Simple and infinitely adaptable, these are the very best Christmas cookies to bake for the vacation season! One cookie dough provides you limitless prospects, from roll out butter cookies to thumbprint cookies to slice and bake cookies. Beautify with white chocolate, pink and inexperienced sprinkles, or icing sugar!
I’m so excited to be sharing a recipe from my cookbook “House for the Holidays” with you at present! I’ll be sharing 5 recipes from the e-book with you this week, all that are good for the vacation season! And at present we’re kicking issues off with CHRISTMAS COOKIES!
Earlier than I had youngsters my favourite Christmas cookie… was chocolate chip! However now that I’ve two little ones, I like baking them these festive and superbly embellished Christmas cookies. Seeing their eyes gentle up taking within the thrilling colours and textures is so magical, and places me within the vacation spirit.
They’re additionally so enjoyable to make and enhance collectively as a household! And did I point out they’re tremendous straightforward?! As a result of they’re! However maybe my favourite half about this recipe is that one batch of dough could make 4 several types of Christmas cookies!
Cookies You Can Make with This Dough
- Reduce-Out Cookies: In the event you like conventional roll-out sugar cookies, you may roll this dough out and minimize it with cookie cutters. They’re candy and buttery and enjoyable to embellish!
- Slice and Bake Cookies: As a substitute of rolling the dough out, you’ll kind it right into a log earlier than chilling. Then you definately’ll use a pointy knife to slice it into rounds earlier than baking. You’ll be able to dip the cookie rounds into melted darkish or white chocolate and enhance with pink and inexperienced sprinkles. Or crushed sweet canes, nuts, and so forth.
- Thumbprint Cookies: As a substitute of chilling, you may merely scoop the dough into tablespoon sized parts. Then use your thumb to press an indentation in the course of every spherical. Partially bake, then fill with jam or Nutella and proceed baking.
- Sandwich Cookies: This technique is much like making sandwich cookies, however you’ll roll the dough barely thinner. When you bake the cookies and funky them, unfold on aspect with jam, jelly, or Nutella, then press one other cookie on high.
Christmas Cookie Dough Components
- Butter: Unsalted butter is my choice however in a pinch, use salted butter and omit the salt referred to as for.
- Granulated Sugar: I don’t recommend subbing brown sugar as it should change the colour and texture of the cookies.
- Eggs: This recipe makes use of complete eggs and
- Vanilla: Provides wealthy vanilla taste. Use pure vanilla, not synthetic vanilla.
- Flour: This recipe has examined solely with all-purpose flour. For greatest outcomes, use all-purpose flour and weigh it utilizing a digital kitchen scale.
- Salt: A small quantity of salt balances sweetness and enhances the opposite flavors within the cookie dough.
How you can Make Christmas Cookies
- Cookie Dough: Use an electrical mixer to beat the butter and sugar till gentle and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, then beat within the flour and salt. The dough ought to be stiff.
- Knead: You’ll solely have to knead it for 30 seconds or so, simply till it comes collectively.
- Chill: Divide the dough in half and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for not less than 3 hours.
- Prep: half-hour earlier than you intend on baking, preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll: Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to ¼” thickness. Use cookie cutters to chop out as many shapes as you may. Then place the shapes to the ready baking sheets. Bake till flippantly golden.
- Cool: On the baking sheet for quarter-hour then switch to a cooling rack to chill fully.
- Beautify: As soon as the cookies are cool, enhance them to your hearts delight!
Christmas Cookie Instruments & Ornament Concepts
- Rolling Pin: It doesn’t should be fancy, however you have to a rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough.
- Cookie Cutters: Use any shapes you’d like, reminiscent of snowflakes, mittens, angels, stars, Christmas timber, or sweet canes.
- Sweet Canes: I like utilizing crushed sweet canes to embellish moist chocolate. You may additionally combine crushed sweet canes and mini chocolate chips into the cookie dough and make thumprints.
- Nuts: Pistachios, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, or no matter nut floats your boat.
- Sprinkles: Use no matter colour sprinkles get you excited, pink and inexperienced, blue and silver, or all white.
- Nonpareils: Pink and inexperienced nonpareils look so cute sprinkled on high of those cookies and add a scrumptious crunch.
- Jam: If you’re making slice and bake cookies or sandwich cookies, you may fill them with raspberry jam, apricot jam, or Nutella.
- Icing: A mix of confectioner’s sugar and water creates a easy and straightforward to make use of glaze. You’ll be able to dip the cookies within the glaze or pour it into small bottles and pipe it on the cookies.
Ideas for Working the Cookie Dough
- If the cookie dough is simply too sticky, place it again within the fridge to relax for one more half-hour.
- Roll the cookie dough out on a flippantly floured floor to stop sticking. Or, roll it out on parchment paper or a silpat nonstick mat.
- Don’t roll the cookie dough too skinny. You need it round a 1/4-inch. This makes it straightforward to switch to the baking sheet. And creates superbly thick cookies.
- Re-roll scraps of cookie dough right into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for half-hour. Then use as directed. This lets you get so many extra cookies from this recipe!
Watch the Bake Time
Bake instances are at all times simply estimates! Bake time can range for numerous motive, so at all times keep watch over your cookies. As quickly as they’re flippantly golden brown, I recommend pulling them out of the oven.
Extra Simple Christmas Cookie Recipes