The best 5 cookies that scream Christmas you will love are here! Welcome to week 3 of my 5 week Holiday Cookie Series. I can’t believe we are already past the halfway point. This week was fun for sure.
I explored and tweaked a couple of new recipes and I also tried a technique I have been wanting to try for a long time. It is so fun when you try something new and it works the way it’s supposed to. I am not sure what made me think I could add Holiday Nonpariels to three of these five cookies and they would look different. They DO look different but they are all I see! I had a hard time finding the holiday sprinkles this year and had to order them on Amazon. They are linked above in case you can’t find them either.
Eggnog Scone Bites Scream Christmas
Who out there is team “Eggnog”? It seems like you either LOVE eggnog or you really really don’t. Let me just say I am totally team Eggnog. One of my favorite friends, Jeanine, shared with me a recipe for Eggnog biscotti and I have made it every year since! This year I have really enjoyed making scones and since I was already doing a biscotti in this group of recipes I decided to try an eggnog scone instead. Here is what I love about them….the size!!! They are the perfect size so when you make this recipe just keep in mind they rise a lot so make them small.
Eggnog Scone Bites
Ingredients
- 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 4 tbsp (50g) sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and diced
- 1 cup eggnog
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1½ cups (168g) powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp eggnog
- 1 tbsp brandy (optional)
Instructions
- preheat oven to 450°, line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
- in a food processor, sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder (can be done by hand if you don't have a food processor)
- add diced butter and process until like sandy consistancy (can also be done with a pastry blender by hand)
- add eggnog and stir until just combined
- drop by small cookie scoops onto prepared cookie sheet
- bake 7 minutes, remove to a cooling rack until cooled completely
- combine powdered sugar, eggnog and brandy until smooth and glaze like
- dip eggnog scones upside down to coat the top with the glaze, let set (optional- can be decorated with colored icing or holiday sprinkles)
Nutrition
Peppermint Bark Biscotti Also Screams Christmas
I love anything peppermint. It wasn’t hard to take a biscotti recipe, turn the vanilla flavor to chocolate and “bark” the top. I tried these a couple of different ways and settled on a semi-sweet chocolate cookie base but added dark chocolate chips to balance the white chocolate in the “bark”. For the most part I prefer a chewy cookie but I do love biscotti. They are baked twice, have an oblong shape and are perfect to dunk in your coffee or cocoa! With this recipe you will need to chill the dough for 1 hr prior to baking so don’t turn you oven on right away. If you are a fan of Peppermint Bark then you have to make these. They are totally worth the effort.
Peppermint Bark Biscotti
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup (134g) sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- 1¾ cups (263g) all-purpose flour
- 4 oz dark chocolate chips
- 8 oz white chocolate chips or melting wafers
- ½ cup crushed peppermint or candy canes
Instructions
- beat butter on med/high speed for 30 sec until fluffy, then add sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt
- beat in eggs and peppermint extract
- toss dark chocolate chips into your flour and add until just combined
- divide dough into four equal portions, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour
- preheat oven to 375°, line cookie sheets with parchment paper
- roll portions of dough into 7" logs and flatten to about 2" wide
- add to cookie sheet 2" apart, bake for 14-16 min
- Cool on wire rack for 30-60 min
- using a sharp or serated knife, slice on a diagonal into about ½" slices
- reduce oven temp to 325°
- lay biscotti cut side down and bake for 5 min, remove from oven, turn over and bake the other side for 5 min, remove and cool completely on wire rack
- melt white chocolate according to package directions, dip one cut side of biscotti in chocolate and then in crushed peppermint, let set
Nutrition
A Holiday Spritz Cookie Will Always Scream Christmas
“This cookie could have also gone in my classic category but it’s in the shape of a Christmas Tree so it takes 3rd place in my “Screams Christmas” category. There are a ton of spritz or cookie press cookie recipes on line and they are all pretty similar. My first cookie press was from Pampered Chef. I loved that press so much I used it to death. No really, it died…from overuse. Well it broke is probably more accurate. Now I use the OXO Cookie Press. This recipe, however, I think came with my Pampered Chef press years ago and I still make it today. It’s pretty fool proof.
