Holiday Cookies for all Skill Levels

Justine Schwarz

Christmas cookies are a staple item to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! During the holidays, it is customary to have at least five types of cookies available at all times. Here are some recipes that are guaranteed to please!

Chocolate Dipped Butter Cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks butter

½ C. sugar

1/3 C. powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

2 ½ C. flour

½ t. baking powder

Pinch salt

8 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla until fluffy. Add eggs and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt, then gradually add to butter mixture. Mix until combined. Using a large star shaped tip on a piping bag, pipe out tubes of dough about 2” long onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool on wire rack and then dip ends in melted chocolate. Top with sprinkles or decorations of your choice. 

Russian Tea Cakes (my personal favorite)

Ingredients

2 sticks butter

½ C. powdered sugar (plus more for rolling cookies in)

1 t. vanilla

2 C. flour

1 C. chopped walnuts

¼ t. salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375° F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, ½ C. powdered sugar, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, chopped nuts, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture. Mix until fully incorporated. Roll into balls and evenly place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes and cool on wire racks. When cool or mostly cool, roll in powdered sugar. 

If you’re literally incompetent af, here are some recipes that anything with opposable thumbs could make. 

Cheater Cookies

Ingredients

Crispy Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients

1 package Ritz crackers

1 jar peanut butter

24 oz package chocolate almond bark

Instructions

Spread peanut butter on a Ritz cracker and set another cracker on top like a sandwich. Repeat until all crackers have peanut butter in the middle. Break apart almond bark and place it in a large, microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute and then stir. Continue heating in 30 second intervals until the almond bark is completely melted. Dip peanut butter sandwich crackers in almond bark and then set on wax paper to dry. Feel free to decorate with sprinkles or white chocolate for extra holiday fun.

Corn Flake Wreaths

Ingredients

6 C. corn flakes

1 regular sized bag of marshmallows

¼ C. melted butter

Green food dye

Cinnamon candies (red hots) or large holiday sprinkles

Instructions

In a large microwave safe bowl, add marshmallows and melted butter. Stir to coat marshmallows in butter. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir. If marshmallows are not completely melted, microwave for an additional 10 seconds until melted. Stir in green food dye and pour in corn flakes. Stir until flakes are evenly coated. Spray hands with nonstick spray and then shape palm sized clumps of green corn flakes into cute wreaths. Decorate with cinnamon candies or cute holiday sprinkles of your choice. If they’re not cute, you did it wrong. 

Inside out Oreos

Ingredients

1 family sized package Oreos

8 oz package of cream cheese

12 oz vanilla almond bark

Instructions

In a gallon size bag, crush Oreos until they resemble a gun powder. If you can’t get them small enough, feel free to use a blender or food processor to reduce the size of the larger pieces. Add cream cheese to the crushed Oreos and squish the bag around until it’s all mixed up. Pour the mixture into a bowl and mix more if the cream cheese is not fully incorporated. Form Oreo “dough” into 1” balls and set on wax paper. Break apart almond bark and place it in a large, microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute and then stir. Continue heating in 30 second intervals until the almond bark is completely melted. Dip dough balls in almond bark and then set on wax paper to dry. Feel free to decorate with sprinkles or melted chocolate for extra holiday fun.

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