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    Home » DESSERTS

    Easy Christmas Butter Cookies Rolled in Festive Sugar

    Modified: Dec 16, 2024 by Susan Pridmore · This post may contain affiliate links · 20 Comments

    A plate of holiday cookies and 2 cups of hot cocoa with text overlay.

    These holiday butter cookies are refrigerator cookies that are rolled in festive colored sugar, sliced into coins and baked. They're super easy to make since they don't require rolling out with a rolling pin, and are perfect for dessert trays and gifts.

    Keep them simple by rolling in the colored sugar, or go more fancy with a glaze and decorations if you want. This is a fabulous basic butter cookie dough for all your needs.

    Jump to Recipe
    A plate of Christmas cookies with 2 cups of cocoa and 2 spoons.

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    Jump to:
    • 🍪 What's the difference between sugar cookies, butter cookies and shortbread?
    • ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
    • Freaky Friday
    • 👩‍🍳 The Family Around the Table Blog
    • 🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
    • 🔪 Recommended Equipment
    • 📝 Instructions Overview
    • 🎯 Baking Tips
    • 💡Ideas for Possible Variations
    • 🤷‍♀️ Holiday Butter Cookies FAQ
    • 📇 More Holiday Cookies For You!
    • 🎉 What Did Everyone Else Make??
    • Christmas Butter Cookies Rolled in Festive Sugar

    The easiest holiday treats to make and eat are cookies (depending on how fancy you get with decorating them, of course). And these Christmas butter cookies are super-super easy, and addictive. So they need to be part of your holiday cookie baking this year.

    And they're small, only 1 ½ inches in diameter, so anyone can justify having one. Or five. Kind of like these little Snickerdoodle Cookies with Figs.

    🍪 What's the difference between sugar cookies, butter cookies and shortbread?

    These are all popular doughs to use for cookies and cookie bars around the holidays, and they all use butter, sugar and flour in their recipes. The biggest difference is in the proportions and the temperature the cookies are baked.

    Shortbread has the highest ratio of butter to flour, crumbles easily, and bakes at a lower temperature.

    Butter cookie recipes call for a lot of butter of course, but have more flour and sugar in them than shortbread. This gives them stability to keep them from crumbling.

    Sugar cookies have the highest ratio of flour to butter (or other fat), making them super stable. These are typically the cookie doughs you roll out, and use for cut-out cookies since they hold their shape so well in the oven.

    ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

    • Easy and just the right amount of sweetness.
    • Since these are refrigerator cookies, you can leave them in the refrigerator for a couple of days before slicing and baking.
    • The dough freezes well, allowing you to make the dough now, and bake the cookies in a jiffy over the holidays.
    • Uses ingredients you probably have on hand.
    • Ideal for hostess gifts, a cookie tray, a treat with ice cream, or a bake sale.
    • Flexible recipe that allows you to add orange or lemon zest, or do some additional decorating on the face of the cookie, if that's your thing.
    • Perfect for young kids in the kitchen who want to help make cookies. They will love rolling the dough in all kinds of festive sugars.

    Freaky Friday

    What, you may wonder, is Freaky Friday??

    For starters, it's how I found this very fun recipe that you must make this season.

    Freaky Friday is a group of food bloggers who are secretly assigned one another’s blogs to make a recipe from. Then we all reveal who we had and what we made on the same Friday. And that's TODAY!

    Many thanks to Michaela from An Affair from the Heart who created and hosts this blog hop. At the bottom of this post, you'll see a list of all of the other recipes our group cooked up - that's what makes it a blog hop :-).

    These holiday butter cookies come from Ellen at Family Around the Table blog. On her blog, she calls them Holiday Coins because of their shape and size.

    Two rolls of cookie dough covered in red, green and white colored sugar, sliced into thick discs for baking.

    👩‍🍳 The Family Around the Table Blog

    Ellen at the Family Around the Table blog is a freelance writer, recipe developer and, if you live on the Gulf Coast of Florida, she wrote a regular TASTE section feature for the Tampa Bay Times, as well as reviewed cookbooks for them for more than 15 years. 

    She's a pro in the kitchen, especially around baking. It's in her genes. Her grandmother was from Italy, and made fresh pasta for dinner and was a great cook. She passed her knowledge and skills down to her daughter, Ellen's mom, and then onto Ellen as she grew up.

    If we hadn't all had the assignment of cookies or candy this month, I would have written this post about her Maple Cornbread or her Apple Cinnamon Scones. I have a particular love for cornbread, and really, who doesn't swoon for scones?!

    This holiday season, I plan to serve this Cranberry Whiskey Sour. I make an Amaretto Whisky Sour several times a week, and her cocktail looks right up my alley.


    🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes

    • All purpose flour - I recommend King Arthur flour because of its consistency.
    • Kosher salt
    • Unsalted butter
    • Granulated sugar
    • Egg yolks - save the egg whites for something else!
    • Vanilla extract - if you don't have any, check out these substitution suggestions.
    • Orange zest
    • Decorator sugar - I used a combination of green, red and white, but feel free to use whatever color you prefer.

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.

    🔪 Recommended Equipment

    • Kitchen scale
    • Whisk
    • Standing mixer with a whisk attachment
    • Zester
    • Rubber spatula
    • Chef's knife
    • Cookie sheet - not a baking sheet that has a rim around it. Cookie sheets don't have edges, and only one side slightly raises up. A baking sheet manages heat very differently across the sheet than a cookie sheet. I use both an insulated cookie sheet and non-insulated one, and had the exact same results with both.

    Two butter cookie dough rolled in decorator sugar, and slices of the decorated dough on a cookie sheet.

    📝 Instructions Overview

    Detailed instructions for making these holiday butter cookies are in the recipe card below, but here's an overview!

    Step 1

    Weight and whisk. Weigh the flour and whisk it with the salt.

    Step 2

    Cream. Cream the butter until fluffy using a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add the sugar, and continue to mix until fluffy. Add the yolks, vanilla extract and orange zest.

    Step 3

    Combine. Add the flour to the butter mixture, and mix using a rubber spatula until it's completely absorbed by the dough.

    Step 4

    Roll. Divide the dough into quarters. Cover 3 of the sections with plastic, and mold the 4th one into a long cylinder using your fingers.

    Sprinkle the decorator sugar on a work surface, and roll the dough in it so that it's completely covered with the sugar. Wrap in plastic. Repeat with the other 3 dough sections, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.

    Step 5

    Slice and bake. Bring the rolled butter cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Unwrap one roll, and slice it into coins. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Repeat with the other rolls until the cookie sheet is filled.

    Bake for 12 - 14 minutes.

    🎯 Baking Tips

    • Weigh your flour for a consistent result. It makes a difference.
    • Bring the butter to room temperature before whipping it in the mixer. If you're in a hurry, and forgot to do this, here's a quick way to warm your butter a bit. Slice the butter into ½ tablespoon pats. Heat a bowl of water in the microwave oven. Empty the water out, dry the bowl, and turn it upside down over the butter for 5 minutes.
    • Try not to overwork the flour when mixing it into the butter and sugar, and when creating the cookie rolls. Overworking flour can make the cookies tougher.
    • My cookie rolls were 7 ½ inches long, and 1 ½ inches in diameter. I got 18 - 20 cookies from each roll. You can roll them as thick as you want, of course, but the baking time and yield will change.
    • Make sure the cookie rolls are smooth and even, to get evenly shaped cookies that will bake up in the same length of time.
    • The dough must chill in order to slice it into round coins. Chilling also helps them hold their shape (and size) during baking.
    • Roll the dough lengths in the decorator sugar so that it's completely covered. If necessary, sprinkle additional sugar over bare spots and gently press.
    • Wrap each cookie roll individually in plastic.
    • Bake only until the edges of the cookies begin to turn a pale golden color. It will be subtle.

    💡Ideas for Possible Variations

    Eliminate the zest, or swap out the orange zest for lemon.

    🤷‍♀️ Holiday Butter Cookies FAQ

    Can I freeze the dough?

    Yes. Wrap each butter cookie dough roll in plastic and place them in a sealed plastic bag for up to 2 months.

    📇 More Holiday Cookies For You!

    Spiced Persimmon Cookies with Dried Figs

    Pennsylvania Dutch Spice Currant Christmas Cookies

    15 Christmas Cookies From Around the World

    This Pine Nut Brittle with Rosemary isn't a cookie, nor is this Chocolate and Pretzel Bark with Sea Salt, but they're both fabulous holiday treats for yourself or for gifts.


    🎉 What Did Everyone Else Make??

    Now it’s time to see what all of the other participating bloggers made! Seriously, go check them out!

    See all of our 2022 Freaky Friday Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipes

    Hosted by - An Affair from the Heart

      1. An Affair from the Heart - Scotcheroo Pinwheels
      2. Best Cookie Recipes - Christmas Magic Bars
      3. Family Around the Table - Snickerdoodle Bars
      4. Feast + West - Lemon Drop Cookies
      5. The Foodie Affair - Christmas Oreo Balls
      6. Fresh April Flours - Hot Cocoa Cookies
      7. Hostess at Heart - Chocolate Bark
      8. Kathryn's Kitchen Blog - Cookies and Cream Cookie Recipe
      9. Life Currents - Almond Meltaways Cookies
      10. The Speckled Palate - Snowball Cookies
      11. Sue Bee Homemaker - Italian Lemon Ricotta Cookies 
      12. Take Two Tapas - Avalanche Cookies 
      13. The Wimpy Vegetarian - Easy Christmas Butter Cookies

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    Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!

