
Deck the halls with these festive and irresistible Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies. They’re simple to whip up and even easier to assemble. Leave a few for Santa, and you’ll make the Nice List for life!
There’s nothing better than getting the whole family involved in a cookie-decorating extravaganza.

These Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies look super impressive but aren’t difficult to put together. All you need is colored buttercream frosting, a grass-icing tip, and some sprinkles to pull off these festive cookies.
You can easily put together a cookie decorating spread for your whole family to take part in. Pair these Wreath Sugar Cookies with customizable Christmas Sugar Cookies, and let the creativity fly.
Create snowmen and ornaments, or coat them with holiday sprinkles. You could even turn these Cinnamon Cookies into Rudolph. All your holiday baking trays will come together in no time!
Don’t worry, these Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies don’t just look amazing, they taste incredible too. The cookies are soft, tender, and not overly sweet. That way, the buttercream icing doesn’t overpower the cookie but highlights its subtle vanilla flavor.

Table of Contents
Why Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies are the Best
These Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies are the perfect holiday treat. They’ll have Santa doubling back to your house for another bite!
- Don’t let the look of these cookies intimidate you! They’re simple to make, and a grass icing tip makes decorating them effortless.
- They’re the perfect addition to holiday baking trays, gifts, or goodie bags.
- Almond extract in the buttercream frosting makes these cookies delectable.
Helpful Tools
- Mixing Bowl
- Stand or Hand Mixer – A stand mixer makes the process super simple, but a hand mixer will work too.
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Rubber Spatula
- Cling Wrap – To wrap the dough in while it chills in the fridge.
- Rolling Pin
- 3-inch Round Cookie Cutter – This is for the outermost edge of the Wreaths
- 1.75-inch Round Cookie Cutter – This is to cut the hole out of the center of the wreaths. You can use any size smaller than 3-inches depending on how thick you want the wreaths to look.
- Cookie Sheets
- Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats – Optional, but they help make cleanup a breeze.
- Piping Bags
- Grass Icing Tip – This is essential to achieve the full, volumized, green wreath appearance.
- Small Round Icing Tip – To pipe the bow.

Ingredients and Substitutions
For the Sugar Cookies:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Salt
- Butter – Use softened, unsalted butter for the dough. If you only have salted butter on hand, omit the added salt.
- Sugar – Reach for Superfine Sugar for the best and most delicate cookie texture.
- Eggs – Room temperature eggs will incorporate the easiest.
- Vanilla Extract

For the Frosting:
- Butter – It’s essential that you use softened, unsalted butter for the frosting.
- Powdered Sugar
- Almond Extract – Don’t skip this ingredient. It really makes this recipe special.
- Gel Food Coloring – You’ll need both red and green.
- Sprinkles – I use gold sugar sprinkles, but feel free to get creative.

How to Make Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies
- Cream Butter and Sugar – In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high. You’re looking for the mixture to almost double in size, become light in color, creamy, and fluffy in texture.
- Incorporate Eggs – Mix in one egg at a time, ensuring they’re fully incorporated before adding the next.
- Mix in Dry Ingredients and Vanilla in Increments – Add your dry ingredients and vanilla extract to the butter mixture in small batches. Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, you know all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.
- Chill the Dough – Flatten the dough into a round disc shape and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate it for at least an hour.
- Prep Baking Trays and Oven – Line baking sheets with parchment and preheat oven as directed.
- Roll Out and Cut Wreaths – Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface. Then, cut out 3-inch rounds with the larger cutter. Next, use the smaller cutter to cut out and remove the center of each cookie.
- Bake Then Cool – Place cutout sugar cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and bake. Let baked cookies cool before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
For Frosting and Assembling:
- Cream Butter – Whip softened butter until it’s airy and light in color.
- Add Almond Extract and Sugar In Batches – Add almond extract, and the powdered sugar in small additions to the butter. Beat the mixture until you have a smooth, fluffy icing.
- Color the Buttercream – Tint ¾ of the frosting green, and color the remaining frosting red.
- Decorate – Pipe the green buttercream using the grass icing tip in small circles around the entire cookie. Then, pipe the red frosting with the small round nozzle to create a bow on the top center of each cookie. Finally, you can add sprinkles or other decorations to complete these festive holiday treats.

