Christmas is around the corner, which means it’s the perfect time to create delicious memories with your kids. Beyond the presents and stocking stuffers, there is so much you can do to give your kids a Christmas to remember.
One of our favorite holiday traditions is baking Christmas cookies together. You’ll have a chance to enjoy a little extra sugar (with no guilt!) and bond as a family.
Not sure what to bake? We’ve got you covered with more than 20 Christmas cookie ideas to choose from.
Read on, and dig in!
Best Christmas Cookies for Kids
We’ve tried to make sure that every idea on our list is exciting and unique, so you can make this holiday the best one yet. We hope you enjoy these tasty treats!
1. Sprinkle Sticking Cookies
This was our first choice because nothing embodies the holiday spirit like cute sprinkle sticking cookies!
These Christmas cookies are flavored with butter and almond, so they have a wonderful flavor. But, the real treat is the decoration – edible, fun, sparkly sticking cookies are absolutely adorable.
You can customize the cookies by using the kids’ favorite colors. The cookies take at least four hours to cook, so it’s best to start early.
2. Snowflake Cookies
Snowflakes are sweet, and they’ll also give you a chance to get in the spirit of the winter wonderland. One of the best things about snowflakes is you can dress them up however you like!
You can use different candy sprinkles and colors to make them more colorful.
This is among the best Christmas cookie recipes that you should try if you don’t have so much time to spare. They only take 12 minutes to bake.
3. Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
These old-fashioned oatmeal cookies take a page from grandma’s cookbook. And we can all agree nothing beats grandma’s cooking!
These traditional cookies are made of brown sugar, spices, and buttermilk. You can also bake a lot of them and spread the festive love through the mail, because they’re easy to pack and transport.
This is perfect for moms who are looking for healthy recipes because. They’re packed with nutrition, and kids love them!
4. Reindeer Christmas Cookies
If you want to cheer up your kids and make Christmas all the merrier, reindeer cookies are the way to go.
Reindeer cookies are easy to make, and making cute, funny faces will help boost the Christmas spirit.
You can also try to recreate funny emojis to make them even more exciting (if you have teens, they’ll love this).
5. Thumbprint Cookies
These cookies are perfect for little hands. Since the dough doesn’t require rolling, kids can join in once the dough is made and shape it to their liking.
They’ll have so much fun squishing the dough with their tiny fingers to make customized thumbprint cookies.
You can also play with the toppings: Some great options include raspberry jam, strawberry jam, or chocolate.
6. Gingerbread Cookies
There’s something magical about gingerbread cookies at Christmas. They’re delicious and fun to bake, making them perfect for the festive season.
Besides shaping the cookies into tiny dolls, you can decorate them with whatever candy toppings you have in the kitchen.
For example, try decorating gingerbread people with mini M&Ms and white chocolate strips – they make terrific buttons and suspenders!
These colorful cookies will be the highlight of your Christmas dinner.
7. Red Velvet Crinkles
These cookies are perfect for little ones. They’re very sugary, and perfect for the sweetest day of the year!
The red color of the cookies makes them a perfect holiday treat. If your kids love chocolate, throw in some chocolate chips to give the cookies a richer chocolate flavor – it’s Christmas, they can have it all.
8. Caramel Magic Cookies
Everyone loves caramel magic cookies, also known as a seven layer bar. They’re messy, glorious, and delicious.
You can spice up the flavor by adding some extra ooey, gooey caramel. This is perfect if you’re trying to keep things simple in the kitchen.
This recipe can get a little messy, but that’s part of the fun! You don’t even need to use a mixing bowl – so it’s completely beginner friendly too.
9. Santa Skillet Cookie
Cookies don’t have to be tiny. They can be huge too! And this Santa skillet cookie is a great example.
Your kids will thank you for this one.
The cookie can break into eight pieces, which makes for a very cute presentation. To prepare this cookie, you’ll use sugar cookie dough for the chewy base and then decorate it with colored icings, red sanding sugar, and pearl dragées.
10. Giant Snickerdoodle
It can’t get any more Christmassy than this. You may already have some large snickerdoodles on your shopping list, so why not try making them from scratch?!
To spice up this cookie, sprinkle the tops with a blend of cinnamon and sugar. This will give your cookies that crunchy and chewy texture.
This triangle cookie looks just like a Christmas tree — and you can use different colors and sprinkles to decorate it.
11. Monster Christmas Cookies
We love this Christmas cookie recipe because kids can really take an active role and get involved almost every step of the way.
As the name suggests, these cookies are huge, but who doesn’t love a big cookie? There is also no limitation on what you can put in these cookies, so dream big.
