20 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 12

Christmas Cutout Cookies Recipe

I have a favorite childhood memory of baking with my mom, it was baking cutout cookies. Every single holiday, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas we would make cutout cookies and decorate them. Mom would bring out her prized pastry board, we only saw it when we made cutouts, a few cookie cutters, mixed cookie dough of some sort, and bowls and bowls of colored frosting. We would spend the entire day, rolling, baking, and decorating cookies. We did this for as long as I can remember. I have a cherished photo of our last Christmas cutout cookie day from 2017.  Little did I know that Christmas would be our last time. 

Not that I would have done anything differently, I wouldn’t, but when Christmas 2018 came and I struggled to find the time to bake, I couldn’t figure out why. Then it hit me, I hadn’t made a single cutout cookie all year, and this was going to be the first time in my entire life that I was going to make cutout cookies without my mom. I don’t want you to be sad, I am lucky to have such a wonderful memory, what I hope is that you cherish this Christmas cutout cookie recipe, gather your loved ones, bake and reminisce about your favorite memories of Christmas cutout cookies. This is the Christmas cutout cookie recipe we have used for the past 25 years.

You see it doesn’t matter how the cookies turnout, the good, the bad, the ugly, what matters is the time you spend together doing it. That Christmas of 2018, my good friend Wendy had me decorate Christmas cutout cookies with her, and it was in the top of the 10 best gifts I have ever received.

It took me 45+ plus years to figure out why I love to bake so much and why cutouts are a must for every occasion. I obsess over cutout cookie decorating, it’s my happy place, but it’s my happy place because I am connected with mom. By no means am I an expert at decorating them as you see on Instagram, but I like them, and yes, I roll my cookies on mom’s prized pastry board. 

So remember these tips: take your time, use our Basic Cookie Dough Recipe, make sure the consistency of the dough is the same consistency as your earlobe, roll the dough to ⅛ thickness, and bake the cookies until the edges just start to brown, about 8-10 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees. 

Most importantly, remember to share the love and create life long memories with the people you love the most. Everyone has a talent, someone is the best mixer, someone is the best cookie-cutter person, someone else is quality control, some are the better decorator and someone, or all of you, is the cutout cookie critic.

Ingredients

½ batch  Basic Cookie Dough Recipe

1 cup of flour for dusting

Assorted Christmas Cookie Cutters- a good set to start with, if you don’t have any

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Roll the cookie dough out on a floured pastry board, to ⅛ thickness.

3. Cut your cookie shapes out.

4. Place the cutouts on a greased, 11x15 inch cookie/jelly roll pan. You might want to use 3 11x15 inch cookie/jelly roll pans to allow you to cook more cookies at once.

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to turn a light brown.

6. Remove the cookies using a small thin spatula, and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Repeat steps 2 - 6 until all the dough is gone.

8. Frost cookies using buttercream frosting in assorted colors and enjoy!