Description

These festive Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies are perfect for holiday celebrations. Soft and buttery sugar cookies are cut into charming shapes, baked to golden perfection, and decorated with smooth, colorful royal icing to resemble cheerful Christmas lights. Ideal for gifting or a fun family baking activity, these cookies bring joy and sweetness to the holiday season.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Sugar Cookies

6 cups all purpose flour (2 pounds)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (1 pound)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Royal Icing

16 ounces powdered sugar (1 pound)
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon meringue powder
⅓ cup water, plus more if too thick
Food coloring (Wilton icing gel recommended)

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Instructions

Preheat and Prepare Dry Ingredients: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to combine and remove lumps. Set aside this dry mixture.
Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. This step creates a smooth, creamy base for the cookie dough.
Add Eggs and Vanilla: Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture and beat for another minute until fully incorporated and smooth.
Combine Dry Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix just until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, indicating it is well combined.
Knead and Chill Dough: Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and knead it by hand for a few minutes until smooth. Divide the dough into two sections, wrap each tightly in parchment paper, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm up.
Roll and Cut Shapes: Place one piece of chilled dough between two parchment sheets and roll out with a rolling pin to between ⅛” and ¼” thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes, then remove excess dough around shapes. Leave the cutouts on the parchment and transfer the sheet to a baking tray.
Bake the Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges start to turn slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets.
Make Royal Icing: In a large mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, and ⅓ cup water. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer for about 6 minutes until very thick and fluffy. Add 4-5 tablespoons of water to reach medium consistency, like toothpaste.
Adjust Icing Consistency: Divide the icing into two bowls; add an additional 1-2 tablespoons water to half to create flood consistency icing which should flow off a spoon like glue. Color the icings with food coloring as desired.
Decorate Cookies: Fill a piping bag with medium consistency icing and pipe an outline on each cookie’s edge. Fill the center with flood icing, using a squeeze bottle or piping bag to easily distribute. Let the flood icing dry for about an hour, then add detail decorations with medium consistency icing.

Notes

The calorie count provided is an estimate for the entire recipe including royal icing, but actual intake might be less as some icing is left over.
You can freeze baked cookies before decorating to keep them fresh for several months.
Using parchment paper to roll and transfer the dough prevents sticking and makes handling easier.
Adjust water quantity in royal icing gradually to achieve the right consistency for outlining and flooding.
Room temperature eggs and butter ensure better mixing and softer dough texture.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 cookie
Calories: 220
Sugar: 18g
Sodium: 150mg
Fat: 9g
Saturated Fat: 5g
Unsaturated Fat: 3g
Trans Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 31g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 2g
Cholesterol: 30mg