In our house, we love watching the Christmas Cookie Challenge on Food Network.

So, we had to have our own challenge here at our house.

It took days… and we recorded everything.

This recipe will make about two dozen Christmas sugar cookies with royal icing… and they are delicious!

Christmas Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing Recipe [VIDEO]

Christmas Sugar Cookies Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of salted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 Tablespoon of condensed milk (because everything is better with condensed milk)
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Christmas Sugar Cookies Directions

1. Using a mixer, mix all of these ingredients in the way they’re listed one by one.
2. When you get to the flour, pour it in slowly. This is where you will start to see the dough form.
3. Keep the flour handy because you will need it when you roll out the dough.
4. This is a great time to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. Divide the dough into two parts to roll out keeping the dough and table surface sprinkled with flour.
6. Use cookie cutters or the rim of a glass to cut the cookies into shares and circles.
7. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes.
8. Let them cool while you make the royal icing!

Royal Icing Ingredients

• Whites from 4 eggs (or 3 ounces of egg whites)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Royal Icing Directions

1. Using a mixer, mix all of these ingredients in the way they’re listed one by one.
2. Separate the icing into different bowls to add food coloring for different icing colors. (We kept the white, then created red, green, and yellow.)
3. Using a knife or pastry bag, decorate the cookies. (As you can see, using pastry bags for the first time was an educational experience!)
4. Enjoy!