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    A plate of Christmas rolled butter cookies with text overlay.
    5 from 17 votes

    Christmas Butter Cookies Rolled in Festive Sugar

    These holiday butter cookies are refrigerator cookies that are rolled in festive colored sugar, sliced into coins and baked. They're super easy to make since they don't require rolling out with a rolling pin, and are perfect for dessert trays and gifts. This recipe comes from the Family Around the Table blog. The cook time includes 2 hours of chill time in the refrigerator.
    Print Recipe Save Saved! Pin Recipe Add to Recipe Collection Go to Collections Add to Shopping ListGo to Shopping List
    Prep Time15 minutes mins
    Cook Time12 minutes mins
    Chill time2 hours hrs
    Total Time2 hours hrs 27 minutes mins
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: Any
    Keyword: Christmas butter cookies, holiday butter cookies
    Servings: 72 cookies (6 dozen)
    Calories: 41.3kcal
    Author: Susan Pridmore
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    • Kitchen scale with the whisk attachment
    • Whisk
    • Stand mixer
    • Microplane / Zester
    • Rubber spatula
    • Chef's knife
    • cookie sheet

    Ingredients

    • 9 ounces all-purpose flour (2 cups)
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
    • ¾ cup granulated sugar
    • 2 large egg yolks
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 teaspoon orange zest
    • 4 tablespoons decorator sugar, any color or combination of colors

    Instructions

    • Weigh the flour if you have a kitchen scale, and whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl.
    • In the bowl of the standing mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the sugar until fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes. Add the yolks, vanilla extract and orange zest, and continue to beat until completely absorbed.
    • Stir in flour mixture using a rubber spatula until dough comes together. Divide dough into quarters.
      Pro tip: I divide the dough by weighing it, and then dividing it into 4 equal pieces using a kitchen scale.
    • Cover 3 parts of the dough with plastic, and roll the 4th piece of dough into a cigar shaped log that's about 1½ inches in diameter. My cookie dough logs were about 7 ½ inches long.
      Spread the decorator sugar in a square that's larger than the length of the rolled dough by at least 1 inch. Place the cookie dough log at one edge of the decorator sugar, and slowly roll it over the sugar.
      Pro tip: If there are areas of the log that are bare, sprinkle the sugar over those areas and gently press it in. You want as much decorator sugar as possible on the outside surface of the log, as some will naturally fall off when wrapping and unwrapping the dough, cutting it, and arranging it on the cookie sheet.
    • Wrap the cookie dough log in plastic wrap and set it aside. Repeat this with the other 3 pieces of cookie dough, always keeping the dough you're not working with covered in plastic. Otherwise the dough can begin to form a dry crust on the surface from the flour.
      When all four logs are wrapped, place them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
    • Preheat the oven to 350˚F, and remove the logs from the refrigerator. Unwrap only one of the logs, and place it on a cutting board. Slice it into coins of equal thickness.
      Note: I sliced mine about ⅓" thick, and got around 18 - 20 coin shaped cookies from each log.
    • Arrange the cookie dough coins on an un-greased cookie sheet. They won't spread very much, so you can space them 1 ½ inches from each other.
      Continue to slice the logs until you fill the cookie sheet, always keeping the ones you're not working with wrapped in plastic.
    • Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are a very pale golden color. Immediately transfer them to a plate or cooling rack.
      This will take a few batches to cook all of the cookies.
      Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

    Notes

    🎯 Baking Tips
    • Weigh your flour for a consistent result. It makes a difference.
    • Bring the butter to room temperature before whipping it in the mixer. If you're in a hurry, and forgot to do this, here's a quick way to warm your butter a bit. Slice the butter into ½ tablespoon pats. Heat a bowl of water in the microwave oven. Empty the water out, dry the bowl, and turn it upside down over the butter for 5 minutes.
    • Try not to overwork the flour when mixing it into the butter and sugar, and when creating the cookie rolls. Overworking flour can make the cookies tougher.
    • My cookie rolls were 7 ½ inches long, and 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter. I got 18 cookies from each roll. You can roll them as thick as you want, of course, but the baking time and yield will change.
    • Make sure the cookie rolls are smooth and even, to get evenly shaped cookies that will bake up in the same length of time.
    • The dough must chill in order to slice it into round coins. Chilling also helps them hold their shape (and size) during baking.
    • Roll the dough lengths in the decorator sugar so that it's completely covered. If necessary, sprinkle additional sugar over bare spots and gently press.
    • Wrap each cookie roll individually in plastic.
    • Bake only until the edges of the cookies begin to turn a pale golden color. It will be subtle.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 41.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.3g | Protein: 0.5g | Fat: 2.1g | Saturated Fat: 1.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 10.1mg | Sodium: 32.9mg | Potassium: 5.1mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 2.6g | Vitamin A: 65.2IU | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 1.8mg | Iron: 0.2mg
    « Oven Roasted or Grilled Garlic Cabbage Steaks
    Favorite Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe with Figs »

