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!
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these are too funny. i saw these right before christmas and was determined to make them. however, i couldn’t find a good cookie cutter. where did you get yours?
Oh my gosh! My son and I are cracking up laughing! this is such an awesome idea. He says, the cookies are cute, the sweaters, not so much! Love your creativity!
Oh my gosh! I was googling ugly christmas sweater cookies to maybe find some to make for my own ugly sweater party and came across your page… Holy geeez the ones you made are Uh.Maze.Ing !!!! What did you use to get the detailed icing on the ‘busy’ Christmas sweater? Thanks!
Casey
casey.d.kramer@gmail.com
Thanks Casey! I just used my #1 and #2 wilton tips. They make light work of little details! 🙂
Wayyyyyyy funny, Amanda!! 🙂 Ugly, yet so beautiful!
I wish I had an ounce of your talent (and patience). These are sooooooo cute!
These made me laugh out loud!!!!! 😀
What a wonderful idea!!!!!
Only you could make ugly Christmas sweaters into something so adorable. 🙂
And I’m so in on the contest next year!!!!
These are so stinkin’ hilarious!!!
No matter how cute Colin Firth can be, I think the rudolph sweater looks bette rin cookie form! 🙂
These are just too funny! My dad is a little bit obsessed with 80’s style “Cosby Sweaters” and we tease him every Christmas!
This morning, The Today Show on NBC-TV (12/11/2012) had a feature about a small business selling ugly Christmas sweater cookies! (That’s not you, is it?)
Nope! Not me. Think it was some gal on Etsy.