Decorative Snowflake Christmas Cookie Cutouts

Hey guys! This is my first tutorial back on this site in a long time. I figured it was long overdue for me to create a new Instructable, as quarantine is kinda the best time to start new and random projects. Anyways today I felt inspired to create a fancy Christmas cookie cutout tutorial.

This recipe is definitely the best cookie cutout recipe I have ever tried. It has a well-balanced almond and vanilla flavor with a subtle sweetness. It also has the perfect flakey crispiness to it. I definitely recommend trying this recipe out if you have a sweet tooth during this holiday season!

Step 1: Supplies and Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Extra supplies:

• White chocolate melts
• Blue food dye
• Assorted sprinkles of your choosing (I recommend either blue, white, or silver)

Step 2: Mixing the Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at a medium speed until you have a creamy consistency. Then add in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and continue to blend until your mixture is light and fluffy.

Step 3: Put It All Together

Pre-heat oven to 350*

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Try to mix it as well as you can to make sure that everything is dispersed. When scooping the flour, make sure you level it off with the side of a knife to ensure that your measurements are accurate.

Next, you will add the flour mixture to the butter mixture little by little. If you do too much at once, the dry ingredients will not mix with the butter mixture easily. I did about 1/3 of the mixture at a time and it blended together well.

I found it helpful to knead the dough after mixing it because it ensured that everything was well-incorporated.

Step 4: Roll Out the Dough

Once you've kneaded the dough, place it onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Place another sheet on top, sandwiching the dough between the two sheets, and proceed to roll out the dough to your desired thickness. I would recommend about 1/3"-1/2" thickness, but if you want the cookies crispier, you could go thinner. It all depends on your own preferences here.

Step 5: Cutout Time!

Now it is time to cut out the cookies. I selected a big snowflake shape and also had smaller, oval shaped cutouts that I used to make different patterns in the cookies. I don't have a picture of that step because I had to pull the cookies out of the oven halfway through baking because I realized I forgot to punch holes in the cookies LOL I guess that's how it goes sometimes.

After you have punched out your cookies, place them directly on a baking sheet, making sure they aren't touching each other. Bake them in the oven for 8-12 minutes, or until they start to darken a little. These cookies brown fast, so make sure not to burn them.

Step 6: Cooling the Cookies

Once the cookies are done in the oven, let them cool directly on the sheet for 5-10 minutes then with a spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Step 7: Time to Decorate

Heat up a small amount of the white chocolate melts in the microwave and stir it until there are no remaining chunks and the mixture is completely smooth and creamy. Using a spatula, transfer the chocolate to a plastic bag with a very small circular hole. I just used a ziploc bag because I had such a small amount to pipe.

Now you are ready to pipe your design onto the cookies. This step is really up to you on how to approach it. If you also did a mini cutout pattern on the cookies like I did, you can have some fun with incorporating those into your design.

You can go anywhere from simple to ornate in your designs, it just depends on your own preferences. You can also do more dots in your design or more lines. Again, whatever you want the cookies to look like, you can make it your way!

Step 8: Finished!

And that's all there is to it! I love this recipe because it really is the best sugar cookie. It has the perfect balance of flavor and the fancier designs make them a hit at Christmas parties.

Let me know if you decide to make these cookies and send me photos of your own work!