Grinch Sugar Cookies

Last Updated on November 16, 2022 by Corinne Schmitt

Let’s get real, I love cookies. I love Christmas. And I LOVE the Grinch (it’s one of my favorite Christmas movies!). I brought all three of these together in this easy Grinch Sugar Cookies recipe.

The best part about these Grinch Christmas cookies? You don’t have to wait until Christmas to make them.

Sure, this is a great holiday cookie recipe. But they’re good anytime you want to have a Grinch movie night or just a fun snack.

In all seriousness, this recipe for Grinch Iced Christmas cookies makes a generous batch of cookies, so there’s plenty to share. If you want to keep them all for yourself, that’s fine.

Fun Uses for Grinch Cookies

There are more than enough–and they’re easy enough–to make for a class party or a cookie exchange party. You can make them for all your holiday parties!

These cookies are also an easy way to turn an ordinary family night into something memorable. Gather together to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and serve up the cookies with some hot chocolate afterwards.

Or, have a Dr. Seuss night and serve the cookies to make story time extra special.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the fun Jack Skellington cookies that inspired me to make these adorable grinch cookies.

Ingredients

Now, I’m going to just lay out all my cards here right this second: I ran out of eggs.

Yep. Totally out of eggs and I needed to make these cookies–and I really didn’t want to pop out to the store YET AGAIN.

So, I decided to improvise and grabbed a can of garbanzo beans and a can of black beans–and strained them for their juice. Did you know you could use bean juice (aquafaba) as an egg replacement?

I did, because, frankly, I’ve run out of eggs before. But when I told my friend about it, she thought I’d grown two heads. So, I thought I’d mention it to you guys–this is real. It doesn’t change the way the cookies taste. And it works!

I was afraid of scaring people away with some weird ingredient called “aquafaba” in the recipe so in the recipe card I’ve referred simply to the egg version. If you want to try the vegan version, you can see those directions in the step-by-step instructions below.

As with all of my recipes, you should be able to find everything you need for these cookies at your local grocery store.

Cookies

• 1 cup coconut oil, room temperature
• 1/2 cup aquafaba or 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (NOT baking soda)
• 3 cups flour

If you want to add some extra flavor to your cookies, you can substitute peppermint extract for the vanilla extract.

While the cookies were something I’d made with aquafaba in the past, I had never made royal icing with it. But, again, it turned out magically perfect. So, here’s what you’re going to need to make this vegan cookie icing:

Icing

• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup aquafaba (or 2 egg whites)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Green gel food coloring
• Yellow food coloring
• Black gel decorating icing

And that’s it! Seriously.

For the cookies, this is a great recipe for making decorated sugar cookies for any time of year. Use any cookie cutter to theme them for another occasion.

You can also add food coloring to the cookie dough to create colored cookies (so you can make these as green cookies if you prefer!).

Materials

You don’t need a bunch of fancy tools or appliances, but there are a few items that you should have on hand already that will make it much easier to make these Grinch cut out cookies. Here’s what I recommend:

• Mixer and large bowl for making the dough
• Rolling pin for rolling out the dough
• Parchment paper or silicone pastry mat to roll dough out on
• Pumpkin cookie cutter that you’ll squeeze to create the grinch head shape

How to Make Grinch Cookies

Step 1

First, just preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Then cream your sugar and oil with your hand mixer or in your stand mixer in a large bowl, then add aquafaba (or eggs–again, I was just out of them, and this recipe does work with eggs) and your vanilla extract, mixing thoroughly. Set aside.

Step 2

Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a second bowl. Combine with the sugar/butter mixture in 1/3 increments.

The cookie dough will be kind of crumbly, but turn it out onto parchment paper not directly onto the counter or cutting board (parchment paper is important, so don’t skip this) and work with it as-is. You don’t need to dust the parchment paper with flour, the dough won’t stick to it.

Step 3

Roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thick, but do not work with the cookies any thinner than that as they’ll break too easily.

Step 4

In order to make your Grinch face shapes, take a  pumpkin cookie cutter and squeeze the sides inward and pull bottom down a bit to make the Grinch’s long face.

With this new cookie cutter shape, cut out your cookies.

With the cookie dough you have leftover, form some thin bits to be sprigs of hair for the Grinch’s head.

Step 5

Do not move the cookies individually, but move the whole parchment paper sheet or silicone mat to the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. They will not brown, but you don’t want them to. If they brown, they will not be soft in the middle. So, just pull them out at 10 minutes.

Leave the cookies on the parchment paper and transfer them to a wire rack, allowing the cookies to cool completely before you frost them.

Step 6

In order to make the icing, combine all of the icing ingredients in a small bowl and beat on low speed until smooth.

Set aside abut 6 tablespoons of icing in a secondary bowl.

Step 7

With the larger portion of icing, add 5-ish drops of neon green food coloring and 4-ish drops of green food coloring then stir it until the color is the green you want.

Step 8

With the smaller portion of icing, add 9-ish drop of yellow food coloring and stir it until the color is the yellow you want. Put this yellow icing in an airtight container and set aside.

Step 9

Place the green icing in a decorating bag with your smallest round tip.

Pipe an edge line all the way around the outer edge of each cookie and immediately fill it in, covering the Grinch’s whole face.

Allow this layer of icing to dry for 2-3 hours.

Step 10

With the yellow icing, pipe an outline of the eye shape (with a flat top angled downward) on each side of the face.

Allow this layer of icing to dry for 2-3 hours.

Step 11

With your black gel icing, add some bushy eyebrows, a couple of eyeballs and a top, messy eyelash to each Grinch face.

Then add a nose and long smile to each face.

Step 12

Enjoy!

How to Store

No matter how you store your Grinch cookies, make sure the cookies are completely cooled and the frosting has set. I’ve provided instructions for storing at room temperature and in the freezer. I do not recommend storing them in the refrigerator since the moisture will have an adverse effect on them.

Room Temperature

You can keep your treats fresh for up to two weeks by storing them in airtight containers. I like these large, flat food storage containers since you can fit several cookies without wasting vertical space. Keep them out of sunlight — a cabinet or in the pantry is ideal.

Lay them flat to prevent the decorations from smudging. And remember, each time you open the container and let in air, the faster the cookies will get stale so consider storing in multiple, smaller containers rather than trying to fit them all into one.

Freezer

If you want to keep your cookies fresh longer, you can freeze them in an airtight container for up to three months. They’ll freeze better if you freeze them BEFORE frosting them. Thaw them in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Ready to make these delicious Grinch decorated cookies? Just print off the recipe card below.

Other Great Grinch Recipes

• Salty Sweet Grinch Snacks
• Grinch Jello Snack Cup
• Grinch Sugar Cookie Pudding Cups

If you love this Grinch Cookie Recipe, but you’re not quite ready to turn the oven on, just pin this to your favorite Christmas cookie decorating ideas board on Pinterest so you can find it quick later!