Snowflake Sugar Cookies with Homemade Buttercream
This recipe is a year-round classic but there’s something extra special about snowflakes that work from the day after Thanksgiving all the way until Easter rolls around.
And since this classic sugar cookie recipe works well beyond the holiday season, if you stumble on this post outside of winter, just use a different cookie cutter and different sprinkles to make this sugar cookie recipe perfect for any holiday, birthday or other occasion! If you specifically want to make 4th of July American Flag cookies, check out this post.
I love the taste of homemade buttercream so I’ve included that recipe here but feel free to substitute a favorite store-bought frosting or even royal icing if you want the cookies to be stackable or easy to package and send. I’ve never tried my sugar cookies with royal icing but the contrast of soft cookie and hard icing sounds pretty good so let me know if you try that combo!
Now, back to winter! If you bake these snowflake cookies in advance, a cookie decorating station can serve two purposes at a winter party – as a perfect activity and treat! If kids will be in attendance, prep the sugar cookie dough and let them help roll and cut!
So whether you’re making these cut-out sugar cookies for a Christmas cookie or for another time of year, here’s how to make these classic cookies that will get everyone requesting the recipe!
Ingredients to Make Snowflake Sugar Cookies
- KAMUT® White Flour or other All-Purpose White Flour
- Baking Powder
- Fine Salt
- Unsalted Butter
- White Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Light blue Sprinkles
Tools to Make Snowflake Sugar Cookies
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Medium Mixing Bowl
- Whisk or Dough Hook
- Stand Mixer fitted with the Paddle Attachment or Hand Mixer with a Large Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Plastic Wrap
- Snowflake Cookie Cutter
- Bench Scraper or Knife
- Kitchen Scale
- Sieve or Fine Metal Mesh Strainer
- Piping Bag
- Piping Tip (I used Wilton 10)
All About Ingredients for Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Flour
You’ll notice that almost all of my cookie recipes call for KAMUT® White Flour because I love the nutritional profile and taste, but I understand that it isn’t easy to find so I write all of my recipes for all-purpose flour as well. Learn more about why I love KAMUT® Brand Wheat here and more about the history of this amazing wheat here.
Baking Powder
Be sure to use baking powder and not baking soda for this sugar cookie recipe. Baking powder will result in the cookies rising, staying lighter in color, and not spreading too much so they maintain their fun snowflake shapes.
Butter
I often make cookie dough with cold butter so that I don’t need to plan ahead and I can often bake without chilling the dough. However some of my recipes still require chilling the cookie dough and I only recommend cold butter in the mixer that can handle it such as a bowl-lift mixer. If you have a tilt-head mixer or use a hand mixer, I recommend using room temperature butter.
Whenever I use cold butter in a cookie recipe, I always include the option to use room temperature, softened butter. Also, it’s likely you’ll need to chill the sugar cookie dough in this recipe whether or not you use cold butter and you will need room temperature butter for the homemade buttercream.
Sprinkles
I used light blue sprinkles for these snowflake cookies but get creative and use any sprinkles you like! I love that more and more artificial dye free options are showing up every year!
Powdered Sugar
I recommend measuring powdered sugar with a kitchen scale because measuring by cup can result in wildly different amounts of powdered sugar. I am actually in the process of adding weight measurements to all of my recipes because it is so quick and easy to set your mixing bowl on the scale and measure ingredients by weight!
How to Make Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Line each baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Combine the dry ingredients using a dough hook or whisk and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until completely smooth using a stand or hand mixer and then add the egg and vanilla, mixing after each addition. When this mixture is smooth, add the dry ingredients in one or a few batches. Add in a few batches if you are using a hand mixer or a small stand mixer.
When combined, turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and place the dough ball in the fridge for 45 minutes (or up to 3 days). If you used cold butter, you can skip this step. But anytime your prepared dough has been out of the fridge for more than 20 minutes (aside from made ahead dough – see below) place the cookie dough back into the fridge. For best results, cookie dough to be cool yet easy to roll anytime you’re rolling and cutting.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is approximately ⅛ to ¼” thick. Place snowflake cookies on prepared trays and, if the dough has been sitting out for more than 20 minutes, place the tray in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
Let the cookies cool all the way on the tray (one of my tips for soft cookies – get more here) while you make the homemade buttercream frosting.
