Sugar Cookie Baking & Decorating Tips

‘Tis the season of holiday cookie baking! Whether you’re baking with kids, hosting a cookie swap, or decorating just for fun, sugar cookies are a festive classic that never go out of style. In this post, we’re sharing our favorite tips for decorating holiday sugar cookies—plus foolproof recipes for tender sugar cookies and smooth, glossy icing to help you create bakery-worthy treats at home.

Baking Tips

1. Chill Your Cookies Before Baking – Keep the dough you aren’t using at the time chilled but also chill your pan of cookies after being cut out for 2 to 2.5 minutes before popping into the oven. Chilling firms the butter so cookies spread less and keep their shape. 
2. Roll Out Dough Evenly – Use rolling pin rings or wooden guide sticks for about ¼ inch thick. If your dough is uneven dough you will end up with crispy edges/raw centers.
3. Use Minimal Flour When Rolling Cookies – Roll between two sheets of parchment, or dust with powdered sugar instead of flour so cookies stay tender.
4. Line Your Pans and Leave Space – Using parchment/silpats will lead to the cookies not sticking and less browning, plus less cleaning! Space cookies about 2 inches apart to allow for a small amount of spread.
5. Do Not Overbake – Your cookies are “just right” when the edges are barely golden, and the center is still pale. Classic rolled sugar cookies are done after roughly 6–8 minutes and firm up as they cool. You can leave them on the pan to finish cooking through.
6. Cool Completely Before Decorating – Warm cookies melt icing and sprinkles—so bake ahead and decorate later.

Decorating Trends & Ideas

Minimalist Wreath Cookies

Start with a dry white base (flooded royal icing, dried overnight). 

With a small piping bag of green icing, place dots around the outside of the cookie in a circle, leaving one spot for the berries. Then drag each dot together with a toothpick or icing tool into a simple greenery wreath around the edge. 

Using another small piping bag of red icing, place 3 dots in the open space of the wreath to create berries. 

Embroidery Dot Cookies

Use slightly thicker buttercream or royal icing.

Pipe little dots in rows or patterns (tree shapes, hearts, snowflakes). Press lightly so it creates that stitched/needlepoint look.

If you can make a dot, you can make these embroidery cookies. It’s very forgiving and kid-friendly.

Cozy Sweater / Knit Texture Cookies

Start with a sweater-shaped, mitten, or simple rectangle cookie flooded in one color.

Once set a bit but not dry, use a small tip bag of icing to pipe straight horizontal lines.

The use a toothpick or icing tool to drag vertical lines down through the horizontal lines, creating tiny V’s or braided patterns to mimic cable knit.\

Dip & Sprinkle – Ultra Easy Crowd Pleaser

Ice the entire top of the cookie and then turning it face-down into a plate of mixed sprinkles—instant full-coverage cookie with almost no decorating skill.

You can also dip the cookies halfway, let the excess drip off and then top with sprinkles. 

This is the hack if you want ‘I spent all day’ cookies in 10 minutes.

Way Cool Sugar Cookies

Makes 24-72 Cookies 

Ingredients

Directions

1. Combine butter, sugar, and eggs in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add vanilla and mix well. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed,

2. Divide dough into thirds. Wrap each in plastic food wrap; flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm (2-3 hours).

3. Heat oven to 350F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-third at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets; sprinkle with decorator sugar (if desired). Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp orange juice, optional
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Combine butter, sugar, and egg in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add vanilla and mix well. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed,

2. Divide dough into thirds. Wrap each in plastic food wrap; flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm (2-3 hours).

3. Heat oven to 350F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-third at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets; sprinkle with decorator sugar (if desired). Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup warm water 
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup 
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract 
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, or more as needed 

Directions

1. Stir warm water, corn syrup, and almond extract together in a small bowl until corn syrup and extract have dissolved. 
2. Place confectioners’ sugar into a separate bowl and add liquid ingredients.  
3. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until royal icing is smooth. Store in a lidded container for up to a week; stir thoroughly before using. 

Chef Tips: 

• For thick icing, which you will need for outlining and details, add more sugar until icing is quite thick.  
• Icing can be thinned with a few drops of water to make a glaze for filling in outlines or dipping cookies. 
• Icing hardens into a shiny glaze quickly. Keep stirring your bowl of icing as you work with it.