What is more fun during the holiday season than baking pretty little treats to share with friends, neighbors and people you love? It makes me SO happy! Today I’m sharing my simple Christmas butter cookies, a super easy 5-ingredient recipe that you can make for your goodie plates this season!

Ingredient list for simple Christmas butter cookies:

All purpose flour
Powdered sugar
Salted butter
Milk
Extract (lemon or clear vanilla)

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that the cookies are so quick to make. It’s a great one to make with kids because the part that’s most enjoyable is being able to decorate them so cute! You could make the frosting bags ahead to save even more time.

You can certainly use Royal frosting on these for a “perfect” finish, but I have found that this little mixture of powered sugar and milk (with extract for flavor) works just great! Once you get the feel for the right consistency, the frosting always turns out super smooth.

Cookie Cutters

As you can see here, the cookies keep their shape really well during baking! Here are a few fun cookie cutters for the holidays. Mine are the first (Walmart set $2.78).

Simple Christmas Butter Cookies

Handmade Farmhouse

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups All purpose flour
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 1/2 Sticks Salted Butter 12 Tablespoons

Decorating Frosting

3 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
4 1/2 Tablespoons Milk Add a teaspoon at a time more if it is too thick. Humidity and dry air can affect this.
1 Teaspoon Lemon or vanilla extract If using vanilla I would suggest getting clear so your frosting stays white!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°
Mix butter, flour, and powdered sugar. Generously dust counter with flour and roll out dough.
Use holiday cutters to cut dough and place onto a parchment lined pan.
Bake for 14-15 minutes. Allow cookies to set and cool on tray.
Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and extract. The glaze should be thick but still run smooth without breaking when you lift the spoon/whisk up. When you lift the spoon it will run in a steady flow back to the bowl but it will slightly keep its shape before dissolving back in. If it is too runny, it will not hold any shape as it runs back into the bowl. Test a little bit of your glaze on one cookie to make sure it's not too runny or too thick. The frosting shouldn't drip off the sides and it should smooth/level out after filling the centers and swirling with a toothpick/skewer.
Use food coloring gels to color frosting and fill piping bags or ziplock bags.
Fill a piping bag or gallon ziplock with frosting and clip a very small end off of the bag.
Pipe an outline on the cookies and fill the centers. Working quickly, use a toothpick to smooth frosting by moving it in small circles. Allow to set. Add snowmen on snow globe cookies once the first layer is well set.
Cookies will need several hours for the frosting to set up enough to package and have them touching. I like to make them and leave them out overnight covered with plastic wrap.

Simple wreath cookies:

You can easily make wreaths on your cookies by adding small lines in a circle shape with two different colors of green. Take a toothpick and drag it in a circle through the center of the lines. If you’d like to watch a video, I posted a reel HERE on instagram!

Tips for a smooth frosted finish:

Humidity or dry air can definitely make a difference with baking and frosting consistency. However, you should be able to test one cookie to get a feel for if your frosting is a touch thin or thick. When you fill the center of your outline, the frosting will look like it won’t smooth out at first. Use a toothpick or skewer end to make tiny swirls (work quickly, and not too long, it sets fast!) and then allow it to smooth out. I sometimes tap my cookie on the counter 2-3 times to help it level.

For the snow globe or any other cookie with layered frosting: Allow the first layer to really set and dry for about 10 minutes before adding the snowmen. If you rush it, the snowmen will sink into the first layer and it won’t be as cute!