Cut Out Cookie Recipes
A good cut-out cookie leaves the oven the same shape it went in, with sharp points and a flat top ready for icing. Every dough on this page does that, from no-chill sugar cookies to black cocoa hearts and brown sugar shortbread. Thirty cut out cookie recipes, sorted by flavor, plus a section of holiday shapes from Valentine's to Halloween.
Start With These Six
One cookie from each section, from snowflake sugar cookies to near-black hearts. If you only bake one dough this year, start at the top left.
No-Chill Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Weighed in grams and made with higher-fat European-style butter, this dough rolls straight from the bowl and keeps sharp snowflake points. Flood them with Royal Icing Mix for a bright, glossy finish.
Black Cocoa Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Black cocoa and Dutch-process cocoa together give these hearts a near-black base that makes white and pink piping pop. Cornstarch and cream of tartar keep every shape from spreading.
Strawberry Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Ground freeze-dried strawberries tint the dough pink and give it real berry flavor. Finish the hearts with red Naturally-Colored Sanding Sugar, colored by plants instead of synthetic dyes.
Chewy Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Rolled a half inch thick with dark brown sugar and molasses, these gingerbread people stay soft in the middle. A tablespoon each of cinnamon and ginger keeps the spice loud.
Rosewater and Cherry Shortbread Hearts
Rosewater and chopped glacé cherries go into a UK-style icing-sugar shortbread. Half-dip the hearts in chocolate and roll them through sprinkles while the coating is still wet.
Valentine's Day Heart Sugar Cookies
A step-by-step lesson in striped and marbled hearts, with a full meringue powder royal icing. Make it with our Meringue Powder for bright icing without titanium dioxide.
No-Spread Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs
No-chill, cream cheese, cornstarch and cold-butter versions of the classic. Pick by how soft you like the bite; every one keeps its edges.
No-Chill Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Weighed in grams and made with higher-fat European-style butter, this dough rolls straight from the bowl and keeps sharp snowflake points. Flood them with Royal Icing Mix for a bright, glossy finish.
Cream Cheese Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Six ingredients and no leavening, so nothing puffs. A little cream cheese makes the dough tender and easy to roll, and the edges stay crisp enough for detailed piping.
No-Chill Almond Sugar Cookies
Cold cubed butter goes straight into this dough, which is how these stars bake with points this sharp. Almond extract keeps a plain-looking cookie from tasting plain.
No-Chill Vanilla Sugar Cookies
Chilled butter and a chilled egg let you roll this dough the moment it comes together. Sprinkle on White Sparkling Sugar before baking and it keeps its sparkle through the oven.
Soft No-Spread Sugar Cookies
Built to stay soft under royal icing, with sides straight enough to stack a dozen high. Mix the icing with our Meringue Powder for bright white without titanium dioxide.
No-Chill Sugar Cookies with Cornstarch
Cornstarch keeps the crumb tender and the edges clean, while a quarter teaspoon of baking soda gives just enough lift. The scalloped rounds come out flat and ready to ice.
Icing that is ready when the cookies are
Royal Icing Mix is complete, so there is no meringue powder to measure and no sugar to sift. Add water, stir to the consistency you want, and it sets glossy and stable for piping, flooding and detail work. Naturally flavored, with no artificial colors.
Chocolate and Dark Cocoa Cut-Outs
Black cocoa, Dutch-process and espresso doughs that roll like sugar cookies and taste like chocolate. White icing looks sharpest on these.
Black Cocoa Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Black cocoa and Dutch-process cocoa together give these hearts a near-black base that makes white and pink piping pop. Cornstarch and cream of tartar keep every shape from spreading.
Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies with Cocoa Icing
Room-temperature butter, no chilling and about six minutes in the oven. Swap half the cocoa for Black Cocoa and the hearts and bunnies bake darker with little to no food coloring.
Black Cocoa Cut-Out Cookies
Dust the cutters with cocoa instead of flour and these dark cookies keep clean, dark edges. The cold-butter dough uses Dutch-process cocoa with two spoonfuls of black cocoa for depth.
Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies with Espresso
Dark Dutch cocoa and a little instant espresso make these taste closer to a brownie than a sugar cookie. The thick hearts hold up under heavy royal icing designs.
Chocolate Shortbread Cut-Outs
Five ingredients and a low 300°F oven give a sandy, tender chocolate shortbread. Roll it out and cut hearts, then dock each one with a fork like the vintage original.
No-Chill Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Two cocoas and a spoonful of espresso powder deepen the chocolate, and a little shortening helps the shapes stay put. It goes from mixing bowl to cutters with no chill at all.
Flavored Cut-Out Cookies
Strawberry, espresso, orange, maple and two kinds of lemon. Same no-spread rules, more going on when you bite in.
Strawberry Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Ground freeze-dried strawberries tint the dough pink and give it real berry flavor. Finish the hearts with red Naturally-Colored Sanding Sugar, colored by plants instead of synthetic dyes.
Espresso Sugar Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle
A quarter cup of espresso powder turns a sugar cookie into a coffee-shop cookie. Zigzag dark chocolate over the stars and add coarse White Sparkling Sugar for crunch.
Orange Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Rubbing orange zest into the sugar releases its oils, so the flavor reaches every bite. A couple ounces of cream cheese keep the dough soft while the shapes stay sharp.
Maple Cut-Out Cookies
Maple extract in the dough and real maple syrup in the glaze. Cut them as leaves and top with chopped walnuts, and they taste like a pancake breakfast you can hold.
Lemon Sugar Cut-Out Cookies
Lemon zest and lemon emulsion layer the citrus so it survives the oven, with vanilla bean paste underneath. There is no leavening, so the quarter-inch shapes bake flat.
