 cup (1. The cookie dough will be thick and not wet. Slightly sticky and crumbly, yet manageable. I compare it to the consistency of play- doh.

Very, very important: This sugar cookie dough does require chilling. Not too long; only about 1 hour.

Once the cookie dough is prepared, divide the sugar cookie dough in half, shape into balls, and then roll into two flat rectangles – about 1/4 inch thickness each. Stack onto a baking sheet and chill.

Chilling is mandatory not only to keep the butter cold to help prevent spreading, but also to give the gluten in the flour a chance to rest. As you notice, I chill the cookie dough AFTER I have rolled it out. With all of my recipe testing, I learned that this method is so much easier than chilling the cookie dough as a whole and then trying to roll out a cold chunk of dough. After 1 hour of chilling, you may use your favorite cookie cutter and cut into difference shapes. At this point you can just bake the shaped cookies plain or you may add sprinkles directly onto them. I lined some cookies with circle- shaped sprinkles, as you see above and below.

This did take me awhile… maybe about 6 minutes per cookie. Also took me a lot of precision and patience, but hey… they’re pretty right?! Beauty is pain. Visuals are SO important with these cookies, so I made sure to take a ton of pictures. Here are several of the steps I just explained: The secret to their soft, tender centers? Underbaking. The cookies will take about 8- 1. You do not want to overbake these cookies.

I kept one batch in the oven for about 1. If you prefer a crunchy sugar cookie, just bake longer. This cookie dough will hold its shape in the oven. Something so extremely important when it comes to shaped sugar cookies! The edges are sharp and precise; no spreading or distortions. Truly a perfect cookie cutter dough.

Have fun decorating and playing around with the icing! Making these cookies is all about enjoying the process with others, so this is the fun part. I used my all- time favorite sugar cookie icing recipe, available on All Recipes (with a video too!). It’s so simple. Rather than using egg whites or meringue powder, this recipe uses milk and corn syrup.

It’s fantastic, it’s quick, it’s the best in my sugar cookie experimenting! I doubled the frosting recipe to frost a majority of my cookies.

I used a paint brush for some and dipped others directly into it. I did not color the icing. So here we go. My birthday present to you! Don’t be overwhelmed by all the steps, I’m just extremely thorough. Follow me on Instagram and tag #sallysbakingaddiction so I can see all the SBA recipes you make. ♥Ingredients: Cookies. For Decorating. Directions: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamed and smooth - about 1 minute.

Add the sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 or 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat on high until fully combine, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Turn the mixer down to low and add about half of the flour mixture, beating until just barely combined. Add the rest of the flour and continue mixing until just combined. If the dough still seems too soft, you can add 1 Tablespoon more flour until it is a better consistency for rolling.

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment to about 1/4″ thickness. Stack the pieces (with paper) onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Chilling is mandatory. If chilling for more than a couple hours, cover the top dough piece with a single piece of parchment paper.

Once chilled, preheat oven to 3. F (1. 77°C). Line 2- 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. The amount of batches will depend on how large/small you cut your cookies. Remove one of the dough pieces from the refrigerator and using a cookie cutter, cut in shapes. Transfer the cut cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet.

Re- roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Before baking, you can apply sprinkles like I did on the rainbow sprinkle lined cookies shown in this post.

If you’re planning to only ice them instead, or you just want to keep them plain -  skip the sprinkles. Bake for 8- 1. 1 minutes, until very lightly colored on top and around the edges. Make sure you rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time.

My cookies took 9 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing. I always let mine cool overnight, just to be sure.

Make the icing and decorate the cooled cookies however you'd like. I doubled the frosting recipe to frost a majority of my cookies. I used a paint brush for some and double- dipped others directly into it. I did not color the icing, as you can see. Add sprinkles on top of the icing if preferred. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifts, sending, or munching on right away.

I find they stay soft for about 5 days at room temperature. Make ahead tip: Unfrosted cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Frosted cookies do not freeze well at all. You can chill the cookie dough for up to 2 days (step 3).

You can also freeze the cookie dough before rolling for up to 3 months. Then allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Then roll and continue with the recipe as directed. Recipe Notes: Room temperature egg is preferred to be easily dispersed in the cookie dough.

Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature egg if recipe calls for butter at room temperature or melted. Edited to add: Lately, I've been preparing this dough with a little salt and I love the way it brightens the flavor of the dough. You can leave it out for super sweet sugar cookies, but its addition is fabulous. Did you make a recipe?