Christmas Cookie Frosting
I’ve been perfecting my Christmas Sugar Cookies (cut outs) for 20+ years. This is the BEST Christmas Cookie Frosting recipe I use to top them!
Most people have strong opinions about politics, religion, global warming, etc.
I mean these are important things so I get it, but I have opinions about cookies- especially cut out cookies and the frosting that tops them.
- The cookie needs to be sturdy enough to hold a generous amount of frosting.
- Soft cut out cookies only please!
- Keep the sprinkles to a minimum… I’m trying to enjoy the frosting, not break a tooth.
- Finally, the frosting needs to not be sticky. I have children running around my house with cookies in their hands. I don’t need the frosting sticking to them and whatever they touch (and they touch EVERYTHING).
What Makes This the BEST Christmas Cookie Frosting?
This is a no-fuss frosting recipe.
Omit the almond extract of you don’t have any on hand.
Try other extracts such as peppermint, lemon, or rum. I have even seen cake batter extract in some craft and specialty stores!
You can add more or less heavy cream (or milk) to make the consistency that you need. If I’m spreading the Chrsitmas Cookie Frosting with a knife I use more cream. If I’m piping the frosting I tend to make it stiffer and use less cream.
For a special twist sometimes I even use liquid vanilla coffee creamer.
If you make your frosting too runny you can add more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
Are you looking for a stiff frosting that dries completely hard?
Try my Small Batch Royal Icing recipe. I use it for cookies as well as for building and decorating gingerbread houses.
I’ve been perfecting my BEST Sugar Cookies Ever and this BEST Christmas Cookie Frosting for over 20 years.
These are the most popular recipes on my website and the most requested recipes from family and friends. You don’t want to pass this up!
Q and A about Christmas Cookie Frosting:
Can I use this Christmas Cookie Frosting on Valentine’s Day cookies? Halloween? etc.
- Yes! Use I use this frosting recipe for nearly every cookie I make all year long.
- You can use it to frost cakes as well!
Ewww shortening is DISGUSTING! How could you?!
- I’m sorry to ruin your life. There’s good news and bad news here. The good news is that you can use whatever frosting recipe you want! The bad news is that you have to follow this recipe to get the stated results.
- Shortening (Crisco is what I generally use) makes this a “crisping” frosting. It will hold its shape days after being piped onto cookies. It won’t melt or wilt and isn’t sticky like store-bought frosting tends to be. I can also stack cookies for freezing and/or transporting after the frosting crisps up (at least 2-4 hours).
- More good news- there are organic all vegetable shortenings available out there in Internet land. I linked to one at the bottom of this post.
I’m still disgusted about using shortening. I’m going to use butter. Can I use butter…?
- You can use 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of shortening with similar results… but please don’t email me saying that the frosting didn’t crisp up and it didn’t hold its shape very well.
- If you want to use all butter, well then you are making American Buttercream. It’s delicious and I frost my cakes with it.
Everyone I know has a nut allergy. Can I omit the almond extract?
- You’re in good company, my son has a peanut allergy. My heart is happy that you want to accommodate all of the special dietary needs in your family and circle of friends. Bless you!!
- I personally use IMITATION almond extract. According to FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education):
Avoid natural extracts, such as pure almond extract. Imitation or artificially flavored extracts generally are safe.
- Always best to check with the person you are serving the cookies to, and of course let their doctor or allergist have the final word. If you are uncomfortable you can omit the almond extract and use all vanilla extract.
How long and how can I store this Christmas Cookie Frosting?
- Leftover frosting should be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. It can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week and frozen for several months. Use leftover frosting just as you would freshly whipped frosting once it is warmed up and ready to spread. Bring it back to room temperature or to just slightly chilled.
Do I need to refrigerate frosted cookies?
- As I’ve always understood it the small amount of milk is stabilized by the large amount of sugar and considered safe at room temperature for two to three days. But of course do what feels safe for your family. We eat these within 2-3 days.
Those are really bright colors! What food coloring do you use?
- I never use liquid food coloring (typical food coloring that you can find in the grocery store).
- I prefer to use food coloring gel such as Americolor or Wilton.
