Description
Classic Christmas Cookies recipe featuring sweet vanilla sugar biscuits that are perfect for holiday celebrations. These soft vanilla biscuits are easy to make, delightful to decorate, and can be enjoyed plain or with icing, chocolate, or sugar dusting.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 225 g unsalted butter, softened (or use salted, skip salt)
- 1 cup caster/superfine sugar (granulated/ordinary white sugar ok too)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (55-60 g / 1.9-2 oz)
- 3 cups plain/all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
Decorations
- Icing for Sugar Cookies (optional)
- Melted chocolate (optional)
- Icing sugar (optional)
- Silver balls for decoration (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F (or 160°C fan for fan ovens). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer for about 1 minute on speed 5 until creamy and smooth.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Add the egg and vanilla extract to the creamed butter and sugar, then beat until completely combined and homogeneous.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Add the plain flour, baking powder, and salt to the wet mixture. Start mixing slowly to avoid flour flying out, then beat until the flour is fully incorporated. The dough will be clumpy at this stage.
- Shape the Dough: Dust your work surface with flour. Scrape the dough from the bowl onto the surface and pat it together, then divide it into two equal portions and shape each into a disc for easier rolling.
- Roll Out Dough: Roll each dough disc out to about 0.6 cm (1/4 inch) thickness for thick, soft cookies or 0.3 cm (1/8 inch) for thinner, crispier cookies. Sprinkle flour under and over the dough as needed to prevent sticking.
- Cut Out Shapes: Use cookie cutters to press out shapes. Use a knife or spatula to carefully transfer the cut shapes onto the prepared baking sheets. Keep any remaining dough refrigerated until ready to use.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place two trays in the oven simultaneously on the middle and lower shelves. Halfway through baking, swap the trays to ensure even cooking, as the top shelf bakes faster than the bottom.
- Cool Cookies: Let the cookies cool completely on the trays after baking. They will continue to firm up and finish cooking as they cool.
- Decorate: Customize your cookies as desired: ice with royal icing (see a separate icing recipe), dip in melted chocolate, dust with icing sugar, or decorate with silver balls. Alternatively, serve the cookies plain for a simple, sweet vanilla biscuit experience.
Notes
- The number of cookies depends on the size of your cutters and how thick you roll the dough. This recipe fills approximately 3 baking trays and yields about 40 cookies.
- Swapping trays halfway through baking ensures even cooking since the top oven rack is hotter. Position one tray on the middle rack and one on the lower rack, then switch them after 5 minutes.
- This recipe is adapted from Sugar, Spun, Run's Sugar Cookies recipe.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to one week. After that, they may start to dry slightly but remain tasty; they do not become stale quickly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 80 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
