Cookie Monster Cookies
Make these Cookie Monster Cookies for a little person in your life. My no-spread cut-out cookie recipe will be sure to be a hit all year long as well!
I mentioned that my baby turned one a few weeks ago. Lots of family members joined us to celebrate all the joy he has brought to us this past year. But really they just came for cake. That’s why we go to birthday parties, right?
And let’s face it: there is a whole lot of sitting around staring at a {cute} baby going on at a first birthday party. All that pressure to make the cake stellar forced me to cave in and buy a cake from our local grocery store.
I consoled myself by making Cookie Monster Cookies.
You see I’ve been making this basic sugar cookie recipe for 20 years. The paper it is written on is well worn and has lots of updates added to it. I like it just the way it is now. And buttercream? Well, I think I could make that in my sleep.
Is there anything more enticing than a cookie that is eating another cookie? I love 2-for-1 cookies!
The Wilton grass tip #233 made the hair on this fun and easy to squeeze out. It has 11 tiny holes that the frosting pushes through at once (think back to your Play Doh days).
How to Make Cookie Monster Cookies
I used a basic flower cookie cutter. You could easily substitute a circle cutter.
Pipe the blue hair buttercream.
Add white chocolate discs and M&M eyes.
Eat all of the other M&M colors.
Insert a broken chocolate chip cookie. Multiply and you’re done!
Basic Sugar Cookies and Basic Almond Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies
- 6 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Frosting
- 2 Cups shortening
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 8 Cups powdered sugar
- 1/8 Cup heavy cream, more or less to desired consistency
- food coloring, if desired
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.
- Beat in extracts and eggs.
- In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
- DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side.
- Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Frosting
- In the bowl of your mixer beat shortening until smooth and creamy.
- Mix in vanilla (and almond extract if using).
- Add powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) until combined, then add cream and mix until smooth and spreading consistency. Adjust cream to desired frosting thickness
- Add a few drops of color, if desired.
We make this same recipe at Christmas and most holidays. It is the Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER! Millions of people grab the recipe from In Katrina’s Kitchen every year so don’t miss out!
We also call this frosting Christmas Cookie Frosting but you can make it any time of year.
118 Comments on “Cookie Monster Cookies”
Can the icing be refrigerated for later use? I’m seeing that people froze baked cookies? How does that work? Also, after baking, how long do the cookies stay fresh once baked?
We made this frosting too for our Oscar party. So good!
Can’t wait to try the buttercream frosting recipe. I’ve tried dozens of recipes, but I’m never totally satisfied. And these cookies are just so adorable!
Just a heads up. I tried this recipe and the batter was so crumbly it was like chunky sand. I double checked the recipe multiple times to see if I missed something but I followed it correctly. I didn’t see any other reviews mention this but I ended up adding almost 1/2 cup milk a tbsp at a time to get it to a consistently that would stick together. Also it doesn’t specify if the butter should be salted or unsalted.
The cookies were kind of bland by themselves, a good texture but not a typical sugar cookie. I did a meringue buttercream icing and that added a lot of sweetness to it so together they weren’t well and it was not overly sweet. All in all though I am going to try a different recipe next to compare.
Your website states that these can be frozen. Neice having sweet 16 I want to make mardi gras masks for the party but I’m going to need time. So after I bake the cookies and they cool should I decorate before freezing? Or freeze, thaw, decorate? Thanks
What food coloring did you use to get such a dark blue? Mine did not come out so dark 😁 and it made the frost kinda runny😐
What brand would you suggest? And how much should I use? Thanks!!
when recipes call for shortening, as your frosting does, can this be butter or does it have to be Crisco? And what do you use? Thanks.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! It worked out great for me. I wanted to ask, how long can you freeze the cookies? and how long if you keep them in an airtight container (not in the freezer)? I have two little kids and I seem to have to do cookies in different parts and can’t finish them in one day. So I made cookies yesterday and would like to continue until the end of the week for my son’s party at school. Once again thank you!
I’m a terrible baker, but wanted to spend at least a day in the kitchen with my 3 year old baking holiday treats. This was the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever tried–they turned out great and it was awesome there was no chiling needed. My dough seemed kind of “crack-y”–cracks developed when rolling. But the cookies were awesome! I made a few copies of the recipe to stick in the different boxes of cookie cutters in the pantry so it’s right at hand next time! Of the four things we baked today (soggy Magic Bars, a cream cheese Babka that didn’t rise, and mini-candy bars sandwiched in pretzels then dipped in white chocolate that just didn’t stick together), these were the only Pinterest success! Thanks!!!!
I love this adorable idea. I can’t wait to make these for my birthday! Your little boys are precious. How do you get the frosting so “stringy” looking? It kinda looks like fur. Do you use a certain cap for the piping bag? I hope you will write back! And I can’t wait to try some other recipes of you like the red, white and blue drinks. 😉
Thanks for writing! I used a Wilton grass tip #233. It’s a super fun piping tip!
I made this recipe today using honey and only butter as adjustments. They were awesome! Are you sure you followed the recipe Penny because you are crazy to not love these!
I have to say that these are adorable. How does the shortening buttercream frosting compare to royal icing? I’m making Halloween cookies. Also, I made your sugar cookie recipe last night and it is by far the BEST I have ever made. Even better than Martha Stewart’s. Thanks for publishing. I like that there is no refrigeration time and it doesn’t dry out.
Thank you Liz! Crisping Buttercream dries firm but not hard. Royal icing dries hard (like gingerbread house frosting).
Where can I buy the white chocolate discs used for the eyes? Also, how did you get the M&Ms to stay in place? I’m not a very experienced baker but you made it seem so easy that I’d like to give it a try!
Thank you for asking! You can buy chocolate discs at some grocery stores, or craft stores like Michael’s or even Wal-Mart/Target. I just used a dab of frosting to secure the parts.
omg I first found these cookies on google images, but finally I found these website ekkkkkkkkk, I have this school assignment to do and I reckon these will defs come in handy to make! they are incredibly cute and they seem edible xx thank you so much for this outstanding cookie monster recp. Katrina