Sugar Cookie Cutouts


Merry Christmas, ya’ll! I hope your holidays were spent in your pajamas, watching Home Alone, drinking hot cocoa, and decorating cookies like mine were!

Sugar cookies are a Christmas staple in my house. For as long as I can remember, my mom, sister, and I set aside a day during the holiday season to punch out stars and trees and decorate them in frosting with far too much food coloring. They never lasted long, and now I know why my mom always insisted on leaving these cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve: she wanted an excuse to eat more. I don’t blame ya, mom.

I’ve had a lot of sugar cookies in my life, and these are the ones I always come back to. They stay soft for literally weeks (not that they’ll be around that long), and they hold their shape perfectly. I frost mine in royal icing, but you can use buttercream or even eat them plain.



  1. This recipe uses half butter and half shortening. The shortening helps the cookies hold shape, as the melting point of shortening is higher than that of butter. However, I have used all butter with this recipe and, while it spreads slightly more, it works!
  2. Use any desired frosting for these cookies. I use royal icing, which is simply powdered sugar mixed with egg whites until desired consistency. The egg whites can be replaced with milk as well.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

Yield: About 2 dozen cookies

Time: 20 minutes, plus 2 hours for chilling


  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups AP flour


  1. Beat the butter and shortening
  2. Add in sugar, baking powder, and salt until well combined
  3. Combine egg, milk, and vanilla
  4. Add into the mixture gradually
  5. Mix in flour just until combined
  6. Divide the dough in two equal pieces and refrigerate for two hours
  7. Roll to 1/4″ thick and cut as desired
  8. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes. Enjoy!

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