Easy Sugar Cookies with Icing
A classic, no-fail sugar cookie recipe! Try these easy sugar cookies with icing and decorate them with your family and friends this holiday season.
When my sister, my cousins, and I were little these cookies were all we wanted during Christmas at Grammie’s house.
She would bake a massive batch and let us frost and decorate them (I would always load mine up with sugar crystals like it was my last day on Earth).
They’re not like a traditional sugar cookie — there’s a secret ingredient in the recipe that gives them just the right amount of sweetness.
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Easy Sugar Cookies with Icing
What makes these easy sugar cookies different?
They’re sweetened partially with honey!
I love it because it makes the cookie very mild, so the combo of cookie and icing is just the right amount of sweet. None of the overwhelming sugary flavor that lots of sugar cookie recipes have.
And to me, they taste to me like being a kid at Christmas.
More Cookie Recipes for the Holidays
Baking during the holidays is so soothing.
There’s something very connective and grounding about pulling out an old family recipe and digging your hands into the ingredients while imagining all of your ancestors before you, measuring out the same amounts of flour and sugar.
All of these recipes are perfect for holiday baking with family or friends.
- The Perfect Persimmon Bread Recipe
- Chai Spice Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Bean Drizzle
- Christmas Spritz Cookie Recipe (Perfect for Making with Kids!)
- Persimmon Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Elf Movie Cookies for Christmas
- Mini Gingerbread Alphabet Cookies
Ingredients for Sugar Cookies and Icing
COOKIE INGREDIENTS
1/3 c soft Crisco
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c honey
1/4 c butter (room temp)
1 t vanilla flavor
2 ¾ c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
ICING INGREDIENTS
1/4 c milk
2 1/4 c powdered sugar
How to Make the Sugar Cookies
- Mix shortening, sugar, egg, honey, butter, and vanilla thoroughly.
- Blend flour, soda, and salt, and stir into shortening mixture. Once well-mixed, refrigerate until cool.
- Remove from refrigerator and knead with your hands until the dough is soft enough to roll out smoothly and without cracking.
- Roll to about 1/4″ thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
- Put shapes on a piece of parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Bake approximately 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Keep a close eye on them, though, as oven temperatures vary and these bake very quickly. I like to take mine out just before they begin to brown. Makes about 4 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
How to Mix Icing and Ice Cookies
- Place sugar into a mixing bowl and slowly add milk bit by bit, whisking as you combine ingredients.
- Once your mixture reaches a thick gravy consistency, stop adding milk.
- Separate into a few containers and use food coloring if desired (I recommend gel food coloring).
- If you have icing squeeze bottles, add a different color to each bottle and gently squeeze onto the cookies, using an icing knife or toothpick to smooth out any details.
- If you don’t have a squeeze bottle, simply smooth icing onto cookies using a knife, spoon, or spatula. (Add decorations if you’re feeling festive!)
Tips and Tricks for Your Iced Sugar Cookies
I believe that these are cookies that get better with age, which is perfect! I love them the day after they’re made, when the icing and the cookie have a little chance to rest and get more delicious.
This makes them ideal to serve at parties or gatherings because you can make them the day ahead.
Also, if you’re planning to have little ones help with the icing, I highly recommend using icing squeeze bottles to make things easy for them.
A variety pack of sprinkles also makes these extra fun for kids to help with.
And finally, the cookie cutter set used here was originally from Ikea, but it’s no longer sold. So here’s a similar set! xoxo
Easy Sugar Cookies with Icing
A classic, no-fail sugar cookie recipe! Try these easy sugar cookies with icing and decorate them with your family and friends this holiday season.
Ingredients
- 1/3 c soft Crisco
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c honey
- 1/4 c butter (room temp)
- 1 t vanilla flavor
- 2 ¾ c flour
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 t salt
Icing Ingredients
- 1/4 c milk
- 2 1/4 c powdered sugar
Instructions
- Mix shortening, sugar, egg, honey, butter, and vanilla thoroughly.
- Blend flour, soda, and salt, and stir into shortening mixture. Once well-mixed, refrigerate until cool.
- Remove from refrigerator and knead with your hands until the dough is soft enough to roll out smoothly and without cracking.
- Roll to about 1/4" thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
- Put shapes on a piece of parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Bake approximately 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Keep a close eye on them, though, as oven temperatures vary and these bake very quickly. I like to take mine out just before they begin to brown. Makes about 4 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
- Place sugar into a mixing bowl and slowly add milk bit by bit, whisking as you combine ingredients.
- Once your mixture reaches a thick gravy consistency, stop adding milk.
- Separate into a few containers and use food coloring if desired (I recommend gel food coloring).
- If you have icing squeeze bottles, add a different color to each bottle and gently squeeze onto the cookies, using an icing knife or toothpick to smooth out any details.
- If you don't have a squeeze bottle, simply smooth icing onto cookies using a knife, spoon, or spatula. (Add decorations if you're feeling festive!)
Notes
I believe that these are cookies that get better with age, which is perfect! I love them the day after they're made, when the icing and the cookie have a little chance to rest and get more delicious.
This makes them ideal to serve at parties or gatherings because you can make them the day ahead.
Also, if you're planning to have little ones help with the icing, I highly recommend using icing squeeze bottles to make things easy for them.
A variety pack of sprinkles also makes these extra fun for kids to help with.
And finally, the cookie cutter set used here was originally from Ikea, but it's no longer sold. So here's a similar set! xoxo
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These are darling! Love that squirrel cookie! Such a fun cookie collection! 🙂
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Thanks Gracie! The squirrel and the moose are definitely my favorite.
i love your biscuit cutters <3
so beautuful!
Thanks Caroline! They were a total steal too, a really good bargain at Ikea.
Hi Chelsea.
So beautiful
Thankds.
Happy wendesday
Bye.
Thanks Sara! Hope you try them out.
Love!!! I happen to agree that frosting gets better with age. Like a fine wine. Except wine doesn’t get crunchy and delicious…
Haha! Eeewwww what if wine got crunchy?
When I was apartment shopping a couple years ago I saw one lived in by some very untidy girls and I think there was some crunchy wine on a countertop…
Okay, well these are adorable! I have these cookie cutters too, so I could totally make some.
Thanks B! I just about lost it when I saw them at Ikea.
This is the first I have seen of these pretty shapes. How sweet.
Do you still have the ones hiding in the pantry? 😉
Cutest ever! Love these little woodland cookies.
Thanks Leah! I may or may not have eaten approximately 7 of those squirrels. 😉
I love these! That little squirrel is adorable, I would literally eat him all up.
So cute…and your nails look awesome! I want a moose cookie! 🙂
I absolutely ADORE the shape of these cookies, and they sound like such a delightful holiday treat! Where in the world did you find those cookie cutters?
That icing is applied so perfectly, with just a little bit of the cookie showing as an outline around the shape! The recipe seems to provide a lot of control. Nice!