These simple cut out cookies have only a few ingredients and are free of dairy, eggs, and includes vegan friendly and gluten-free alternatives!
It just doesn’t feel like Christmas, unless we’ve spent at least one day baking up cookies. We love all the cookies, but my kids look forward to decorating cut out cookies the most. Over the years I’ve collected quite a few cookie cutters. I’m a sucker for after holiday sales too, so my collection grows each year. Like, do I really need another snowman cookie cutter? No, but at 75% off, why not?! 🙈
It’s been a busy season, but I finally busted out our big box of cookie cutters this past week and baked up a few dozen Christmas cookies. It’s a tradition we’ve had since the kids could hold a piping bag. Although I’ve managed to make our cookies with maple syrup instead of sugar, I haven’t found a good replacement for a simple powdered sugar icing for piping. You can opt to leave off the icing, but I included the easy recipe in the notes below if you’d like to give it a try.
We have so much fun decorating cookies and, as usual, now have several dozen cookies in the kitchen calling out to me!
I hope you enjoy these! Please let me know if you give them a try!
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Simple Cut-Out Cookies
- Yield: 1–2 dozen cookies 1x
Description
These simple cut out cookies hold their shape well and only have a few ingredients. Can easily be made vegan friendly and gluten-free by using listed alternatives. Decorate with your favorite icing and toppings!
Ingredients
- 1/2 (4 oz) cup dairy-free or regular butter, softened
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (90 ml) maple syrup
- 2 cups (275 g) gluten-free flour blend or unbleached all-purpose flour + extra for dusting (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
)
- scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine softened butter and maple syrup. Mix until well blended. Add 2 cups of flour, salt, and vanilla. Blend until well incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Dough should be similar in consistency to the photo above, like regular cookie dough. If your dough is too dry for some reason, you can add a splash of water to bring it together; too loose add flour a tablespoon at a time until it forms a soft dough.
- Roll dough between two large pieces of parchment paper, to about 1/4-inch thick. The thinner you roll the dough, the more crisp/crunchy they will be. Dust with a little flour if it gets sticky. Use any cookie cutter to cut out shapes and place 2-inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. If dough is too fragile to transfer, use a spatula or refrigerate until cold and you should be able to handle it better. Re-roll and repeat with remaining dough.
- If you didn’t already refrigerate the dough, I like to place pans in the refrigerator for at least 15–20 minutes to chill the dough. This helps the cookies hold their shape better.
- Ten minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350F. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and center is set. The cookies will be pretty light in color. Allow to cool slightly on the pan and then transfer cookies to a rack to cool thoroughly. They can be crumbly if handled when they’re hot.
- Eat plain or decorate with your favorite icing. I used a simple powdered sugar icing (not refined sugar free) which hardens quickly and can be stacked without sticking. Recipe in notes below. Makes about 1–2 dozen cookies, depending on your cookie cutters.
You can find the cookie cutters I used here
.
.This is the sparkling sugar I used to decorate the icing.
Notes
Icing Recipe: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3-5 tablespoons milk or water. Start by stirring in 2 tablespoons of milk and then add more a little at a time, just until the icing is thin enough to pipe. Do not add too much liquid or the icing will spread and not hold its shape. Add more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin until you get the right consistency.
Place icing into a piping bag, sandwich baggie, or squeeze bottle and cut a small opening in the tip. Decorate the cookies as you wish and allow to dry thoroughly before stacking.
- Category: Cookie, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dessert
You may also enjoy these similar recipes:
Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Gingerbread Cookies
Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies
Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Shortbread
My maple syrup is a lovely, bold, and extremely dark one from Coombs farm. I fear it may ‘stain’ the dough! Could I sub a blonde maple sugar instead or use honey? So happy to have found this recipe! These look perfect and I’d like to bake them tomorrow for the weekend!!
★★★★★
I made these today for Halloween! This is the BEST gf dough EVER! I rolled the cookies out without parchment paper and they handled just like regular dough. The end result they were crisp and just sweet enough! Thank you so much!
Hi Kellie! I’m so glad you gave these cookies a try and were happy with the results! The dough is very easy to work with and the cookies hold their shape well too. Thanks for taking the time to pop back by and leave a review! Enjoy your cookies!
hi! your tart looks amazing and im going to try your cookie dough. ive tried a million recipes but i cant seem to get those perfect rounded edges. any tips?
Hi Esther and thank you! The only thing I do is roll the dough out about 1/4” thick. Sometimes after I place the cutouts on the pan, I’ll pop the pan into the fridge and let it chill for 15-20 minutes. The cookies usually hold their shape and don’t spread much as you can see in the photos and video. Please let me know how it goes if you give it a try!
HI! Can you tell me if these are crisp cookies? Or soft? And do they stay crisp beyond Day one if so? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, it really depend how thin or thick the cookies are rolled. The thinner they are the more crisp they will be and the thicker, the more soft. The do seem to soften as the days pass too, especially from moisture if they are in an airtight container. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hello! I’ve been trying to bake them this afternoon but as a french mum I use grams and not cups. Is there any way you could give me your conversion since I’ve tried to convert online but the result was a very sticky and liquid dough 🙁 thanks!!
Hi Nathalie! I’m sorry your conversion didn’t work! I will make them again tomorrow and weigh each ingredient and update the recipe! I’ll let you know when it’s updated!! Thanks for giving it a try!
Hi Nathalie, I updated the recipe to include weighed measurements. I haven’t weighed ingredients before, so please let me know if I did it incorrectly! Hope this helps!
These cookies are so incredibly beautiful! I don’t know how you get them to look so perfect! I am just amazed! What a labor of love 🙂
These cookies sound tasty, Joscelyn! I wish I could have it right away. 🙂
Oh my! The simple elegance of these cookies looks lovely. They look simple to make but very cute and festive. Love your giant snowflake cutter. Could never think what to do with kne but never though about cutting out the middle. Fab post!
Thank you Gail!
Those cookies look too nice to eat. Very nicely decorated. I really should make some Christmas cookies.
Thanks Anna!
Definitely the most beautiful cut out cookies I’ve seen in a long while! I love the icing decoration – perfect for Christmas ♥
Thank you Natalie!
You iced these so beautifully! They look gorgeous AND delicious!
Thank you Kate! Have a lovely evening!
Wow! These are beautiful! They look delicious.I truly wish I was talented enough to make cookies like this! I will definitely have to give these a try. I love that you even gave the vegan or gluten-free options! Beautiful!
Aw, thank you so much Liz for the encouragement and kindness. I hope you have a lovely evening. I really appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment!
So beautiful, love the pretty cut-outs!
Thank you so much Laura! I hope you’re having a wonderful day! Xoxo
These look so fun and so easy to make! You are such a master decorator! Love the beautiful shapes and pipping! I am the same haha! I love to buy the baked stuff in the after holiday sales! 75% off sounds mighty good to me, and hence I have a ton of baking stuff too 😉 Its my addiction.. shhhhh!