Christmas Cookies Made Easy

If you like having a variety of Christmas Cookies, but don't have hours and days to spend in the kitchen, this post is for you. I'm sharing 4 tips to keep Christmas cookie baking easy. Because I often make a gift of Christmas cookies, I like to have an assortment so I can put together cookie trays with a variety of cookies. If you want variety without spending the whole month of December in your kitchen, keep reading. If you want a few different cookies, choose one method. If you want a lot of different cookies, try a couple of them.

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Keep it Simple

Here are three options for keeping cookie-making super easy.

1. Use one simple dough. Make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, but before you add the chips, divide the dough into thirds. Then, to each batch of dough, mix in something different. Maybe add white chocolate chips to one, butterscotch chips to another, then red and green M&Ms to the last. Bake them up, and you will end up with 3 varieties. If you want to add more holiday flair to the white chip and butterscotch cookies, roll them in colored sugar before baking.

2. Make cookie bars. Cookie bars save so much time because you don't have to bake batch after batch of cookies on a tray. You simply put all the dough into a pan, bake it, and then slice it into squares when done. Here are a couple of ideas: Christmas Cookie Bars, Magic Cookie Bars, and Brownie Bars.

3. Find semi-homemade recipes. My favorite one uses premade sugar cookie dough. Sure, you can make your own sugar cookie dough, but this post is all about making it easy.

Host a Cookie Exchange

The number of cookies you end up with depends on the number of people you include in the exchange. This is how it works:

1. Invite 5 friends to participate. This means there are 6 people (you + 5). Obviously, you can invite more or less. However, if you only invite a couple of people, you end up with fewer cookies. And, if you invite too many, you have to bake a ton of cookies. I think 5-7 people is the perfect amount.

2. Have a sign-up sheet or log, and let everyone decide the one type of cookie they want to make. Make sure you don't have duplicates.

3. Pick a day to host the exchange. The exchange can be a simple utilitarian gathering where you just hand out cookies and say goodbye, or you can turn it into a holiday party.

4. Each person bakes at least 6 dozen of one type of cookie (1 dozen to keep and 5 to give a dozen to each invitee).

5. Each person packs the cookies they made, 1 dozen per/package. I'm a fan of keeping this simple. One dozen cookies on a paper plate in a gallon ziplock bag.

6. At the gathering, you dole out the cookies. Every member leaves with 5 dozen cookies, 5 varieties (plus the dozen at home that they made for themselves).

   
   

The reason this simplifies cookie-making is that it is much easier to make 6 dozen of one type of cookie than to make 6 different types. And, if you turn it into a party, you have an excuse to hang out with friends!

Don't Delay

My go-to method for ensuring I have several different cookies to enjoy throughout the season is to start early and use my freezer! I choose recipes that freeze well (most cookie recipes do). I freeze each kind of cookie separately on paper plates in ziplock bags. The plate keeps the cookies from breaking, and the individual bags keep flavors from melding into one another. If you make cut-out cookies, you can freeze them plain and then decorate them closer to the holiday.

What am I making this year?

• the easy semi-homemade peppermint cookies above (because they are my husband's favorite)

• baklava thumbprint cookies (because they are my daughter's favorite)

• cutout cookies with royal icing (because they scream Christmas and let me feel creative and artsy)

• M&M cookies

• and maybe some peanut butter blossoms

Make Easy Extras

I like to make a couple of quick and easy extras to add to the cookie trays. These are sweet treats that aren't cookies. My favorites are pretzel turtles (made with square pretzels, a roll-o, and a pecan), chocolate bark (I like to swirl dark chocolate with white chocolate and add crushed candy canes or nuts), and Oreo truffles. Some other ideas are peanut butter blossoms, rice krispy treats, chocolate-covered pretzels, peanut brittle, or fudge.

Like I said, if you want beautiful cookie trays, consider using a few of these options to build a collection of sweet treats to enjoy yourself and to share with friends and family.

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