Christmas Cookie Recipes to Treasure (2024)

FAQs

What was the first Christmas cookie? ›

History. Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from Medieval Europe biscuits, when many modern ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit were introduced into the west.

For game nights, school events and, of course, the holiday season, Pillsbury Ready To Bake Sugar Cookies are always ready to make your day. You can even eat the refrigerated cookie dough uncooked (look for the “safe to eat raw” seal!). Pair with a glass of cold milk and dare to dunk. Makes 24 cookies.

For the packaging, you'll need:

Separate the cookies into jumbo baking cups. Layer crinkle paper in the bottom of the tins or boxes, then arrange the cookies in the tins and fill any empty spaces with candies. Close the Christmas tins or boxes and decorate them with ribbons, bows, or twine.

Be sure to package the heaviest cookies on the bottom and the lightest cookies on top. Arrange a layer of shredded paper, bubble wrap, or tissue paper between each new layer of cookies. Pack your cookies snug in your box to keep them from moving during shipping.

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico”.

350° is the standard temp for a cookie, and it's a great one. Your cookies will bake evenly and the outside will be done at the same time as the inside. Baking at 325° also results in an evenly baked cookie, but the slower cooking will help yield a chewier cookie. The outsides will be a little softer, too.

Generously flour work surface. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on work surface. Cut out desired shapes using floured 2- to 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter.

Most people who make sugar cookie dough from scratch were taught to roll the dough out after it's been chilled. The goal is to keep the butter in the dough cold which makes it easier to roll out.

You'll want to fill the tin completely so that the cookies stay intact during transit. Line the bottom and the sides of your tin. You can use corrugated, tissue, or butcher block paper and top with pretty doilies. Separate each type of cookie with cupcake liners, shred, tissue, wax paper and/or parchment paper.

A Christmas cookie exchange is a holiday season get-together, sometimes called a “cookie swap.” Each guest brings a different type of homemade cookies to swap with each other.

How to make a bouquet of cookies for Christmas? ›

To put cookies on a stick for a cookie bouquet, arrange the cutout shapes onto the baking sheet per the recipe's directions. Gently insert a stick into the bottom of each cookie. Make sure the stick is inserted deeply into each cookie, almost to the center. Bake the cookies as directed.

Choose recipes that have a yield of at least 24 cookies, especially if you have many boxes to fill. For example, if you bake six different cookie recipes that all yield 24 cookies, you can pack six gift boxes with four of each cookie. Each box will make a bountiful gift of two dozen assorted cookies.

Any of these boxes are the perfect size for gifting and will fit four to six different cookies. These boxes are great for dropping off to neighbors and gifting to family and friends in town. If you plan to ship your box, I recommend putting the cookie box inside a sturdier one.

The First Christmas Cookies

Those who would like to take credit for the invention of the Christmas cookie will have to arm wrestle the Germans for it. They believe that Weihnachtsplätzchen, a term that refers specifically to cookies and broadly to holiday treats, encompasses the origin of Christmas baking.

Along with gingerbread, simple sugar cookies are another staple on Christmas dessert trays. This tradition started in the 1700s, when German settlers in Pennsylvania brought over the traditional unleavened, easy-to-store treat from Europe.

Chocolate chip cookies hold a wider margin over their nearest rivals, with second-placed sugar cookies fourteen points behind at 64%. Fudge comes in third on 63%, followed by brownie cookies or brookies (61%), double chocolate cookies (61%), M&M cookies (61%), and shortbread cookies (61%).

America's First Cookie was more like a floury shortbread--a shortbread that lacked shortening. The relative lack of fat made it seem very sweet, as though it was intended as a pure carrier for sugar.