This dough gives you a variety of pretty holiday cookies out of one, easy recipe.
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- Save time in the kitchen by using one basic dough recipe to make five kinds of delicious Christmas cookies!
- This baking hack fills your holiday cookie tray with all different types—a good mix of texture, flavor, and color that'll wow your guests!
- For the best results, fully chill your dough before you shape and bake the cookies.
This delicious cookie dough recipe is the perfect blank canvas for your Christmas cookies this holiday season.
It makes a tasty array of different cookies with minimal effort—so grab your favorite mix-ins, and let’s get started!
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- If you don’t have unsalted butter, you can use salted butter instead. Just reduce the added salt by ¼ teaspoon.
- Use brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, or vanilla sugar instead of plain white sugar to add extra flavor to your cookie dough.
- Replacing the vanilla extract with another kind is a great way to change the flavor of your cookies. Almond, coconut, maple, peppermint, and orange extract are all delicious options.
- While you can't just add cocoa powder to cookie dough to make chocolate cookies, you can dip cooled cookies in melted chocolate!
- Add ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cloves to your vanilla dough to make spiced cookies—perfect for fall and winter!
- Don’t like a certain type of nut? You can generally swap chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts for another kind in the base dough and as topping.
- Dried cranberry and walnuts
- Raisins
- Mint and chocolate pinwheels
- Mini chocolate chips
- Mini M & Ms
- Lemon, lime, or orange zest
- Candied ginger
- Candied fruit
- Chopped white chocolate
- Use two of them and sandwich ganache in between
- Decorate the tops with icing
- Coconut
- Maple flavoring
Seriously. Hundreds of possibilities.
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Then, mix in the vanilla extract and egg.
- Stir in the all-purpose flour mixture, alternating with cream.
- Keep beating the wet and dry ingredients together until soft dough forms.
- Separate the cookie dough into equal portions.
Chocolate pinwheel cookies
Knead melted chocolate into half of the cookie dough—milk, dark, semi-sweet, or white chocolate chips are all fair game!
Roll out the two doughs separately, making the chocolate dough rectangle a little smaller than the vanilla dough.
Tightly roll both doughs together in a log, chill, slice, and voila—chocolate pinwheel cookies are born!
Pecan cookies & cherry pecan cookies
Mix half of your dough with candied cherries and chopped pecans and the other half with just pecans. Carefully form the two doughs into logs.
Then, wrap the cookie dough logs in plastic wrap. Let chill before slicing into pecan cookies and cherry pecan cookies.
Red and green edged refrigerator cookies
Form your dough into a log, then roll half in red sugar crystals and half in green sugar crystals.
Slice the chilled cookie dough to create simple yet elegant Christmas cookies. The colored sugar crystal lining is so pretty and gives your cookies a delightful crunch!
Sugar cookies
Transform this basic dough into festive sugar cookies that are soft and chewy with a crispy exterior.
Roll out the sugar cookie dough and use your favorite cookie cutters to shape them—snowmen, gingerbread men, snowflakes, Christmas trees, and stars are my favorites!
Decorate your baked cookies with different finishes like royal icing, frosting, colored sugar, or Christmas sprinkles.
🍴 Equipment
- rolling pin
- wax paper
- Christmas cookie cutters
- heavy cookie sheet
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
- parchment paper
🥫 How to store leftovers
No matter how they're shaped, Christmas sugar cookies will keep for a week at room temperature. However, they definitely taste best within the first couple of days.
You can also freeze leftover baked cookies for a fun, anytime treat. Seal them tightly and they'll last for about three months.
Did you know that you can refrigerate wrapped cookie dough for up to one week? It'll also keep in the freezer for up to three months—this is a great hack if you only want to bake a few cookies at a time.
Let the frozen dough or baked cookies sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before you shape or enjoy your different kinds of cookies!
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: If the cookie dough gets too warm after you’ve sliced and shaped it, stick the entire cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes to firm it up again. This will prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven!
- Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature—it's much tougher to cream cold butter!
- I recommend either greasing your baking sheet or lining it with parchment paper. Otherwise, your cookies will stick and possibly burn!
- You can use a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to mix the dough ingredients—either works just fine.
- Adjust the baking time based on the size of the cookies. A thicker cookie will need a little extra time, while thinner ones bake more quickly.
- Not every batch yields the same number of cookies. Creating smaller cookies (about a tablespoon of dough or a ¼-inch slice) produces more. Of course, using larger cookie cutters will make fewer cookies.
- Let your cookies cool completely on a wire rack before decorating them. Warm, fresh-baked dough is fragile and falls apart easily!
👩🍳 FAQs
Yep, you should chill your cookie dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. This allows the different flavors to fully develop, prevents the cookies from spreading in the oven, and creates a crisp edge and chewy center.
