Snowflake Sugar Cookies
These absolutely delicious snowflake sugar cookies are really easy to make and are so fun to ice and decorate. Cut them into snowflake shapes, whip up some royal icing and decorate them with a wintry theme.
Servings 24 cookies
Calories 249kcal
Ingredients
Cookies
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 2 large egg whites from 2 large eggs
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 drops blue gel food color to color
- 4 teaspoons water
- ½ cup sugar pearls for decoration
Instructions
Make & chill the cookie dough
- In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt together. Mix and set aside.4 cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping down the sides often, for about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is light, fluffy and creamy.1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup superfine sugar
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add a third of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Repeat until all the flour is incorporated and a dough is formed. Don’t overmix.
- With floured hands, flatten the dough to form a disc and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Bake the cookies
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thickness and cut out snowflake shapes.
- While the oven preheats, place the cut-outs on the prepared baking tray and bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the icing
- Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high until the mixture foams up. (You can also use a hand mixer.)2 large egg whites
- Add powdered sugar in batches and mix on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated and the mixture looks shiny.3 cups powdered sugar
- Turn the speed up to high and mix until thick and the mixture starts to hold peaks when you lift out the beater.
Add the food coloring
- Get out four bowls for the icing. Divide the icing into two bowls. Leave one part as is for the white color. Tint the second one with blue gel food coloring.4 drops blue gel food color
- Thicker icing for borders: Transfer ¼ of the blue icing to a separate bowl, then transfer ¼ of the white icing to another separate bowl. This will be the thicker icing; set aside for piping the borders of the cookies.
- Thinner icing for filling in: Add 2 teaspoons of water to the larger portion of the blue icing and 2 teaspoons of water to the larger portion of the white icing to thin them out. (Add an additional 1 teaspoon if needed.)4 teaspoons water
- Transfer the four icings (thick and thin versions each of blue and white) to four piping bags.
- Outline the cookies with the thick icing first, keeping a little space on the edges of the cookies. Then flood the cookies with the thinner icing. Use a toothpick to spread the icing and to fill the corners and burst air bubbles so it’s evenly filled.
- Let the icing set slightly before decorating further.
- Decorate the snowflake cookies with alternating color icing. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you can create your own patterns, just let your creativity flow! Accent with sugar pearls as desired while the icing is still wet.½ cup sugar pearls
- Let icing set completely before serving, about 2 hours.
Notes
Storage: You can store sugar cookies in an airtight container for 1-2 days at room temperature or for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Make ahead: You can make the cookies ahead and decorate them later whenever you have time.
Yield: The number of cookies you will get from this batch will depend on how thick you roll the dough and the size of your cookie cutter.
Icing tips
- You can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the icing for extra flavor.
- If you want a raised look on the cookies, wait for the base icing to dry up slightly before decorating the cookies with different colors because the colors will mix with each other and spread if the background is still wet. (You can still do this — it’s called wet-on-wet icing — but it creates a very different effect!)
- If you are not into fancy decorating, then you can just make the blue/white background on the cookies and top with some Christmas sprinkles while the icing is wet.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 35mg | Potassium: 35mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 257IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg
