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These are the Best Christmas Cookies for Kids! Easy recipes that are fun to make and totally delicious. I love making Christmas cookies and celebrating the holidays by baking with my kids. But the key to making it a fun family activity is to make sure you are prepared. So in addition to these simple Christmas cookie recipes, you’ll also find all of the gadgets you need to make them.
Easy Christmas Cookies Kids Can Make
So you’re ready to bake up some Christmas cookies with your kids? I’ll be honest, I LOVE holiday baking, but it does tend to stress me out a bit. I like to do things a certain way and have them turn out just so… and when you have little boys, that doesn’t always happen. Here are my tips for baking with kids:
- Throw all of those expectations out the window.
- Have fun.
- And you need to be prepared.
Once you have accepted that holiday baking with children will likely include a fair amount of chaos you’re golden! Embrace the mess, make memories and eat some tasty cookies in the end.
Gadgets & Goodies For Christmas Cookie Baking
My husband always says that you always need the right tool for the right job, and the same holds true in the kitchen. Having the right tools, gadgets, and ingredients all ready for you means that the process will go smoother. You’ll turn out dozens of delicious cookies, regardless of how short the attention spans are of the mini sous chefs.
Best Gadgets for Baking with Kids
KitchenAid 5-Qt. Artisan Design Series with Glass Bowl
For making the dough, a good stand mixer is key, just beware of little fingers.
KitchenAid 5-Speed Ultra Power Hand Mixer
A hand mixer is fine for most of these recipes too.
Stainless Steel Measuring Cups And Measuring Spoons 10-Piece Set, 5 Cups And 5 Spoons
My boys tend to be a bit impatient, so I like having lots of measuring cups and spoons on hand. I can either pre-measure everything beforehand and just let them dump it in, or at the very least I don’t have to worry about washing them between ingredients, especially if there’s a little licking or grabbing with sticky (or raw-egg-covered fingers) going on.
Nordic Ware Insulated Baking Sheet, Metallic
You don’t want those cookies you worked so hard to make to burn or stick to the pan, so I sometimes use insulated cookie sheets.
AmazonBasics Silicone Baking Mat Sheet, Set of 2
To keep cookies from crumbling, a silicone baking mat is always a huge help.
Wilton Excelle Elite 3-Tier Cooling Rack
And stackable cooling racks do double duty for letting those cookies cool quickly without taking up a lot of space on your counter, and being a great place to get to work with icing or sprinkles.
Selecting Your Cookie Recipes
Once you’ve got all the equipment you need, it’s all about picking the right recipes for Christmas cookies for kids. You can go one of two ways:
- Pick easy Christmas cookie recipes that are simple and delicious so that there is an immediate payoff.
- Choose a cookie recipe that is fun and interactive so that the kids can get their hands in there to make messes with rolling and cutting and frosting and sprinkling and drizzling.
I think I have some pretty tasty ideas for you right here.
Here are The Best Christmas Cookies for Kids!!
Now that you have a list of gadgets and gizmos to make your life easier, it’s time to talk about cookies. Here are more than 50 easy cookie recipes that will make your holiday baking adventures fun and simple!
Simple Drop Cookies
Drop cookies are typically made from a soft dough that is “dropped” on a cookie sheet. My mom and I used to use two spoons when we made chocolate chip cookies, but these days I much prefer using a cookie scoop. Also, when making the dough, a stand mixer might be a little too rough if you are folding in chocolate chips, candy or other mix-ins. For this reason, it’s probably best to use a rubber spatula to fold them in.
- Toffee Almond White Chocolate Chip Monster Cookies
- Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Little Kitchen
- Chocolate Banana Nut Cookies
- Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies from Unicorns in the Kitchen
- Cranberry Cashew White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Cannoli Cookies from Snappy Gourmet
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Food Charlatan
- Santa’s Favorite Cookies from Crazy For Crust
- Oreo White Chocolate Pudding Peppermint Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod
- Chocolate Toffee Cookies with Toasted Pecans from Rustic Family Recipes
Rolled or Pressed Christmas Cookies
As a kid, one of my favorite things to do was sprinkle Spritz with nonpareils before baking them or on top of cookies that have been drizzled with frosting or dipped in chocolate after baking. Not only were they delectable to eat, but now I have such fond memories of holiday baking with my family.
