This Halloween, sweeten up your spooky celebrations with Halloween Cut Out Sugar Cookies! We bake up No-Chill Cut Out Sugar Cookies and then decorate with sanding sugar and perfectly colored Royal Icing to really lean into your creative side.
These sugar cookies are great desserts to make ahead for a costume party! They hold their shape in the oven and bake up nice and flat. You can decorate with royal icing or buttercream - make an activity out of it so your guests can have fun with their own cookies. Or, package them up in cellophane bags and give out as party favors.
The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per cookie: $0.08
- Total Cost (about 45 3-inch cookies): $3.43
- Those Other Guys: $4.00 per cookie
Ingredients
- Salted Butter - This recipe calls for a cup of softened, but still cool butter. Do not melt the butter, as that will cause the cookies to spread during baking!
- Sugar - A touch of granulated sugar helps with the taste and texture of these cookies. Using a stand mixer, we're going to cream the butter and sugar together.
- Cornstarch - To make the cookies extra soft and chewy. This is also a stabilizer, so they won't spread in the oven.
- Extracts - I love a combination of vanilla and almond extract! Almond is potent, so you don't need nearly as much as you do vanilla. If you absolutely dislike almond extract, just do all vanilla extract. You can also substitute for lemon extract, maple extract, or peppermint extract.
Other Holiday-Themed Sugar Cookies
Our base sugar cookie recipe can be used for any type of cookie cutter shape, so you can enjoy these year round! Check out some decorating ideas for:
How to Make Halloween-Themed Cut Out Cookies
Step 1: To begin, cream your softened butter and sugar until smooth and just combined, about 2 minutes. A stand mixer with a paddle attachment works best here.
Don't whip too long - you don't want to incorporate extra air into the dough! Air = spreading.
Step 2: Pour in the vanilla and almond extracts, and one whole egg.
Mix together again until just combined.
Step 3: The bowl should look like this; scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
Meanwhile, mix together your dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add them to the wet bowl until a soft dough forms.
Step 4: Separate the dough into two balls, then roll one of them between sheets of parchment paper until you have a disc that is ¼-inch thick.
Cut out your shapes, then bake for 6 - 8 minutes. These are ready to eat, or you can decorate once fully cooled.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Measure the dry ingredients by weight. It's sometimes hard to get the perfect amount of flour or sugar using a measuring cup! In the recipe card, I included the weight in grams so that you get show-stopper sugar cookies, every time.
- Don't over-whip. Only cream your butter and sugar for about 2 minutes; and then, mix in the remaining ingredients until just combined. If you over-mix and incorporate too much air into the dough, the cookies could spread in the oven.
- Utilize parchment paper. Roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper. This helps prevent adding extra flour to the cookie dough, which can dry it out!
- Carefully transfer. Because we don't chill the dough, it's super soft after cutting out the shapes. Use a flat spatula to scoop the shapes up, one-by-one, and then remove any excess dough on the spatula. Finally, transfer the clean shape to a baking sheet prepared with a tiny amount of cooking spray or parchment paper.
- Let cool completely. Before decorating, you want the cookies to cool completely. They can actually be baked all in one day, and decorated the next day!
Decorating Ideas for Halloween
These don't have to be perfect - the best part of decorating sugar cookies at home is the fun you have with them! Get creative with your icing and topping combinations.
- Dye your royal icing in spooky hues. Think black, orange, green, dark purples, or white for ghosts.
- Spread sanding sugar on a plate. Add icing to the cookie, and flip the cookie, wet icing-side down, onto the sugar to completely cover.
- A tip for black royal icing: Start out by mixing any leftover colors so you aren't dying it from white. A good quality gel color helps as well; you shouldn't have to use much.
No pressure! If your design doesn't turn out how you want - you can always cover any mistakes with a solid layer of sanding sugar.
Recipe FAQs
Simply squeeze it together, using a gloved hand, to form a ball. Then roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper. The dough manipulation will help everything come together.
You sure can. Although this is a no-chill recipe, you certainly can make the dough up to 2 days ahead.
Simply form a dough ball, roll it out into a 1.5-inch disc, and then wrap with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator for up to two days.
This is a trick I've learned - scoop the dough with a spatula! You'll most likely get some excess dough on there as well, so simply remove any excess scraps and then gently move the final shape to a cookie sheet.
Once you place it on the cookie sheet, do not move it anymore.
