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Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit quite like making a mess in the kitchen with sugar, flour, and *all* the sprinkles. Thankfully, you don't have to be a trained pastry chef to create the best holiday cookies for Santa. Christmas cookie decorating doesn't necessarily mean sitting down with fancy tools and buckets of royal icing. It could be as simple as dressing up store-bought treats or hacking cake mix to make the dough. Now that you have the confidence to get started, check out these insanely easy Christmas cookie recipes and get to baking!
Slice ‘n’ Bake Vanilla Bean Christmas Sugar Cookies With Whipped Buttercream Frosting: It’s just not Christmas without frosted sugar cookies. Ditch perfection and top yours with a fluffy buttercream and whimsical decorations. (via Half Baked Harvest)
Cranberry Christmas Cookies: You can make the cookie dough in this recipe ahead of time and freeze it to save you time during the Christmas rush. When you’re ready to bake, just take them out of the freezer and arrange on a baking sheet. Fourteen minutes later, you’ll be enjoying warm cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies. (via Brit + Co)
Easy Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe: Is all that red and green cramping your style? Give typical holiday colors a break with these pink pastel ornament cookies, complete with crushed candy cane sprinkles. (via Brit + Co)
Frosted Peppermint Brownie Cookies: Why choose between cookies and brownies if you don’t have to? This hybrid is the best of both worlds, with a luscious peppermint frosting on top. (via Cooking Classy)
Basic Gingerbread Cookies: This warmly spiced gingerbread cookie dough can act as a base for your favorite holiday shapes and decorations. Personally, we're suckers for these snuggly ugly sweater cookies. (via Brit + Co)
Toffee White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies: Buttery toffee, smooth white chocolate, and rich macadamia nuts make these a natural pairing with hot chocolate. (via Lovely Little Kitchen)
Easy Peppermint Sandwich Cookies: Who needs store-bought Oreos when you can impress your friends with the homemade version? (via Brit + Co)
Eggnog Frosted Chai Snickerdoodle Snowmen: Just when you thought mini Reese's cups couldn't get any better, they make impressively convincing snowmen hats. (via Half Baked Harvest)
Peanut Butter Sugar Cookies: The holidays can be nutty, but these peanut butter sugar cookies, which can be rolled out, cut, and decorated to your liking, make things a little sweeter. (via Brit + Co)
Ginger Spiced Sugar Cookies: The trick here is making a depression in the cookies with the bottom of a glass before baking, so you can fill each one with as much icing as you like. (via The View from Great Island)
Oreo Chocolate Cookie Recipe: Though you can make any cut-and-bake cookies with the chocolate dough, we're partial to using it for these edible hot cocoa mugs. They are finished off with a sprinkle rim, Rudolph face, and candy cane handle. (via Brit + Co)
Cinnamon Spiced Almond Sugar Cookies: These cookies are made with healthier ingredients (like coconut sugar, cinnamon, and almonds) and are also grain-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free. That means you can gift them to pretty much everyone on your list. (via Cotter Crunch)
Animal Cracker Sugar Cookies: Though there aren't any animal crackers in the actual recipe, the addition of honey and oat flour will make you think otherwise. Use the dough for all of your fave rolled or cut cookies.
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Trees: If you’re going to give your kids a cookie, you might as well hide a strawberry on top to balance it out. Dip the strawberry in green candy melts, add sprinkle ornaments, and let it fully harden before attaching it to the cookie with a blanket of white frosting snow. (via Lovely Little Kitchen)
Gingerbread Emoji Cookies: Express those fond holiday emotions not with words but with a custom-made emoji expression. (via Brit + Co)
Paleo Caramel Apple Gingersnaps: Gingerbread cookies are a mainstay of the holiday cookie table. This recipe is made healthier with dried apples, then drizzled with a paleo-friendly caramel sauce. (via Food Faith Fitness)
Cookie Christmas Trees: These towering cookies are sure to wow all your holiday guests, including Santa himself. Plus, it’s way fun to add a twist to the Christmas cookie game with zero baking. (via Brit + Co)
Chai Shortbread With Ganache: Jazz up your usual shortbread with a few simple additions. Chai spice flavors the dough, and a chocolate ganache and salted pistachio coating make them taste extra-fancy. (via My Vibrant Kitchen)
White Chocolate Candy Cane Fortune Cookies: These lightly pink fortune cookies are homemade, but in a pinch, just stock up at a Chinese restaurant and dip in white chocolate and crushed candy canes at home. (via Brit + Co)
Eggnog Cookies: If you don’t usually love eggnog, give this recipe a try before you write it off completely. There’s only a touch of spice, but it's just enough to keep things interesting. (via Half Full)
No-Roll, Softbatch Sprinkles Cookies: If you love cookies but dread rolling out the dough and meticulously decorating them, use this recipe. The dough doesn't need to be rolled out before you form the cookies, and since the sprinkles go directly into the dough, the decorations are already done. (via Averie Cooks)
Cinnamon Bun Palmiers: These crunchy, delicate, heart-shaped cookies come together with puff pastry, cream cheese, and a cinnamon sugar coating. (via Brit + Co)
Hot Cocoa Cookies: Need a cup-shaped cookie to go with your steaming cup of hot cocoa? Try these frosted, marshmallow-topped cookies, made easy with store-bought ingredients. (via Brit + Co)
Chewy Molasses Cookies: Soft and chewy molasses cookies are a hallmark of the holidays. And unlike some, these don’t need to be chilled before baking, so they can go from the bowl to the oven to your mouth in record time. (via A Cookie Named Desire)
Gluten-Free Chocolate Turtle Thumbprint Cookies: Chocolate, caramel, and nuts form the traditional turtle cookie — but these are a deliciously gluten-free version. (via The Skinny Fork)
Check out our Christmas cookie guide for moe inspo, and follow us on Pinterest for other easy holiday recipe ideas.
Check out our Christmas cookie guide for moe inspo, and follow us on Pinterest for other easy holiday recipe ideas.
Additional reporting by Justina Huddleston and Sara Cagle
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