Soft cut-out sugar cookies and buttercream frosting. Is there anything better? Here are my favorite recipes!
I’ve tried a lot of different cut-out cookie recipes and various techniques for cookie decorating. I’ve been disappointed by cut-out cookies that kept their shape beautifully but were virtually tasteless and ones that tasted great but spread in the oven. I want to share with you a great cookie recipe that I keep returning to, and the buttercream frosting recipe that I like to pair it with.
Traditionally, I’ve gone the royal icing route for holiday cookies. It certainly makes things easier that they harden and you can stack them up in tins or cookie boxes for friends. I also love to paint them with food coloring. The watercolor effect is so cool! However, I’ve personally always found royal icing cookies to be lacking in flavor. A buttercream frosting, while admittedly more rustic in appearance, tastes so much better to me!
The last few times I’ve made cutout cookies and decorated them, I’ve used vanilla buttercream frosting and have LOVED how these tasted. I hope you’ll love this combo too! Here are the recipes I’ve been loving…
For the Cookies:
White Velvet Sugar Cookies from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe – These hold their shape beautifully but are still soft and buttery. They melt in your mouth! If you’re looking for a crispy, harder cookie, this is not for you. But I personally love how these taste.
For the Buttercream:
Favorite Vanilla Buttercream from Sally’s Baking Addiction – Buttercream is my favorite on all baked goods — cakes, cupcakes, sandwiched between two cookies or macarons, or on a sugar cookie. I prefer buttercream to almost all other types of frosting. This is a great standard vanilla buttercream recipe that’s reliable and easy.
I’d love to hear what you think about cut-out sugar cookies. Are you team crispy cookie or soft cookie? Do you love royal icing, or more of a buttercream fan? They both have an important job to do 🙂
Let me know in the comments below, and please share any great recipes or tips that you think we would all find helpful!
