Just like classic vanilla buttercream frosting you love on cakes and cupcakes, this 5-ingredient cookie decorating buttercream is deliciously creamy and sweet. It’s perfect for cookie decorating beginners, and soft-sets after a few hours. You can pipe designs onto cut-out cookies, like sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, or simply spread it on and top with sprinkles! See video tutorial in the recipe for inspiration.
One reader, Maliaka, commented: “Sally’s buttercream is always a favorite and her sugar cookies are SO good! I wouldn’t have thought of putting them together… it works, though! I love that buttercream is easy, requires no unique ingredients, and opens up the possibility of piping with different tips! ★★★★★“
Another reader, Meredith, commented: “I love this icing! The flavor is rich and well-balanced, and it sets just enough to be able to stack the cookies without problem. The only issue is getting the icing onto the cookies before my kids eat them all! We made it with Sally’s sugar cookies and they are a family favorite! ★★★★★“
While royal icing is my first choice when it comes to decorating sugar cookies, I know it’s not everyone’s favorite cookie icing to work with. Which is why I developed this easy cookie icing, a wonderful glaze-like alternative. But sometimes you just don’t want to mess with either!
It’s good to have options.
If you want a creamy buttercream frosting, that holds its piped shape and can be tinted any color you wish, then this cookie decorating buttercream is for you. And it tastes SO delicious on top of a cookie!
This Cookie Decorating Buttercream:
- Is quick and easy to make
- Can be tinted any color with gel food coloring (here is my favorite brand)
- Is sweet and creamy and flavored with real vanilla
- Can be piped into designs with different piping tips or simply spread onto cookies
- Is wonderful on top of so many types/flavors of cookies
- Soft-sets after a few hours
The cookies you see here are my classic sugar cookies. They have an irresistible buttery vanilla flavor and soft, thick centers. Plus, they hold their shape when baking and have a flat surface that’s perfect for decorating.
But feel free to use this cookie decorating buttercream on another flavor of cut-out cookies, like:
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Brown Sugar Cut-Out Cookies
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Raspberry Sugar Sookies
- Pecan Sugar Cookies
- Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies
Or simply spread it on top of another kind of cookie, like we do on these soft and cakey sugar cookies.
Grab These 5 Ingredients:
- Butter: You can’t make buttercream without butter! Though salted is fine, I recommend using unsalted butter so you can control the added salt. Whichever you use, make sure you are using proper room-temperature butter.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Sweetens vanilla buttercream and adds stability and pipe-ability to the frosting.
- Heavy Cream: A little cream smooths out the frosting. Though whole milk or half-and-half are perfectly acceptable, use heavy cream for maximum richness. I use less in today’s buttercream than in my regular vanilla buttercream, to keep it thicker.
- Vanilla Extract: Because this is the main flavor in the frosting, I strongly recommend using high-quality pure vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla). You could also use homemade vanilla extract.
- Salt: Just a pinch, to balance the sweet.
How to Make It
American-style buttercream is quick and easy.
Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature before beginning. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat it until smooth and creamy. Beat in the remaining ingredients. At this point, you can add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken, a splash of heavy cream to thin out, or a bit more salt if desired. That’s it!
I have the full written-out, printable recipe below.
How to Rid Buttercream of Air Bubbles
Over-whipping buttercream creates air bubbles. The taste is no different, but the buttercream is no longer smooth and velvet-y. Here’s how to get rid of air bubbles in your frosting:
Turn off the mixer and grab a wooden or metal spoon or silicone spatula and begin stirring the buttercream by hand. Mash the frosting up against the sides of the bowl to “pop” the bubbles. Do this until most of the air bubbles deflate, about 1–2 minutes. This trick requires a lot of arm muscle!
Tint the Frosting and Fill Piping Bags
You can keep the buttercream white or tint it with gel food coloring. To color it, divide it into small bowls. Add gel food coloring to each bowl and mix well. For lighter tints, I recommend using the tip of a toothpick to add color, rather than squeezing a whole drop into the bowl of frosting.
Grab a piping bag for each color of icing. Fit each with a coupler and piping tip. When I’m using multiple colors with the same piping tip, I always use couplers.
What are couplers? Couplers are 2-piece devices that attach to small piping tips, and keep them OUTSIDE of the piping bag. This makes it easy to swap piping tips among the different colored bags of icing.
Fill the piping bag: Spoon the buttercream into the piping bag, making sure to leave a few inches of space at the top of the bag. A tall cup makes this easier! Place the piping bag inside, with the tip near the bottom of the cup, and fold the end of the bag over the sides of the cup, then fill with frosting. You can see me doing this in the video below.
While not absolutely necessary, I use these clips to secure the end of the piping bag, so the frosting doesn’t leak out the end of the bag.
