Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookies are delicious, buttery, crispy sugar cookies decorated with ugly sweater designs that are sure to be winners at all your holiday gatherings! Try my Sugar Cookie Recipe for another cookie recipe easy to bake and decorate!
Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookie
This is the home of the ORIGINAL Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookie!! If you are looking for THAT sugar cookie… the one that is the perfect combination of sweetness, buttery crispness, and that goes perfectly with piping glaze… this is that cookie. It has won awards and has been a part of more cookie exchanges than I can count! It never fails to get praise and folks are always asking for the recipe!
How to Make Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookies
The image above is my ‘busy” ugly Christmas sweater. I am most certainly not saying it is based on anything in my closet…But, to get decorating, you have to get the cookies made first! The design is up to you.
To make the cookies, get out your stand mixer to get started. Do not preheat the oven right away; the dough has to chill for at least an hour before baking the cookies.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined (about 2 minutes).
- With the mixer on low, add in the eggs and egg yolks.
- Turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer back on low, add the vanilla and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Mix in the flour mixture about a cup at a time until fully incorporated.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. (This might be a good time to check your closet for any ‘ugly sweater’ ideas or designs!)
Below is my ‘weird-eyed Rudolf with a red nose that sticks out way too far and is covered with gravy and mashed potatoes by the end of the night’ ugly Christmas sweater. Again, these are not similar to anything that might currently reside in my home…
Baking and Decorating the Cookies
After the dough has chilled for at least an hour, preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut out the dough into your sweater shape (I made mine as large as my hand, but you could also use a sweater cookie cutter). Bake for 6-8 minutes, watching them carefully so you don’t burn the edges.
Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet until they are firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack. When you are ready to decorate the cookies, I recommend using my favorite glaze icing to decorate them. It’s so much better than royal icing! Have fun using your imagination, and Merry Christmas!
Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks or 340g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined (about 2 minutes).
- With the mixer on low, add in the eggs and egg yolks, mixing until well incorporated.
- Turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer back on low, add the vanilla and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Mix the flour mixture in with the butter mixture about a cup at a time until fully incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Cut out the dough into your sweater shape (I made mine as large as my hand, but you could also use a sweater cookie cutter).
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, watching them carefully so you don't burn the edges.
- Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet until they are firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack. Have fun decorating!
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
This is hilarious, I’d love a contest! My Nanny has a whole closet full of.prizewinners, lol! What a great idea!
LOL!! These are the best!
Coolest cookies ever!
this…. is genius. GENIUS I SAY. aaahaha I was just dusting off my ugly Christmas sweater from my closet last night. I still haven’t had a chance to put it to use at an ‘ugly sweater party’ but I literally bought it on sale for like $8 at Sears 2 years ago with that fateful day in mind.
Or, you know, the day I realize I’m actually wearing it, buying puffy paints and glitter at Michael’s Crafts.
You’ve won the prize for the best Christmas cookies. EVER!
Ugly sweater cookies could be a trending twitter subject.
xoxo
These are too cute and would have been perfect for the ugly sweater Christmas party I went to last weekend. Love your research photos too, funny enough the first picture above is the one that was used for our party invitation only with one of my friend’s head on top. I took some pictures of the sweaters at our party, so come over to my blog and check them out, they were great! Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!
hahaha! these are awesome!!! i love all your ideas & have linked back to you on several occasions. can’t wait to see what you’re baking next 🙂
TOO FUN!!!! You are SO amazing coming up with creative ideas for cookies, they are pure perfection!!!
I love this sooooo much! I don’t have any ugly Christmas sweaters, but I know my sister does! (And, more notably, she has a hideous Christmas vest… she’s twenty-four people! That shouldn’t happen!)
I hope you DO host an ugly sweater cookie contest next year! I just may borrow her vest… lol
hahahahahahahahaha!!! Amanda! These are just AWESOME!!! I think you did Bill Cosby proud. (And I dating myself here? Cosby Show?)
AnyWAY….love, love, love! YOU AMAZE ME with every post!