A recipe for soft homemade sugar cookies packed full of flavor with decorative icing for added festiveness!
Sugar cookies around the holidays have become a household tradition. The girls are now very much aware of the baking + icing of holiday-themed cookies, and look forward to it with great anticipation. They equally love to eat said cookies, and sneak tastes of the icing while they decorate. Who can blame them??
These are the best sugar cookies I have ever had, though I'll alway be open to taste-testing others ;) My favorites about these particular cookies:
- the dough holds its shape while baking without needing to be refrigerated first
- they are completely soft, but not gooey (chocolate chip cookies are meant to be gooey, not sugar cookies!)
- they have are so flavorful even without the icing
- the icing holds well for fun decorating, and is also delicious
We love to enjoy them ourselves, but also to spread the joy by delivering them to friends and neighbors. If you're looking for a simple way to share Valentine's treats this year, these sugar cookies, along with homemade cards, would be a great way to do so. We hope you enjoy these treats as much as our household does!
- What You'll Need
- For the cookies
- 1.5 sticks salted butter, softened
- 1/2 block cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 TSP vanilla extract
- 1 TSP baking powder
- 1/2 TSP salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- Sprinkles
- For the icing
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 2 TSP vanilla extract
- 1/4 cups + half of 1/4 cup milk
- we used 2% (I would not use anything less than that)
- if you need to add more milk, do it slowly and very little at a time
- Food coloring
- What You'll Do
- For the cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together with a hand mixer (or by hand). Then add the sugar, mixing until well-combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract.
- Next add the baking powder, salt, and flour. Stir until everything is mixed into a ball.
- On a silicone baking mat, sprinkle out a little flour and spread evenly. Put the ball of dough on floured surface. Sprinkle and pat a little more flour on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to approximately 1/4" thickness.
- With your cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes. Let cool completely on a cooling rack before icing.
- For the icing
- Put the powdered sugar in a large bowl.
- Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and milk. Mix well.
- Divvy up the icing into smaller bowls for different colors.
- Add the food coloring as desired to achieve the look you want.
- Using small icing spatulas (or butter butter knives), spread the icing on your cookie. You can use toothpicks to create designs! Add sprinkles if you like!
- If you want to add decorative details, let the first layer of icing dry before piping or adding more icing.
- Let the icing settle and harden (it will harden on the the top and makes for a perfect icing) before storing in a tupperware.
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