This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see our privacy policy.
With an easy decorating technique, these delicious, Christmas Shortbread Cookies look like they came from a fine bakeshop!
Are you in the mode? Or the mood? Or whatever you want to call this getting-ready-for-the-holidays frame of mind. There's a lot to do, isn't there? Decorating, preparing for guests, making lists, checking them twice, shopping, baking. Baking... that's my sweet spot this time of year. But with everything else to do, it seems there's just not enough time. That's why these Christmas Shortbread Cookies have been a perfect way to create a delicious, festive holiday stash, without spending hours in the kitchen.
It's unusual, but Scott and I actually had the tree up, the house all decorated and most of the shopping done (thanks to Amazon) before the calendar ever flipped to December. We're usually scurrying around until the last minute, trying to check all the boxes, yet always feeling behind schedule. This year has been a little different.
We had plans to spend Thanksgiving in Memphis with our children and grandchildren and were super excited. With our daughter Cait, living in London for the past seven years, it was the first time in many years that we would have all been together for this special celebration of thankfulness. Things don't always go as planned though. Scott's dad got sick about a week before Thanksgiving and, at 95, started slipping downhill quickly. We canceled our trip in order to stay close to home.
Scott and I spent time each day with Pops (our children's name for Scott's dad) and had some sweet and tender conversations. He slept about twenty-three and a half hours a day, but whenever we visited, he would try to arouse a bit and converse with us. He rarely complained and was very gracious and thankful, even for the small things.
The weekend of Thanksgiving, we knew Pops was getting close to the end. We spent time with him each day and read to him from The Jesus Story Bible (a beautiful book for all ages). On Sunday, Scott sang Amazing Grace and Pops actually tried to join in the song a few times. When we left that day, his last words were, "I love you too". A few hours later we got a call that he had peacefully passed away, a kind hospice nurse at his side.
So, although the house is all decorated (we had lots of extra time over the long Thanksgiving weekend), it's a bittersweet holiday season for us. Pops was our last living parent. A friend of mine said something that so resonated with both Scott and me. She said that when you lose your last parent, no matter what age you are, somewhere deep inside, you feel a bit like an orphan. And now we know it's true.
It's also true that life is too short to not appreciate and cherish opportunities to spend time with loved ones. So, although baking is a favorite part of the holidays for me, I like to keep things simple. With an easy decorating technique, these fun, delicious Christmas Shortbread Cookies look like they came from a fine bake shop. Though they appear festive and professional, they are truly easy, with no fancy decorating skills necessary.
You'll need a rolling pin, a small (Wilton Number 5) round decorating tip, green food color and your choice of decorative sprinkles. The ingredient list for the cookies is short: flour, sugar and butter. That's it.
The cookies are stirred up in a bowl (no mixer needed), rolled, cut and then chilled for several hours before baking. The chilling is one of the secrets to cookies with nice crisp edges. A stint in the refrigerator helps the dough keep its shape while baking.
Another secret? Corn starch. It might sound strange, but replacing a small portion of the flour in this recipe with corn starch gives the cookies a crisp, light texture and keeps them from spreading in the oven.
The icing technique is fun and simple, making it a great project to do with kids. The tops of the delicious, buttery cookies are dipped into an icing made with powdered sugar, milk and peppermint extract.
After dipping, the cookies are allowed to dry. Later, a pretty, but simple Christmas tree is added with a piping bag and tip. It's basically just a squiggle of lines that get progressively bigger.
Add a sprinkle of nonpareils and the squiggle lines are transformed into a festive Christmas tree!
The idea for these Christmas Shortbread Cookies is not original. I was looking for some inspiration for Christmas baking back in November and came across these really cute cookies on Pinterest. When I clicked on the link, it took me to Etsy where these cookies were actually for sale. When I looked at the price, I did a double take; $36.00 for a dozen! And honestly, the cookies didn't really look super tasty.
I decided to apply the decorating idea to my favorite buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie recipe and made a delicious mint glaze, instead of the royal icing used on the Etsy cookies. A whole batch of these Christmas Shortbread Cookies costs less than $3.00 (that's with ingredients priced on the high side). I think I'll make my own, thank you! You can too and they'll just look like they came from a fine bake shop! You and your wallet will be secretly smiling...
P.S. If you're looking for other fun and easy cookies to make, we've got a plethora of them, just check out our cookie archives.