- You can find food coloring gel online (I link to it at the bottom of this post), at Hobby Lobby, JoAnne’s, Michaels, or even some Wal-Marts in the crafting/cake decorating section.
- I prefer gels because you only need a few drops to get a vibrant rainbow of colors.
Christmas Cookie Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 Cup shortening, such as Crisco (*see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract, *nut allergies see notes
- 8 cups powdered sugar, about a 2 lb bag
- 1/2 Cup heavy cream , or whole milk (more or less added to desired consistency)
- Food coloring, if desired
Instructions
- In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl for use with your handheld electric mixer, place shortening and extracts. BEAT until creamy (at least 1 minute).
- ADD powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.
- ADD cream 2-3 Tablespoons at a time, alternating with the powdered sugar.
- MIX until creamy. Use more or less cream (or whole milk) to reach desired consistency. (I like for it to be smooth enough to pipe through a piping bag, but still a bit more firm than typical store-bought frosting.)
- ADD a 2-3 drops of gel food coloring if desired.
Notes
- You can omit the almond extract. Replace with vanilla.
- You can omit vanilla and almond extract and use 1 teaspoon peppermint extract.
- Whole milk or heavy cream will be okay in this recipe.
- Use more or less cream to reach our desired consistency. For spreading with a knife you may want more cream, for piping in bags you may want a firmer frosting so you can use less cream.
- If you omit the shortening and decide to use all butter that is okay but the frosting will not crisp up and you will not be able to stack the cookies.
Nutrition
Don’t forget to grab my Best Sugar Cookie Recipe while you’re here!
Items used in this post:
96 Comments on “Christmas Cookie Frosting”
Ive made the cookies they r awesome , never made the frosting , my question is if i half the recipe for the frosting will it change it in any way
You can halve the recipe with no problem at all!
I’m going to use this recipe tomorrow. I’m wondering, will I be able to put the individual cookies in little cellophane bags when they are “dry” without messing up the icing? I’m making a lot for work so individual bags would be easier and safer for distributing.
Thanks in advance! I’ll come back to let you know how they turn out.
Yes you will be able to. They aren’t very stackable (the icing will flatten a bit under too much weight) but the icing won’t stick to the bag like store bought frosting would.
Officially the BEST cookie frosting I have EVER had. I made it along with your best sugar cookie recipe for Christmas in 2018, and they were a HIT. Thanks, Katrina!! Stay safe!!
Do you have a book for sale on how to decorate designs on Christmas cookies
Would you recommend this frosting for piping cupcakes?
Just made your sugar cookie recipe it came out so yummy I have them frosted with this recipe too very good was surprised I liked it cause I love butter frosting but I really like the taste and I am a frosting snob if it’s made with unsalted butter it tastes like lard to me yucky anyway how long before it hardens? They are still gooy?
Hi! I’m going to make these, I love sugar cookies. I heard that almond extract wasn’t made from almonds. Have you ever heard this?
Thank you!
I need to try your frosting this year with my Christmas cookies. I normally use icing and couldn’t find a frosting that would crisp. Thank you for sharing!
about how many cookies can be frosted with these amounts?
How long does it take for the frosting to harden up once on the cookies? I would like to use this recipe for a cookie decorating party for 1st graders. They will be taking the cookies home that day, maybe 10-15 minutes after decorating. Thank you
That may be a bit too quick but here is a tip that we do with kids- place the cookies on a rimmed paper plate and place in a zip top bag. As long as they don’t stuff them in their backpack they should be fine!
How long can this frosting be mixed up and refrigerated for? To keep reusing
Hi. I used your cookie and frosting recipes for neighborhood Christmas celebration. Got rave reviews and no leftovers! I am working on Easter cookies for pre school party and really want to flood the cookies like with Royal icing but your frosting is so much better. Is there a way to thin it to be able to flood cookies with an outline? Thank you so much.
Where did you purchas the frosting bag clips I see in the photo?
Awesome recipe. I was skeptical but it is delicious! I used butter flavored Crisco and substituted butter extract for the almond in a few of the several batches I made. Thanks for the recipe! Everyone loved it!
Hello,do you know how many cookies that will frost?Thanks
Made these cookies and frosting for Christmas! They are amazing!