There are two kinds of cookies in this section: pressed cookies and rolled cookies. Pressed cookies, such as Spritz, as they are often known. These are made by pressing your dough through a cookie press.
Rolled cookies differ from drop cookies in that you typically take your dough and roll it in your hands to form a ball, and then often roll it in something like cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar before or after baking. This is why I like to make sure I have plenty of bowls on hand.
- Browned Butter Snickerdoodles with Toffee
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies from Chocolate, Chocolate and More
- Spritz Cookies from A Family Feast
- Chocolate Gingerbread Crinkles from It’s Yummi
- Flourless Triple Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
- Molasses Cookies from Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
- Chocolate Orange Spritz Cookies from All Day I Dream About Food
- Almond Crescents
- Gingersnap Crinkle Cookies from Baked by Rachel
- Molten Lava Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Easy Bar Cookies
Bar cookies are super simple to make with kids because you just make your batter, dough, or crust, and put it in a baking pan or jelly roll pan. If you want to cut perfect squares, it’s always a good idea to line your pan with parchment paper so you can pull the bars out before slicing.
- Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookie Bars
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from Brown-Eyed Baker
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Peppermint Shortbread Bar Cookies from Inside Bru Crew Life
- Snickers Cookie Bars from The Cookie Rookie
- Gluten Free S’Mores Magic Bars
- Caramel Magic Cookies Bars from Love From the Oven
- Butter Pecan M&M’s Magic Bars
- White Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookie Bars with Pumpkin Spice Frosting
- Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars from Belly Full
Cut-Out Christmas Cookies
Cut-out cookies might be the most fun of all the Christmas cookies for kids. What kid doesn’t love rolling out dough with a rolling pin, cutting them out with cookie cutters, and then getting to decorate them with frosting and maybe even some sprinkles?!
- Chai Tea Cut-Out Cookies
- The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe from In Katrina’s Kitchen
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies from Bless This Mess Please
- Peppermint Sugar Cookies from Green N Chocolate
- Royal Iced Sugar Cookies from Spoonful of Flavor
- Reindeer Cookies from Noshing with the Nolands
- Gingerbread Man Cookies from Made From Pinterest
- Reindeer Sugar Cookies from Persnickety Plates
- Stained Glass Cookies from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Christmas Pinwheel Cookies from Bread Booze Bacon
Dressed-Up Christmas Cookies
Maybe you want to have some fun making fancy cookies, but don’t want to deal with rolling and cutting. These Christmas cookies for kids are jazzed up with things like nutty toppings, candied fruit and jam, sprinkles, candy canes, mini marshmallows, and more.
- S’Mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups
- Whipped Shortbread from Bake.Eat.Repeat.
- Hot Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies from A Latte Food
- Nana’s Butter Cookies from Desserts Required
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cup Blossom Cookies
- Pecan Brownie Bites from Farm Fresh Feasts
- Flourless Fluffernutter Thumbprint Cookies
- Pecan Pie Cookies from Spend with Pennies
- Almond Joy Macaroons
- Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups from Princess Pinky Girl
- Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies from Diethood
And if you haven’t found what you are looking for in this list of fun Christmas cookies kids love, then pick up one of these cookbooks I recommend!
Happy holiday baking!
Best Cookie Cookbooks
My favorite cookie cookbooks of all time!
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Thanks so much for including us, I will be sharing!!
Oh and I have that Betty Crocker Cooky Book, love it!!
So nostalgic!
Thanks!!
Thank you so much for including Desserts Required’s Nana’s Butter Cookies in this fabulous holiday cooking baking collection!! <3
Gotta love a classic recipe. Thanks!
Thank you so VERY much for featuring the flourless oatmeal lace cookies.
I love making cookies but my dear friend Elsie could never enjoy any of them until I made these. I was very careful when making them making sure nothing there was no cross contamination because she is on a strict gluten free diet she has to adhere to.
With Elsie’s permission I can tell you she is 90 years old and is thrilled she is on the web and hopes many others will enjoy the cookies.
Thanks again
Linda
That is such a wonderful story! Thanks so much for sharing it and your delicious cookies!