Making Snowflake Sugar Cookie Dough Ahead of Time
You can make dough up to 3 days before baking. Here are some tips:
- Make sure dough is tightly wrapped in plastic wrap
- When ready to roll, set chilled dough out at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour until it’s warm enough to roll out but still feels cool.
- Note that any strong smells in the fridge can soak into the cookie dough when it’s in the fridge for an extended period of time, even if it’s wrapped well.
How to Make Buttercream Frosting for Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Weigh and sift powdered sugar and set aside.
Place softened butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl if using a hand mixer. Add powdered sugar in batches and mix each addition until smooth.
Add salt and vanilla and mix on low until incorporated, and then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 4-6 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Buttercream is ready when it reaches the desired consistency. Mixing for longer will result in a lighter, fluffier frosting, which will be easier to pipe.
Fit a piping bag with a small round piping tip (I used Wilton 10). Secure the piping tip so that if you turned the piping bag upside down, it would not fall out. Use scissors to cut around the middle of the piping tip and pull off the plastic end of the piping bag.
Fill the piping bag with frosting and twist the end. Your top hand will squeeze the bag while the bottom hand will steer (or draw).
How to Decorate Snowflake Sugar Cookies
One thing that makes snowflake cookies so easy is that white icing is ideal – no need to dye your frosting another color! And the beautiful thing about decorating these easy snowflake sugar cookies is that they don’t need to be perfect! If every one is unique, that’s just like real snowflakes!
How to Store Snowflake Sugar Cookies
- Room Temperature: Decorated sugar cookies keep at room temperature for 3 to 5 days, longer if in an airtight container.
- Refrigerator: Frosting will keep in fridge for one week. When ready to use, bring back to room temperature and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer to get a nice, creamy texture.
- You can freeze decorated sugar cookies or undecorated cookies and frosting for up to 2 to 3 months. When ready to use, bring back to room temperature and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer to get the frosting back to a nice, creamy texture.
Snowflake Sugar Cookies with Homemade Buttercream
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough:
- 1 ⅓ cup KAMUT® White Flour (or 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
- 12 oz powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 TBSP vanilla
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Dough:
- Line each baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Combine the dry ingredients using a dough hook or whisk and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until completely smooth using a stand or hand mixer and then add the egg and vanilla, mixing after each addition. When this mixture is smooth, add the dry ingredients in one or a few batches. Add in a few batches if you are using a hand mixer or a small stand mixer.
- When combined, turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and place the dough ball in the fridge for 45 minutes (or up to 3 days). If you used cold butter, you can skip this step. But anytime your prepared dough has been out of the fridge for more than 20 minutes (aside from made ahead dough – see below) place the cookie dough back into the fridge. For best results, cookie dough to be cool yet easy to roll anytime you’re rolling and cutting.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is approximately ⅛ to ¼” thick. Place snowflake cookies on prepared trays and, if the dough has been sitting out for more than 20 minutes, place the tray in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool all the way on the tray while you make the homemade buttercream frosting.
Buttercream Frosting:
- Weigh and sift powdered sugar and set aside.
- Place softened butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl if using a hand mixer. Add powdered sugar in batches and mix each addition until smooth.
- Add salt and vanilla and mix on low until incorporated, and then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 4-6 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Buttercream is ready when it reaches the desired consistency. Mixing for longer will result in a lighter, fluffier frosting, which will be easier to pipe.
- Fit a piping bag with a small round piping tip (I used Wilton 10). Secure the piping tip so that if you turned the piping bag upside down, it would not fall out. Use scissors to cut around the middle of the piping tip and pull off the plastic end of the piping bag.
- Fill the piping bag with frosting and twist the end. Your top hand will squeeze the bag while the bottom hand will steer (or draw).
Notes
- Room Temperature: Decorated sugar cookies keep at room temperature for 3 to 5 days, longer if in an airtight container.
- Refrigerator: Frosting will keep in fridge for one week. When ready to use, bring back to room temperature and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer to get a nice, creamy texture.
- Freezer: You can freeze decorated sugar cookies or undecorated cookies and frosting for up to 2 to 3 months. When ready to use, bring back to room temperature and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer to get the frosting back to a nice, creamy texture.