Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies with Buttercream

These Christmas wreath sugar cookies are a fun way to celebrate the holiday season. We use a round cookie cutter for easy wreath shapes, and decorating them is a fun activity for the whole family, too! Topped with a delicious homemade buttercream, this festive cookie is great for parties and cookie exchanges. No special skills needed - these cookies are great for baking pros and novices, too.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love these Holiday Treats
• 📋 Key Ingredients for Easy Christmas Cookies
• Best Results: Baking in Grams
• Recipe Substitutions and Variations
• 📖 Prep and Baking Instructions
• 🧁 Buttercream Instructions
• Option One for Sugar Cookie Decorating
• Option Two for Sugar Cookie Decorating
• ✨ Finishing Touches
• ❓ Recipe FAQ and Troubleshooting
• Instructions for Storing and Freezing Cookies
• More Baking Tips
• More Seasonal Cookies
• Christmas Wreath Sugar Cookies with Buttercream

For more holiday baking projects, check out my other Christmas recipes, with a few favorites highlighted below:

• 🍏 Mini apple Bundt cakes - Apple desserts belong in baked goods throughout the fall and winter. These small treats have cozy vibes, but my favorite thing about them is I don't need to turn on a mixer to make them.
• 🎄 Christmas tree sugar cookies - The sister recipe to these wreath cookies, my Christmas tree sugar cookies are a must-try. They're soft and chewy with easy steps to decorate.
• 🍊 Cranberry sour cream Bundt cake - Like my mini apple cakes, this cake recipe comes together in a mixing bowl, with no electric or stand mixer required. Topped off with an orange glaze, this Bundt cake is a winner for the holiday season or any special gathering.
• ☕️ Dirty chai cake - For another cake that's fitting for the season and cooler months, this spiced layer cake is a stunning crowdpleaser.

Why You'll Love these Holiday Treats

• No chill dough - A lot of cookie recipes don't work well unless you chill the cookie dough first. I never have the patience for that! I try to make all my cookie recipes no chill, and that's true here, too.
• Easy to prepare in advance - During the holidays, I like to host cookie parties, and this recipe is my go-to. It's great because I can start baking these sugar cookies weeks (or even a month or two!) in advance, freeze them, and have them ready long before the party. They freeze well and maintain their freshness.
• No expert skills needed - Whether you've been a baker for a long time or are new to homemade cookies and decorating them, these Christmas wreath sugar cookies use basic piping tools and techniques.
• An approachable holiday baking project - The holidays are busy enough without adding complicated kitchen and baking plans to the agenda. I have step-by-step photos for prepping the dough and decorating the cookies so you can make these at home with ease, too. If you have round cookie cutters and a few piping tips and bags, you have the basic tools needed to create these cookies.

📋 Key Ingredients for Easy Christmas Cookies

The recipe card contains all the steps and ingredients, but below are a few key items that bring flavor and color to this recipe. 

The recipe card contains all the steps for making this simple Christmas cookie, but below are highlights:

• Pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste – Vanilla adds a sweet taste and aroma here. Know that you don’t need expensive vanilla extract for good flavor. I never taste much difference between pricier extracts and more basic ones.
• Almond extract – This extract brings a warm and nutty flavor of almond to these basic sugar cookies.
• Buttercream - Instead of using a royal icing recipe, we decorate these holiday cookies with a smooth almond buttercream frosting. Piping that on top of these cookies adds texture.
• Food gel coloring - You'll need this ingredient to color your frosting! Wilton is normally available in grocery stores. Americolor and Chef Master also make high-quality food gels. I used red and green food coloring, but you could choose non-traditional colors instead.

Recipe Substitutions and Variations

• Two different ways to decorate - Below you'll see steps for decorating these festive Christmas wreath cookies with an open star tip, which is the simpler, more basic option. You can, alternatively, follow the guidance for creating "leaves" on this wreath with a leaf piping tip. Feel free to use whichever tutorial is best for you, based on how involved you want the decorating to be and the tools you have! You can't go wrong either way!
• Chocolate chips - For sugar cookies with a little something special, follow my chocolate chip sugar cookie recipe.
• Spiced sugar cookies - In my pumpkin sugar cookie tutorial, we use a spiced blend for more seasonal flavors. Feel free to explore adding your favorite spices to this dough if you want something a bit different.

📖 Prep and Baking Instructions

Cream butter and sugars: Cream unsalted butter, vanilla and almond extract, and sugars together in your mixing bowl for 3 minutes.