Tips
- Need help with baking conversions? Check out this Essential Measurement Conversion Chart.
- Parchment paper works well, but a silpat mat works well too.
- You can take the scraps of cookie dough from the center cutouts and roll them together to cut out more wreath cookies. Or, you can bake and decorate them separately (they make adorable ornament bites.)
- Add food coloring in increments until you achieve the desired shade of frosting.
- If the buttercream is too thick to pipe, you can beat in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh cream.

Frequently Asked Questions
Chilling the dough before baking is essential so the cookies don’t melt in the oven. As long as you chill the dough, these sugar cookies will be soft, tender, and melt in your mouth. If you skip this step, they’ll flatten, spread, and become dry in the oven.
Don’t let the tools listed for this recipe stop you from enjoying these holiday treats. The sugar cookies’ shape and the color of the icing do most of the work to convey that they’re Christmas Wreaths. Instead, skip the piping and frost the cookies with green buttercream and decorate them with holiday sprinkles.
How To Store
- Room Temperature – Store in a sealed container for up to 1-2 days.
- Refrigerate – Store Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’ll stay fresh for 3-4 days.
- Freeze – You can store baked but un-iced sugar cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for later use. Place wax paper between each layer, so they don’t stick together. They’ll keep for 2-3 months in the freezer.
If you have any extra frosting, you can also store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It’ll last for 4-5 days, but make sure you let it come to room temperature before using it.


Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 4 cups All-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter , (room temperature)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs, size large
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
Frosting
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 3 cups Powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon Almond extract
To Decorate
- Gel food coloring , Red and Green
- Gold sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- Cream Butter and Sugar – In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high. You’re looking for the mixture to almost double in size, become light in color, creamy, and fluffy in texture.
- Incorporate Eggs – Mix in one egg at a time, ensuring they’re fully incorporated before adding the next.
- Mix in Dry Ingredients and Vanilla in Increments – Add your dry ingredients and vanilla extract to the butter mixture in small batches. Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, you know all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.
- Chill the Dough – Flatten the dough into a round disc shape and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate it for at least an hour.
- Prep Baking Trays and Oven – Line baking sheets with parchment and preheat oven as directed.
- Roll Out and Cut Wreaths – Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface. You’re looking to get it ¼ inch thick. Then, cut out 3-inch rounds with the larger cutter. Next, use the smaller cutter to cut out and remove the center of each cookie.
- Bake Then Cool – Place cutout sugar cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes. Let baked cookies cool undisturbed on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
Frosting and Assembling
- In a bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream the butter until it's light and creamy. Add almond extract, and sugar (in batches) and beat until you get a smooth and fluffy consistency (5-6 min).
- Take 3/4 of the frosting and tint it with green gel food color. Tint the remaining frosting with red gel food color.
- Put grass icing tip into the piping bags and fill it with prepared green-colored icing. Pipe the frosting onto the cookies in a circular manner.
- Fill the red frosting in another piping bag fitted with small round tip nozzle and pipe the bows on the frosted cookies. Sprinkle some gold sugar on top or decorate further as you like!
- Serve immediately and enjoy! Merry Christmas!!
Notes
- Parchment paper works well, but a silpat mat works well too.
- You can take the scraps of cookie dough from the center cutouts and roll them together to cut out more wreath cookies. Or, you can bake and decorate them separately (they make adorable ornament bites.)
- Add food coloring in increments until you achieve the desired shade of frosting.
- If the buttercream is too thick to pipe, you can beat in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh cream.
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