You can store the baked, decorated cookies at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 1 week. Store in layers with sheets of parchment paper in between. After that, I recommend freezing to keep the soft, chewy texture - see the instructions in the section below.
Yep, there's actually a ton of ways to freeze not only the cookie dough, but the cookies themselves! I put really detailed instructions in the section below.
How to Freeze Sugar Cookies (Baked or Unbaked)
I love this recipe for cut out sugar cookies, because you can freeze at so many different stages of the recipe. Whatever works best for you; whether you want to save the dough for a family-fun night of rolling and cutting, or bake up and decorate a ton of cookies for an event, I got you covered!
Freezing Sugar Cookie Dough Before Rolling
- After mixing the dough together (Step 4 below), transfer it to a sheet of parchment paper and roll it into a ball.
- Flatten the ball into a 1.5-inch disc. Wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap.
- Place the wrapped disc into a freezer bag, remove the air, and seal.
- Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to roll, thaw the disc in the refrigerator overnight, let it come to room temperature, then roll out using a rolling pin and cut into shapes before baking (Step 6 below).
Freezing Sugar Cookie Dough After Cutting (Bake and Go!)
- Roll and cut your dough into shapes (Step 7 below).
- Place the shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Set the baking sheet into the freezer for 2-3 hours, until shapes are fully frozen.
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the cookie dough shapes 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Once you're ready to eat, thaw the shapes in the refrigerator overnight, let them come to room temperature, then bake according to the recipe instructions.
Freezing Baked, Unfrosted Sugar Cookies
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the baked cookies 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to decorate, thaw to room temperature either in the refrigerator or on the counter.
- If there's any moisture on the cookies, gently pat with a paper towel before adding icing.
Freezing Baked, Royal Icing-Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Let the icing set and dry completely!
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the cookies 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to eat, thaw to room temperature on the counter.
Other Halloween Recipes You'll Love!
If you tried this Halloween Cut Out Cookies Recipe, or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Thanks for visiting!
Halloween Cut Out Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with paddle attachment
- 2 Mixing Bowls
- Silicone Spatula
- Parchment Paper
- Rolling Pin if possible, with thickness rings
- Cookie Cutters Halloween themed
- Cookie Sheet
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened, but still cool
- 1 cup sugar 200g
- 1 count egg room temperature
- 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 420g
- ½ cup cornstarch 80g
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes.Stop halfway and scrape down the sides if needed.Don't over-whip; that incorporates too much air and the cookies will spread in the oven.1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup sugar
- Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix until just combined, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.1 count egg, 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon almond extract
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.3 cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Pour half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter bowl and mix on low speed. Then, add the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉.
- Divide the dough in half.Using a rolling pin, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it's ¼-inch thick.
- Cut out shapes of cookies using a cookie cutter, then add to a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.Because we aren't chilling the dough, it will be really soft. Once you cut the shapes out, use a spatula to gently transfer them from the parchment paper to the cookie sheet.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes. (The magic number for my stove is 7!) The cookies will be pale and slightly puffy, but set.Remove the pan and let the cookies cool on the pan for another 4-5 minutes. Finally, transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate with royal icing. You can serve immediately after the icing dries, or freeze (see notes below.) Enjoy!
Notes
- After mixing the dough together (Step 4 above), transfer it to a sheet of parchment paper and roll it into a ball.
- Flatten the ball into a 1.5-inch disc. Wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap.
- Place the wrapped disc into a freezer bag, remove the air, and seal.
- Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to roll, thaw the disc in the refrigerator overnight, let it come to room temperature, then roll out using a rolling pin and cut into shapes before baking (Step 6 above).
- Roll and cut your dough into shapes (Step 7 above).
- Place the shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Set the baking sheet into the freezer for 2-3 hours, until shapes are fully frozen.
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the cookie dough shapes 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to eat, thaw the shapes in the refrigerator overnight, let them come to room temperature, then bake according to the recipe instructions.
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the baked cookies 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to decorate, thaw to room temperature either in the refrigerator or on the counter.
- If there's any moisture on the cookies, gently pat with a paper towel before adding icing.
- Let the icing set and dry completely!
- Line a freezer-safe food storage container with parchment paper, then add the cookies 1 layer at a time, with sheets of parchment paper in between. Cover the last layer with plastic wrap as well.
- Remove any excess air, seal the container, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you're ready to eat, thaw to room temperature on the counter.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think!