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These cut out Vanilla Sugar Cookies are soft, chewy, and made with both vanilla beans and vanilla extract. This recipe also comes with an easy icing that acts like royal icing but is great for beginners. You can pipe it, dip it, or spread it.
Plus these cookies are always a hit at holiday parties and make wonderful Christmas gifts that friends and family will actually be excited to get.
For another delicious cut out cookie, try my Iced Gingerbread Cookies. They’re soft, perfectly spiced, and and simply decorated.
These Vanilla Sugar Cookies have become one of our favorite Christmas traditions because of the real vanilla beans mixed right into the dough. They bake up thick and soft with an incredible vanilla flavor you can’t get from extract alone. And the icing uses a butter vanilla emulsion, which gives it a rich, buttery taste that takes these cookies from good to absolutely irresistible.
I’ve also included a ton of tips in this post so whether you’re a beginner or familiar with cut out cookies, you’ll feel confident with icing these cookies, gifting, freezing, and long term storage methods that won’t dry them out.
Put the rest of your vanilla beans to good use in another cookie recipe like my thick and soft Vanilla Crinkle Cookies. You can also make Vanilla Bean Sugar or Vanilla Syrup that’s delicious in coffee, teas, and lattes.
Vanilla Sugar Cookies Ingredients
Here’s everything you will need to make this sugar cookie recipe and a few important notes too, keep reading!
- Flour: I recommend using unbleached, all-purpose flour and measuring it with the spoon and level method. If you just scoop out of the bag, it’ll be too much flour and your cookies will be dry and dense.
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter: Brought to room temperature and cut into 1 tablespoon sized chunks. You can use salted butter too, just omit any added salt.
- Granulated Sugar: Or raw cane sugar.
- Egg: Brought to room temperature.
- Whole Vanilla Bean: I recommend Tahitian or Madagascar vanilla beans because they’re plump and have a lot of seeds inside of them. They’re also have the best flavor for baking.
- Vanilla Extract
- Icing: I use a simple icing that acts like royal icing but isn’t. All you’ll need is powdered sugar, warm water, butter vanilla bakery emulsion (can find in baking aisle at grocery store), corn syrup, and gel food coloring.
In addition to these ingredients, you’ll also need a hand-mixer or stand-mixer, a heavy rolling pin, cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, and your favorite cookie cutters. You’ll also need piping bags, couplers, and small round piping tips (#2, #3, and #4) to ice the cookies. Yes, I’ll tell you how I did mine!
How to Make Vanilla Sugar Cookies
1. Make and chill the cookie dough. Cream together the unsalted butter and vanilla sugar. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and fold in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt). Roll out the cookie dough between 2 layers of parchment paper and refrigerate.
2. Cut and bake the cookies. Using your favorite cookie cutters, cut out shapes and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until the cookie edges are set and no longer glisten. They’re going to look like they’re not done, but they are.
3. Whip up the icing and decorate your Vanilla Sugar Cookies. In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and warm water, and then the corn syrup. Color the icing and place each individual icing in a disposable piping bag with coupler and small round tips. Decorate as desired and allow the icing to harden before serving or gifting.
Find the complete recipe instructions with measurements below.
5 Helpful Tips to Make Icing a Breeze
If there’s one thing I love, it’s decorating sugar cookies. I actually used to sell decorated sugar cookies before I became a food blogger. Basically, I’ve spent a lot of time failing so you don’t have to. Keep reading for tips I wish I knew when I started.
Dip your cookies instead of icing them. When I want something simple but beautiful, I thin out the icing to a 10 to 12 second icing (see more in next section about it) and dip the cookies. This gives you a beautiful layer of icing without the hassle. Feel free to dye the icing or keep it white and decorate with sprinkles.
Change your icing consistency. To test the consistency, slash your spatula through the icing and begin counting. If it fills back in quickly (under 8 seconds), it’ll spread over your cookies more than one that takes longer to fill back in. Easily thicken your icing by adding one tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time and thin it by adding a half teaspoon of water at a time. For my cookies I used 15 second icing for the base and 20 second icing for the lines and dots.
Tone down the colors with a little black gel food coloring! This is my favorite hack for getting deep and beautiful colors. I just dip my toothpick into the black food coloring and add a very small amount to the icing. You can keep adding black until you get the muted color you’re looking for.
Use a toothpick to remove air bubbles or pointy dots. The beauty in icing is that it’ll fill in where you disturb it. So, if you see any blemishes just lightly poke them or swirl them with your toothpick. They will immediately smooth out.