Holiday Spritz Cookie
Equipment
- 1 cookie press
Ingredients
- 2½ cups (375g) flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1¼ cups (140g) powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1½ cups (168g) powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
Instructions
- preheat oven to 375°, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- sift together flour and salt, set aside
- cream together butter and powdered sugar
- add egg and vanilla
- add flour and salt until just combined
- fill cookie press with dough and press cookies onto cookie sheet 1" apart
- bake for 6-8 min, move to rack to cool completely
- combine glaze ingredients (powdered sugar, milk and vanilla) and glaze cookies, top with sprinkles if desired
Nutrition
The Holiday Meltaway Totally Screams Christmas
The Holiday Meltaway is a soft almond flavored cookie that melts in your mouth. I mean it MELTS in your mouth. I have been making this cookie for years and is another family favorite. This flavor is one of the first to disappear. This is also a cookie that you can find a lot of recipes on line and they are all pretty similar. This is my favorite. One more thing I want to add, if you are not an almond lover you could actually make this recipe with ANY flavor extract and they would be just as good! Use the same extract in both the cookie and the icing and it will have the same effect. Coconut, Orange, Lime, Lemon, Maple, Peppermint honestly they would all work. Use your favorite!
Holiday Meltaways
Ingredients
- 2 cups (300g) flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (150g) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1½ cups (168g) powdered sugar
- 1½ tbsp milk
- 2 tsp almond extract
- christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- sift together flour, baking powder and salt
- cream together butter and sugar unitl light and fluffy
- add egg and 2 teaspoons almond extract to butter and sugar
- Add flour ½ cup at a time until completely combined
- roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball, place on cookie sheet and flatten into ¼" disk with the bottom of a glass
- bake for 8-9 minutes, cool for 2 min on cookie sheet then transfer to a rack to cool completely
- mix together powdered sugar, milk and 2 teaspoons almond extract
- apply a little icing to each cookie with the back of a spoon and top with sprinkles before icing has set.
Nutrition
Saving The Best Looking Cookie For Last, The Anisette Holiday Pinwheel Is The Willy Wonka Of Christmas Cookies On This List
This was a new technique for me. The pinwheel. It was fun and I loved how it turned out. There is a little effort required here, dough will need to be chilled twice but it is absoulutely worth it! You could also use green food coloring instead, or use both and make them green and red! I’ll make these every year going forward just for how pretty they are on my platters!
Anisette Holiday Pinwheel
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups (338g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp anise extract
- red food coloring
- holiday nonpareils
Instructions
- sift together flour, baking powder, salt and set aside
- cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy
- add egg and anise extract
- add dry ingredients until well combined
- divide dough in to two equal portions
- color ½ of the dough with red food coloring (use as much food coloring as you want to get to your desired shade of red)
- wrap each ball of dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 30 min
- roll out each dough ball into a 12"x 8" rectangle, lay on top of each other gently press together
- roll up starting with the 12" side tightly into a log, wrap back into plasic and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight
- preheat oven to 350°, line cookie sheets with parchment paper
- using a sharp knift slice into ½"coins, roll the edge in nonpariels and place on cookie sheep 2" apart
- bake for 10 min (until centers are set and edges are just starting to brown)
- move to a cooling rack and cool completely
Nutrition
I hope you enjoyed this post for the Best 5 Holiday Cookies That Scream Christmas You Will Love as much as I loved posting it! Join me next week, Week #4 for Family Favorites. I can’t wait to share with you.
Wishing I had a dozen of these in front of me right now with my morning coffee ❤️
I’ll make sure to let you know when I start a delivery service! ❤️
You make the prettiest cookies!! And I know from personal experience that they taste every bit as good as they look
Awwww Thanks Vicki ❤️