These simple and elegant maple cinnamon star cookies are adorned with white chocolate, gold sprinkles, and edible glitter stars. Start with my sugar cookies and add maple extract and cinnamon for wonderful flavor.
Sugar cookies are fabulous, but adding an extra level of flavor changes everything. Brown butter sugar cookies, or vanilla bean shamrock St. Patrick’s Day cookies, anyone?
Like my Christmas sugar cookies, today’s sugar cookie recipe is cookie cutter style. We get the same great flavor combination as these maple pecan snickerdoodles, but we’ll roll the dough out and cut into adorable stars. What makes these stars unique are the flavors mingling inside: cinnamon + maple. Combine these two powerhouse flavors with shimmering gold sprinkles, edible glitter stars, and white chocolate and we’ve got a sugar cookie putting many others to shame. You’ll love these cookies and here’s why:
Have a little flour nearby when you’re rolling out the cookie dough. Keep your work surface, hands, and rolling pin lightly floured. This is a relatively soft dough.
Let me explain why I do this. To prevent the cookies from over-spreading, the cookie dough must chill in the refrigerator. Roll out the dough right after you prepare it, then chill the rolled-out dough. (At this point the dough is too soft to cut into shapes.) Don’t chill the cookie dough and then try to roll it out because it will be too cold and difficult to work with. I divide the dough in half before rolling it out and highly recommend you do the same. Smaller sections of dough are simply more manageable.
Another trick! Roll out the cookie dough directly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. Pick it up, put it on a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for two baking sheets in your refrigerator, stack the pieces of rolled out dough on top of each other.
Beautiful maple cinnamon stars! (Similar 3-inch star cookie cutter found here on Amazon.)
Let’s keep the garnishes simple—this way the cookie’s flavor can truly shine. Here are a few ideas for maple cinnamon star cookie decorations:
Use maple extract—not pure maple syrup. While I typically reach for the latter in my baking, sugar cookie dough is notoriously picky when it comes to add-ins. Maple extract is potent and a little goes a long way. We’d need a few Tablespoons of pure maple syrup to achieve the same flavor that only 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of maple extract has. This larger amount of pure syrup would radically change the sugar cookie dough because there would be too much liquid. We could add more flour to make up for it, but the cookies would be dry. It’s frustrating! To avoid all this, use the maple flavoring. (I use it in my maple brown sugar cookies, too!)
Flavorful maple cinnamon star cookies are made from a basic and easy sugar cookie dough. Dunk in white chocolate for an extra special treat!
