Christmas Cookies Recipes: Easy Cutout Christmas Cookies

These cutout Christmas cookies have been my go-to holiday bake for years — and the secret ingredient is one most people don’t see coming. Orange juice.

Just a few tablespoons in the dough adds a subtle brightness that makes the sugar flavor pop without tasting citrusy at all. The texture is soft, a little chewy, and holds a clean edge through every cookie cutter shape.

These are the cookies people ask about every single December.

I almost always make this recipe in two stages — dough one day, baking and frosting the next. That’s not because it’s difficult.

It’s because the dough genuinely needs fridge time, and the frosting goes on best when you’re not rushing. Split it up and it feels manageable even during the chaos of the holidays.

Why This Dessert Works

• Orange juice in the dough — it sounds unusual, but it lifts the sweetness and keeps the cookies from tasting flat
• The dough rests overnight — cold, firm dough rolls out evenly without sticking or puffing, giving you crisp shapes
• Baked at 400°F for only 7–8 minutes — they look underdone when you pull them, which is exactly right; they firm up as they cool
• The frosting comes together in minutes — butter, powdered sugar, a splash of milk, and it’s ready to spread or pipe
• The recipe scales well — the yield is generous, and dividing the dough into quarters makes it easy to work in batches

What to Know Before You Start

Read this before you pull out your mixing bowl — it’ll save you from the two most common cutout cookie mistakes.

The dough must chill. At least two hours in the fridge, but overnight is better.

Warm dough is sticky, tears when you roll it, and spreads in the oven. Chilled dough rolls smooth, holds the cutter shapes, and bakes flat.

Don’t skip this.

They will look underdone. Pull the cookies out at 7 to 8 minutes even when the edges are barely golden and the centers look soft.

That’s the right call. The cookies continue to set as they cool on the pan.

If you wait until they look done in the oven, they’ll be firm and dry by the time they’re room temperature.

Flour your surface, but don’t overdo it. Too much flour worked into the dough during rolling makes the cookies tough.

Use just enough to keep things from sticking, and work quickly so the dough stays cold.

Make the frosting right before you use it. Buttercream dries out fast once it’s sitting in a bowl.

Mix it fresh, frost the cooled cookies, and if you’re doing multiple colors, split and color one batch at a time.

Timing plan: Day 1 — make and refrigerate dough. Day 2 — roll, cut, bake, and cool.

Frost same day or the next. The baked unfrosted cookies keep well for several days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the Cookie Dough

• 2 cups butter, softened — this is a rich dough; use real butter, not margarine, and let it truly soften so it creams properly
• 2 cups sugar — standard granulated; nothing fancy needed
• 2 eggs — room temperature if you remember to set them out
• 5 cups flour — all-purpose; spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly, which packs in too much
• 4 tablespoons Sunny D orange juice — this is the thing. Sunny D specifically has a sweeter, milder citrus flavor that blends into the dough. Regular orange juice works too, but use fresh-squeezed or a no-pulp variety
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract — yes, tablespoons; it’s not a typo, and yes it makes a difference
• 2 teaspoons baking powder — just enough lift to keep the cookies from being dense without puffing up and losing their shape

For the Frosting

• 2/3 cup butter, softened — again, real butter; it gives the frosting body and a clean finish
• 4 cups confectioners sugar — sift it if yours tends to clump
• 2 tablespoons milk — adjusts the consistency; add a touch more if it seems stiff, less if it’s too loose
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Food coloring — gel food coloring gives more vibrant color without thinning the frosting the way liquid drops can

How to Make Cutout Christmas Cookies

Step 1: Make the Dough

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, sugar, and eggs together on medium speed until the mixture is light and creamy — about 2 minutes. It should look pale and fluffy, not grainy.

Add the flour, orange juice, vanilla, and baking powder. Mix on low until just combined.

The dough will be soft but should hold together cleanly and pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it seems very sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time.

Divide the dough into four equal portions. Flatten each into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Overnight is even better — the dough firms up significantly and becomes much easier to handle.

Step 2: Roll and Cut

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F. Pull one disc of dough from the fridge and let it sit for about 5 minutes — just long enough to take the edge off the stiffness.

You’ll need to work it slightly with your hands to get it pliable; that’s normal.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with your cookie cutters and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

This is the single most important equipment note in the whole recipe — line the pan. Bare metal pans brown the bottoms too fast and you’ll end up with crispy edges on an otherwise soft cookie.

