5 Easy Homemade Christmas Cookies for Your Holiday Baking

I have a half-used jar of raspberry jam in my fridge that has been there since last Christmas. It was staring at me every time I opened the door, so I decided to do something about it. That is how this year's cookie baking plan started.

Five Cookies, One Dough

The whole thing started because I didn't want to make five different doughs. That sounded like a Saturday I didn't have. So I made one butter cookie base and split it into five bowls.

It works because the base is sturdy but not tough. Sweet but not cloying. You can take it in five different directions with just a few additions. I have done this for three Christmases now and nobody has noticed they are all the same dough.

I will tell you right now that the molasses in the gingerbread portion makes the dough stickier. Do not panic. Just flour your hands and keep going.

What You Need

The ingredient list looks long but it is mostly spices and things you probably already have. Butter, sugar, flour, egg yolk, vanilla, salt. That is the base.

Then you need molasses for the gingerbread ones. Raspberry jam for the Linzer ones. Ground almonds for the Russian tea cookies. Food coloring and sprinkles if you want spritz cookies.

One thing: use real butter. I tried margarine once because I ran out and the cookies spread into flat pancakes. They tasted fine but looked sad. Butter holds the shape better.

The ground almonds in the Russian tea cookies are not optional. They make the cookie tender in a way that flour alone cannot do. I have substituted pecans before and it worked but the texture was different.

Putting It Together

Cream the butter and sugar for a full three minutes. Set a timer. I always think I can do it in two but the cookies end up denser. Three minutes makes them light.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla. Mix until combined. Do not overmix here or the dough gets tough.

Whisk the dry ingredients separately. I know it is an extra bowl but it makes a difference. You want the spices distributed evenly so one bite is not pure clove while the next has none.

Gradually add the dry to the wet. Mix until just combined. Stop when you do not see any more flour streaks.

Dividing Into Five

This is where you make decisions. I split my dough into five roughly equal portions. Eyeball it. It does not have to be perfect.

For gingerbread, mix molasses into one portion. It will turn dark brown and get stickier. I add a bit of extra flour if it feels too wet to roll. Just a tablespoon at a time.

For spritz cookies, add food coloring to another portion. Red and green are classic but my daughter wanted blue last year so we did blue. They were fine.

For Russian tea cookies, fold ground almonds into a third portion. The dough will feel crumblier. That is normal.

For Linzer cookies, leave a portion plain. You will roll it out and cut shapes later.

The last portion is plain butter cookies. Shape them into balls or use cookie cutters.

Baking Them All

Preheat to 350°F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Leave an inch between each cookie. They spread a little but not much because the butter is creamed properly.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Check at 10. The edges should be lightly golden. The centers will look slightly underdone. That is fine. They continue baking on the hot sheet after you pull them out.

Cool on the baking sheet for five minutes. Then transfer to wire racks. Do not skip that first five minutes. The cookies are fragile when hot and will fall apart if you move them too fast.

The One Thing That Can Go Wrong

Your dough might be too soft to handle. This happens when the butter was too warm or you added too much molasses. Do not add more flour. Just refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.

I learned this the hard way. I kept adding flour and the cookies turned out like hockey pucks. Cold dough is your friend. It is easier to roll and holds its shape better.

If you are making Linzer cookies and the jam leaks out during baking, you used too much jam. A thin layer is enough. A quarter teaspoon per cookie. Not a whole tablespoon.

Serving Them

I put everything on a big platter and let people pick. The Russian tea cookies get dusty with powdered sugar so I keep them separate until the last minute. Then I dust them right before serving.

The Linzer cookies look fancy but they are the easiest. Two matching cookies with jam in the middle. I cut a small hole in the top cookie so the jam peeks through. That makes them look like you tried hard.

The gingerbread ones are my personal favorite. They are not too sweet and the spices are warm without being overwhelming. I eat three before anyone else gets any.

Store them in an airtight container. They keep for a week but honestly they are gone in three days at my house. My husband hides the Russian tea cookies in the back of the fridge. I pretend not to notice.

A Few Notes

The spritz cookies with sprinkles are the ones the kids will want to help with. Let them. It does not matter if the sprinkles are uneven. That is part of it.

If you do not have a cookie press for spritz cookies, just roll them into balls and flatten with a fork. They still taste the same.

I forgot to soften the butter once and microwaved it too long. The cookies spread into thin, crispy sheets. They were actually delicious but not what I wanted. Learn from my impatience. Let the butter sit out for an hour.

That jar of raspberry jam in my fridge is finally empty now. Mixed feelings about it actually. But the cookies turned out good.