Café Tips for making these Christmas Shortbread Cookies
- Don't roll these cookies too thin, otherwise, they will be difficult to dip into the glaze when decorating. I roll mine to a ⅜-inch thickness and use an adjustable rolling pin. How do you roll them to the desired thickness? This reasonably priced rolling pin is a super easy way to achieve the same perfect thickness in all your cookies. It has 1/16, ⅙, ¼, and ⅜-inch removable discs, making it easy to flatten your dough to a uniform thickness. Have a baker on your shopping list? This would make a lovely gift that would be used year round.
- Because there's no mixer used, the butter needs to be very soft when mixing up these Christmas Shortbread Cookies. That can be difficult at this time of year, even if you let the butter sit out for hours. A short stint in the microwave on power level 10 (10%) works like magic to soften butter. You'll need to experiment a bit with your microwave though, as they're all different. Start with 20 or 30-second increments at power level 10 until you learn how long your microwave will take to get the butter nice and soft but not melted.
- I love to have a supply of these super sturdy decorating bags. They're not expensive and a box will last forever. The bags come in a nice flat box so they're easy to store. I used to buy my bags at the local craft store and got about 10 bags for slightly less than this whole box of 100 bags! Definitely a wonderful deal.
- Make a fun holiday project for kids with these Christmas Shortbread Cookies. You could make it simple by preparing the cookies ahead of time. Then just set up a station for decorating with fun sprinkles and tubes of icing. Or do it in two stages; mixing, rolling and baking the cookies and then decorating them later after they're cooled.
- I like to use several size cookie cutters for this recipe. It helps to utilize the rolled dough better. When you can't cut any more large cookies, sometimes you can use the smaller one on the scraps.
- A few tips on rolling and cutting out cookies:
- Keep your work surface and rolling pin lightly dusted with flour.
- I like to also rub the cutting edge of my cookie cutter in a little flour in between each cookie.
- Press fairly firmly when cutting out the cookies, but don't twist the cookie cutter as the shape will get distorted.
- If you don't have room in your refrigerator to chill the cookies on two sheet pans, just transfer all of them to one pan after cutting. Then later, once they're chilled, you can divide them between the two pans for baking.
- When re-rolling the scraps, incorporate as little of the flour on the work surface as possible.
- Occasionally some of the cookies will be slightly puffed on the top when removed from the oven. You can give them a nice flat top by pushing on the top gently with a metal spatula.
- Peppermint extracts are not all the same. Start with ¼ teaspoon in the glaze and taste. Add more as needed to achieve a nice minty flavor.
- Use any type of sprinkles you like for these Christmas Shortbread Cookies. I really like the tiny round balls called nonpareils. I find really pretty ones at Homegoods. Walmart will usually also have a nice seasonal collection, as will the big box craft stores. You can also find nonpareils online.
- One important last note: nonpareils can be like insidious little runaways and you'll find them all over your kitchen before you can blink an eye. I found that sprinkling them onto the cookies over the sink or over a large baking or sheet pan will help corral the little wandering rascals!
Another fun and easy Christmas cookie recipe. I like to call them my Snowy Night Christmas Cookies:
Snowy Night Easy Decorated Christmas Cookies
With an easy decorating technique, these fun, festive and super delicious, Christmas Shortbread Cookies look like they came from a fine bake shop!
- 8 ounces butter 2 sticks
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons half and half (or milk) maybe more
- ¼-1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 tablespoon very soft butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½-2 tablespoons half and half (or milk)
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3-4 drops green food coloring
-
Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
-
Place soft butter in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until nice and smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix together by hand for about 1 minute, until fluffy and well blended.
-
Add the flour and cornstarch. Stir until flour is incorporated and the dough is shaggy. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and press dough in a ball. Knead a few times until fairly smooth then form into a ball again and press with your hands into a flat disk.
-
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a ⅜-inch thickness. Keep work surface, dough and rolling pin lightly (not too much) dusted with flour. Cut desired shapes and place on prepared pans. Re-roll scraps as many times as needed to use up the dough.
-
Place cutouts in the refrigerator for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.
-
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚F. Remove cookies from refrigerator and bake for 12-16 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden at the edges. Rotate pans halfway through for even browning. Cool completely before icing.
-
For the mint glaze, combine powdered sugar, half and half and ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract in a medium-size bowl. Mix until smooth. Glaze should be thick but pourable. Add a little more half and half if too thick. Taste the glaze and add more peppermint extract, if needed (see note above in post).Transfer the glaze to a shallow bowl.
