Cut-out sugar cookies for every holiday is something we enjoy to bake and come together in a breeze with our new all-purpose flour. These cookies taste delicious topped with royal icing / royal icing and sprinkles or sanding sugar. The below cookies shown were made with our Thanksgiving Sugar Cookie Baking Box. Some of the cookies were topped with our dark rainbow sprinkles.
This recipe is top 14 allergen free, gluten free and vegan.
The first step to making these is to gather all your ingredients and supplies.
Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
(If frosting cookies, grab the recipe for royal icing here.)
Makes approximately 36 cookies depending on size of cookie cutter used
Tools Needed:
- Two Baking Pans
- Parchment Paper
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Spatula
- Hand or Stand Mixer
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutters of your Choice
- Cooling Rack(s)
Ingredients Needed:
- 2 1/4 cups Kate’s Safe & Sweet All-Purpose Flour (279 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (your safe) stick butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (your safe) milk
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Additional All-Purpose Flour as needed
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line two sheet baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat butter for 1 minute until creamy, using a paddle attachment. Add sugar then beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add in milk, cornstarch and vanilla. Beat on high, scraping down sides, until batter is combined and fluffy.
- Add flour about 1 cup at a time and continue to mix on low until combined. Continue to add in remaining flour. If the dough feels sticky or wet, add up to another 1/4 cup (31 grams) of flour.
- Use your spatula and scoop half of the dough onto parchment paper. Form into a ball and press down gently. Sprinkle with flour. Using your rolling pin, roll out to 1/4” thick. If dough is too delicate you may need to place into refrigerator (see note below*.)
- Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheets.**
- Bake 8-12 minutes, or until edges are very lightly colored. Cookies will firm up when cooled – pull out of the oven when they still look slightly undercooked.
- Let cool on pan for 5 minutes then remove to continue cooling on cooling rack(s).
*You may chill the dough 30-60 minutes, overnight or up to several days. If refrigerating, let it rest at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before rolling so it doesn’t crack.
**If you don’t plan on frosting cookies, sprinkle dough with sanding sugar prior to baking.
Use other cookie cutters to make fun shapes for other holidays or party themes!
As you can see we baked up some Thanksgiving. You can make any shapes you’d like. Rolling these between parchment paper makes it much easier and requiring no flour for your surface. If you’d like to roll out on your surface then use more flour to do so to assure the dough does not stick to your counter. We also bake these on parchment paper as well.
Here is a look at them on the tray prior to baking.
Tip: Since this recipe makes a lot of cookies you will probably need 3-4 cookie trays. You can use one of course it will just take longer and you’ll want to allow the tray to cool prior to reusing.
Here are the cookies out of the oven and cooled.
As the cookies are cooling we recommend making the royal icing. You can grab that recipe here. And below on the recipe card.
If you would like to use sanding sugar vs icing, you can purchase in the store already make or you can make yourself.
Ingredients Needed:
- Granulated Sugar – you can decide on how coarse of a sugar you want to use.
- Food Coloring
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Pour your granulated sugar into a plastic baggie.
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Add in a few drops of food coloring.
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When adding food coloring remember to start small with one or two drops in at a time. It is easy to go overboard here and you can always add more color but you can not take it out.
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- Seal bag.
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From the outside of the bag, mix the sugar and food coloring around until all the sugar is dyed.
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Repeat for how ever many colors you need.
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Store in an airtight container.
Sanding sugar has a long shelf life as long as it doesn’t get wet.
Cut-out cookies have always been a family favorite in our home growing up and my kids love them too. We hope you enjoy this classic recipe which can be used for any holiday or just because!
Here are the recipe cards to make both the cookies and royal icing.
Check out our entire selection of recipes here.