Absolutely! See the storage section for brief details, or check out my full instructions to freeze cookie dough for more information.
You can stir in almost anything you like! If you’re feeling fruity, toss in some candied/dried berries or citrus zest. Add chocolate chips or mini M&Ms to make chocolate chip cookies. Knead chopped nuts into the dough, like pecans, walnuts, peanuts, macadamia nuts, or hazelnuts.
Sure thing! Attach two vanilla cookies together with ganache, jam, curd, or frosting in between to make a delicious sandwich cookie!
Let your creative juices flow! Decorate the top of each cookie with icing, frosting, holiday sprinkles, colored large-grain sugar, crushed candy canes, mini marshmallows, mini peanut butter cups, or melted chocolate—the possibilities are endless!
📚 Related recipes
- Sweet and buttery, these are the Best Rolled Sugar Cookies. They're great for cutting into shapes, decorating, and (of course) devouring!
- Earl Grey Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies are oldie-but-goodie sugar cookies with a dark chocolate filling and a floral, citrusy finish.
- Always a family favorite, Old-Fashioned Snickerdoodle Cookies are chewy, warm, and delicious, just like grandma’s!
🍽️ Serve with...
Enjoy Christmas cookies with a warm Salted Caramel Latte. This Starbucks copycat recipe is sweet and creamy, just like the original!
On the other hand, if you’re 21 or older, try a Chocolate Peppermint Martini instead. This creamy treat tastes like those yummy after-dinner mints with a boozy twist.
If you're hosting around the holidays, you need a super easy, yet totally delicious Christmas morning breakfast. This Crockpot Breakfast Casserole gives everyone something hearty after a night full of cookies and cocktails—I mean, milk.
📞 The last word
I like to have a gorgeous assortment of holiday cookies to share but with my schedule it's not always possible to bake as much as I'd like to.
This recipe is a lifesaver!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Christmas Cookies: One Dough – Five Kinds
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3 cups of flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup half and half
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- ½ cup pecans, , mini chocolate chips, and whatever other ingredients you want for the cookies
Instructions
- Cream the sugar and butter together until well blended.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients together.
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Beat until it becomes a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into four equal parts.
- Divide one of the parts into two parts. Add the melted chocolate, Kneading in until the dough and chocolate are completely blended.
- Divide a second part into two parts. Add chopped pecans to one and chopped pecans and chopped candied cherries to the other. Knead in until well mixed.
- Chill for about 30 minutes or until it is easy to work with.
For cutout cookies
- Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
- Bake at 375℉ for 8 to 10 minutes.
For the pinwheels
- Roll out both the chocolate and vanilla dough n rectangles keeping the vanilla a little bigger than the chocolate.
- Place the chocolate rectangle on top of the vanilla one and roll up into a cylinder.
- Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate until it is chilled, or up to a week. You can also keep the dough frozen for up to three months.
For the other cookies
- Take each of the flavored doughs and form into a cylinder.
- Roll the cylinder in colored sugar, sprinkes, chopped nuts, or whatever you like.
- Wrap in waxed paper and chill.
To Bake
- If dough has been frozen let it sit for about 15 minutes to soften a little.
- When you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 375F.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
- Slice discs from the cylinder ⅛ to ¼ inch thick.
- Place on the cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Let cool.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
First published October 9, 2012. Last updated December 14, 2023 for better images and more information.
✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.
One of the things I love about Christmas is the baking. I used to give a cookie plate to just about everyone in town from the mailman to the fire department, not so much any more because of time.
Anyway, it can take an entire day to make a decent assortment of cookies to put on the plates, right?
The other cool thing about these is that they are basically homemade slice and bake cookies.
You make up a batch in an hour on a rainy Saturday, roll the dough into cylinders, wrap in waxed paper, and freeze them for up to three months. When you want a dozen cookies or six cookies or the whole batch you can just thaw for a few minutes, slice them, and bake them.
Really, does it get easier than that?
A really cool way to give a cookie assortment is to give the cookies on a vintage plate or platter. You can get red and green baking cups and use them to keep the cookies in one place. It sounds like an expensive gift but it's really not. Keep your eyes open at thrift shops and garage sales and you may be able to pick up pretty plates for a few dollars. eBay is another possibility.
Don't limit it to plates. Choose vintage tea cups for small gifts, casseroles, whatever catches your eye. Not only does the recipient get some rockin' cookies — they have the plate to keep forever. Wrap them with cellophane or plastic wrap, add a ribbon and it's a fabulous gift for less than $5.
Sue says
Every year I wonder the same thing. When is it the best time to bake the cookies. My family likes them fresh out of the oven, but my time sometimes runs out. I've bought tins, trying to get away with fooling them. No success. HELP!
Marye says
Sue, what I do is make the dough, cut it out or shape it and then freeze on the cookie sheet without baking. When I want cookies I just take a few out of the freezer and bake.