Fun Sugar Cookie Ideas for Christmas

Is there anything better than a delicious Sugar Cookie during the Christmas holiday?  It is almost always what my students and I make right before Christmas break because they are so much fun.  They love baking and decorating them but with only 50 minute class periods, it can take a week.  So it is nice to have options that don’t require as much labor but still give you all of the Sugar Cookie feels.  Keep scrolling to see all of my awesome Sugar Cookie ideas and options…

The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

First of all, this Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie recipe is the very best {in my opinion}.  The addition of cream cheese in the dough keeps them soft for a long time and gives them great flavor.

I have been using this sugar cookie recipe for years and I have never found one that comes close.  

Easy Sugar Cookie Ideas for Christmas

So, now we have a sugar cookie recipe that is top notch and it is time to fancy them up.  

Perfect Sugar Cookie Icing without Eggs

I am not a Royal Icing fan but I LOVE a good icing.  This Glace’ Icing is great because it is made without eggs and it sets up nicely.

The addition of corn syrup allows them to harden quickly while still giving you the ability to manipulate it.

In fact, you can use this icing just like Royal Icing and can even add almond extract for flavor if you prefer.  It works well for flooding and decorating.

In this icing post I show you how to use a tooth pick to get some really cool designs that require zero decorating skills.

How to use Jolly Ranchers to make Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

Stained Glass Sugar Cookies look complicated but let me tell you something…they aren’t!  If you can roll dough and crush up hard candy then you can make these cookies.

The key is to have a smaller cookie cutter or object {like a spice lid} to cut out the middle of your cookie.  Then you take crushed Jolly Rancher candy, fill the center and bake.

Patience is important because you will not be able to remove the stained glass cookies from the silicone mat {parchment} lined cookie sheet until they are cooled.

Aren’t they SO cool?!

Linzer Cookies made with Sugar Cookie Dough

Another great option is making a Linzer cookie.  Linzer cookies are basically a sandwich cookie that have jam or jelly in the middle.

The coolest part is that you use a decorative cookie cutter to remove the middle of the top cookie.  That way you can see the beautiful jam peaking through.  A sprinkling of powdered sugar is all they need to be complete.

I love using a snowflake cookie cutter and offsetting the snowflake cookies to get an almost 3D effect.

They are my Tales FAVORITE cookie and I have to agree that they are pretty dang good!

How to transform Sugar Cookie Dough into Rugelach Cookies

Don’t let the fact that these cookies are in the shape of a croissant scare you.  You need to take a look at this super simple Honey Nut Rugelach recipe.

With a delicious honey pecan filling, these rugelach cookies are absolutely delicious and a super fun way to use this Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Dough.

They are definitely an impressive honey nut cookie that requires minimal work and no special baking skills, just a little patience.

I hope these sugar cookie ideas have given you the inspiration {and confidence} to whip up a batch of Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Dough and make some amazing Christmas Sugar Cookies.

This is the perfect weekend to get them made.  I can’t wait for my Tales and her crew to get here so that we can start baking ourselves.  Happy Holidays!!