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Best Soft Christmas Cookies Recipe

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★★★★★

4.7 from 199 reviews

These soft Christmas cookies are a classic holiday treat featuring fluffy, tender sugar cookies perfect for cut-outs and decorating. Made with simple ingredients like all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, these cookies bake to a soft texture with just golden edges. They’re ideal for festive shapes and can be sprinkled with colored sugar before baking or frosted with icing once cooled. A wonderful recipe to start your holiday cookie tradition!

Ingredients

Scale

Dry Ingredients

  • 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups white sugar
  • 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Gather Ingredients: Collect all the necessary ingredients to ensure smooth preparation of the cookie dough.
  2. Sift Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt to combine and aerate the flour.
  3. Cream Butter and Sugar: Using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter and white sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, which incorporates air for a lighter cookie texture.
  4. Add Eggs and Vanilla: Beat in the eggs one at a time into the creamed butter and sugar, followed by the vanilla extract, ensuring each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
  5. Combine Dry and Wet Ingredients: Gradually add the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring just until the dough comes together without overmixing to keep the cookies tender.
  6. Chill the Dough: Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This resting time helps firm the dough for easier rolling and shape retention during baking.
  7. Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and grease two cookie sheets to prevent sticking.
  8. Roll and Cut Dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough out to ¼-inch thickness. Use Christmas-themed cookie cutters to cut out shapes, then place them spaced evenly on the prepared baking sheets. Gather scraps, reroll, and continue cutting until all dough is used.
  9. Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn golden. This ensures the cookies stay soft with slight crispness at the edges.
  10. Cool Cookies: Let the cookies cool briefly on the baking sheets, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating or serving.
  11. Serve and Enjoy: These cookies can be enjoyed plain, sprinkled with colored sugar, or decorated with your favorite icing once fully cooled.

Notes

  • For best shape retention, do not skip chilling the dough before rolling.
  • Store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
  • Frosted cookies with buttercream can be stored similarly but separate layers with wax paper.
  • Cookies with cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated in an airtight container.
  • Cookie dough can be frozen before baking; shape into disks, wrap, freeze up to 3 months, then thaw in fridge before rolling and baking.
  • Baking time is short to keep cookies soft; watch closely for golden edges.

Keywords: Christmas cookies, soft sugar cookies, holiday cookies, cut-out cookies, Christmas baking, soft cookies recipe, festive cookies

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