Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Homemade with love · Dye-free icing that dries hard · Decorate with the kids
Soft, tender cut-out sugar cookies with a dye-free icing that dries hard, tinted naturally with beet, matcha, or turmeric. Includes tips for freshly milled flour and making them ahead.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2½ cups (310 g) unbleached pastry flour (Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract (optional, tastes like a bakery)
Icing
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp whole milk (plus more to thin)
- 1 tbsp honey or light syrup (makes it dry hard)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Beet, matcha, or turmeric powder (for tinting)
Instructions
- Cream 3 full minutes. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then mix in the egg and extracts. Don’t cut this short; it’s what keeps them tender.
- Add the dry. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix in just until the dough comes together.
- Chill 1 hour. Shape into two flattened discs and wrap. Cold dough holds its shape; warm dough spreads and your trees come out as blobs. Fresh-milled flour: give it at least 2 hours.
- Roll ¼ inch thick. Roll between two sheets of parchment instead of flouring the counter. Cut shapes and move them to a lined sheet.
- Bake 9–11 minutes at 350°F. Pull them when the edges are just set and the centers still look underdone. They firm up as they cool.
- Cool completely. Five minutes on the sheet, then a rack. Ice a warm cookie and the icing slides right off.
- Mix, tint, decorate. Whisk the icing smooth, thinning with milk ½ tsp at a time until it spreads the way you like. Add color a pinch at a time, then let dry 4–6 hours before stacking.
The flour
Both suggested brands are soft wheat and unbleached. Unbleached all-purpose works too, just sturdier. Milling your own? Use 310 g soft white berries, chill 2 hours, and add 1–2 tsp milk if the dough cracks.
Dye-free colors
Beet powder for pink to red, matcha or spirulina for green, a pinch of turmeric for yellow, butterfly pea for blue. Liquid dye-free color is fine here, since the icing is water-based already.
About the icing
Straight from the bowl it’s thick enough to pipe details. Add milk ½ tsp at a time to thin it for spreading or dunking. The honey is what makes it set hard and glossy instead of staying tacky.
Make ahead
Dough keeps 3 days in the fridge or 3 months frozen. Undecorated baked cookies freeze for 2 months. Decorated ones are best within 5 days in a tin.
Macros are estimates per iced 3-inch cookie. Boxed holiday tree cakes run about 220–390 calories each.
Real nourishment, for real life.
Coaching clients get the full Nested Nutrition recipe card collection, a seasonal grocery guide, and a plan built around their own kitchen.