Kitchen hack for holiday baking: make four Christmas cookies from one basic dough. Prepare the dough ahead of time, freeze and bake later!
Can you believe that it’s almost November and the holidays will be here before we know it! Everyone knows that one of the best things about the holiday season is all of the homemade goodies. We love baking and we love sharing, but then we run into time crunches.
Between working, shopping, parties and time with family and friends, it’s now always easy to make something homemade. So, today I am excited to share a kitchen hack just in time for holiday baking.
You can use this recipe to make four kinds of Christmas cookies from one basic dough. And the best part is that you prepare the dough ahead of time, freeze the dough and it is ready to bake whenever you want it.
Four Christmas Cookies From One Basic Dough Recipe
Step One: Basic Sugar Cookie Dough
In a large stand mixer, combine butter and shortening. Cream in the sugars until light in color and fluffier in texture about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed sugars.
Separate the dough into four bowls, about two cups in each bowl. Add the extra ingredients to each separate bowl following the instructions below.
Step Three: Freeze Cookie Dough Balls
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm, and then put into freezer bags or containers. Store in the freezer until ready to use.
Step Four: Bake Cookies
Remove cookie dough balls from the freezer. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375˚F for 9-11 minutes.
Frosted Sugar Cookies
The first of the four Christmas cookies is sugar cookies! They look so pretty topped with buttercream frosting and sprinkles.
Scoop tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough, roll into balls and coat in granulated sugar.
Place sugar cookie dough balls in the freezer for a couple of hours, until firm, and then put into freezer bags or containers. Store in freezer until ready to use.
Remove cookie dough balls from the freezer. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375˚F for 9-11 minutes. Cool and decorate with green buttercream frosting and sprinkles.
Double Chocolate Cookies
The second of the four Christmas cookies batches is double chocolate cookies. Once again, you’ll need 1/4 of the basic sugar cookie dough.
Mix melted and cooled chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate chips into the basic sugar cookie dough.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough. Place the double chocolate cookie dough balls in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm, and then put them into freezer bags or containers. Store in the freezer until ready to use.
Remove cookie dough balls from the freezer. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375˚F for 9-11 minutes. Cool and drizzle with melted chocolate chips.
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
The third of the four Christmas cookies is white chocolate cranberry cookies. These cookies include white chocolate chips and sweet, tangy Craisins.
Mix white chocolate chips and dried cranberries into the basic sugar cookie dough.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough. Place the white chocolate cranberry cookie dough balls in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm, and then put them into freezer bags or containers. Store in the freezer until ready to use.
Remove cookie dough balls from the freezer. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Peppermint cookies are the fourth of the four Christmas cookies from one basic dough. These cookies are dotted with crunchy candy cane pieces and are topped with peppermint buttercream.
Mix crushed candy canes and flour into the basic sugar cookie dough. If desired, add a couple of drops of red food coloring.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough. Place peppermint sugar cookie dough balls in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm, and then put them into freezer bags or containers. Store in the freezer until ready to use.
Remove cookie dough balls from the freezer. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
Cool and decorate with peppermint buttercream and crushed candy canes.
Recipe Tips
1. How do you make evenly sized cookies? Use a one tablespoon-sized dough scoop to make this step easier and to make the dough balls the same size so that they will bake evenly and look better on a tray.
2. What if I don’t have a cookie dough scoops? Use rounded tablespoons of dough instead.
3. Any baking tips you can share? Cover the baking sheets with parchment paper so that cookies will easily slide off and to make clean-up a little easier!
4. Does the cookie dough HAVE to be frozen first or can I bake the cookies right away? You can bake the cookies right away!
5. Can I bake the cookies right from the freezer? Yes, the cookie dough is baked directly from the freezer without thawing them first.
6. Would the cookies still be good if I skipped the frosting? Yes! If you are short on time, you can skip the frosting and sprinkles on the cookies.
Tonia’s Notes
One of our favorite gifts to give is homemade treats, and this recipe is perfect when preparing boxes of holiday treats.
For this box, I frosted the sugar cookie to look like a wreath and tinted the peppermint frosting pink. We also added nut goodie bars, hot chocolate cookie cups, candy bar pretzel bites, chocolate truffles coated with chopped nuts, and peanut clusters.
