Looking for an easy way to decorate sugar cookies this winter? These Snowflake Sugar Cookies are made with a no-chill sugar cookie dough and a simple buttercream frosting. They look beautiful but are easy to make and decorate!
To make these cookies, cut out a variety of snowflake shapes and bake according to the recipe. You need just a handful of things to make these pretty snowflake cookies:
- A batch of my decorated sugar cookie dough
- A batch of my buttercream frosting
- Snowflake-shaped cookie cutters
- A set of assorted decorating tips
- Piping bags
Since snowflakes are white, you don’t even need any food coloring!
Load your frosting into a few piping bags fitted with a few different decorating tips. If you don’t have piping bags, you can cut the corner off of a gallon-size zip-top bag and use that instead!
Once the cookies have fully cooled, pipe dots of the frosting onto the cookies using the different tips. The various tips will make an assortment of star and dot shapes on the cookies that will look pretty and wintery when the cookie is finished.
If you want to go the extra mile, you could sprinkle on some white sparkling sugar or add some sugar pearls, but I think they’re quite pretty with just the frosting.
Let the cookies rest on a rack or a board for a couple of hours until the frosting has crusted up.
You can then very gently package them up to gift. If you really want to make sure none of the frosting gets messed up, grab a few large bakery-style boxes from your local craft store. Then you can place them side-by-side in the box and tie it all up with a ribbon.
Snowflake Sugar Cookies Recipe
Cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Challenge Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 ½ cups flour
- Pinch of salt
Frosting
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) Challenge unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk or heavy cream
Cookies
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1
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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2
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
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3
Slowly add the flour and salt, stirring just until combined. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to form into a disk. Roll the dough to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick and cut with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheets.
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4
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or just until the edges barely start to turn golden. Remove from the baking sheets to a rack to cool before frosting.
Frosting
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1
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed for about 6 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until well blended.
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2
Add in vanilla and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Mix on low speed until moistened.
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3
Add up to an additional tablespoon of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy; about 5 more minutes.
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4
If desired, use gel dye to color the frosting before spreading or piping frosting onto cooled cookies.
