Festive Christmas Cookies to Bake

Last Updated on August 19, 2021 by Katherine

Nothing says Christmas like Christmas cookies, at least for me! If you can relate, read on my friend because this post is all about holiday cookie baking.

Essential Tools To Get Started

If you have all your baking supplies that’s great, you’re then just going to need to figure out your food ingredients and obtain those. But if you’re just getting started with baking and want to give it a whirl, here are some of the things you’ll want to look at buying. All in, you can get your equipment for under $50 in most cases and the best part is this stuff will more than pay for itself over time. After you get started and decide you like baking, you can start splurging on equipment that will be of use to you. If you hate baking, a stand mixer won’t be worth it, but on the other hand, it’s worth the cost if you plan on doing more baking!

Cookie Sheets

Wilton and Nordic Ware are my favorite brands, I use both interchangeably and for the quality you get, they are quite affordable. Wilton is usually the easiest to find (at least up here in Canada), at stores like Michaels or Walmart. If that’s just not available to you, Amazon sells both at affordable prices (the prices will vary throughout the year, so if you’re on a budget, pay attention as you can sometimes snag a super awesome deal!). A good starter set that I like is a 3 piece “Recipe Right” set from Wilton that can be found at most big-box stores or on Amazon.

Cooling Rack

I like using a cooling rack because hot cookies will result in some condensation on the bottom as they cool, with the rack, they will cool more evenly. You can find cooling racks at most department stores, such as Walmart.

Measuring Cups & Spoons

You’re going to need some of these guys to measure out your ingredients (Walmart, Michaels or even the Dollar Store can be the place to find these!). You may also wish to look into a measuring cup for your liquid measures.

Mixing Spoons and/or Whisk

You can often actually mix your cookie dough up with your hands, it’ll be a tad messy. Most cookie recipes don’t call for a lot of kneading or work with the dough so it’s entirely doable to just “get your hands dirty” to get everything all mixed up and ready for the oven!

However, if you aren’t too keen on that, a good mixing spoon or whisk can work very well for you. So now that you’re equipped, let’s give you some recipe ideas to try out!

Cookie Ideas

There are dozens of different ideas for cookies on Pinterest, if none of the below recipes grab you, I recommend searching through there for something that appeals for you.

Gingerbread Cookies

Nothing is more iconic to me for Christmas than the gingerbread cookies. House of Nash Eats serves up a delicious recipe. It is by far, the most traditional recipe on my list this year, but they are delicious. It’s not Christmas without a ginger cookie of some kind!!

Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

Art and the Kitchen had the ingenious idea of putting crushed candy cane up in the cookie dough, delish! I used peppermint canes in my mix and the result may not have been as vivid pink as Art and the Kitchen’s, but the subtle mint flavor was a hit.

Pumpkin Gingersnaps

I would have never thought of adding pureed pumpkin to gingersnaps, but Two Peas in their Pod came up with the idea and seriously it’s a game changer. Mine did not crackle as much as theirs did (there are a few reasons why that could be), but the cookies are delicious and are a popular pick in my house!

Orange Almond Cookie Bars

Tara’s Multicultural Table brought this recipe and the recipe creates a beautiful cookie. I love the light taste of these, they remind me slightly of biscotti (true, it’s probably the bar shape you end up with), but soft and yummy. I enjoyed a few of these with my morning coffee!

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

House of Yumm added cinnamon to their sugar cookies and it’s another nice little twist on the traditional sugar cookie. I love traditional sugar cookies, but sometimes it’s nice to add a unique twist to an old classic, such as this recipe here.

Cookie Crafting – Final Thoughts

Cookies can be quick and easy to make and are excellent Christmas fare. So know you probably have enough information to partake in a few cookie exchanges, which are popular around this time of year. Or just save them for yourself, no judgments!

So that’s it for this week, I hope you liked it. If you did, please share it using one of the social share buttons or pin it to Pinterest!

Also, if you want to receive more crafty ideas, delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email down below. As a thank you, I will give you the very worksheet that I use when I need to complete a new craft for here on the blog!

Next week will be about other types of Christmas baking, until then, happy crafting!