Give the icing time to dry. This recipe uses a simple royal icing that will dry hard but be soft when you bite it (because of the corn syrup). But it needs between 6 and 24 hours to dry depending on the humidity in your home and how thick the icing is on your cookie. Allowing it the time to dry means you’ll be able to handle them without ruining your designs.
Freeze and Store
Once the icing has dried and hardened, you’ll want to store them in an airtight container with waxed paper (or parchment paper) between the layers of cookies. You can also store the Vanilla Sugar Cookies in a sealable plastic bag if you’re not concerned with the icing getting damaged.
At room temperature they’re best within 7 days, in the refrigerator for 10 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months! If you do store them in the refrigerator or freezer, set them at room temperature for an hour or two before serving. They’re best to eat at room temperature.
Gifting for the Holidays
These Vanilla Sugar Cookies are so great for gifting during the holidays, and there’s a few ways you can do it. The easiest way is by placing them in a tin with waxed paper (or parchment paper) in between each layer.
You can also heat seal (impact seal) the cookies individually or multiple at a time, in cellophane baggies. By the way, heat sealing cookies in cellophane increases the storage time to 1 month at room temperature!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
More Christmas Cookie Recipes You Might Like
Vanilla Sugar Cookies
EQUIPMENT
- 2 baking sheet - light colored metal, lined with parchment paper
- 2 wire cooling rack
- Rolling Pin - heavy marble
- cookie cutters
- decorating equipment - piping bags, couplers, piping tips (#2, #3, #4), or icing spatula
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups all-purpose flour - measured using spoon and level method
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean - Tahitian or Madagascar
- 1 cup unsalted butter - softened to room temperature and cubed
- 1 egg - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
SIMPLE COOKIE ICING
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar - confectioner's sugar
- 2 – 2½ tablespoons warm water
- 1 teaspoon butter vanilla bakery emulsion - optional, from LorAnn
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- gel food coloring - optional, AmeriColor
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cut the vanilla bean pod in half lengthwise, then use knife to scrape out the seeds. Add to a large bowl with the granulated sugar and rub together until the seeds are fully incorporated into the sugar.
- To the same bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cubed unsalted butter and beat together until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beat on medium-high for a minute or until combined. Add the dry ingredients from step 1 and mix on low until just combined.
- Between 2 sheets of parchment paper roll out the dough to a 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness. Refrigerate flat for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a lightly floured cookie cutter, cut shapes out and transfer to a baking sheet. Arrange the cookies 2 to 3 inches apart. Gather the cookie dough scraps, re-roll, refrigerate for 30 minutes, and continue cutting until all dough is used.
- Bake for 6 to 12 minutes or until the edges are set and the center lightly glistens. 6 minutes for 1 inch cookies, 7 minutes for 2 inch cookies, 8 minutes for 3 inch cookies, 9 minutes for 4 inch cookies, and 10+ minutes for 5 inch cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, warm water, and butter vanilla bakery emulsion until smooth. Add the corn syrup and continue to whisk until fully incorporated. For a more thin consistency add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time. For a more thick consistency add powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Feel free to dye it with gel food coloring.ELIZABETH'S NOTE: The consistency as prepared (without additions of powdered sugar or water) is what I used to decorate cookies pictured. Add an extra tablespoon of water if dipping the cookies in icing. Add an extra few tablespoons of powdered sugar if spreading on the icing with a knife.
- Decorate the cooled cookies with icing as desired, additional tips below. Allow the icing to harden before storing, gifting, or serving. It can take between 6 and 24 hours depending on how thick the icing is and the amount of humidity in the air.
RECIPE NOTES
- Use a toothpick to remove air bubbles or pointy dots. Lightly poke them or swirl them with your toothpick. They will immediately smooth out.
- Tone down the bright, saturated colors of your icing with black gel food coloring. Just dip a toothpick into the black and add very small amounts to the icing until desired color.
- Alternatives to icing. Leave them plain or decorate them with a crusting buttercream (I like this recipe).
STORING INFORMATION
- Room temperature, in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag (with waxed paper or parchment paper between the layers), for up to 7 days.
- Refrigerated, in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag (with waxed paper or parchment paper between the layers) for up to 10 days.
- Frozen, in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag (with waxed paper or parchment paper between the layers), for up to 3 months.
- Heat seal (impact seal) individual cookies in cellophane baggies to last up to 1 month.
Metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