Space the cookies about 2 inches apart. They don’t spread much, but they do need room.

Step 3: Bake

Bake at 400°F for 7 to 8 minutes. The cookies should have just barely set edges and still look slightly underdone in the center.

That is correct. Pull them out and let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack.

Once they’re fully cooled — not just warm, fully cooled — they’ll be soft, a little chewy in the middle, and firm enough to frost without crumbling. If yours are coming out dry or cracking when you pick them up, the oven was too hot or they baked too long.

Step 4: Make the Frosting

Beat the softened butter until smooth. Add the confectioners sugar and milk, then beat on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy and creamy.

Add the vanilla and beat another 30 seconds.

To make multiple colors, divide the frosting into small bowls and add gel food coloring to each portion. A toothpick dipped in the gel gives you control over intensity — start light and add more until you hit the shade you want.

Frost immediately. The frosting starts to crust over as it sits, especially if your kitchen is warm.

Don’t make it in advance and let it wait — mix it, frost the cookies, done.

Helpful Tips

Always Use Parchment or a Silicone Mat

This is worth repeating because it matters that much. A silicone baking mat is the best investment for anyone who bakes cookies regularly.

It insulates the bottom of the cookie just enough to keep it from overbrowning while the top finishes baking. Parchment paper does the same thing and is great if you don’t have mats yet.

If you want a good reusable option, the AmazonBasics Silicone Baking Mat 2-pack is what I reach for. They fit half-sheet pans, wash easily, and hold up for years.

Don’t Skip the Chilling Step

If you’ve ever had cutout cookies spread into blobs, this is why. Warm butter means warm dough means spreading in the oven.

Cold dough holds its shape. Chill the wrapped dough for at least 2 hours.

If you’re working on a hot day or your kitchen runs warm, put the cut cookies back in the fridge for 10 minutes on the pan before baking.

Work with One Disc at a Time

Keep the other three discs in the fridge while you roll the first. They warm up faster than you’d think once they’re out, and cold dough is genuinely easier to work with.

If a disc gets too soft while you’re cutting shapes, wrap it back up and chill it for 10 minutes before continuing.

Re-roll Scraps Once

You can gather and re-roll the dough scraps, but only once. After two rolls the dough is worked enough that the cookies get tough.

If you have leftover scraps after the second roll, bake them as plain rounds — they’re still good, just not as pretty.

For Piped Frosting Details

If you want to pipe outlines or details rather than just spread the frosting, use a zip-lock bag with a small corner snipped off. No piping bag needed.

Keep the consistency slightly stiffer than you’d use for spreading — hold back a teaspoon of milk when mixing.

Cookie Cutters and Decorating Tools

If your cutters are old and starting to lose their edges, a fresh set makes a real difference in how clean the shapes look. A good Christmas cookie cutter set with a mix of sizes gives you a lot of variety without needing to own dozens of individual cutters.

Variations and Substitutions

No Orange Juice on Hand?

Use regular orange juice or even apple juice in the same amount. The orange flavor isn’t what you’re tasting in the finished cookie — it’s more about the acidity interacting with the other ingredients.

Lemon juice also works and gives the dough a slightly different brightness.

Want Royal Icing Instead of Buttercream?

Buttercream is easier and requires no special ingredients, but royal icing is what you want if you’re flooding cookies with a smooth, hard finish that sets firm. Royal icing uses meringue powder or egg whites and dries completely, which means you can stack frosted cookies without them sticking together.

If that’s the look you’re going for, it’s worth the extra step.

Add Sprinkles Before Baking

If you want sprinkles baked in rather than on top of frosting, press them lightly into the cut dough before the cookies go in the oven. They’ll stay put and get slightly toasted, which looks nice on plain sugar cookies you’re serving without frosting.

Almond Extract Instead of Vanilla

Swapping half the vanilla for almond extract — so 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon almond — gives you a flavor profile closer to those bakery sugar cookies with the pink frosting. It’s a small change with a big effect.

Use it in the frosting too if you go this route.

Storage, Make-Ahead, and Freezing

Storing Baked Cookies

Unfrosted baked cookies keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They actually stay soft and don’t dry out much, which is one of the things I like best about this dough.

Frosted cookies are best eaten within 2 to 3 days. The buttercream softens the cookie underneath over time — still good, just a bit squishier than fresh.

Make-Ahead Options

Dough: Wrapped tightly, the dough keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it for up to 2 months — wrap each disc in plastic, then put them all in a zip-lock freezer bag.

Thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling.

Baked unfrosted cookies: Freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer to a zip-lock freezer bag once frozen solid. They thaw at room temperature in about an hour.

Frost after thawing.

Frosted cookies: You can freeze frosted cookies if needed — freeze in a single layer first, then stack carefully with parchment between layers. They thaw fine but the frosting may look slightly less fresh.

Shipping Cookies as Gifts

These hold up well for shipping if you frost them with a thicker layer of buttercream and let it set completely before packing. Use parchment between layers and pack snugly so they don’t shift.

I’ve mailed these to family and had them arrive in good shape — flat shapes travel better than delicate ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my cutout cookies spread and lose their shape?

Almost always dough temperature. If the butter wasn’t fully chilled after mixing, or if the dough warmed up during rolling, the fat in the dough melts before the cookie sets in the oven and the edges spread out.

Make sure the dough is cold going onto the pan, and if your kitchen is warm, chill the cut cookies on the pan for 10 minutes before baking.

Can I make this dough without a stand mixer?

A hand mixer works fine. Creaming the butter and sugar by hand with a wooden spoon is possible but takes real effort — the dough is stiff.

If you’re making this with kids and want to go mixer-free, let the butter soften very thoroughly (close to room temperature) to make it more manageable.

My cookies came out hard. What went wrong?

Either overbaked or rolled too thin. At 400°F, 7 to 8 minutes is the window.

If your oven runs hot, start checking at 6 minutes. Thinner cookies bake faster and dry out more easily — aim for a consistent 1/4-inch thickness.

Also check that you measured the flour correctly; too much flour makes a stiff dough that bakes up dry.

Do I need to use Sunny D specifically?

No. Sunny D is what I use because it’s what I had the first time I made these and the recipe stuck.

Regular orange juice — fresh squeezed or from a carton — works exactly the same way. The key is having a few tablespoons of slightly acidic liquid in the dough; the specific brand isn’t load-bearing.

Can I make the frosting ahead of time?

You can store buttercream in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. Bring it fully to room temperature and re-beat it before using — cold buttercream is stiff and won’t spread smoothly.

That said, fresh-made frosting is easier to work with, so if timing allows, make it right before you’re ready to decorate.

How thick should I roll the dough?

1/4 inch is the target. Thinner cookies bake faster and tend to be crispier; thicker cookies are softer but can end up doughy in the center if you’re not careful.

A pair of rolling pin guides (the rings that clip onto the ends of a rolling pin) takes the guesswork out of it completely if you bake cutout cookies often.

Serving Ideas

These are mostly a self-explanatory cookie — you bake them, you eat them — but a few ways I like to serve and use them:

• Cookie exchange: The recipe makes a large batch, which makes it practical for bringing to a cookie swap. Bake the day before, frost the morning of.
• With kids: Cut out and bake the cookies yourself, then set up a decorating station with pre-made frosting, small bowls of sprinkles, and let them go. The cookies are sturdy enough to handle little hands and heavy frosting.
• Gift boxes: Layer in a flat gift box with parchment between rows. A mix of shapes and colors looks better than all one type.
• With hot cocoa: The soft, buttery texture is particularly good with a warm drink. These aren’t crunchy dunkers — they’ll soften immediately — but they hold up just fine alongside a cup.

Related Recipes

If you’re building out your holiday baking list, these are worth adding:

Eggnog Cookies — moist, soft, and flavored with actual eggnog. One of my favorites for a cookie exchange because they travel well and most people haven’t had them before.

Peppermint Oreo Truffles — Oreos, cream cheese, crushed candy canes, white chocolate coating. No baking required and they look impressive on a holiday dessert tray.

Chocolate Scotcheroos — Rice Krispies bars topped with a chocolate butterscotch layer. Easy to make with kids, stores well, and always disappears fast at parties.

White Chocolate Popcorn Crunch — a quick holiday snack mix that comes together in about 15 minutes. Good for gifting in bags or setting out as a party snack.

Easy Cutout Christmas Cookies Recipe