Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies

Beautiful, easy and delicious, these buttery Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies are a one-bowl, no-mixer recipe with an easy, fun decorating technique.

Scott says my kitchen's been looking like Mrs. Claus' workshop for the past week as I've been working on these Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies! There's been butter softening on the counter, various shaped cookie cutters strewn here and there, sprinkles in shades of green, red, pink and white dotting the counters (and floors) and lots of cutout cookies chilling in the fridge.

Oh, then there's been me, with flour (or powdered sugar) on my nose, cheeks, sleeves, front, pants... everywhere! But it's been fun and I'm happy to introduce you to these delicious and easy Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies.

Perfect Shortbread Dough

The dough recipe for these cookies is nothing new. It's the same recipe I've been using for years to make my shortbread cookies (with little tweaks here and there). I love this recipe for a number of reasons:

• It's a one-bowl, no-mixer recipe. You don't have to pull out any special equipment and don't dirty a lot of dishes.
• You can stir up the dough with just a few simple ingredients in less than 5 minutes.
• The dough doesn't need to be chilled before rolling. I find that chilled dough can be difficult to roll if too cold or not cold enough. It seems you have to find the perfect balance.
• Rerolling the dough doesn't alter the texture or flavor. Some cookie doughs get tough or loses some flavor when the dough is rolled the second or third time.
• The cookies don't spread in the oven so they keep the same pretty shape as when you cut them. (Check out the picture below to see how beautifully they keep their shape.)
• Cutout cookies can be chilled for up to 24 hours if you're not ready to bake right away.
• The unbaked and baked cookies can be frozen until you're ready to bake.

Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies Tutorial

The saying goes that "a picture is worth a thousand words", so we took some process shots to show you exactly how these cookies are made and decorated.

• • Once the simple, 4-ingredient dough is stirred together, it's time to roll (no need to chill at this point). The dough should be rolled ¼-inch thick. That's just the right thickness to grasp when dipping, yet thin enough to stay crisp and tasty. I'm not the best at rolling dough consistently so I absolutely love this magical little rolling pin I discovered several years ago.

• • It has removable rings that enable you to roll dough to a very consistent thickness. (You can also use it as a normal rolling pin by unscrewing the rings.)

• • Once the dough is rolled out, you'll need two scalloped round cookie cutters (one larger and one smaller) to cut the wreaths. I really like this set of seven nested cutters and also this scalloped set of 6 cutters. To keep a nice shape for your wreaths, cut out the larger circles first, slip a spatula underneath and transfer them to your baking pan.

• • Choose whichever size wreaths and cut out centers you want. Have fun with different shaped cutters. As you can see in the picture below, there are lots of possibilities for the shape of both the outer edge and the inner center of these cookies, depending on the cutters you choose.

• • Once the circles are on the baking sheet, use a smaller cutter to cut the centers. To keep the wreaths' pretty shape, leave the centers in place and chill cookies for an hour (up to 24 hours). Once cookies are chilled, you can slip your finger underneath and easily push out the centers. Bake the centers for pretty little bite-size cookies.

• • Bake the cookies until they're just starting to turn golden at the edges then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The dip, drip and flip decorating technique

• • Ready to decorate? I call this my "Dip, Drip and Flip" icing technique. Prepare the icing as directed and transfer it to a shallow bowl that's slightly larger than your cookie wreaths. Add 4 drops of green food color. I use 2 drops of Wilton Primary Green and 2 drops of Wilton Pastel green. Swirl it all together with a toothpick. Set an empty bowl nearby for your "drip bowl".

• • Hold a cooled, baked cookie in your hand facing down then dip it into the icing. Make sure all the edges of the top surface of the cookie come in contact with the icing. Pull straight up then over to the drip bowl. Allow the excess icing to drip for 15-20 seconds. You can gently shake the cookie while upside down to get excess frosting off the cookie before turning it right side up.

• • Flip it over and admire your beautiful work of art!
  • Give it a little sprinkle of colorful nonpareils. Voila! You can stop here or add another festive touch with a bow.

How to make a fondant bow

I experimented with a few different ways to add a festive little bow to these Christmas Shortbread Wreaths. In the process, I was excited to discover prepared red buttercream fondant and fondant molds, both inexpensive and so easy to work with. I've never really liked the taste of fondant, so I was also surprised that this stuff actually has decent flavor.

I think you'll be shocked at how easy these two little genius decorating aids are to work with. Both the fondant and the bow mold can be purchased inexpensively online as well as at big box craft stores like Michael's or A.C. Moore. As I said earlier, these cookies are beautiful on their own, but the bows do add a festive touch. Here's a few tips on how to work with the fondant and make the bows:

• Fondant comes in a small container with a lid for easy storage. When you open the container the fondant may feel hard and stiff. A 10-second stint in the microwave is all it takes to make it soft and easy to work with.
• Pull off a small piece of fondant about the size of two peanuts. Knead it with your fingers for 10-15 seconds until it's nice and pliable. Fill the openings of the mold with fondant until they're overflowing (see picture below). It will look like a mess at this point but that will soon change.
• Using a sharp knife parallel to the mold, cut off the excess fondant.
• You don't have to wait for the fondant to harden. Just bend the mold and pull out the bows.

