Simple Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Natural, Yet Vibrant, Rainbow Icing
These are the best sugar cookies ever! The cookies keep their shape when baked, are soft and flavorful, and are perfect for decorating with my natural icing recipe.
You are going to love these sugar cookies for a variety of reasons. First, they are ridiculously easy to make and nearly impossible to mess up. Second, the dough can be made ahead of time and frozen in plastic wrap for up to six months. Third, these beautiful colors were made with all-natural food dyes. I’m thinking these sugar cookies are 3-for-3.
I used the Nature’s Colors Decorating Set from India Tree for dying the icing on today’s cookies. It’s the same food coloring I used in my Pinwheel Cookies. These food colors are made from concentrated vegetable colorants and contain no corn syrup or synthetic dyes.
Will your green cookies have a hint of zucchini? Will your orange cookies taste like carrots? Nope. There is no flavor associated with the colors. Just natural goodness. They also carry colored sugar crystals and cute little edible decor items worth checking out.
How to Make These Simple Sugar Cookies
Are you ready for something that looks and tastes amazing but is also kid-safe and uses natural food coloring? Plus, this recipe is so easy you can even get the kids involved in baking! So give your family the sweet treat they deserve.
Ingredients
- 2½ cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 large room-temperature eggs
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of softened salted butter
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoons of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
Instructions
Cream together butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until combined.
Divide the dough into two equal portions. Shape each piece of dough into a round, flat disc and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Do you know the difference between a jelly pan/baking pan and a cookie sheet? You can find out in my post 8 Tricks for Extraordinary Cookies from Scratch You Need to Know.
Remove one sugar cookie dough disc from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften slightly. Place sugar cookie dough on a floured surface and roll to ½” thickness. Use your cookie cutters and cut out the dough. I used this set of cookie cutters for the snowflake cookies photoed. Place your cookies 1” apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
Repeat until all the dough is used.
Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and set around the edges.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Waiting longer may lead to tough cookies. Moving them too soon will cause them to be misshapen.
Repeat the process with the second disc of dough.
Rainbow Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup of confectioner sugar
- 2 tablespoons of milk or light cream
- Nature’s Colors Food Coloring by India Tree
Instructions
To make the icing, put the confectioner sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Mix 2 tablespoons of milk, slowly adding more milk (if necessary) to get the desired thickness.
Divide the icing into parts and add the colors of your choice. I used various colors for my snowflake cookies, including several shades of blue.
This icing does not harden completely but will solidify within an hour of applying it to the cookie.
Store Your Cookies for Later
As I said, this is one of those recipes that can be made in bulk and frozen into sections. I usually make a double or even triple batch this time of year to quickly get cookies baked without the mess if I’m invited to a holiday party.
Just pull the cookies from the freezer the night before the event and pop them in the fridge. They will be ready to go by mid-morning (in other words, after the kids are in school and you’ve had a cup or two of coffee).
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
This post may contain paid links. If you make a purchase using the links in this recipe, I may earn a commission.
Ingredients
For Cookies
- 2½ c. All-Purpose Flour
- 2 large Eggs room temperature
- 1 c. Sugar
- 1 c. Butter salted, softened
- 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¾ tsp. Baking Powder
- ½ tsp. Salt
For Icing
- 1 c. Confectioners Sugar
- 2 tbsp. Milk or light cream
- Nature’s Colors Food Coloring by India Tree
Instructions
Cookie Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer.1 c. Butter, 1 c. Sugar
- Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined.2 tsp. Vanilla Extract, 2 large Eggs
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until combined.2½ c. All-Purpose Flour, ¾ tsp. Baking Powder, ½ tsp. Salt
- Divide the dough into two equal portions. Shape each piece of dough into a round, flat disc and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.
- Remove one sugar cookie dough disc from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften slightly.
- Place sugar cookie dough on a floured surface and roll to ½” thickness.
- Use your cookie cutters and cut out the dough and place them 1” apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Repeat until all the dough is used.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and just set around the edges.
- Remove and let sit on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with the second disc of dough.
Icing Instructions
- Add confectioners sugar in a medium-sized bowl.1 c. Confectioners Sugar
- Starting with mixing in 2 tablespoons of milk, slowly adding more milk (if necessary) to get the thickness you desire.2 tbsp. Milk
- Divide the icing into parts and add the colors of your choice.Nature’s Colors Food Coloring by India Tree
Nutrition
In conclusion, these sugar cookies have everything from the ease of preparation to the all-natural coloring. With the opportunity to use various colors and shapes to create custom cookies, sugar cookies make for a perfect snack for any occasion. You can make a big batch and freeze them for up to six months. Making your life easier and your cookie cravings satisfied, these sugar cookies do not disappoint. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s make some cookies!