-
To glaze the cookies, holding onto the edge of a cookie dip the top surface into the glaze, being sure all of the surface touches the glaze. Pull cookie up and out of the glaze. Allow excess glaze to drip back into the bowl. When glaze stops dripping, quickly flip the cookie right side up and give it a gentle jiggle to allow the glaze to flow evenly over the surface. Repeat with remaining cookies. Allow glaze to dry for 15-30 minutes.
-
For the buttercream piping, place butter in a medium-size bowl and stir until smooth. Add powdered sugar, 1 ½ tablespoons half and half and mint extract and stir vigorously until smooth, adding a bit more half and half if needed to achieve a thick but smooth consistency. Add food coloring, a drop at a time, to reach desired shade of green.
-
Place buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a small round icing tip (I used a Wilton #5 round tip). Starting at the upper edge of one cookie, pipe the Christmas trees by making lines that are increasingly larger, stopping about ¼-inch above the lower edge of the cookie (see pictures above). Immediately sprinkle with sprinkles of choice. Set aside to dry.
See Café Tips above for lots of extra tips and instructions.
Recipe makes a dozen large (3-inch) or two dozen smaller (2-inch) cookies.
Rhuhama says
Delightful! This recipe has great directions, few ingredients with the end result that is as pleasing to look at as to taste!
I placed balsam fir on a paper dolly covered platter. Adding the cookies-a forest of various shaped trees, a star above and a trail of reindeer across the base of the trees with Rudolph leading ( raw sugar - perfect color for the reindeer) .
A nice addition to our holiday party- this year and years to come.
Thank you!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Rhuhama! Sounds like a beautiful cookie tray!
Brigitte says
Where is your cutter from? Classic shape but I can’t find one online! Thanks!
iChris Scheuer says
Here you go - https://amzn.to/2E6j6QR
Hope you have a wonderful and delicious Christmas, Brigitte!
Chris says
Hi Can I decorate and then freeze the cookies?
Chris Scheuer says
Yes! I have some in my freezer right now. They'll keep well for several weeks and no will ever guess they were frozen. Merry Christmas!
Amanda says
I made these cookies last night and when you said melt in your mouth , you were so right ! I iced them and that went on perfect. But I think the icing takes away from these cookies.
Thes cookies are perfect all by them selfs !
I will be making these cookies for a family cookie exchange
If I don't eat them all myself.
Thank you for a great cookie !
Chris Scheuer says
I know what you mean, Amanda - I love the cookies on their own too. But the icing does make them so festive and fun! Thanks so much for sharing your results. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Dana H says
Love how cute and simple these cookies are with the little tree. I've got all my ingredients lined up! Could I add lemon zest to the basic shortbread recipe without it affecting how the cookies bake? I just love a slight lemony pop in my sugar cookies and shortbread.
Chris Scheuer says
Definitely, that would be wonderful! You could substitute a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for 1 of the tablespoons of half and half as well! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Stephanie says
Will the buttercream frosting dry/harden enough so that the cookies can be stacked up together? Planning to make these along with other types of cookies and will have to stack them all on a tray for display/transport. I didn't want the pretty decoration of the tree to get squashed down or messy on ithers on top of them.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Stephanie,
Yes, you can stack them nicely. Let them sit out (on the counter or cooling rack) for 4-6, hours until the icing is firmly set, then store in an airtight container with parchment paper or waxed paper in between the layers.
Catherine Gaudet says
Just finished my first batch of cookies! Made different sizes and shapes, got 24 cookies, 3/8in thickness, came out of the oven perfectly. Glazed them and will later decorate them over the glaze when it has dried. So much fun!!!
Nicole says
Hi! Have you frozen the cookie and then glazed and iced them later on?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Nicole, yes that works great!
Beth says
Can another extract be substituted for the peppermint? I’m not a fan of peppermint. I was thinking “vanilla”??
Chris Scheuer says
Definitely! I love vanilla with a little splash of almond extract.
Natalie Attianese says
I read through most of your comments but did not see the comment I'm about to make....I followed the recipe to a T and even used a rolling pin that rolls to an exact 3/8" rolled dough and used a 2" pumpkin cookie cutter and was only able to get 16 cookies from this dough. Just wanted to make others aware that you certainly won't get 24-2" cookies from this recipe. But do love the cookie, will just double the recipe next time. Happy Holidays!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks, Natalie.
Wendy says
Hello Chris,
I love any kind of shortbread cookie, the simple ingredients are perfect with a sugar glaze, just enough to be delicious! I do have a question regarding your suggestion of adding some corn starch to flour mixture. How much would you recommend?
