Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit quite like baking easy Christmas cookies (and 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 candy topping and buckets of royal icing. It could be as simple as throwing together some easy Christmas cookie recipes with few ingredients or hacking cake mix to make the dough. Now that you have the confidence to get started, check out these easy Christmas recipes and get to baking!
Fun Cookie Cutters To Make Easy Christmas Cookies More Festive
Real Food Dieticians
With marshmallow and chocolate chunks and a pinch of cayenne pepper, these cookies are the sweet delicious kick we want in our holiday cookie. (via Real Food Dietitians)
Clean Cuisine
Here's a healthy but just-as-delicious take on the classic Gingerbread cookie. Gingerbread cookie recipe is delicious and healthy. It’s also gluten free and dairy free with a fresh taste of ginger and molasses. (via Clean Cuisine)
Kathryn's Kitchen
This no-bake cookie recipe is so easy and clever! Simply use Oreo cookies dipped in melted chocolate and then decorated with more chocolate, festive sprinkles and a Rolo candy to look like your ornament topper. (via Kathryn's Kitchen)
Julia Frey of Vikalinka
Turn your holiday candy canes into these chocolate cookies, dipped into melted chocolate, for a festive cookie everyone will love. (via Julia Frey of Vikalinka)
Completely Delicious
Drizzle your cookies with white chocolate and sprinkle sparkling sugar for a cookie party favorite. (via Completely Delicious)
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 for this baking recipe, just take them out of the freezer and arrange on a baking sheet. Fourteen minutes later, you'll be enjoying one of the best Christmas cookie recipes: warm cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies — filled with melty chocolate chips. (via Brit + Co)
Is all that red and green cramping your style? Give typical holiday colors a break with these pink pastel ornament Christmas cookie idea, complete with crushed candy cane sprinkles. Eloise would definitely approve. (via Brit + Co)
The Original Dish
These almond-flavored shortbread cookie sandwiches with raspberry jam and milk chocolate will be on your holiday cookie rotation for years to come. (via The Original Dish)
Kathryn's Kitchen
Soft and chewy and reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. OMG good! (via Kathryn's Kitchen)
This warmly spiced gingerbread cookie dough can act as a base for your favorite holiday shapes and decorations. Personally, we're suckers for this making snuggly sweaters with this easy Christmas cookie recipe. (via Brit + Co)
Need a cup-shaped cookie to go with your steaming cup of hot cocoa? Try this frosted, easy holiday cookie recipe, made with store-bought ingredients. (via Brit + Co)
This Wife Cooks
Top these peppermint-infused sugar cookies with Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses for your next cookie exchange! (via This Wife Cooks)
Pink Owl Kitchen
Perfect with a cup of hot cocoa, these cardamom cookies are melt in your mouth! (via Pink Owl Kitchen)
Vanilla and Bean
These classic no-bake cookies are super simple and make tasty food gifts! (via Vanilla and Bean)
Woman Scribbles
These buttery cookies with coffee caramel and topped with chocolate are a sweet tooth's dream. (via Woman Scribbles)
Feel Good Foodie
These cookies are infused with anise seeds and topped with colorful sprinkles for extra festive fun. (via Feel Good Foodie)
Two Peas and Their Pod
These soft and chewy oatmeal cookies with tart dried cranberries, a hint of fresh orange, and creamy white chocolate are a classic crowd pleaser! (via Two Peas and Their Pod)
Barley & Sage
Add a coffee-flavored twist on classic chocolate crinkles! (via Barley & Sage)
These crunchy, delicate, heart-shaped cookies come together with puff pastry, cream cheese, and a cinnamon sugar coating. (via Brit + Co)
This lightly pink holiday cookie idea is 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)
These fun Christmas cookies are sure to wow all your holiday guests, including Santa himself. Plus, it's awesome to add a twist to the Christmas cookie game with zero baking. (via Brit + Co)
Express those fond holiday emotions not with words but with a custom-made emoji expression. (via Brit + Co)
The holidays can be nutty, but baking Christmas cookies definitely makes things better. These goodies can be rolled out, cut, and decorated to your liking. Plus it makes for a fun date night or girls' day activity. (via Brit + Co)
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. (via Brit + Co)
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. They're so cute they can almost pass for the real thing! (via Brit + Co)
Who needs store-bought Oreos when you can impress your friends with the homemade version? We also think that the scalloped edges are the perfect finishing touch. (via Brit + Co)
These Christmas cookies can also double as cute decor, at least until they're all gobbled up. Add some powdered sugar before serving or add peppercorn eyes and buttons and bake until all the moisture is gone (around 10 minutes) to display them through the holiday. (via Calico and Twine)
Not only are these cookies tasty but they're extra cute. The hearts are perfect for Valentine's Day but for the holiday season swap your cookie cutters for some Classic Holiday Cookie Cutters. (via Two Spoons)
It's just not the holiday season without frosted sugar Christmas cookies. Ditch the idea of a perfect cookie and instead, top yours with a fluffy buttercream and whimsical decorations. The messier the better! (via Half Baked Harvest)
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. It's the thing of our candy cane dreams! It's oh-so-tempting to serve these warm with ice cream in lieu of the frosting! (via Cooking Classy)
Buttery toffee, smooth white chocolate, and rich macadamia nuts make these homemade Christmas cookies a natural pairing with hot chocolate. (via Lovely Little Kitchen)
Any combo of cinnamon and sugar tastes like the holidays to us. This easy Christmas cookie is great for all kinds of gatherings and is plain enough that even picky eaters will want one. (via Cozy Cravings)
Just when you thought mini Reese's cups couldn't get any better, they make impressively convincing snowmen hats on these unique Christmas cookies. Don't forget to save a couple cups to snack on later! (via Half Baked Harvest)
The trick in these cute Christmas cookies is making a depression in the cookies with the bottom of a glass before sticking them in the oven, so you can fill each one with as much icing as you like. Load 'em up! (via The View from Great Island)
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)
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 cookies are a mainstay of the easy holiday cookie table. This recipe is made healthier with dried apples, then drizzled with a paleo-friendly caramel sauce. (via Food Faith Fitness)
Turn your favorite cup of cocoa into a festive + easy Christmas cookie with this recipe. This is definitely for the chocolate lovers out there — it's got double the chocolate and a cocoa powder topping for good measure. (via Amanda Wilens)
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)
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)
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)
Chocolate, caramel, and nuts form the traditional turtle cookie — but these are a deliciously gluten-free version. (via The Skinny Fork)
Easiest Christmas Cookie: Whipped Shortbread
If you're more of a visual learner, follow along with the easiest Christmas cookie recipe of all, the whipped shortbread cookie.
Check out our online baking classes for more easy Christmas cookie recipe ideas and inspiration and follow us on Pinterest for more recipes!
Additional reporting by Justina Huddleston and Sara Cagle
This post has been updated.
Lead image via Half Baked Harvest
