These sweet and festive Christmas wreath cookies are soft, buttery cut-out sugar cookies decorated to look like holiday wreaths. They’re a fun and easy addition to your Christmas cookie platter!
If you love these pretty wreath cookies, check out all of my favorite Christmas cookies to make this festive season.
These frosted wreath sugar cookies are the easiest Christmas cookies you’ll make this season! This recipe combines my easy no-chill sugar cookies with my favorite homemade buttercream frosting. Here’s why you’ll love it:
- No chilling. You can make the best cut-out sugar cookies without chilling the dough! These cookies turn out soft, buttery, and just the right amount of sweet in next to no time.
- Easy frosting. My homemade buttercream frosting is easy to make, tastes delicious, and it’s perfectly pipeable and spreadable. Plus, you only need to dye in one color!
- Beginner-friendly. If you’re one to shy away from cookie decorating, these Christmas wreath cookies keep it simple. Use multiple cookie cutters to make wreaths of different sizes, then spread them with frosting. It’s that easy!
Soft, buttery, and adorably decorated, these wreath cookies look amazing on a holiday cookie platter next to more classic treats like Linzer cookies, easy rugelach, and these adorable spritz cookies.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Below are some notes on the ingredients you’ll need for the sugar cookies and the frosting. You’ll find a link at the bottom of the post to the full recipe, courtesy of Imperial Sugar, with the full amounts and recipe instructions.
- Butter – Cold butter, cut into cubes.
- Sugar – I use Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar. The fine texture makes the softest, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies.
- Egg
- Vanilla – Real vanilla extract gives these cookies the best flavor.
- Baking Powder and Salt
- Flour
For Frosting and Decorating
- Butter – Unsalted butter, this time at room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar – Also called confectioner’s sugar. For this recipe, I used the Confectioners Powdered Sugar from Imperial Sugar.
- Milk – This can be whole milk or 2% milk.
- Food Coloring – Green food coloring, for dying the frosting. Gel food dyes yield the brightest, most vibrant colors. However, feel free to use liquid food coloring (like the kind you’ll find in grocery stores).
- Sprinkles – Round silver ball sprinkles, or your choice of sprinkles, for decorating.
These wreath sugar cookies come together in just a few easy steps before they’re ready for frosting:
- Make the cookie dough. Start by creaming together the butter and sugar, followed by the eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Once smooth, gradually add flour, mixing to form the dough.
- Roll out the dough. Divide the dough in half. Starting with the first half, roll out the dough to about ⅓” thickness.
- Cut out the cookies. Cut out your wreaths using wreath-shaped cookie cutters (I use fluted biscuit cutters, they work great!). Transfer the cut-out cookies to a lined baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden at the edges and still soft (but not wet) in the center. Before frosting, allow your baked sugar cookies to cool completely to room temperature.
One more reason to love these sugar cookies? You can be as creative or low-maintenance as you’d like when it comes to frosting and decorating them. First, you’ll need a quick batch of vanilla buttercream:
- Prepare the frosting. Beat room temperature butter until it’s smooth and fluffy. Afterward, slowly add the powdered sugar, followed by a spoonful of milk. Continue to beat the frosting until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
- Color the frosting. Next, mix in a couple of drops of green food coloring. You can add your finished frosting to a piping bag or use an offset spatula to spread it over the cookies.
- Frost and decorate the cookies. Pipe or spread your green frosting over the top of the cooled wreath cookies. Afterward, garnish with your choice of sprinkles, and enjoy!
Tips for Success
Just like my original cut-out sugar cookie recipe, there are a few helpful tips that make all the difference in these classic Christmas wreath cookies:
- Measure the flour correctly. Use a kitchen scale if you have one. If not, spoon the flour from the bag into the measuring cup (rather than scooping) and level it off with the back of a knife. See my tutorial on how to measure flour for more details.
- Keep the dough workable. If you’re baking these cookies in batches, keep the unused dough chilled in the fridge. Too-warm dough is harder to handle and can spread more in the oven.
- Bake like-sized cookies together. I like to use a variety of cookie cutters to make wreaths of different sizes. If you’re making different-sized wreaths, be sure to bake similar-sized cookies on the same baking sheet, so that the cookies bake evenly.
- Adapt the consistency of the frosting. Add milk as needed to get the frosting to a creamy, spreadable consistency. If your frosting is too thin, add additional powdered sugar.
Easy Variations
Try these easy ways to change up the look and flavor of these homemade holiday cookies:
- Different frosting. Instead of vanilla buttercream, try coloring this Heritage frosting using green food dye, or frost your wreaths with mint chocolate chip frosting for a festive twist.
- More decorations. Decorate these wreath cookies with festive garnishes like rainbow sprinkles, white chocolate chips, peppermint chips, crushed candy canes, or chopped nuts.
- Flavoring extracts. Flavor your cookies and your frosting with other flavoring extracts. In place of vanilla, try peppermint, almond, orange, or lemon extract.
- To Store. Store your frosted Christmas wreath cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freeze. These wreath sugar cookies freeze great, though I recommend freezing them before they’re frosted. Store the cookies in a freezer bag or airtight container and keep them frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw the wreath cookies at room temperature before frosting.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies (depending on the size of the cookie cutter 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
Simple and sweet, these festive sugar cookies topped with buttercream frosting are going to be the easiest (and cutest) cookie on your holiday cookie platter. Use fluted biscuit cutters in all sizes to make an array of wreaths.
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup cold butter, cubed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons milk
- Green food coloring
- Round sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt and continue mixing until combined and smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.
- Turn mixer speed to low and add flour, mixing until dough comes together.
- Divide dough in half sections. On a floured work surface roll dough to 1/3 inch thick. Using fluted biscuit cutters, or a wreath cookie cutter, cut out shapes and place cookies on the prepared baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. If you are baking in batches, keep unused dough in a refrigerator until ready to use to prevent dough from getting too warm. Also, if making different sized wreaths, bake like-sized shapes together to ensure even baking.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare frosting: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter on medium speed until smooth. Turn the mixer to low and add powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Mix until combined. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until creamy, adding in more milk if desired.
- Add a drop or two of food coloring and mix until frosting is a uniform color.
- Using a piping bag or an offset spatula, spread frosting on top of cooled cookies. Decorate with sprinkles as desired.
Notes
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
These cute wreath cookies are cheerful. They will be perfect for my daughter’s classroom cookie exchange!