My Fat Santa Christmas Sugar Cookies are the perfect combination of butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Then, I shape them into the most adorable fat Santa you have ever seen.
You can also shape the dyed dough balls into fat Christmas trees.
My sugar cookie dough takes about 5 minutes to mix together in a stand mixer.
After that, let the dough ball shaping fun begin.
The kids will love rolling out the dough into different size balls to form Santa’s head, hat, and body.
Make sure to save this sugar cookie recipe to make with the kiddos on Christmas Eve for Santa’s big arrival.




I adapted this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens using my homemade sugar cookie dough.
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Fat Santa Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen (depending on size of balls) 1x
Description
Want a fun cookie to make with the kiddos Christmas Even night? This cookie is downright adorable. Not only can you make roly poly Santas, you can make fat Christmas trees too.
Ingredients
2 sticks (240 grams) un-salted butter, (room temperature)
2 cups (400 grams) sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 T vanilla
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
7 3/4 cups all purpose flour (853 grams)
ICING
- 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 1 T vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Do not skimp on this step. (King Arthur flour has an excellent video tutorial on why this is necessary)
- Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
- Add eggs one at a time to butter/sugar mixture beating only until yellow in each egg disappears.
- Add flour gradually to mixture.
- Add milk and vanilla.
- Scrape dough onto lightly floured surface and shape into a ball.
Baking Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove 1/3 of dough from ball. This will be the dough used for his face, tip of hat, and hand.s
- Divide the remaining dough in half. One portion will be dyed red, and the other portion will be dyed green.
- Place 1 -2 teaspoons red gel food coloring in the center of one ball and knead dough to incorporate dye. Place the dough between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and knead to keep the food coloring from staining your hands.
- Pace 1-2 teaspoons of green gel food coloring in the other ball and repeat the same process. If only making fat Santa cookies, skip this step and dye the remaining dough red.
- Roll un-dyed dough into 1 inch balls for Santa’s head and 1/2 inch balls for the tip of Santa’s hat, hands, and feet. You will need 5 (1/2 inch balls) and 1 (1 inch ball) for each Santa.
- Roll red dyed dough into 1 inch balls for chest and 1/2 inch balls for hat, hands, and feet.
- Roll green dyed dough into 1/2 inch balls for tree. You will need 8 balls for each tree.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Shape the Santas and trees on each cookie sheet.
- Place 2 chocolate chips in Santa’s head for eyes.
- Place 3 chocolate chips down the center of Santa’s chest for his jacket buttons.
- Randomly place colored M & M’s through the tree balls for ornaments.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes until puffy and set.
- Remove cookies from oven, and allow the cookies to cool on the cookie rack for approximately 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.
- While cookies are cooling make the icing.
Icing Instructions
- Cream butter and cream cheese together in stand mixer.
- Add vanilla and powdered sugar and mix again until creamy.
- Scoop icing into a piping bag or ziplock.
- Pipe icing onto Santa’s beard, tip of hat, and on hands.
- Place a miniature red M & M at top of his beard for his nose.
- Allow the icing to set up and harden slightly before storing in an airtight container with the cookies separated by parchment paper.
Notes
- When you are forming the Santas and the trees, flatten the balls slightly where they attach to each other to keep the cookie from separating while baking.
- Red food coloring will fade when baked in the oven. So, add more dye than you think necessary so your Santa’s will be red after baking, not pink.
- You can use this dough to make shaped sugar cookies. But, you will need to chill the dough for at least three hours before cutting into shapes.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: cookies
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: santa cookies, christmas cookies
I hope you and your family try these Fat Santa Christmas Sugar Cookies out this holiday season. Make sure to drop me a comment and let me know what you think!
Don’t forget to pin this recipe for later!

Looking for More Holiday Inspiration?
- Unique Holiday Gift Wrap Idea
- 2020 College Kiddo Christmas Gift Guide
- S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
- How To Decorate a Christmas Tree
- Easy Bottle Brush Tree DIY – Gorgeous Christmas Decor
- How to Make a Christmas Swag
Make sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for all my holiday baking and DIY Christmas tutorials.
Danielle
December 14, 2020 4:08 pmHow fun are these! I bet your kids had a ball helping! And the name cracks me up!
★★★★★
Lynn
December 15, 2020 12:53 pmI made these last night with my two kids. They are precious! And we are making them again Christmas Eve! Love your blog Jennifer!
★★★★★