Mix in dry ingredients and eggs: Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add salt, baking powder, eggs, and flour. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed until the dough comes together. It will initially look crumbly - keep going!

Prepare your work surface: Flour a silicone mat or your counter for rolling out the dough. Work in smaller portions, dividing the dough into halves or thirds.

Roll cookie dough: Use a rolling pin to roll dough to ¼ inch thickness..

Cut cookies: Cut out shapes with a round cutter, and use the larger end of a piping tip to cut the centers for wreath cookies.

Transfer cookies to baking sheet: Use a spatula to lift cookies onto an ungreased or silicone-lined baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies and cool: Bake for 11–15 minutes (shorter time for smaller cookies, longer for larger ones). Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Repeat for remaining dough: Repeat the rolling, cutting, and baking process until all the dough is used.

🧁 Buttercream Instructions

Mix the buttercream base: In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, combine unsalted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream, and salt. Start mixing on low to prevent a sugar cloud, then beat on high for about 3 minutes. Taste test here; add a splash of lemon juice to reduce sweetness until flavor is to your liking.

Smooth the buttercream: Use a spatula to drag from the center to the sides of the bowl, smoothing out any air bubbles or tears. Repeat for 3–4 minutes to achieve the right consistency. It should be creamy and fairly easy to spread.

Divide and color the frosting: Separate the buttercream into bowls. Mix two shades of green and one red food coloring, leaving some white frosting in the bowl for backup.

Prepare for decorating: Transfer each color to separate piping bags, ready for decorating your Christmas sugar cookies.

Option One for Sugar Cookie Decorating

Option 1 is the simpler way to decorate these cookies, but it's no less interesting or pretty than option 2! Go with what best suits your interests and skill set.

Prepare to decorate: Once your cookies have cooled on a wire rack, get your piping bag ready. An open star tip like Wilton 14 or 21 works well for adding texture.

Pipe the buttercream base: Press the piping tip against the cookie and pipe rings of green buttercream to create the wreath design.

Add variety if desired: Alternate between shades of green for variation, or stick to one color per cookie.

Finish decorating all cookies: Repeat the piping process for each cookie, switching piping tips or colors to achieve different textures and styles.

Option Two for Sugar Cookie Decorating

Start piping leaves: Hold the piping bag at a 45-degree angle with the narrow end of the tip pointing outward. Squeeze frosting onto the cookie to begin forming leaves.

Shape the leaves: Apply pressure while lifting the piping bag slightly, then release pressure to create a tapered leaf end.

Create your pattern: Continue piping leaves individually or in clusters, following a consistent design that you like for your cookies.

✨ Finishing Touches

For an easy way to add ornaments or berries, add sprinkles or seasonal M&Ms to your own wreaths.

You could also pipe berries or ribbons with a small star or round tip on your bag of red frosting.

Edible glitter is pretty to dust on top of these, too.

❓ Recipe FAQ and Troubleshooting

Instructions for Storing and Freezing Cookies

Room temperature - These sugar cookies will stay fresh at room temperature (around 70°F) for 3-4 days. 

Freezing and Make-ahead Instructions - These cookies also freeze well, frosted or unfrosted.

If you've already frosted them, give the buttercream time to form a crust before freezing. This hardened texture will form if the room is not too hot or humid (room temperature or slightly cooler is great) and keeps the design from getting smudged. 

After buttercream has formed a crust on your Christmas wreath sugar cookies, place them in a single layer in an airtight container. Gently add wax or parchment paper on top of the first cookie layer so any frosting doesn't get caught on other cookies or frosting but paper instead. 

Continue filling container with cookies, separating each layer with paper.

Cookies will retain their flavor for about three months in the freezer. Let them come to room temperature before serving. 

More Baking Tips

Below are some general tips to keep in mind when baking this cookie recipe for edible wreaths and any recipe, really:

1. Periodically check the freshness of your leavening agents. Mix a pinch of baking powder with hot water to see if it reacts. For baking soda, you can mix a pinch of it with a few drops of something acidic, like vinegar or lemon juice. If your leavening agents have no reaction (i.e. you see no fizzing or bubbling), it means they also won’t help your ingredients rise during the baking process. 
2. Before diving into the recipe, clear your workspace and set out all your ingredients in front of you. This will make it less likely that you’ll forget to leave something important out of your mixing bowl! 

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