Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies

Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies incorporate the beautiful fall colors into easy cut out sugar cookies. You can use store bought cookie dough or follow this family favorite recipe. An easy dessert for Thanksgiving or fall!

This is not just a recipe but rather a concept developed by my mom several years ago. She has been making these sugar cookies for as long as I can remember - she got the recipe from a coworker (her grandmother's recipe) many, many years ago.

The recipe was given to us as "Granny's Sugar Cookies," but I call them "[Not My] Granny's Sugar Cookies" because I like to be accurate.

We usually have these cookies at Christmas time and use reindeer, bell, and Christmas tree shapes, but one year she decided to make them in the fall with a leaf cookie cutter, and she came up with this way to dye the dough that I thought was really cool.

Personally, I am not the biggest fan of crispy sugar cookies, and these cookies tend to be crispy (as opposed to the softer Roll Out Sugar Cookies), but a lot of people love them.

They are very basic - no almond extract or lemon zest here! I realize that most people have their own favorite sugar cookie recipe, so I'm posting this more as an idea that can be adapted to any sugar cookie dough (even store bought!)

If you love trying new recipes, go ahead and give this one a try! They are my mom's favorite sugar cookies!

Recipe Details

The sugar cookie dough is divided into 4 portions and then colored with food coloring. The coloring is marbled throughout the dough.

When the dough is ready to roll, small pieces of each color are rolled together to get a fall leaf pattern.

Bake on a SILPAT or parchment lined baking sheet.

Marbled Fall Leaf Cookies with Icing

If you prefer an iced sugar or shortbread cookie, you can make a simple vanilla icing and drop liquid food coloring in then swirl with a toothpick. The cookies can then be dipped in the icing to create a pretty marbled pattern on the surface of the leaf.

Fall Leaves can also be hand painted with edible watercolors.

Gluten Free Option

I have good luck using a cup for cup gluten free flour blend, such as Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour, in place of all purpose flour for cookies. The dough may be slightly harder to work with, so I recommend being generous with the flour when rolling the dough out.

Cookies baked with gluten free flour blends tend to be more fragile and crumbly than those made with traditional wheat flour, but the flavor is spot on!

📖 Recipe

Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies

Meghan

A fun yet easy way to make decorate sugar cookies for Fall! This family favorite sugar cookie recipe is always a hit.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Chill Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 (approx.)

Calories 107 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
  2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
• Cream together butter and sugar. Blend in the egg. Slowly add sifted dry ingredients, then blend in vanilla.
  ½ cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Chill dough in refrigerator for around 15-30 minutes or until it reaches a rollable consistency (you may also store it in the refrigerator for a day and bake later; simply let dough warm a bit on the counter if it has been chilled for a long time). Meanwhile preheat oven to 400°F.
• Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Add food coloring in drops on top of dough and use a large spoon to disperse food coloring throughout dough in a swirled pattern (see below). I used 4-6 drops of traditional food color (not the food coloring gel) to each ball of dough. For the orange, I used 3 drops of yellow and 3 of red.
• Take a small piece of dough from each color and mix them together just a little bit. Roll the dough and cut out the cookies to ¼ inch thick or preferred thickness. This will produce the streaky color pattern (see below). You can add the scraps to fresh dough and this will combine the colors even more. Certain areas may look brown from the combination of colors, but this will make the cookies more realistic looking.
• Place the cut cookies on a greased baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a SILPAT. Bake for 6-10 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges. The time will depend on the thickness of the cookie and how crisp or soft you like them.

Notes

Source: Friend of my mom's (Susan M.)

Nutritional information is only an estimate and will vary based on your ingredients and substitutions.  

You're Gonna Bake It After All

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Nutrition

Calories: 107kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 117mgPotassium: 15mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 128IUCalcium: 23mgIron: 1mg

Keyword cookies, dessert, fall, gluten free, holiday

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