JELLO SUGAR COOKIES

Jello Sugar Cookies are made with Jello in the cookies and the frosting! Soft sugar cookie recipe that can be made with any flavor and the simple buttercream frosting can be flavored to match.

I absolutely love sugar cookies, but I typically only make them on special occasions (Valentine’s Day and Christmas!), because of the effort involved with chilling the dough and then rolling it out, cutting out the cookies, baking them and then decorating. It’s kind of exhausting! Factor in 5 kids who want to help, and well, let’s just say it takes a lot of energy to attempt this whole process!

Why make Jello Sugar Cookies?

• Fun and flavorful! You can use any flavor of Jello that you want and the Jello makes the cookies so bright and delicious.
• Versatile. Not only can you change the color and flavor of the cookies, but you can choose if you want to scoop and make drop cookies or if you want to roll out the dough and make cut-out sugar cookies.
• Easy! Besides the Jello, you only need a few other basic ingredients. If you make drop cookies, there is no need to chill the dough and so the cookies come together quick. There is so much flavor in the cookies, you can even leave the frosting off if you’d like.

JELLO SUGAR COOKIES

To make Jello Sugar cookies, you will need butter, sugar, eggs flour, baking powder and salt. And a box of Jello in any of your favorite flavors. That’s it! If you want to add frosting, you’ll just need a few basic ingredients. Butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.

Jello Sugar cookies can be made by scooping and forming cookie dough balls, or you can roll out the dough and cut out shapes. The dough works great either way!

INGREDIENTS IN JELLO SUGAR COOKIES

Butter – For best results, use real butter. Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature before adding to the sugar.

Sugar – You will need a cup of sugar to give the sugar cookies the traditional sweetness and consistency.

Jello – Use a small (3 oz) box of Jello. You can use any flavor you want! If you want to make frosting in the same flavor, reserve 1 tablespoon of the Jello powder before you add it to the cookie dough.

Eggs – Three eggs will help to bind everything together.

Flour – You will need three cups of all-purpose flour to make the sugar cookies.

Baking powder – Baking powder is the leavening agent in the cookies. For best results, make sure that your baking powder isn’t old or expired.

Salt – Just a little bit of salt will help to bring out all of the other flavors in the cookies.

JELLO BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Butter – Again, real butter works best. Soften the butter to room temperature before mixing with the other ingredients.

Sour cream – Just a tablespoon of sour cream or plain yogurt adds a bit of tanginess and creaminess to the frosting.

Powdered sugar – The powdered sugar sweetens up the frosting and provides the perfect consistency for the frosting.

Vanilla – A little bit of vanilla extract adds a little bit of extra flavor.

Milk – You will need 1-2 tablespoons of milk to help thin out the frosting. Add a little more or a little less to get the frosting exactly the way that you want.

Jello powder – You can make regular buttercream frosting if you’d like, but if you want to color and flavor the frosting to match the cookies, add the reserved tablespoon of Jello powder.

How to make Jello sugar cookies

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Cream the butter and sugar together with the Jello powder. Add the eggs and mix everything until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix some more. At this point, you can scoop the dough and roll into balls to cook immediately, or you can chill the dough for a couple of hours if you want to make cut-out cookies.

MAKING DROP COOKIES

If you are rolling the dough into balls, scoop the dough out with a cookie scoop. This helps to ensure that all of the balls are the same size and it is just so easy – I’m not sure how I ever made cookies without it. Scoop the dough and then roll it between your hands to make a smooth ball.

Place the dough balls 2″ apart on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Spray the bottom of a flat glass or measuring cup with cooking spray. Place a little bit of sugar onto a plate and then press the prepared measuring cup into the sugar. Use the sugar covered measuring cup to press each dough ball down slightly, just until flat. You don’t want to smash them down too much – you still want your cookies to be soft and thick, but pressing them down helps them to bake more evenly and also provides you with a nice flat surface on top for frosting. You will not need to re-spray the measuring cup in between each cookie, but you will want to press it into the sugar in between pressing each cookie ball.

Bake for 8-9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to the a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

MAKING CUT OUT SUGAR COOKIES

Once the dough has chilled for at least 2 hours (you can chill it longer – even overnight), divide it in half.

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Prepare the surface that you where you will be rolling out the dough. You can prepare the surface in any of these ways:

–Flour. Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto your countertop and make sure that the flour is covering the entire surface where your dough will be rolled out.

–Cooking spray or oil can also be used to coat the surface where you will be rolling your dough out.

–Wax paper. This method is definitely the easiest one to clean up!

Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. The dough is much easier to handle and work with if you have divided it into halves (or even thirds) before rolling it out. The dough should be about 1/4″ thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes in the dough and place the cut out shapes onto a prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to the a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

How to make sugar cookie frosting?

This sugar cookie frosting is made with butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and a little bit of milk.

I prefer this buttercream frosting on sugar cookies – it pairs so well with a soft and chewy cookie! If you want to flavor the frosting to match the cookie, reserve a tablespoon of the Jello powder before making the cookie dough. Add that reserved amount to the frosting. This adds color and an amazing amount of flavor to the frosting!

To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and Jello powder until smooth. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches the desired consistency.

Tips for making the best sugar cookies

• Sugar cookie dough is sticky, but once it’s sufficiently chilled, it’s much more workable for making cut out cookies. Resist the urge to add more flour to the dough before chilling! If you add too much flour, the ratio of wet to dry ingredients is off and the cookies end up drier and more crumbly.
• Do not melt the butter! The butter needs to be softened (at room temperature). Using melted butter will ruin the cookies.
• Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
• Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
• Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan. They will just slide right off in perfect shape!
• Make sure that you don’t roll out the dough too thin before cutting your sugar cookies out. You want the dough to be about 1/4″ thick. If the dough is too thin, your cookies will be crispy and hard and easily breakable. But if the dough is too thick, the cookies may not bake all the way through the middle.
• Make sure not to over bake your cookies. They may not even look totally done on the tops, but if the bottoms start to brown, I take mine out and they are perfect!

HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER?

I like to soften butter by using the defrost function on my microwave. If you need the full 1/2 cup cube of butter, you can leave it in the paper wrapper, otherwise, place the amount of butter you need in a glass or porcelain bowl. I use the lowest defrost setting on my microwave and just let it run for 20 seconds. Check the butter and see how soft it is by pressing it with a rubber scraper. If it is still not soft to the touch, meaning it doesn’t indent when you press into it, let it warm for another 5-10 seconds. Watch it closely! Butter softens very quickly.

MORE SUGAR COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY:

• Buttermilk Sugar Cookies
• Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
• Butter Sugar Cookies
• Best Fruit Pizza Cookies
• Lucky Charms Sugar Cookies
• Crispy Sugar Cookies
• Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• Mini Sugar Cookie Bites
• Blueberry Sugar Cookies
• Sugar Cookie Bars
• Coconut Sugar Cookies
• Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
• Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars

Baby #5 is almost 6 weeks old. These last few weeks have been filled with sleep deprivation. Celebrating the holidays and having lots of family visitors – it’s been a huge blur of craziness! But this little baby girl is such a sweetheart and we are loving having in in our home. She loves baths, getting her hair combed and being passed around (fought over) by her 4 older siblings. I’m a little bit sad that time is going by so fast. She is almost out of that newborn stage already!

Jello Sugar Cookies are made with Jello in the cookies and the frosting! Soft sugar cookie recipe that can be made with any flavor and the simple buttercream frosting can be flavored to match.