You only need to prepare the dough and then let kids add their favorite mix-ins. Some of the best mix-ins include peanuts, chocolate chips, candy-coated chocolates, and oats.
Just let the kids go wild with it.
12. Forgotten Cookies
The forgotten Christmas cookies are an excellent way to start a Christmas morning. These cookies will be perfect for breakfast, and they’ll feel as good as Santa surprise gifts.
Forgotten cookies are prepared the night before, and then they’re left in the oven (it’s obviously turned off) to cook overnight.
The excitement and waking up to them is the best part of these cookies. And the kids can enjoy the cookies with a glass of milk.
You can take things a notch higher, and prepare the cookies after the kids sleep, and have them check the oven in the morning for surprise Santa cookies.
13. Sour Cream Cut-Outs
The sour cream cut-outs are interesting in that they can be decorated like cupcakes. Cake flour and sour cream make the cookies a little softer than usual cookies.
If you’re cooking them with kids, roll the dough thick so that they can easily pick it without tearing.
You can decorate the cookies with icing and colorful sprinkles.
14. Royal Iced Sugar Cookies
These are among the best holiday cookies for Christmas. Baking, frosting, and packing them is fun, and they make great gifts.
The royal iced sugar cookies can be labor-intensive, but they’re worth every effort. My favorite part of these cookies is that they come in different shapes, making them very colorful.
You can also use different colors on the cookies to fit the festive theme.
15. Peppermint Meltaway Cookies
This is another quick-fix Christmas cookie recipe for moms who are new at baking and still want to wow their kids.
Making peppermint cookies only takes 20 minutes, and they’re still magical – they melt away in your mouth and leave a delicate peppermint sweetness.
These cookies are a combination of powdered sugar, peppermint extract, and vanilla extract, which gives them a unique texture and a beautiful shape.
16. Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
This is another batch of cookies that will remind your kids of their grandma’s love. Plus, nothing satisfies the taste buds than finishing a cookie with a chocolate kiss.
The peanut butter kiss cookies are made with basic ingredients – nothing fancy, but they’re perfect for the holidays.
These holiday cookies are also very appealing, and the toddlers will enjoy sucking on the chocolate kiss.
17. Kitchen Sink Cookies
Well, are you looking for something unique? If you answered yes, the kitchen sink cookies are the way to go.
They’re associated with the kitchen sink for a reason – they’re messy, and the ingredients might not look very pretty. And they’re among the easy Christmas cookie recipes for busy moms.
They’re a mixture of every little thing you can have, and you may have to crash some ingredients.
You can add chocolate chunks, chopped almonds, rolled oats, and corn flakes, and anything else that comes to mind.
18. Candy Cane Cookies
These are going to be a hit among the toddlers. I mean, what’s there not to like? They’re colorful, the shape is delightful, and they’re delicious.
The candy cane cookies are flavored with peppermint, and they go very well with tea or cocoa.
These traditional cookies are amazing, but you might need a few trials to get the shape right, so don’t despair.
19. Spritz Cookies
The spritz cookies are iconic, and they go way back to the 16th century in Germany. The cookie press gained a lot of hype in the ’90s, which led to the popularity of the spritz cookies.
I love the spritz cookies because they’re easy to shape, and the tool is very affordable.
With the tool, you’re guaranteed to get perfect cookies. You can add sprinkles of your liking, so these cookies will be a success.
After you prepare the dough, your little helpers can help with the shaping, which adds to the Christmas fun.
20. Christmas Wreath Cookies
Sadly, Christmas wreath cookies don’t get the praise they deserve. Although they’re colorful, they are not the first thing people will reach out at the table.
However, once you get the kids to taste them, they won’t get enough of them. If you’re still skeptical about the cookies, a peek at the ingredient list will change your mind.
The primary ingredients include red M&Ms, mini marshmallows, cornflakes cereal, butter, and Twizzlers.
Make sure you put them in the fridge for at least an hour and a half before serving to attain the ultimate taste.
21. Easy Santa Cookies
These easy Christmas cookies are absolutely brilliant. They’re easy to fix, and the fact that they’re like a duplicate of Santa’s head is very exciting. These Christmas cookies were discovered by Ellender Mills discovered in 1995, but they’re still a thing in 2021.
These Santa cookies use different frostings and coloring to create Santa’s cap and his long white beard.
Spreading the frosting on the cookie is very interesting, and kids can help out and see who makes the best Santa.
Best Christmas Cookies (Wrapping Up)
Christmas bells are ringing, and I’m sure you’re already thinking about the tree and the gifts.
But do you know what else you should be thinking of? Making your kids their favorite Christmas cookies.
Holiday baking is a great way to bond with your kids and cook some treats for them.
I hope you got some creative ideas for making your little ones.
Merry Christmas!
