Nesting With Grace

by Brooke Christen

The Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookie With Cream Cheese Frosting

My sister is really the best sugar cookie, cake and cupcake baker I know. So every year around Christmas she get’s a text “what is your favorite sugar cookie recipe?” And she sends it then we make it! Her recipe is honestly the best. The best part is there is no “refrigerate for an hour before rolling out”. I am sharing her sugar cookie recipe here, for selfish reasons, so I know where to find it every year!! Bonus…. we have a FREE Christmas Sugar Cookie printable for you at the bottom of this post. You get a recipe and a piece of Christmas art to hang in your home or to attach to a plate of cookies that you give as a Christmas gift.

My sister sent this recipe to me and reminded me that she has tried a lot of recipes and this sugar cookie is bar far her favorite! She got it from a friend that makes it every year too! I added almond extract instead of vanilla, but you could do either.
We recently hosted a cookie frosting activity 30 teens for Ella’s Winter’s dance group. Sharing the recipe below and a few tips that made it a success!
Tip #1 Prep Work
Make all the cookies before the party and box them up, add items there is just one of for each person. For 30 teens, we made 4 batches of the sugar cookie (recipe below) the night before.
Tip #2 Frosting
Rather than frosting the cookies with a knife we used piping bags that they shared.
Everyone got to learn a new skill and bonus, it takes longer to frost this way, extending the fun! For each batch of cookies: If you frost with a knife- a single batch. If using tips double frosting batch. We used 25 bags for frosting with different size and shape piping tips. We made red, green and white. The white went the quickest.
Tip #3 Decorating Options
Offer decorating options like pretzels, candy, sprinkles and all mini things so everyone can get creative.
Tip #4- Make it a contest
Everyone goes all out when there is a prize! Each couple submitted their best cookie. Then votes were placed for the favorite.
We used these cookies boxes to store all the cookies and for each teen to take home a box of cookies!
This pan, is our favorite pan!!! We bake everything on it, roast dinners, and serve off of.
I’ve learned that the kids really love using piping tips too- Ella and Lola are pro’s! Finn can do it…it just takes a little more help. I love how creative piping allows all of us to get!
We usually pipe all the cookies, even if it’s just outlining until we reach the middle. That’s how I frosted the bells above.
We make them for every holiday!
The Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookie With Cream Cheese Frosting
Print

The Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookie With Cream Cheese Frosting

Servings

30

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

6

minutes

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup white sugar

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 1 egg

  • 1 tsp almond extract

  • 1 tsp baking soda

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 4 1/2 cups flour

  • Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter

  • 8 oz cold cream cheese

  • 1 tsp almond extract

  • 3-4 cups powdered sugar

  • 1-2 tbsp milk as needed

Sugar Cookie Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  • Cream the sugar and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes.
  • Stir in sour cream, egg and almond extract
  • Add in baking soda, salt and flour. 1 cup of flour at a time
  • Roll out on a floured surface about 1/4″ thick. Cut out desired shapes.
  • Place on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 5-7 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.
  • Makes about 30 medium size cookies. Let cool completely before frosting.
  • Cream Cheese Frosting Instructions
  • Mix the butter and cream cheese together
  • Add almond extract
  • Slowly add in the powdered sugar. If it is too thin (could be butter was too soft) add more powdered sugar. If too thick add in 1 tablespoon of milk to thin as needed. Whip until nice a white and fluffy, could take 5 minutes.
  • We double this frosting recipe if we are doing lots of piping and detailing.

Notes

  • * Refrigerate cookies after frosting.
For these darling mittens, we used a 1A round tip to make the circle dots all over the mittens. Just squeeze your piping bag and then stop squeezing before you pull away. Then, to finish them off, we used the 1M star tip and made the mittens look nice and fluffy on the bottom. Keep reading for more frosting tips and ideas! 

Baking Favorite Things-

Links Here
Our favorite pans to bake everything on, roast dinners, and serve off of are from HERE.
The tree was my favorite! We used the star tip 1 M. It’s easiest to pipe the tree with the cookie turned upside down. Starting at the bottom of the cookie, pipe a row of swoops to form the bottom row of branches. Repeat with a second and third row, finishing at the top of the cookie. Top the tree by piping a star!
To make a star shape, like we did the top of the tree and all over the snowflake cookie, use the star tip 1M.
Hold the bag straight up, with the tip slightly above the cookie, squeeze the bag to form a star. Use light pressure for a smaller star, and more pressure for a bigger one. Stop squeezing before pulling tip away. Or make a criss cross pattern like the other snowflake cookie by squeezing that same star tip starting in the middle and dragging out. 
These little cutie wreaths look so intimidating, but I’m telling you, with a practice cookie you’ll have the technique down in no time. Ella has become a pro at these. The same technique will make cute holly and berries! We used the leaf 352 piping tip. Just like the other tips, you squeeze softly for a small leaf and harder for a large leaf, then stop squeezing as you pull away. So fun!
It’s all in the details! Piping a pretty bow is the perfect way to add a finishing touch! We just cut the tip off the bag for this one- made a small round hole. Hold the bag at an angle with the tip touching the cookie. Start at center of the bow, squeeze bag up and around the left then back to center to form a loop, do the same on the right side. To make the streamers coming off, start back at the center squeezing and moving tip away from the bow. Repeat for second streamer.
We love this idea for a gift! Make your favorite cookies and put on a cute serving tray (or this wood serve tray, and other options HERE), give as a cute and yummy gift! These boxes are nice for treats. You can buy these individual cookie cutters or buy a Christmas cookie set.

Sugar Cookie Printable-

Download and Print recipe below.
Sugar-cookie-2_ArtworkDownload
We hope you love these sugar cookies as much as we have over the years, our technique improves every year too! But really it’s about the memories we make together. (and the tasty treat!)
We always have a big baking day in December and make these, the kids love it!
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Comments

  1. Mindy says

    I’m curious if you or your sister have tried making these using any gluten free flour blends? Would love any recommendations that you would have if so!

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