    About Susan Pridmore

    Susan Pridmore is an award-winning cookbook author and the owner of The Wimpy Vegetarian. She has been featured in Huffington Post, Healthline, BuzzFeed, and has written for and developed recipes for The Food Network and Parade Magazine. She is professionally trained and focuses on easy vegetarian recipes for busy lives, bread-baking, and tips for new vegetarians. Susan lives in the mountains in Lake Tahoe with her husband and mini-labradoodle.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Michaela Kenkel

      December 02, 2022 at 8:12 am

      5 stars
      These just scream Christmas! I love slice and bake cookies and there are holiday perfection! Happy Holidays to you and your family, Susan!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:21 am

        Thank you so very much! And a very happy holiday to you and your family!!

        Reply
    2. Ellen

      December 02, 2022 at 12:10 pm

      5 stars
      These look fantastic! I'm so happy you enjoyed these butter cookies as much as we do! Enjoy the Cranberry Whiskey Sour too! It's another favorite!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:22 am

        I froze some of the dough so I could make fresh cookies for my grandkids when they come at Christmas!! They were so good, and perfect for people who don't want a cookie decorating project!

        Reply
    3. Erin

      December 04, 2022 at 9:18 am

      5 stars
      These cookies are utterly perfect! These are great for baking and sharing this season... and every season.

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:23 am

        Totally agree! Thank you!!

        Reply
    4. Rebecca

      December 04, 2022 at 5:40 pm

      5 stars
      These are adorable, so so cute! A perfect cookie to enjoy with Tea or Hot Cocoa. YUM!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:24 am

        I completely agree! I can personally attest that they're great with hot cocoa!!

        Reply
    5. Jules

      December 04, 2022 at 5:41 pm

      5 stars
      I just loved these festive cookies. They're perfect for my gift boxes!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:25 am

        They're definitely going into my gift boxes too! I'm so glad you liked them!

        Reply
    6. Sue Ringsdorf

      December 04, 2022 at 6:32 pm

      5 stars
      SO festive and delicious. My family loved these cookies and I'll be making them soon!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:25 am

        I'm so glad you liked them! Thank you!

        Reply
    7. Sandra Shaffer

      December 04, 2022 at 7:52 pm

      5 stars
      Perfect cookie to add to a cookie platter. I like the idea of freezing them and slice and bake as the mood hits for a cookie or two!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:26 am

        I froze half of the dough so I can do just that when my grandkids arrive for Christmas!

        Reply
    8. Debi

      December 05, 2022 at 6:18 am

      5 stars
      These are adorable! And while I love them for Christmas cookies, I would totally make them for game day & roll them in sprinkles of my team's colors!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        December 05, 2022 at 8:26 am

        5 stars
        That is a fantastic idea!!!!!!!!

        Reply
    9. Kathryn

      December 05, 2022 at 2:54 pm

      5 stars
      I love that you use orange zest in these cookies! One of my top 5 favorite holiday cookies. I could eat these all year long!

      Reply
    10. Jennifer

      December 06, 2022 at 7:23 am

      5 stars
      Nothing says holiday season like butter cookies! So simple and yet super tasty and elegant!!

      Reply
    11. Lynn @ Fresh April Flours

      December 09, 2022 at 2:46 pm

      5 stars
      I love that you can add that holiday touch simply with sprinkles! They can match any holiday!

      Reply
    12. Susannah

      December 09, 2022 at 8:00 pm

      5 stars
      Love how pretty these are! Butter cookies are the best.

      Reply
    5 from 17 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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    Susan at The Wimpy Vegetarian

    about the author:

    Susan Pridmore

    Hi there! I'm an award-winning cookbook author, culinary school graduate, professional photographer and recipe developer. My cookbook Simply Vegetarian was named #1 best cookbook for new vegetarians, and I want to make it easier for you to cook fabulous vegetarian meals. Come join me in the kitchen!

    More about me →

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