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Swirly Iced Christmas Marble Sugar Cookies

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If you’re collecting Christmas cookie recipes, be sure to add these iced marble cookies to your list. The red and green swirls create a unique and beautiful treat to serve and share throughout the holiday season.

There are a few shortcuts you can take to make this a quick and easy sugar cookie decorating experience. It’s time to get creative with baking and make some marble iced goodies!

Holiday marble cookies in a tin bucket and on a table.

Christmas Sugar Cookies with Marble Icing

Since the Valentine’s Day marble cookies were a hit, it’s easy to create some for Christmas cookies. This marble icing technique is perfect for any holiday or season. You can easily switch up the colors and shapes to create the design and theme you need for each and every holiday or event.

Flower, butter, sugar, vanilla, egg, and flour on a table.

Marble Sugar Cookie Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make this Christmas cookie recipe. The measurements are in the printable recipe card below.

For the cookies:

  • Package of sugar cookie mix
  • All-purpose flour
  • Butter
  • Egg

For the royal icing:

  • Powdered sugar
  • Egg white
  • Vanilla or almond extract

Holiday Marble Sugar Cookie Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar cookie mix and flour.

Egg on top of flour in a clear bowl.

Add in the butter and egg and stir until the dough forms.

Sugar cookie dough in a clear mixing bowl.

Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto a clean counter top space or a baking mat. Dust your rolling pin with additional flour.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Rolled out sugar cookie dough cut into circles.

Cut the dough into desired shapes with cookie cutters or use the top of a glass for round cookies.

Circles of cookie dough on a baking sheet.

Place the dough two inches apart on your baking sheet.

Bake for 5-7 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to completely cool.

Icing in a mixing bowl.

While the cookies are baking, make the icing. Add the egg white to a medium mixing bowl and beat until frothy.

Add in the vanilla or almond extract and powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. The icing should be thin.

Create the marble icing by transferring about 1/2 cup of icing to a small shallow dish.

Add a drop of green food coloring to one side of the dish and a drop of red to the other side.

Red and green food coloring swirled in icing.

Swirl each color separately with a toothpick.

After the cookies are completely cool, it’s time to dip them into the marble icing.

Dipping the top of a sugar cookie into marble icing.

Hold the cookie top-side down and dip into the icing.

Holding a sugar cookie that was dipped into marble icing.

Gently lift the cookie and let the excess icing drip off into the middle of the dish. (This will keep the colors from mixing too much. Red and green make brown, so you don’t want them to mix.)

Set each cookie onto parchment paper to dry.

Red and green iced sugar cookies on a sheet.

Continue this process with each cookie until the icing gets low. You may need to add another drop of each color of food coloring if the colors start to fade.

Once you need more icing, rinse and dry the dish completely before adding more icing and food coloring.

Iced sugar cookies on a cooling rack.

Allow all the iced cookies to dry and enjoy.

Plate full of swirled red and green iced holiday cookies.

Marble Sugar Cookie Recipe Notes and FAQ

What kind of sugar cookie mix should I use?

This recipe uses Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix. Any brand of mix should work well. Just follow the directions on the package for the ingredients to prepare. If you have a sugar cookie cut out recipe or a basic recipe, feel free to make them from scratch. The key is to make sure the cookies are stable enough to hold for dipping.

Red and green swirled cookies on a table.

What kind of cookie cutters should I use?

Glasses were used to cut the cookies in this post. A 2″ and 4″ glass created the round sizes pictured. You can use any type or size cookie cutters you’d like. Stars would be cute for the holiday season.

Green and red marble cookies sitting next to a tin bucket.

Do I have to make my own royal icing?

No, if you want to speed things up, you can purchase Royal Icing. The important thing about the icing is the consistency. If it’s too thick, you can add a few drops of milk to thin it as needed.

Several holiday marble cookies with red and green icing on top of each other.

What kind of food coloring should I use?

You have to use gel food coloring for this recipe. Must be gel.

Bucket of red and green Christmas Cookies.

I’m worried about mixing the colors together.

If you don’t want the food coloring colors to mix, feel free to marble with just one color. The marbling effect creates a unique design on each cookie.

Yield: 3 dozen

Holiday Marble Sugar Cookies

Holiday marble cookies in a tin bucket and on a table.

Easy Christmas sugar cookies with red and green swirled icing.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 1 package sugar cookie mix (17.5 ounce)
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out cookies
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 large room temperature egg

Royal Icing (about 1 cup)

  • 1 large egg white (about 1 ounce if using egg whites in a carton)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Combine cookie mix and flour in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add in butter and egg and stir until dough forms.
  4. Sprinkle some flour onto clean countertop or baking mat. Dust rolling pin with flour.
  5. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters into desired shapes. For round cookies, use the top of a glass.
  6. Place dough 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 5-7 minutes. Allow to cool 1-2 minutes on sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
  7. While cookies cool, make icing. Add egg white to a medium mixing bowl and beat until frothy.
  8. Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. You want thin icing.
  9. Transfer 1/2 cup of icing to a small shallow dish. Add 1 drop green food coloring to one side and one drop red to the other. Swirl each side separately with a toothpick. Be careful not to mix the colors because red and green create brown.
  10. Hold completely cooled cookie topside down and dip into icing. Lift it and allow excess icing to drip back into the middle of the dish. Set cookie on parchment paper to dry.
  11. Repeat the process with each cookie until icing gets low. Add additional drops of coloring as needed. Once more icing is needed, rinse and dry the dish before making another batch.
  12. Allow iced cookies to dry completely and enjoy!

Notes

You must use gel food coloring.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

36

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 50Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 30mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g

Nutrition facts are an estimate only.

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Holiday marble sugar cookies in a tin bucket and on a table.

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