Lemon Curd Window Cookies
Butter cookies cut into flowers with a window in the middle, filled with homemade lemon curd. The curd carries all the tang, so the dough itself stays simple.
Gingerbread, Spice and Molasses Cut-Outs
Chewy gingerbread, pumpkin spice and an old-fashioned molasses dough that snaps. None of them need December.
Chewy Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Rolled a half inch thick with dark brown sugar and molasses, these gingerbread people stay soft in the middle. A tablespoon each of cinnamon and ginger keeps the spice loud.
Pumpkin Spice Cut-Out Cookies
Pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice go into a no-chill dough that still bakes flat. Royal Icing Mix floods the pumpkins in soft colors and sets firm for piped stems.
Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cut-Outs
Molasses, cloves and a splash of vinegar make a firm, snappy gingerbread that takes any cutter you own. The batch is enormous, which is the whole idea.
Shortbread and Butter Cookie Cut-Outs
Short ingredient lists and a sandy crumb. Shortbread holds a cutter shape well because there is no egg to make it puff.
Rosewater and Cherry Shortbread Hearts
Rosewater and chopped glacé cherries go into a UK-style icing-sugar shortbread. Half-dip the hearts in chocolate and roll them through sprinkles while the coating is still wet.
Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
Dark brown sugar gives this four-ingredient shortbread a caramel note. Cut it with a fluted round and scatter White Sparkling Sugar on top before baking for a crunchy finish.
Heart Shortbread Cookies with Strawberry Jam
Four ingredients, two heart cutters and whatever jam you like. Dust the windowed tops with powdered sugar before you sandwich them for a linzer-style finish.
Cut-Outs for Every Holiday
Valentine's hearts, Easter bunnies, shamrocks, stars, birthday rounds and Halloween ghosts. Christmas has its own page, linked at the bottom.
Valentine's Day Heart Sugar Cookies
A step-by-step lesson in striped and marbled hearts, with a full meringue powder royal icing. Make it with our Meringue Powder for bright icing without titanium dioxide.
Easter Bunny Sugar Cookies
Brown sugar bunnies seen from behind, each with a pearl-sprinkle tail and a ribbon bow. A spoonful of coffee liqueur in the dough is optional and very grown-up.
Shamrock Cookies with Irish Tea Icing
Vanilla-almond shamrocks under a marbled glaze made with brewed black tea and Irish whiskey. As written, the whiskey makes this an adults-only batch for St. Patrick's Day.
Fourth of July Stained Glass Star Cookies
Crushed hard candy melts into a clear window in the middle of each star. Outline them in red, white and blue icing and they look like a firework that tastes like butter.
Birthday Cake Sugar Cookies
Jimmies go into this no-chill dough because nonpareils bleed color. Cut rounds or hexagons, then pipe the party on top with a cake-batter buttercream.
Halloween Sugar Cookies
Ghosts, cats and jack-o'-lanterns on a six-ingredient dough, iced in a meringue powder royal icing with clear vanilla. Royal Icing Mix gets you there without the measuring.
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We've Got Answers
Why do my cut-out cookies spread?
Warm butter and too much air are the usual causes. Cream the butter and sugar only until combined, not light and fluffy, and use a recipe with little or no baking powder. Then chill the cut shapes on the baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, so the edges set before the butter melts.
Do you have to chill cut-out cookie dough?
Not always. No-chill recipes like the ones in the first section use cold butter or a stiffer dough, so you can roll straight from the bowl. For softer doughs, roll between two sheets of parchment first, then chill the flat sheets. A chilled sheet cuts cleaner than a cold ball of dough you have to wrestle with a rolling pin.
How thick should you roll cut-out cookies?
About 1/4 inch for most sugar cookies: thick enough to carry royal icing without cracking, thin enough to bake evenly. Go to 1/8 inch for crisp shortbread and gingerbread, or up to 1/2 inch for soft, chewy cookies. Rolling guides, or two rulers on either side of the dough, keep the whole sheet the same thickness.
Should I use royal icing, glaze or buttercream on cut-out cookies?
Royal icing dries hard, so decorated cookies stack, travel and hold fine piped detail. A powdered sugar glaze is quicker and softer, and good for dipping. Buttercream tastes richest but stays soft and smudges, so save it for cookies eaten the same day. For royal icing without measuring, Royal Icing Mix needs only water.
How do you make black or very dark cut-out cookies?
Use very dark cocoa. Black cocoa is heavily alkalized, so it bakes a near-black dough with little to no food coloring, and mixing it with Dutch-process cocoa rounds out the flavor. The two black cocoa recipes in the chocolate section use both. Dust your cutters and counter with cocoa instead of flour so the edges stay dark.
How do you store and freeze cut-out cookies?
Wrapped raw dough freezes for up to three months; thaw it overnight in the fridge. Baked, undecorated cookies freeze well in an airtight container with parchment between the layers. Once royal icing is fully dry, which takes 8 to 24 hours, decorated cookies keep about a week at room temperature. To freeze decorated cookies, seal them in a container and let it thaw unopened so condensation does not spot the icing.
More Baking Adventures
Christmas Cookies to Decorate
The December version, from flooded snowflakes to cookies a four-year-old can finish.
Royal Icing Christmas Cookies
Cutouts with icing that sets firm enough to stack.
Baking Tips
A Guide to Royal Icing
Consistency, piping, flooding and drying, start to finish.
Finishing Sugars 101
Sanding, sparkling and pearl - which sugar goes on a cut-out, and when.
black cocoa
The Best Black Cocoa Powder Recipes
Near-black cookies, cakes and brownies with little to no food coloring.
Things to Make With Meringue Powder
Royal icing, meringue kisses and the rest of the tub.