It’s finally the best time of the year, the holiday season! No matter how you celebrate, the holidays are a time to unwind, spend time with your family, and most importantly—bake cookies! Baking is always one of my favorite holiday traditions, so this week I’m sharing my top four easy to make cookies for the holiday season.
1. Thumbprints
First, we have thumbprints which are always a festive staple. All you need is some shortbread cookie dough, your favorite type of jam, and the secret ingredient: clear sugar sprinkles. To make shortbread cookie dough you’ll need:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of almond flour
- ½ teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temp.
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup of raspberry and apricot jam
- You’ll also need sugar sprinkles for these cookies.
The dough can be either store bought or homemade, for me, the more personalized part of thumbprints is decorating them! The two types of jam I like to use are raspberry and apricot. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, apricot jam? But you’re just going to have to trust me and try it out for yourself! Now once you’ve made or bought your dough you’ll need to form little balls of dough and then lay them out on your cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure to leave some room so the cookies can spread out. Now take your thumb, as the name suggests, and press it into the center of each cookie. Next, take your jam of choice and fill in your cookies. Now, this is where those clear sugar sprinkles come in, take just a pinch and sprinkle them over the top of your cookies. This will add a nice glaze to the top of your cookies. Once you’ve done that you can put them into the oven at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. After they’re baked move the cookies to a cooling rack, or a separate plate, and let them cool down before you enjoy them!
2. Spritz cookies
These are the cookies where you can literally never go wrong. They’re a simple butter cookie. If you plan on making your own dough, you’ll need:
- 1 cup of softened butter
- ½ cup of sugar
- 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of almond or vanilla extract
- You’ll also need some food coloring and colored sprinkles for this recipe.
The only other tool you need for spritz cookies is a cookie press to make your cookies into fun shapes. Place your dough into the cookie press and then press your cookies onto a cookie sheet, each a few inches apart. Then take your sprinkles and cover your cookies with them. Next put them in the oven at 350 degrees and then bake for 5 to 8 minutes. Butter cookies tend to bake fast so don’t let them sit in the oven for too long. Once they’re out of the oven let the cookies cool on a separate tray or plate for a few minutes.
3. Decorated Sugar cookies
Next up is everyone’s favorite—sugar cookies! Now, these cookies were going to be using royal icing which I normally buy at the store, but if you’re a pro and want to make yours at home you can do that too. For this dough you’ll need:
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon of baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 beaten egg
- 1 tablespoon of milk
- You’ll also need colored sprinkles and royal icing for this recipe.
Once you’ve made your dough, roll out the dough until it’s flat, but not too thin so you don’t burn your cookies. Then take your cookie cutters of choice and cut out your shapes. Then lay out the cookies on a lined baking sheet. Make sure you leave space between them because they will expand in the oven. Next, put your cookies in the oven at 375 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes. When they’re done baking let the cookies cool for about two minutes and then ice them however you want. If you’re like me and your icing decorating skills are not the most artistic you can ice your cookie with a thin layer of icing in one color and then dip the cookie in sprinkles for a neat look.
And there you have it, three types of cookies that are easy to bake for the holiday season. However you celebrate this time of year I hope it’s relaxing, fun, and full of cookies!