Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I am one of those people who start listening to Christmas Songs on November 1st, and put up my Christmas Tree before Thanksgiving.

One of my fondest memories of Christmas is decorating sugar cookies with my Grandma. The whole family would spend Christmas Eve at her house. We had a great time enjoying each other's company and eating fantastic food.

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Even though my Grandma has passed, I continue her tradition of making Christmas sugar cookies. It is something I want to do with my son when he is a little older, and pass on the joy of the season to him.

These sugar cookies stay soft and melt in your mouth! The hint of nutmeg plays with your taste buds to leave you with a sugary satisfaction.

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How to Make this Sugar Cookie Recipe

To start, you will want to get out the butter, eggs, and sour cream to start bringing them up to room temperature. Having the butter softened, not melted, is essential. The eggs and sour cream being room temperature will help make sure the dough doesn't break.

You start by creaming the butter and shortening until they are combined, and then add the sugar and continue mixing. You are looking for the dough to become a pale yellow and fluffy.

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After that, you will add the egg and sour cream. Add it slowly so that it incorporates fully.

Then it's time to add the dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Sift them together. Slowly add it into the mixer. I like to use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to dump the dry ingredients in.

The  key to any cookie recipe is to not over mix the dough once the dry ingredients are added. Mix it just until the dry ingredients are blended in.

I hand mix sprinkles in. You do not have to use sprinkles, and if you are going to decorate the cookies with frosting, you might not want to use sprinkles. I only use sprinkles when I don't plan on decorating them. It gives them a fun pop of color!

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Lay out some saran wrap, and scoop the dough on top of the wrap. We want to refrigerate the dough, and wrapping it up will keep it from drying out. Put it in the fridge for at least a couple hours.

Baking the Sugar Cookies

Once the dough is chilled, it's time to roll it out and cut it! Sprinkle some flour on the surface you will roll the dough out on. Cut off a piece of the dough, and put the rest back in the fridge. You want to keep the dough as cold as possible until you put it in the oven. Sprinkle some more flour on top of the dough, and start rolling it out!

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Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick, and use any cookie cutter you want to cut out the shapes. Put onto a greased cookie sheet, and put in the oven at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

Or, instead of rolling it out, if you don't plan on decorating these sugar cookies, you can use a cookie scoop to portion the dough, then flatten them slightly on the cookie tray.

You are looking for the bottom of the cookie to be a light golden brown. If the edges of the cookie are golden, they are over done. In the times I have made these cookies, I have never baked them past 8 minutes.

Put the trays on cooling racks for a couple minutes, then take the cookies off to cool completely.

These sugar cookies hold their shape well for decorating! Here are some that I have done using this recipe.

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