• With a toothpick, dab a bit of icing on the back of the bow then "glue" it to the wreath.

Café Tips for making these Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies

• Because there's no mixer used, the butter needs to be very soft when mixing up these Christmas Wreath 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 the very lowest power level (on mine, it's 10%, check to see what yours is) 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 used peppermint extract in my glaze and buttercream. Feel free to use other flavorings. Almond, vanilla, orange, lemon and coconut extracts are also delicious.
• Flavor extracts can vary in intensity. It's better to start with a small amount in the icing, then take a little taste. You can always add more, but you sure can't remove it!
• The recipe calls for a one hour (or longer) chill for the cutout cookies. If I'm in a big hurry, I just pop them into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
• A few tips on rolling and cutting out cookies:
  • Keep your work surface and rolling pin lightly dusted with flour. If your dough is sticking to the counter, you need a little more flour underneath it.
  • I also like to 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.
  • 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.
• Keep a damp rag nearby when dipping your cookies in the icing. It comes in handy to wipe messy fingers.
• After dipping a number of cookies the icing may look kind of monotone rather than swirly. No problem, just stir (with a spoon) some of the white icing up from the bottom of the bowl and add another drop or two food color. Swirl again with a toothpick.
• When sprinkling these Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies with nonpareils, sprinkle over a sheet pan or over the sink to contain the tiny little sprinkle balls and avoid a mess all over the kitchen.
• If you find your icing is dripping over the edges of the cookies after you flip them, you're not letting them drip long enough.
• For those of you living outside of the United States, half and half is a convenience product often used for coffee. It's a mixture of half milk and half cream. You could also use whole milk.

If you love these cookies, be sure to check out this collection of our favorite, easy Christmas Cookies!

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It's so helpful to other readers to hear other's results and ideas for variations.

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Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies

Chris Scheuer

Beautiful, easy and delicious, these buttery Christmas Wreath Shortbread Cookies are a one-bowl, no-mixer recipe with an easy, fun decorating technique.

5 from 5 votes

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Servings 24

Calories 153

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

.5x1x2x

For the cookies:

• 8 ounces very soft salted butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cornstarch

For the glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons half and half
• ¼-½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• green liquid food coloring, two shades

For the fondant bows: (optional)

• red buttercream fondant
• fondant bow mold

Instructions

 

For the cookies:

1. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Place soft butter in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until nice and smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix together by hand for about 30 seconds until well blended.
3. Add the flour and cornstarch. Stir until dry ingredients are mostly incorporated. The dough will be a little shaggy.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gather into a ball. Knead 5-6 times until fairly smooth and all the small pieces are worked in. Form into a ball again and flatten with your hand to form a flat disk.
5. Turn the disk to coat both sides with flour. Roll out the dough to an approximate ¼-inch thickness (see Café Tips above in the post). Keep work surface, dough and rolling pin lightly dusted with flour.
6. With a round scalloped or fluted cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and transfer to them to the prepared pans with a thin, metal spatula. Re-roll scraps as many times as needed to use up the dough.
7. Center a smaller round scalloped or fluted cookie cutter on each larger circle and cut out the center or “opening” of each wreath. Do not try to remove the centers at this time (It’s easy to mess up the dough if you try to remove the centers now.)
8. Place cutouts in the refrigerator for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.
9. Once cookies are chilled, slip your finger underneath and push out the centers. Place them on the sheet pan and bake along with the wreaths for pretty little bite-size cookies.
10. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚F. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden at the edges. Repeat with the second pan of cutouts. Cool on a wire rack before icing.

For the glaze:

1. Combine powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons half and half (or milk) and extract in a medium-size bowl. Mix until smooth. The glaze should be fairly thick, but pourable. Add a little more half and half (or milk) if it's too thick, a little more powdered sugar if it's too thin. Taste the glaze and add more extract, if a more intense flavor is desired.
2. Transfer the glaze to a small shallow bowl (a little larger than your cookies). Using two shades of liquid green food color, add two drops of each to the icing. Swirl greens together with a toothpick until most of the white has disappeared and the surface of the icing is a swirled green.
3. Hold onto the edges of a cookie and dip the top surface into the glaze, being sure all of the surface touches the glaze. Pull cookie straight up out of the glaze and over to the drip bowl.
4. Allow excess glaze to drip for about 15-20 seconds. When dripping slows down, quickly flip the cookie to the right side up and give it a gentle jiggle to allow the glaze to flow evenly over the surface. Sprinkle cookies with nonpareils.
5. Repeat with remaining cookies. Place cookies on a cooling rack and add the fondant bows, if desired. Allow the glaze to dry for at least an hour before transferring to a storage container.

For the fondant bows:

1. See the tutorial above in the post

Notes

See Café Tips above in post for more detailed instructions, tips as well as links for the rolling pin, cookie cutters, buttercream fondant and fondant mold.

See the tutorial above in the post for a visual demonstration of how to make and decorate these cookies.

Recipe Notes Makes 20-24 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Nutrition

Calories: 153kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 1gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 69mgPotassium: 15mgFiber: 1gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 245IUCalcium: 6mgIron: 1mg

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Course: Dessert/Cookies

Cuisine: American

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