How to Make Melt In Your Mouth Christmas Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are a Christmas tradition at our home. We love to make and decorate these delicious melt in your mouth Christmas Sugar Cookies for Santa every year on Christmas Eve. These buttery delicious bites are sure to please your family and the big guy in red.
I can remember being a little girl, sitting on the counter of my momma’s kitchen as she rolled out the silky buttery dough. She would always let me and my sister use the old metal Christmas Cookie Cutters to make stars, bells, snowmen, and boots. Then she would carefully move the dough to the cookie sheet and the real fun began.
We always had different sprinkles and colored sugars to bring the cookies to life.
Momma always let our creativity go when we decorated. She would ooo and ahhh over how pretty our cookies were even if our color choices were questionable.
Then we would patiently wait the six minutes, noses pressed against the glass of the oven door, until our cookies were lightly browned and a little puffy.
The whole house would smell like buttery heavenly yumminess.
Even as we got older, the tradition would stay the same. And now I do that same tradition on Christmas Eve with my kiddos.
What is a Christmas sugar cookie?
Whether it is Christmas or not, a sugar cookie is a delicious buttery melt in your mouth cookie that is believed to have originated in Nazareth Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
Fitting that we make this cookie every year at Christmas being that its roots are in Nazareth!
The sugar cookies main ingredients are sugar, flour, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Unlike a shortbread that is a little more dense and rustic, the sugar cookie contains a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda to help make it nice and light.
The sugar cookie is a perfect cookie for a cup of coffee or a glass of ice cold milk.
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Christmas Sugar Cookies
Using Butter that is too Soft or too Hard
When making sugar cookies it is important that you use room temperature butter. If your butter is too hard, you will not be able to get a smooth as silk texture with your dough.
On the other hand, if you are like me, you may not plan accordingly and you end up with a cold stick of butter and no time or patience.
DO NOT fall victim to the temptation to nuke your butter in the microwave.
Butter that is too soft or melted will leave you with flat greasy cookies that won’t hold their beautiful shape.
Why you ask?
The purpose of butter in a recipe, besides flavor, is texture. When creamed and evenly distributed the butter creates beautiful little pockets of air in your cookie helping it to rise evenly.
How to Soften Butter
The best way to soften your butter is to allow the butter to stand at room temperature for an hour. The butter should be soft and squishy, but hold its shape.
If you don’t have an hour to wait there are a few other options you can try.
You can cube or grate your cold butter which will help it soften much faster than leaving it whole.
Cubed butter will soften a little more quickly than a whole stick, but if you are really pressed for time grating is the best options. Not only does grated butter soften faster, but it also incorporates really well!
You can also take a tall microwave safe glass that a stick of butter will fit into and fill it halfway with water. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. Carefully remove the glass and dump out the water. Put the warm glass upside down over your cold butter stick and allow to sit for a couple minutes. Voila! A softened stick of butter! Be careful not to leave it too long though.
Overworking the Dough
The next mistake to avoid is overworking your sugar cookie dough. This will lead to one tough cookie and that is not what you want at all. When you overwork dough, you are activating the gluten in the flour which pulls tight together.
To prevent this, mix all your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl first. When ready to add the dry to the wet, mix only until just incorporated. I like to mix in by hand verses a mixer so I have better control.
It is also important to allow the sugar cookie dough to rest in the fridge before starting to roll and cut. This allows the gluten to settle down and give the butter a chance to solidify which will help your cookies be nice and fluffy.
Not Properly Measuring the Flour
We have all done it. Reached right into the flour sack with our measuring cup and dipped out what we thought was the right measurement of flour. In reality, we likely scooped out a lot more than intended.
This can lead to dry cookies! Santa isn’t a fan of dry cookies!
To avoid this, scoop the flour with a spoon or smaller cup into the measuring cup you are using. Then using a flat edge of a butter knife or spatula, level the flour off. This will make sure that you do not have more flour than intended!
Overcrowding the Cookie Sheet
When baking your cookies, you want to avoid overcrowding your cookie sheet. Cookies will spread some and if not properly spaced, your pretty Santa hat will merge with you angelic star to make one big ol’ Christmas colored blob.
To make sure this doesn’t happen, leave at least three to four fingers width between each cookie. A standard cookie sheet will hold about twelve cookies total.
Under Baking or Over Baking
This is a biggie. Bake time is important. Your goal here is to get a nice even light golden brown around the edges with a soft slightly puffed up cookie that is nice and soft.
