Homemade sweet sugar cookies during the holidays is an absolute must for our family, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without! So today, we’re sharing our go-to recipe for making traditional sugar cookies with an easy to make sugar cookie frosting.

Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies with frosting.

Homemade Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe

Once they’re all baked and cooled, the fun part begins with decorating the sugar cookies using a sweet and smooth frosting! The large batch of frosting can be divided into as many individual batches of frosting as desired depening on how many colors you wish to use.

In our case, we kept the colors minimal with just a small drop of red and green to create a soft, muted frosting color. Once decorated, store the cookies in an air-tight container in the fridge until ready to serve and enjoy!

Easy Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe

Jane and Sonja

Make your own sugar cookie frosting from scratch with this simple and sweet go-to recipe.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 13

Servings Cookies

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

2.5 cups flour
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Frosting Ingredients

3 egg whites at room temperature
pinch salt
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice or orange juice

Instructions

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Combine allof the sugar cookie ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together to make dough.
If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.
Divide dough in two and roll out the dough on a floured surface until 1/4" thick.
Use cookie cutters to cut shapes and transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350F for 13 minutes.
Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Recipe

Beat egg whites and a pinch of salt on medium speed in a medium sized mixing bowl.
When the egg mixture starts to get white and forms a rim, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice (or orange juice) and switch high speed. Continue mixing until you achieve a thicker consistency that will pipe well.
Divide royal icing into different bowls. Add 1 drop of food color to start for muted colors. The more dye you add, the deeper and more saturated the frosting color.
Use piping tips or cut a small hole in the bag to decorate the sugar cookies.