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Home » Blog » Recipes

Slice-and-Bake Christmas Design Cookies

Tyler April Townley — Leave a Comment

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Slice-and-bake Christmas design cookies on a platter.

These are just like the slice-and-bake design cookies you can buy at the store, only better tasting, and you can customize them with any design you want. All you need is some cookie dough and mini cookie cutters.

I used my Vanilla Shortbread Sugar Cookie and Chocolate Shortbread Sugar Cookie recipes to make these, but I have several recipes that you can use. I do not recommend using any cookie dough that has add-ins, like nuts or chocolate chips.

Shortbread Sugar Cookie Recipes

  • Mexican Hot Chocolate
  • Chocolate Candy Cane
  • Candy Cane
  • Pecan Praline
  • Lemon Rosemary
  • Mint Chocolate
  • Maple
  • Cookies and Cream
  • Mint Chip
  • Vanilla Bean
  • Brown Butter Spiced
  • Masala Chai
  • Mocha
  • Cranberry Orange
  • Horchata
  • Lemon
  • Earl Grey
  • Pecan Turtle
  • Banana Bread
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Pistachio
  • Cookie Butter
  • Chocolate Hazelnut
  • Macadamia
  • Lavender
  • Chocolate Chip
  • Red Velvet
  • Chocolate
  • Peanut Butter
  • Matcha
  • Almond

Cookie Dough

Prepare your cookie dough and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Green, brown, white, and red cookie dough wrapped in cling wrap.

You can make a single batch of each color you plan to use, or you can make a batch of dough, divide it, and dye it different colors. Be careful not to overwork your dough, as that can activate gluten production and your cookies can spread or shrink when they bake.

Center Design

  • Roll out the cookie dough and cut our your center designs.
Rolled out chocolate cookie dough with mini gingerbread cutouts.
  • Stack your center design cutouts. You might need to brush them with a little bit of water to get them to stick together well.
Gingerbread men cookie dough cutouts stacked together.
  • Make sure not to overwork the cutouts to avoid them becoming misshapen. If dough becomes too warm to work with, return to freezer until firm.
  • Once you’ve stacked all your center design cutouts, freeze until very firm.
Gingerbread men cookie dough cutouts stacked together.

Fill in Rest of Cookie

  • Roll or cut out strips of cookie dough and fill in spaces around center design.
  • If your cookie dough becomes too warm to work with, return to freezer.

Make sure to really work the strips of dough into the spaces around your center design, so you don’t end up with big holes and gaps in your cookies.

Gingerbread men cookie dough cutouts stacked together with strips of cookie dough filling in the spaces between arms and legs.
  • Continue to add strips of cookie dough around center design until you have a log of cookie dough.
  • Roll the log into a nice round shape. Roll in sprinkles or sanding sugar.
A log of cookie dough with a Christmas tree center design, rolled in Christmas sprinkles.
  • Wrap your cookie log in cling wrap or parchment paper, and return to freezer until firm.
  • You can also make dough ahead of time and freeze for up to 3 months.

I recommend wrapping in parchment paper and then in cling wrap if you are making these ahead and freezing for a longer period of time.

A log of cookie dough wrapped in parchment paper.

Slice and Bake

  • Using a sharp, non-serrated knife, slice ¼″ slices from your cookie log.
Logs of cookie dough with center designs. A Christmas tree, snowflake, heart, and gingerbread man.
  • Place on parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet, leaving 1″ between each cookie.
Slice-and-bake gingerbread design cookies on a cookie sheet.
  • Bake at  350°F for 16-22 minutes, or until edges of cookies begin to darken.
Baked slice-and-bake center design cookies on a marble surface.

Cookies will stay fresh at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or frozen in an airtight container for 1 month.

Slice-and-bake Christmas design cookies on a platter.

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Slice-and-Bake Design Cookies

No-spread shortbread cookie recipe that can be used for slice-and-bake design cookies.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cookies, cut out cookies, decorated cookies, lemon cookies, roll and cut cookies, shortbread, slice-and-bake, sugar cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Resting Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Calories: 226kcal
Author: Tyler April Townley

Equipment

  • measuring cups and spoons
  • mixing bowls
  • whisk
  • spatula
  • cling wrap
  • stand mixer with paddle attachment
  • large knife
  • silicone baking mats
  • cookie sheets
  • cookie cutters optional
  • rolling pin

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric
  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • gel food coloring

Instructions

  • Whisk dry ingredients (flour and cornstarch) together and set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugars with paddle attachment, on medium-low speed, until fluffy and pale in color (about 5 minutes).
  • Add egg and extract and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the paddle with a spatula, and then continue to mix on low speed for another 30 seconds to ensure everything is fully incorporated.
  • Add dry ingredients, all at once, and mix on low speed just until dough starts to come together and no dry bits remain. Do not overmix.
  • Divide dough and dye with gel food coloring. Be careful not to overwork your dough. You can also make several batches of dough, and add food coloring when you add your eggs.
  • Turn out dough onto cling wrap, wrap tightly, and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).
  • Knead, roll, cut out center designs, stack together, and return freezer until firm. 
  • Fill indentations around frozen center design with dough color of your choice. If dough becomes too soft, return to freezer.
  • Continue adding dough around center design until it is fully surrounded. Roll log to smooth out, roll in sprinkles or sanding sugar, tightly wrap in cling wrap, and return to freezer until firm.
  • Slice ¼" slices from frozen log, and place on silicone lines baking sheets 1" apart.
  • Bake at 350° for ~15 minutes, turn pan, and bake for another 1-5 minutes until edges are starting to turn a golden brown.
  • Remove from oven and allow to fully cool on cookie sheet before handling.
  • Cookies will stay fresh at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Notes

 
 
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 226kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 32mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 396IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?I’d love to hear how it went! Rate & comment below!

Categories: Christmas Cookies, Cookies, Recipes, Shortbread Sugar Cookies

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Tyler April Townley

Hi, I’m Tyler!

A professional pastry chef turned teacher of all things cookie decorating & more. I’ve made thousands of decorated cookies, cakes, & treats for happy clients over the years. Now I’m sharing my knowledge so you too can bake & decorate like a pro.

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Tyler April Townley

Hi, I’m Tyler!

A professional pastry chef turned teacher of all things cookie decorating & more. I’ve made thousands of decorated cookies, cakes, & treats for happy clients over the years. Now I’m sharing my knowledge so you too can bake & decorate like a pro.

Instagram Pinterest Facebook Twitter YouTube
About · Blog · Shop · Subscribe

Subscribe for Updates

Never miss a recipe or new online!

You can also follow on Instagram & Facebook!

Learn to Decorate Today!

  • Online Cookie Decorating Masterclass
    Online Cookie Decorating Masterclass
  • Products included in my Cookie Decorating Starter Kit
    Cookie Decorating Supply Starter Kit

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