Christmas Cut Out Cookies

The holidays mean it’s time for Christmas cut out cookies!! These cookies are a tradition!! My kids would get together every year, with their cousins, to decorate cookies at Grandma’s house. They had so much fun!!

My Mom didn’t always make these cookies though. When she married my father he raved about his Mother’s Christmas “sugar” cookies. He would talk about how he would eat them warm, out of the oven, with no icing.

My grandma had long passed away and noone seemed to have this “famous” recipe. Years of him bragging about his Mom’s cookies made my Mother set out to find the perfect sugar cookie recipe.

She found and tried several recipes to no evail. My father would always say the same thing, “they were too sweet”. My Mother was baffled at how my father could be asking for a “sugar” cookie, yet call them “too sweet”. Finally, my Mother found a recipe for a Christmas Cut Out Cookie, and she gave this recipe a try. That was the one!!! The rest is history!!

Because these cookies aren’t “too sweet” they are perfect for decorating, and adding extra icing to. However, they are fantastic plain as well, especially if you aren’t a fan of cookies that are “too sweet”. This is my Dad’s favorite way to eat them!!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening (butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter well and add sugar. Add in egg and mix. Add in dry ingredients and milk. Mix. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. Roll out using extra flour as needed. Cut out cookie shapes. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 mins. Decorate with icing or leave them plain, like my Dad does.

Flour your work surface. Place the dough in the center to roll out. This dough can sometimes come out slightly sticky. Just add flour, as needed. The cookies will still come out perfect.

Cut out your cookies using fun vintage cookie cutters! These also make great gifts for friends! Why not bake them a batch of cookies, and tie the vintage cookie cutter to the bag!?

Once you’ve rolled out a batch, and cut out your cookies, lay them on a cookie sheet to bake. Take your dough scraps and start rolling them out again; adding flour if needed.

Keep repeating this process until you use all of your dough.

Now it’s time for the fun! Get the entire family together for a fun cookie decorating night, or leave them plain. They are good either way!!!

These cookies are fun any time of the year! We often make them for Easter as well! See our EASTER CUT OUT COOKIES HERE !!!

Are you in the need for MORE Christmas cookie inspiration? Find my CHRISTMAS CRINKLE COOKIE recipe HERE!!! It’s my husband’s favorite! Think brownie meets cookie!