Thanks so much! Wendy
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Wendy, it's 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Kelly says
Hi! These look yummy, but can you tell me, did you use salted or unsalted butter?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Kelly, I use salted butter. Enjoy!
Carolyn says
My cookies are chillin’ and in the frig!! Sharon is coming over tomorrow to help with decorating...and the taste testing😃
Chris Scheuer says
Oh, how fun! Wish I was with you 🙂 Take some pics!
Cheyenne says
Do i have to let them sit in the fridge for one hour what does that do
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Cheyenne, you do have to let them sit in the fridge for at least one hour. It keeps them from spreading in the oven. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Julie says
I tried this recipe yesterday. I do not know what I did wrong. I followed everything to a T and they were so flat after 5 minutes into the oven they burned. I don't get it. I did not forget to chill the dough... the icing was delicious. Too bad I had no cookies to put it on...
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Julie, not sure what went wrong since I wasn't there with you in the kitchen. I've never encountered that problem.
Helen says
Just an observation – Julie might get a separate oven thermometer to check her oven temp. If they burned in 5 minutes – her temp was very much off… Helen in Ark.
N. Blackman says
There is no leavening in this recipe so they will not rise. Perhaps the dough needed to be a little thicker? 3/8" is a little thicker than many rolled cookies. I do want to invest in one of those neat rolling pins that keeps the dough at the right thickness.
Chris Scheuer says
Yes, you're right, shortbread does not have leavening. 3/8-inch is perfect for these cookies, not too thin but not too thick either. I think you'll love the rolling pin!
Jeri says
Perfect! I made these today and I loved the way they turned out.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for letting us know Jeri. Merry Christmas!!
Cindy says
Where can I find this cookie cutter?? They are so pretty and easy to make! Tks
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Cindy, I use these cutters: http://amzn.to/2BisU5V
They come in a set of 9 so I usually make small cookies with the scraps 🙂 Have a wonderful Christmas!
Sarah says
I didn't have very good luck with this. The dough was great. I found it easy to work with and used wax paper to roll it out on to prevent sticking to my counter. The design on the cookies is lovely but I found these cookies quite tatsteless. Not sure why. Maybe it's the powdered sugar instead of regular sugar??. I made two different recipes and the other one I made is much more buttery and tasty. One of the main differences was the sugar type. I also make a shortbread crust for a pie recipe which I may try and make cookies from it. I've never tried rolling it. Thank you for the. Eautyjd design idea though. It's gorgeous.
Chris Scheuer says
So sorry these didn't work out for you Sarah as I've had so many emails, comments on the blog as well as on my social media sites of readers who have loved these cookies. Perhaps you like a sweeter cookie. I might too if it weren't for the icing. Combined, the cookies were perfect for us. Hope you find just the right recipe that you're looking for!
Kat says
Hello, these look beautiful! I am making them now and found the dough so soft they're sticking to my countertop. Would this be half cup of butter rather than half pound? Just checking as I'm not able to roll them out properly and followed recipe to a T. I can't wait to try them ! Thank you!
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Kat, no it is a half pound of butter. Just use more flour on your counter. Butter can vary in moisture content so you might need a little more flour.
Keri says
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing this recipe. I have made it twice in the last week and have been very pleased with the results. They are easy to prepare, hold their shape, use minimal ingredients and best of all are not too sweet. This is a keeper😊
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much Keri for taking time at this busy season of the year to share your results!
Antonia says
Hello, I am wanting to take these cookies to a family party and I read above that they are not stackable.... is there any alteration I can make to the icing recipe/ buttercream to make them stackable? Thanks!
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Antonia, They would be fine to stack on a platter and serve, I just wouldn't put them in a bag and stack a lot of them on top of each other.
Lydia says
Hi, once the frosting dries, are the cookies stack-able? Trying to think of how to package it for gifting! Thanks!
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Lydia, the piping will dry nicely but I'm afraid it would get smashed if the cookies were stacked. I think I would gift them on a pretty plate.
Raschell | MissHomemade.com says
Lovely cookies. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more..
Debra Swank says
Was wondering if instead of Rollin the cookies out could you just shape in a log an slice them?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Debra, I think you definitely could do that. They would be just as delicious, not quite as pretty.
cheri says
This cookies are just flat out adorable and yes I think they would be perfect to make with the grandkids. So sorry about your beloved "pops", sending hugs your way. xo, Cheri