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
Came out a little thick but my kids didn’t mind! They used it for their Christmas cookies and they were delicious.
Great consistency and worked well on cookies. The amount went further than I thought! The icing is a little on the sweet side.
So quick and easy to work with! Just the right amount of sweetness and we had fun using different tips to pipe the frosting onto our cookies.
So good! Perfect consistency for decorating and delicious!
I’m pretty new to baking. Only been doing it may be about a year and a half or so. This is the first frosting I’ve tackled, and it was amazingly easy! It was very fast to make, and I’m not a very fast baker. It was also really delicious on top of Your sugar cookie recipe, which is really good. I added ginger and nutmeg to the cookies to give it some holiday flare. This frosting was so fun to make, I plan on making it again pretty soon for a chocolate Bundt cake. This recipe challenge thing is fun. Thanks for hosting it and also for the great recipes.
This buttercream recipe was easy and straightforward, not to mention delicious! I froze some leftover buttercream to use in the future.
This recipe is so easy to make and delicious to top off on my holiday cookies, cupcakes, etc!! Fun to utilize various piping tips to see what designs I could come up with and of course, sprinkles!!!
I ended up using this on sugar cookie bars and it was so easy and fun to do!
I found this icing too thick to handle. I gave up after 2 cookies.
Hi Robin! Next time just whip in a little more heavy cream or milk if the consistency is too thick. And always make sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) when measuring confectioners’ sugar to avoid packing too much in.
This was super easy to make and super easy to deal with. I’m not much of a decorator, but it was fun to give it a try. I relied on sprinkles to bring some color. I’m working up to trying a piping bag.
This frosting is so easy to use and delicious too!
This recipe worked great for my sugar cookies
This was so easy to make and use! It was perfect for decorating our gingerbread men!
Sooo yummy! Everyone commented about how delicious the icing was. I added my heavy cream cold bc I forgot the instructions said RT, and it was a little grainy, but none of us minded. Still delicious and easy!
Easy and delicious!
This recipe was so delicious and as easy as royal icing! Great consistency for piping and dried just enough to hold the shape on our cookies. We had to stop ourselves from eating it all out of the bowl!
The taste was great and a delicious alternative to royal icing! Loved the consistency for spreading on our Christmas sugar cookies this year.
Super easy icing to make and tasty. Made enough to split between 3 pipe bags of different color and decorate about 20 cookies.
Delicious buttercream! Easy to work with and crusted nicely so I could package cookies together!
The frosting went perfectly with the almond flavor of the sugar cookies! I used a half cup less of sugar in the frosting and it was just the right amount of sweet. I used natural food colorings so my colors didn’t turn out at vibrant but it didn’t affect the flavor!
Delicious and easy buttercream! I used it on both Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Sugar Cookies for gifts this Christmas.
Love the flavor but I struggle with the consistency every time! I’m sure it’s just me and will keep trying!
This recipe was so easy and everything came together so well! The flavor of the buttercream was wonderful and had a nice fluffy texture and paired nicely with the cookies we made! Very easy to work with and pipe onto our cookies as well.
My whole family had some christmas fun decorating gingerbread cookies and this buttercream was really easy to work with! Thank you for the recipe ^^
I love how easy this frosting is to spread
This recipe was very easy to make. It was the kids’ first time decorating Christmas cookies with frosting instead of just sprinkles. We had so much fun and they were delicious!
This recipe is so easy to make and to use to decorate cookies !!! Plus it tastes delicious!!! This icing is truly addicting!!
Sooo tasty and easy to make/use.
So good!! Very easy and amazing texture for this buttercream. My new go to recipe!
Delicious! Kids loved using this recipe and your royal icing one to decorate cookies this year.