This collection has the best Christmas-themed cookies for the holiday season! From festive sugar cookies and decorated Christmas trees to Santa, snowman, and reindeer cookies, these fun Christmas cookie recipes are perfect for holiday parties, cookie exchanges, and homemade gifts.
Christmas cookies are one of the best parts of holiday baking, especially with cookies decorated to look like Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees, snowmen, and other holiday favorites.
Whether you’re putting together a Christmas cookie platter, hosting a holiday cookie exchange, or baking with the kids, you’ll find plenty of Christmas inspiration here.
Tips for Making Christmas Cookies
- Choose cookies that hold their shape. If you’re using cookie cutters, sugar cookie and gingerbread doughs that don’t spread too much are ideal for keeping Christmas trees, stars, and other shapes looking neat.
- Let cookies cool completely before decorating. Warm cookies can cause frosting, icing, and chocolate to melt or slide off.
- Use simple decorations. Sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, candy eyes, melted chocolate, and colored frosting can turn ordinary cookies into Christmas characters without complicated techniques.
- Decorate in stages. Allow icing or melted chocolate to set before adding more decorations to avoid smudging the designs.
- Make cookies ahead of time. Many Christmas cookies can be baked and frozen before decorating, making holiday preparations easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Many Christmas cookies can be baked several days in advance and stored in an airtight container. You can also prepare certain cookie doughs ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze them until you’re ready to bake and decorate.
Many decorated Christmas cookies freeze well, especially sugar cookies with fully dried royal icing. Allow the decorations to set completely, then place the cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between layers. For the best results, thaw them in the closed container at room temperature to help prevent condensation on the decorations.
Christmas cookies make great homemade gifts. Arrange them in decorative tins, bakery boxes, or clear treat bags. Make sure any frosting or icing has completely set before packaging, and use parchment paper between layers to prevent sticking. Keep softer cookies separate from crispy ones to help maintain their textures.
Keep strong flavors separate. When packaging Christmas cookies, store peppermint, peanut butter, and other strongly flavored cookies separately from other flavors like sugar cookies and shortbread. Their aromas can transfer to neighboring cookies, causing everything in the tin to take on the same flavor. Use separate containers or individually sealed treat bags to keep each cookie tasting the way it should.
Cookies decorated with melted chocolate, sprinkles, candy eyes, and simple frosting designs are usually the easiest. Reindeer, snowman, and Christmas tree cookies are great choices for beginners and kids because they don’t require complicated piping techniques.
Most sugar cookies decorated with royal icing can be prepared several days ahead, provided the icing has dried completely and they’re stored properly. Cookies with buttercream or cream cheese frosting may require different storage methods, so it’s best to follow the individual recipe’s recommendations.
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