Piping Tips I Use to Decorate Cookies With Buttercream
This cookie decorating buttercream holds shape beautifully and works for intricate designs. To decorate the sugar cookies you see pictured today, team members Allison and Stephanie and I used piping tips from this exact Wilton 55-Piece Piping Tips Set.
- Pink & green frostings (on stockings & snowmen): Wilton Piping Tip 10 (round tip)
- Green frosting (on trees): Wilton Piping Tip 21 (open star tip)
- White frosting (on snowflakes & log cabins): Wilton Piping Tip 16 (open star tip)
- Red & green frostings (cable-knit mittens): Wilton Piping Tip 16 (open star tip)
- Brown frosting (on log cabins): Wilton Piping Tip 44 (basketweave tip, included in this set); note that you can also use chocolate buttercream for brown-colored frosting
- Pink, green, white, red, and brown frostings (smaller round piping on trees, snowmen, and log cabins): Wilton Piping Tip 8 (round tip, included in this set)
Again, you can get all of these tips in a handy Piping Tips Set, which also includes the piping tips I use to decorate cookies with royal icing.
You can pipe zig-zags, swirls, lines, or whatever your heart desires! See video tutorial below for inspiration. We used white balls from these sprinkles for tree “ornaments” and coarse sugar on the “snow.”
If you want to skip piping bags and tips, use a knife or icing spatula to frost the cookies.
It doesn’t fully crust, but it does “soft set,” which means it sets enough to be dry on top. You’ll still have to be a bit careful stacking the decorated cookies. To make a crusting buttercream, replace half of the butter (1/2 cup) with shortening.
Yes, absolutely! Reduce the vanilla extract to just 1/2 teaspoon, and then you can use another extract such as peppermint, coconut, lemon, maple, or almond. I would start with only 1/2 teaspoon of any of these, taste, and then beat in more if desired.
Depending how much frosting you put on each cookie, this buttercream is enough for at least 24 to 30 cookies.
Yes, you can use this buttercream to decorate a gingerbread house. See my gingerbread house recipe. The recipe below doesn’t crust as much as the buttercream recipe I include in the gingerbread house recipe, as that one contains shortening (which aids in crusting). Today’s buttercream is not ideal as a “glue” for the gingerbread house pieces. For that, you’ll need royal icing.
More Decorating Tutorials
Want to learn how to decorate cupcakes? Watch my how to use piping tips video to learn 5 basic but beautiful ways to pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
Want to give royal icing a try next? Here’s my how to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing video.
And these are my top recommended cookie decorating supplies.
Print
Cookie Decorating Buttercream
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2.5 cups (at least 24-30 cookies)
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Description
Just like classic vanilla buttercream frosting you love on cakes and cupcakes, this 5-ingredient cookie decorating buttercream is deliciously creamy and sweet. It’s perfect for cookie decorating beginners, and soft-sets on the cookies after a few hours. You can pipe designs onto cut-out cookies, like sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, or simply spread it on with a knife and top with sprinkles! See video tutorial in the recipe for inspiration.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 batch sugar cookies, baked & cooled completely
Buttercream
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- optional: gel food coloring, for tinting
Instructions
- Have your cookies baked and cooled completely. You can use this recipe, or your favorite recipe for cookies.
- Make the buttercream: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste. To thicken the buttercream, beat in more confectioners’ sugar. To thin out the buttercream, beat in more heavy cream. To help offset more sweetness, beat in an extra pinch of salt.
- Color the icing: If you’d like to tint the frosting, divide it into separate bowls for each color, or tint the entire batch one color. A little gel food coloring goes a long way, so use a toothpick to dot the gel into the icing. Stir it in, and then add more to deepen the color if desired.
- Use piping tips or knife/icing spatula: You can use a knife or icing spatula to frost the cookies. Or, if using piping tips, fit a piping/pastry bag with a piping tip (and use a coupler if you plan to switch frosting colors and/or piping tips). Spoon the buttercream into the bag, making sure to leave a few inches of space at the top of the bag. Twist the end of the bag or use a clip to seal it shut. You can pipe zig-zags, swirls, lines, dots, or whatever your heart desires! See video tutorial below for some inspiration.
- Cover and store decorated cookies at room temperature for 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Frosting “soft-sets” on the cookies after a few hours, meaning it will slightly dry on top.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of room temperature heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed. You can freeze cookies frosted with this buttercream for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Silicone Spatula | Gel Food Coloring | Disposable or Reusable Piping Bags | Couplers | Wilton 55-Piece Piping Tips Set | Bag Clips | Small Icing Spatula | White Sprinkles | Coarse Sugar Sprinkles
- Quantity: Depending how much frosting you put on each cookie, this buttercream is enough for at least 24 to 30 cookies.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: If your confectioners’ sugar is particularly lumpy, I recommend sifting it before measuring and using.
