Holiday Shortbread Cookies
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It’s that time of year! Baking and decorating Christmas cookies is an activity that my family enjoys doing together! It’s so much fun to make the dough, roll it out, use cookie cutters, make icing and then adorn the cookies with sprinkles! The simple things are sometimes the most fun!
One of my favorite bridal shower gifts was this collection of festive cookie cutters and two cookie sheets! We retired the cookie sheets after 12 years last year but the cookie cutters are still going strong!
This recipe is one that my mom has made countless times over the years! The cookies are technically shortbread so they’re not too sweet, but the sweetness comes in perfectly with the icing. They are always a crowd pleaser. I’ve made them for parties and as party favors for baby showers, bridal showers and birthday parties!
Our Christmas tree, kitchen and cookies from a few Christmases ago!
I’ve always admired my talented friends who make beautiful cookie art with royal icing- maybe someday I will learn how to make those! But for those of us just looking for a simple and tasty homemade cookie recipe, this is it!
A fun tradition that my kids do is they pick their favorite cookie that they decorated for Santa! Since it’s still a few days before Christmas these cookies are in the freezer until Christmas Eve:
Here is the recipe!
A few notes about this recipe:
If you’re in a pinch to soften butter, I usually put the unwrapped sticks on a plate and put them in the microwave for 11-12 seconds. Many bakers tell you not to do this, but for the recipe, it’s ok!
To cream the butter and the sugar, use the paddle or whisk attachments, then switch to the hook to mix the dough together once you’ve added the dry ingredients
This is a tip from my 7th grade Home Economics class that I’ve never forgotten- mix the dry ingredients together separately and use a whisk to mix them. It will distribute the ingredients more evenly!
Make sure the cookies are cool before you ice them!
When making the icing, only add a little bit at a time to get your desired consistency! You can always add moisture to icing, but taking it away will affect the sweetness of the icing!
Separate the white icing into several smaller bowls and add food coloring to make different colors of icing!
When you are decorating with larger sprinkles use (clean!) tweezers to place them exactly where you want them to be!
Here are some other fun times I’ve made these cookies that aren’t at Christmas:
My mom made these adorable tea pots for my daughter’s 1st Birthday Party, which was “Tea Party” themed!
I made these Cinderella slippers, carriage and castle cookies for my niece’s Disney Princess baby shower!
My mom made these adorable blue teddy bear cookies for my son’s baby shower!
I hope you and your family grace your table with these Christmas cookies this year! Let me know if you do!