Around the holidays, it’s always nice to have a cookie tray or platter around when you are entertaining guests. However, it’s not always easy or convenient to bake several batches of cookies in order to have that cookie tray or platter on hand. With this 5 in 1 cookie recipe, you can turn one batch of cookie dough into five different and absolutely delicious Christmas cookies. It’s a fun way to make a gorgeous cookie tray, without having to spend hours in the kitchen baking.
This Christmas, like the rest of 2020, is going to be just a wee bit different. Understandably, there won’t exactly be tons of people randomly showing up on my doorstep this holiday, expecting me to welcome them in for a plateful of Christmas cookies. I am, however, excited that my father will be in town visiting us, even if it does mean that I find myself in a cookie dilemma. You see, during the holiday season, my dad loves nothing more than a tray of festive holiday cookies. So, the challenge is how to make that cookie tray happen without having to bake several different batches of cookies that not a lot of people are around to enjoy. The solution was one batch of cookie dough, which I could then turn into five different cookies. That’s roughly about six cookies for each cookie variety. If you ask me, it’s a pretty brilliant and somewhat easy way to make a festive cookie tray. It’s also a good way to ensure that your dad has at least one happy moment in what has otherwise been a pretty disappointing and crappy year.
Ingredients:
Cookie Dough:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
Directions:
Cookie Dough:
- Place the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Add the flour a 1/2 cup at a time and mix until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Sparkly Sugar Cookies:
Ingredients:
- Sparkling Sugar or Sanding Sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place a small amount of sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sugar to coat.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten each ball of dough.
- Bake for 11 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
Chocolate-Dipped Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles:
Ingredients:
- Sparkling Sugar or Sanding Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
- Sprinkles
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place a small amount of sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sugar to coat.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten each ball of dough.
- Bake for 11 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, place the melting wafers into a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.
- Use a butter knife or offset spatula to spread chocolate over half of each cookie. Immediately decorate with festive sprinkles.
Marmalade & Almond Thumbprint Cookies:
Ingredients:
- Marmalade
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Sliced Almonds
- 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- Ground Cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with marmalade and then sprinkle the sliced almonds over the marmalade.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, stir the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle the powdered sugar glaze over the cookies and immediately sprinkle with ground cinnamon.
Blackberry Thumbprint Cookies with Chopped Salted Peanuts:
Ingredients:
- Blackberry Jam
- Finely Chopped Salted Peanuts
- 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Heavy Whipping Cream
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with blackberry jam and then sprinkle the chopped peanuts over the jam.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, stir the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle the powdered sugar glaze over the cookies.
Hot Cocoa Thumbprint Cookies:
Ingredients:
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
- Mini Marshmallow Bits or Mini Dehydrated Marshmallows
- Crushed Peppermint or Candy Canes
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, place the melting wafers into a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with the melted chocolate and then immediately top with marshmallows. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the cookies and sprinkle with some crushed peppermint or candy canes.
Suggestions:
- You should have just enough cookie dough to make six cookies of each variety.
- Bake the Sparkly Sugar Cookies and Chocolate-Dipped Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles together on one baking sheet. Make sure to wipe off or remove any residual sugar before baking any other cookies.
- Bake the Marmalade & Almond Thumbprint Cookies and Blackberry Thumbprint Cookies with Chopped Salted Peanuts on one baking sheet. Make sure to wipe off or remove any residual nuts, marmalade, or jam before baking any cookies.
- When it comes to sprinkles, you can use whichever color or variety you have on hand. For the sugar cookies, I think a mix of two colors looks best.
- You can use milk, dark, or white chocolate melting wafers for any of the cookies that call for melted chocolate. For these recipes, I used dark chocolate melting wafers.
- Miniature or small bowls will be extremely useful when baking these cookies.
- The flattened sugar cookies will take a little less time to bake than the thumbprint cookies. Baking times may vary depending on the temperature of your oven.
- Make sure that the chocolate and powdered sugar glaze are set on all of your cookies before you attempt to store them.
- Store these cookies between layers of wax paper in an airtight container.
Improvements:
- Replace the marmalade or blackberry jam with any variety of jam or preserves you have on hand.
- Use chopped walnuts or pecans in lieu of sliced almonds or chopped salted peanuts.
- In lieu of dark chocolate melting wafers, use milk chocolate or white chocolate.
- CLICK HERE to check out all of our past cookie recipes.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- Sparkling Sugar or Sanding Sugar
- Sparkling Sugar or Sanding Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
- Sprinkles
- Marmalade
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Sliced Almonds
- 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- Ground Cinnamon
- Blackberry Jam
- Finely Chopped Salted Peanuts
- 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
- Mini Marshmallow Bits or Mini Dehydrated Marshmallows
- Crushed Peppermint or Candy Canes
Directions:
- Place the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Add the flour a 1/2 cup at a time and mix until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place a small amount of sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sugar to coat.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten each ball of dough.
- Bake for 11 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place a small amount of sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sugar to coat.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten each ball of dough.
- Bake for 11 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, place the melting wafers into a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.
- Use a butter knife or offset spatula to spread chocolate over half of each cookie. Immediately decorate with festive sprinkles.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with marmalade and then sprinkle the sliced almonds over the marmalade.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, stir the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle the powdered sugar glaze over the cookies and immediately sprinkle with ground cinnamon.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with blackberry jam and then sprinkle the chopped peanuts over the jam.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, stir the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle the powdered sugar glaze over the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll six 1-inch balls of dough.
- Place the balls of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into the center of each cookie.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, place the melting wafers into a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.
- Use a small spoon to fill the well of each cookie with the melted chocolate and then immediately top with marshmallows. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the cookies and sprinkle with some crushed peppermint or candy canes.
PIN THIS RECIPE
Don’t let this recipe slip away. How often do you find a recipe intriguing, yet forget where to find it when you finally get the hankering to make it? Instead of digging through old posts or wandering aimlessly around on the internet, why not Pin this recipe to Pinterest where you can find it when you eventually need it? Simply Pin the image above and you’ll have it when that time comes. You can follow us HERE on Pinterest or simply click HERE to find all of our pin-worthy recipes.
MORE GREAT CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES
Chocolate Chip Vanilla Cookies
Lemon Iced Gingerbread Cookies
Christmas is a time for family, friends, and delicious holiday cookies. From classic butter cookies to iced gingerbread cookies, this list of ultimate Christmas cookie recipes has something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for festive colors, unique seasonal ingredients, or just a cookie that’s super easy to make, these Christmas cookie recipes will help you find the perfect cookie for the season. CLICK HERE for the recipes.