- Heavy Cream: You can use half-and-half or whole milk instead if needed. The lower the fat, the less creamy your buttercream will be. Whichever you use, make sure it’s at room temperature. Otherwise your frosting could separate or appear grainy.
- Does This Buttercream Crust? It doesn’t fully crust, but it does “soft set,” which means it sets enough to be dry on top. You’ll still have to be a bit careful stacking the decorated cookies. To make a crusting buttercream, replace half of the butter (1/2 cup/8 Tbsp/113g) with shortening.
- Can I Flavor the Buttercream with Other Extracts? Yes, absolutely! Reduce the vanilla extract to just 1/2 teaspoon, and then you can use another extract such as peppermint, coconut, lemon, maple, or almond. I would start with only 1/2 teaspoon of any of these, taste, and then beat in more if desired.
Reader Comments and Reviews
It was fun to get back into the cookie decorating, but also made me realize I need to update my decorating equipment. The frosting tastes wonderful though.
Don’t skip the salt on this. It’s crazy how such a small amount really comes through to balance the sweetness perfectly. Loved this recipe!
Great simple buttercream recipe! We used it on our gingerbread cookies this year instead of royal icing, it was a huge hit!
Great recipe as always! Love seeing examples of how to pipe and what tips to use!
This recipe was so fun! I made up for my family and we decorated cookies together!!!! I love how nicely food dye goes into these!!!!! But I made 30 cookies and we halved the recipe and we still had extra!!!!
Such a delicious- and forgiving recipe! I misread something and even tho I made a mistake, I was able to adjust and still get a great batch of frosting. Perfect for sugar cookies!
This buttercream is irresistible! I used it as the frosting for Sally’s Soft Cakey Sugar Cookie recipe, and it was perfect. I added a tad more salt to just cut some of the sweetness. My husband and I could not stop dipping a finger into the leftover frosting once all of the cookies had been iced.
Great basic buttercream recipe that can be adjusted to your taste.
I love this recipe! The taste is that good buttercream we all love but it’s so good for putting on cookies!
Tasted great! I did swap out some of the butter with shortening as the not suggested to get more of a crusting buttercream. I didn’t find that it crusted over as well as some other recipes that I had tried
Loved this buttercream! It was so tasty and easy to pipe. I used it to decorate Sally’s sugar cookies.
My husbands favorite cake is German Chocolate. His birthday is December 14. Not all the children or grandchildren like it though. I made German chocolate cupcakes, a 1/2 recipe of your filling and then the buttercream icing, so everyone was happy. My oldest granddaughter said it was the best icing ever!
Great buttercream!! I truly believe heavy cream makes everything better. I never realized the importance of room temperature so thank you for that. This frosting is delicious, pipes well and sets perfectly not too hard but enough so you can pack them easily.
Do you have any instructions for decorating the crisscross plaid looking mittens?
Hi Shari! My wonderful assistant, Stephanie, made those. She is so very talented with frosting! Here is a tutorial that can help.
I love using buttercream to decorate sugar cookies. This one is perfectly smooth and creamy and holds its shape well. And not to mention delicious! Nothing better than a nice thick ans soft cookie with this buttercream on top, it’s almost like eating a small cake. So good!
Easy to make & use. The kids loved it, but I thought it was a tad sweet.
This recipe worked well to decorate cookies; the icing held its shape well and tasted good. I added a hint of almond extract and a little more salt to tone down the sweetness.
These were so fun to make!
This by far was the yummiest icing I’ve ever made for sugar cookies
Good buttercream! I used it to pipe on several different cookies.
I’m not a cookie decorator but I had fun making this. Used the brown sugar cutout recipe for my cookies.
This was a delicious and easy to work with recipe! I used the buttercream to decorate a batch of Sally’s Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies. I piped decorations on some of my cookies, and spread the buttercream on others. Both methods worked great! I will definitely be saving this recipe to use again and again. Highly recommend!
Had a lot of fun with this one!
I’ve always decorated with royal icing and this buttercream recipe was a nice change! Had a lot of fun with this one!
Can I make this 2-3 days ahead of time and put in piping bags and store in refrigerator?
Absolutely!
This is a nice basic buttercream! It is on the sweet side so next time I will use a smaller piping tip.
Best frosting ever/!
This is very good and very easy. It’s a bit sweet for me but my kids love it. I did a half batch and definitely had to add a bit more liquid to get it soft enough to pipe.
Forgot to rate this with stars in my comment.
Great frosting, but the instructions for a crusting buttercream did not work. I made some with all butter, and some replacing half of the butter with shortening, as I wanted to be able to stack them. The instructions said to use half shortening for a crusting buttercream. However, the frosting made with half shortening was actually softer than the frosting made with all butter. Both versions were very soft.