Soft Honey Cutout Cookies

Honey cutout cookies decorated like evergreen trees on a sugary backdrop.

5 from 3 votes

Soft Honey Cutout Cookies

These festive Honey Cookies are soft and thick, with a creamy honey cream cheese frosting. These chewy cookies hold their shapes perfectly while baked, and can be decorated however you like! I've included tips, tricks, and my tools in the post for decorating your cookies like Christmas trees.

Prep Time1

Cook Time10

Dough Chilling1

Total Time2 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Keyword: Christmas Cookies, Honey Cookies, Cutout Cookies, Frosted Cookies

Servings: cookies

Author: Stephanie Simmons

Ingredients

For the Honey Cookies

1 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature 226 grams
1 cup light brown sugar, packed 220 grams
1/2 cup honey 170 grams
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled 405 grams
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

3 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature 85 grams
3/4 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature 170 grams
2 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar 260 grams
1-2 tbsp honey 21 to 42 grams
Pinch of salt
desired food coloring

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Cookie Dough: Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until creamed. Add the brown sugar and mix until well creamed together, about 1 minute. Add the honey and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until a dough forms. Add 1-2 tsp of milk if your dough is a bit crumbly - it shouldn't be if you measured the flour correctly. Check it by pressing it together in your hand - it should be smooth and not crumbly.
1 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature , 1 cup light brown sugar, packed, 1/2 cup honey, 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled , 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp salt
Roll and Chill: Divide the dough into two halves, and roll each one out to 3/8" thickness between sheets of parchment paper. (Use a ruler to check this, or just eyeball halfway between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. This is the perfect thickness for these cookies – trust! Even 1/2" is perfect – but don't go lower than 3/8")Place the rolled dough, still sandwiched in parchment paper, on a baking sheet and cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Chill for about 2 hours in the refrigerator or about 1 hour in the freezer, until chilled and firm.
Cut out Cookies: Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Cut shapes out of the chilled dough and place cookies a couple inches apart on your prepared baking sheet. If the cookies are no longer firm and cold to the touch from working with the dough, pop the pan back in the fridge or freezer for 5 to 15 minutes to re-chill so that the cookies hold their shape when baked (it's fine to bake them from frozen).
While the cookies are baking, combine your dough scraps, roll out, and cut more cookies. Repeat this until all remaining dough is gone! You will need to chill the dough for a bit again once you roll the scraps back out so that it's firm enough to cut the shapes easily. (Roll it back out between the parchment each time for ease.)
Bake: Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes. The cookies should appear just set, and will look a tad puffy. Don't be tempted to over bake them! Let them cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Make Frosting: In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar in 3 additions, mixing between each until combined. Add honey, vanilla, and salt and mix until combined. Divide into a few small bowls and tint with desired colors, using gel food coloring.
To make the shades of forest green in the photos, you'll need to mix golden yellow, blue, and black gel food coloring.
3 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature, 3/4 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature , 2 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar, 1-2 tbsp honey, Pinch of salt, desired food coloring
Decorate Cookies: Use a Wilton 2A open tip and 4B tip for the trees pictured. Pipe dollops with the 2A tip, in a row at the bottom of the tree, then sweep each dollop upwards with the tip of an offset spatula. Pipe the next row of dots over the end of this row, continuing all the way up the tree. Pipe overlapping swoops with the 4B star tip for a textured look.
Serve + Store: Enjoy cookies once decorated! Store cookies in a single layer in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. These need to be refrigerated due to the frosting.
Cookie Dough and Cookie Make-Ahead Tips: Dough can be made, rolled out, and covered well and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days before baking. The cookies can be baked, cooled, and stored in an airtight container at room temp for 1-2 days before decorating. See more make ahead tips in the "expert tips" above.

Nutrition