Great to read this! This has always been my favorite frosting recipe, which I call wedding cake frosting.
Our school lunch lady used to make it when I was a kid, but would not share the recipe. So as an adult I combed every cookbook in the library until I found the one that tasted like it.
The one thing that you omit, which I highly recommend including, is 1/2 TSP of salt (or 1/4 TSP for a one pound box of sugar, which is the size batch I make for a cake). It really enhances and brings out the flavor without being enough to taste the salt.
Also, I like to make it a day in advance to give the 3% cornstarch found in all confectioners sugar, a chance to diminish in taste.
We have been using your cookie recipe for a number of years too. It’s the best and agree not having to refrigerate the dough is a big plus!
One other tip…a lot of Christmas cookies use lemon flavored frosting, so I make half the frosting with that instead of almond.
Hi! I’m interested in testing out this frosting, but I don’t see how much frosting this makes…I’m planning on making about 4 dozen cookies, would this recipe work?
I made this yesterday for our annual cookie decorating, was great except for some reason it just wouldn’t ‘stick’ to the cookies?… When we spread the frosting, it just wanted to come back up – so had a tough time decorating.
Hi Katrina!
I read through the comments so sorry if I missed this question previously, but is there a way to thin out a bit of the frosting so I can flood some of the cookies? I don’t want an entire batch of thin frosting but I did want to do some of them that way… thank you and I’m so excited to use this recipe!!
Hi there! We used your icing recipe at Christmas and loved it! We are gluten/dairy free and it worked so well with our coconut milk. I am curious, do you think this will go well on cupcakes? Or would you recommend a different icing for cupcakes? Thanks so much!
I plan to use your fabulous sugar cookie recipe to make Easter bunny cookies. If I would want to make some of the frosting recipe chocolate, how would you suggest might be the best way to do that?
I gave away a collection of great cookie cutters because I couldn’t make a really good, workable sugar cookie dough. Thanks to you after 20 years of failure, now I can! Wish I had my collection of cookie cutters back.
I made your recipe for my Valentine cookies and everyone loved it. Will this frosting work for roses made ahead of time on parchment paper, and then transferred to cookies a few days later?
Yes definitely!
I made these cookies with a Gluten Free (one to one flour mix) at Christmas and we all loved. Them! In fact, some friends brought some non-GF cookies they had made over and I tried a bite of one….they were not nearly as good, my husband agreed. So THANKS for sharing this! We just made it again for V-Day. I am going to try your icing recipe and was curious if you posted a link to organic shortening. I am not opposed to Crisco but was curious what else you have tried. Thanks so much.
What gf flour did you use? I can’t seem to get a good gf recipe
This was the worst icing I have ever made. I followed the directions to a tee and it still turned out bad. The cream and colour separated from the shortening within minutes of piping. So small chunks of shortening clumped up the icing. It was disgusting. Very mad. Made the whole recipe to go straight to the trash can.
Just made these for the second time. These are amazing cookies and pairs very well with the frosting. So very easy to make!! This will be my go to sugar cookie recipe!! Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Can you use this on cup cakes?
This will be my new “go to” frosting recipe! Thank you for sharing!
I tried the sugar cookie and frosting recipe for the first time. I was to bring cookies and frosting to two Christmas parties for a cookie decorating table. The cookies were easy to make and yummy! The frosting had a nice flavor and was very easy to work with. Everyone enjoyed decorating and loved eating them. Thank you!
I see that you recommended using artificial almond flavoring if you have a almond allergy. What if you also can’t use artificial flavorings because of what they use to make it. I have a allergy list you would not believe and I cant use artificial flavorings. Can I use vanilla in place of the Almond flavoring.
Love the cookies and this frosting! I used vegetable shortening Crisco and was delighted with the taste and so were the lil chefs. The only complaint I have..if it is one is..what do I do with all the extra frosting?? I kept it in the bags and placed them in a gallon ziploc and placed in the fridge.. Ugh, frosting problems..
I do have to confess using piping bags was a disaster for us.😟 Don’t do cookies ever and the lil chefs have now got the frosting bug😬
Excellent recipe! Worked perfect with your cut out cookie recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this! For those on the fence, don’t hesitate, try this recipe!