Underbaking will leave you with a doughy dense mess of a cookie. While overbooking will make your cookies a dental nightmare for Santa.
Typical bake time is six to seven minutes at 400 for beautiful evenly baked sugar cookies.
Now that we have talked about what to avoid, let’s talk about what you need to make these yummy confections that Santa loves so much!
Tools for Making Sugar Cookies
There are some must haves when baking Sugar Cookies. here are some of our favorite Sugar Cookie making tools!
Mixer
When working in the kitchen making cookies around the holiday, it is always easier to have a mixer on hand. We love our KitchenAid Stand Mixer, but a handheld mixer is also a great option
Cookie Sheet-
This is one of our favorite cookie sheets. Wilton products are great performing and long lasting! You will want a large cookie sheet for this recipe or you very well may be tempted to over crowd your pan.
Cookie Cutters
These cute Christmas Cookie Cutters are the perfect starter set! You and your family will love all of the festive shapes.
Sprinkles and Sugar
This cute Holiday mix is sure to make some of the most beautiful Christmas Sugar Cookies that you will be proud to leave out for Santa!
Cute Cookie Jar
You need a cute little cookie jar to store all your yummies in!! We love this cute little Christmas Gnome!
Melt in Your Mouth Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe (Step by Step)
Now let’s get into this recipe shall we!
First things first, let’s get all those ingredients!
Ingredients for Melt in your Mouth Sugar Cookies
- Butter- softened to room temp like we talked about y’all!
- Shortening- because it helps to hold the shape of the cookies as they bake
- Eggs- room temp are best
- Vanilla
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Sprinkles and decorations!
Step 1
In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, shortening, and sugar. When light and fluffy add in the eggs and vanilla and beat for another minute or two.
Step 2
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Step 3
Add dry ingredients to butter mixture until just combined. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, but longer is ideal.
Step 4
Preheat over to 400 degrees. While oven is preheating roll one third of your dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/4 inch thick. Do not over handle as your warm hands will heat up the butter.
Step 5
Cut into desired shapes and transfer carefully to cookie sheet. Decorate with sprinkles and sugars as desired. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until light golden brown.
Step 6
Remove from pan to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before storing in an air tight container for up to one week.
ENJOY Your Christmas Sugar Cookies!!
We hope that you enjoy this recipe for how to make melt in your mouth Christmas Sugar Cookies! Leave us a comment below and let us know how yours turned out!
What is your favorite Christmas Cookie?
If you are looking for some more easy Christmas Cookies and Desserts check out these Easy Christmas Desserts!
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Christmas Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Butter Softened
- ¼ Cup Shortening
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 Eggs
- 2½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- Assorted Sprinkles
Instructions
- Cream together butter, Shortening, and sugar
- Add eggs one at a time mixing well. Add Vanilla. Scrap down sides of the bowl as needed
- In Seperate bowl mix dry ingredients together
- Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Hand stir to avoid over mixing
- Cover and Chill 1 hour
- Preheat oven to 400°
- on a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut out in desired shapes and transfer to baking sheet
- Decorate as desired
- Bake 6-7 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool
7 Comments
KEVIN FOODIE
These cookies 🍪 are looking very festive with the decorative colored sprinkles. Love how simple the recipe is; even the kids could make it.
Side note: since shortening is high in trans fats and are banned from use in restaurants here in the US, I had no idea that shortening are still sold in stores? 🤔
hacketthillfarm
I didn’t realize it was banned in restaurants! Interesting! It is still sold in stores for sure. This recipe can definitely be made with all butter though 🙂
Emma
I love a sugar cookie but haven’t made them in forever! Definitely want to try them out again over Xmas. It must be so lovely to have a family tradition around them too. It’s so special to make recipes which have a connection to family members or family time!
Nadine
Loved reading this and hearing your tips. Thank you for sharing the recipe x
http://Www.nadinealex.blogspot.com
Jaya Avendel
Sugar cookies are so delicious and festive to make! I have a cookie press that makes it so easy to press out the dough in the shapes I want, but there is something to be said for rolling it out and cutting it by hand. With tea or a nice cup of hot cocoa, sugar cookies are a holidat staple. 🙂
Barb L
Cut out sugar cookies will always be associated with my parents and Christmas. The smell alone takes me back. My dad rolled them so thin, they were almost translucent and just melted in your mouth. Definitely have to try your recipe!
hacketthillfarm
Isn’t it wonderful how food can take you back! I hope you enjoy!