Cut Out Cookie Decorating Ideas

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65+ Smart Ideas for Decorating This Year's Christmas Sugar Cookies

We've got decorating tips galore for making the cutest snackable Santas and stars.

Becky Luigart-Stayner

Break out the dragees and sanding sugar, then drag a chair over to the counter so the kids can help: It's Christmas cookie decorating time! To help make your holiday cookies as cute as can be, we've rounded up the best ideas from traditional Christmas trees, to cheeky ugly Christmas sweaters, and everything in between. There are plenty of easy ideas for the young 'uns, so little hands won't have much trouble (or make your kitchen too messy). We've even got a best-ever sugar cookie recipe—though we won't tell if you get a couple rolls of dough from the store, instead. 😉

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Start with: Best-Ever Sugar Cookie Recipe

This is your never-fail basic sugar cookie recipe. Use it to make all your favorite ornaments, or try one of the innovative recipes below.

Get the recipe.

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Christmas Light Sugar Cookies

These edible string lights are tied together with an extra-long piece of licorice.

Get the recipe.

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Christmas Light Gingerbread Cookies

These pretty ginger-infused cookies are simple to make, and can be arranged into an absolutely stunning dessert-table centerpiece.

Get the recipe.

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Linzer-Style Tree Cookies

This smart take on traditional Christmas tree cookies uses colored dough and the negative shapes to make delicious Linzer-style cookie sandwiches. Smucker's jelly or preserves are a good choice.

Get the recipe.

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Sugar Cookie Name Tags

Here's a fun way to address a gift—and it's edible! To create these sweet name tags, follow our recipe for sugar cookie dough, below. Then just form the cookies with a tag-shaped cutter, and use a small straw to punch a hole in the pointed end of each treat before baking.

Get the recipe.

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Slice-and-Bake Shortbread Cookies

This easy-to-make dough can be turned into three different cookies, depending on what you're in the mood for. The chocolate ones are perfect for Santa.

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Pecan Snowflake Cookies

All you need to create these elegant snowflake cookies are different-sized cookie cutters and a light dusting of powdered sugar.

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Shortbread Cookies

Displayed in a clear-topped checkerboard box, bite-size shortbread cookies—dipped in fruity glazes, chopped nuts, and citrus zest—pass for tiny works of art. Bonus: The sturdy container can later hold other petite treasures like jewelry or sewing notions.

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Springerle Cookies

Bavarian cookies called springerle are known for their distinctive flavor. The dough is rolled onto a floured surface, imprinted with clean, floured rubber stamps, dried overnight, and then baked.

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Sugar Cookie Dough

Simplify your holiday baking this season: With just one dough recipe, you can create dozens of distinctive cookies. During the holidays, an edible gift is always appreciated—and never returned!

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Red-and-White Cookies

To make these, all you need are two different-colored doughs, a rolling pin, and a knife! Form one dough ball into a log, then wrap the rolled-out colored dough around it, chill, slice into cookies, and bake.

Get the recipe for basic cookie dough.

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Ho Ho Ho Cookies

This edible tic-tac-toe board makes a fun (and edible) Christmas game! To make it, simply bake squares of red-colored and plain cookie dough, then cut out some tiny h's and o's, and bake them off. The small letters will cook quickly, so keep an eye on the oven!

Get the recipe for basic cookie dough.

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Shortcut Sugar Cookies

Use a glass with a decorative bottom to press patterns into ready-made sugar cookie dough.

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Sugar-Cookie Buttons

These buttery delights are cute as, well, you know. Gather a stack together by threading ribbon through the buttonholes, and present the cookies in a perfectly sized papier-mâché box with a snowflake stenciled on the lid.

Get the recipe.

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Snowman Sugar Cookies

Adorn your sweet snowmen with their own scarves, hats, and carrot noses by using the easy piping instructions included in the recipe.

Get the recipe at Sally's Baking Addiction.

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White Tree Shortbread Cookies

Your friends and family will be blown away that you made these elegant shortbread cookies yourself. Believe it or not, they're very easy to create!

Get the recipe at The Café Sucre Farine.

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Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies With Buttercream Frosting

Use different varieties of sprinkles to decorate these soft, chewy sugar cookie trees and stars—that just happen to be gluten-free too!

Get the recipe at Ambitious Kitchen.

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Chai Spiced Santa Cookies

While the Santa decorations on these cookies are adorable, we also love all the Christmas spices working together in every bite, including cardamon, ginger, and even black pepper.

Get the recipe at Half Baked Harvest.

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Peppermint Mocha Cookies

You can use this classy looking half-dipped technique on any cookie, but we think these extra chocolatey peppermint cookies are a great choice.

Get the recipe at Baker by Nature.

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Vanilla Ginger Wreath Cookies

To make these adorable wreaths, the recipe gives instructions for sugared rosemary, which sounds so delicious paired with the other spices in this cookie.

Get the recipe at Half Baked Harvest.

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Chocolate Peppermint Fluff Cookie Cups

"Peppermint fluff" sounds like something we can get behind, especially when it's dolloped on top of a gooey, chocolatey cookie.

Get the recipe at Inside BruCrew Life.

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Butter Cookies With Marbled Icing

Create these icy snowflakes with a simple marbling technique that just requires some food coloring, a bowl, and a toothpick!

Get the recipe at The Cookie Rookie.

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Fluffy Sugar Cookies With Vanilla Frosting

Sure, these cookies may look just like the Lofthouse ones, but the homemade dough and rich frosting make them so much better.

Get the recipe at Pinch of Yum.

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Oreo Cookie Christmas Ornaments

These chocolate-dipped Oreos are easy enough to decorate that even young kids can do it!

Get the recipe at SugarHero.

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Christmas Lights Cookies

Mimic the twinkling lights hanging from your tree with a batch of these colorful Christmas cookies.

Get the recipe at Dessert for Two.

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M&M Christmas Cookies

Because sometimes all you need in sugar cookies is a huge helping of M&Ms.

Get the recipe at Cooking with Karli.

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Creme Brûlée Sugar Cookies

You could spend hours of your holiday weekend making creme brûlée—or you could save time and turn the dessert into cookies instead.

Get the recipe at Delish.

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Christmas Tree Cookie Cips

If your kids are itching to help in the kitchen, let them get their hands dirty filling these tree-themed cookie cups.

Get the recipe at Two Sisters Crafting.

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Sugar Cookie Trees

These sugar cookie trees are perfect for folks who like their dessert to be more frosting than cookie.

Get the recipe at Delish.

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Maple Sugar Cut-Out Cookies

Don't worry if you're not an expert decorator—this blogger gives icing tips and tricks so your cookies can look just as cute as these.

Get the recipe at Sweetopia.

Christopher Michel Chris is the Senior Food & Garden Editor at Country Living, where he covers all things edible or growable.

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