Four Christmas Cookies From One Basic Dough
Video
Ingredients
Basic Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 ½ cups butter softened
- ⅔ cups shortening
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 4 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 ¾ cups flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Sugar Cookies
- 2 cups basic sugar cookie dough
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups green buttercream frosting
- 2 tablespoon sprinkles
Chocolate Cookies
- 2 cups basic sugar cookie dough
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips melted for drizzle, optional
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies:
- 2 cups basic sugar cookie dough
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Peppermint Sugar Cookies:
- 2 cups basic sugar cookie dough
- 4 tablespoon crushed candy canes
- 2 tablespoon flour
- red food coloring optional
- 2 cups peppermint buttercream frosting optional
- 2 tablespoon crushed candy canes optional
Instructions
Basic Sugar Cookie Dough
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F. In a large stand mixer, combine butter and shortening.
- Cream in the sugars until light in color and fluffier in texture about 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
- Stir the flour mixture into the creamed sugars.
- Separate the dough into four bowls, about two cups in each bowl.
- Add the extra ingredients to each separate bowl following the instructions below.
- Scoop tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough.
- If making ahead of time, place the cookie dough balls in the freezer for a couple of hours, until firm, and then put into freezer bags or containers. Store in freezer until ready to use.
- If ready to bake immediately, skip placing the cookie dough balls in the freezer and bake right away. Since this recipe makes a large number of cookies, store the additional cookie dough in the fridge until ready to use.
- Bake at 375˚F for 9-11 minutes (fresh dough or frozen).
Sugar Cookies
- Scoop tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough, roll into balls and coat in granulated sugar.
- Cool and decorate with green buttercream frosting and sprinkles.
Chocolate Cookies
- Mix the melted and cooled chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate chips into the basic sugar cookie dough.
- Cool and drizzle with melted chocolate chips.
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Mix the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries into the basic sugar cookie dough.
Peppermint Sugar Cookies
- Mix the crushed candy canes and flour into the basic sugar cookie dough. Add a couple of drops of red food coloring, if desired.
- Cool and decorate with peppermint buttercream and crushed candy canes.
pam hlady says
what a great idea – 4 cookies in one recipe! thanks.
Amy says
Can I roll the dough out and use with cookie cutters?
Tonia Larson says
Hi Amy,
I’ve never tried that with this dough. I would suggest using my sugar cookie recipe https://www.thegunnysack.com/sugar-cookie-recipe/
Happy Baking!
~Tonia
Beverly says
Have made it 2 years in a row and it worked out great,,, plus got an excellent verity!!! Thank you for the great recipe!!!
Kay Drake says
Did I miss the amount of flour needed?
Tonia says
Hi Kay,
I’m not sure but here is the ingredients list for the basic sugar cookie dough.
Basic Sugar Cookie Dough:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2/3 cups shortening
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Happy baking!
-Tonia
Melissa Stone says
How do I adjust the basic recipe for baking at a high altitude?
Tonia says
Hi Melissa,
I’m sorry but I don’t have any experience with baking at high altitudes.
~Tonia
Kris says
I’m going to say that there is too much butter in this recipe. My cookies also spread, burned on the edges and were just very flat with the exception of the chocolate cookies. The melted chocolate may have helped stabilize them.
Mary Cabida-Daly says
Has anyone made thid with just butter no shortening?
Emily says
Is it unsalted butter?
Tonia says
I use salted butter for these cookies.
Aashika says
I used these cookies straight out of the freezer they spread and burnt or were raw in the middle with less cook time. I tried with parchment and without. It was highly disappointing. I love baking and this recipe had me so excited but what a disappointment it turned out to be. What can I possibly do? I measured everything perfectly combined and still these are the worse cookies I have ever made or turned out.
Tonia says
Hello Aashika,
I’m so sorry to hear that your results so disappointing! Maybe try thawing the cookies before baking them? Did you use all butter instead of the combination of butter and shortening? My SIL did that this year while making gingersnaps and they spread way too much. I’ve also learned that different brands of butter contain different amounts of water which can affect the results. I would also suggest checking how long you’ve had your baking soda. For baking purposes, it only lasts 6 months once it has been opened. Finally, the only other thing I can think of is that you need to add a little more flour. To do so you’d need to thaw the dough balls and return them to the mixing bowl to add a little more flour to the dough.
Warmly,
Tonia
April Stegeman says
Has anyone tried rolling out the dough and using it with cookie cutters? Hoping it can work for that too???
Sarah says
April, it works great!!
I made the dough and put it in a container and stuck it in the fridge. Anytime my daughter had friends over, we would take a bit of the dough out, roll it out, cut shapes, and bake.
Tonia says
That’s fantastic! Thank you for coming back to share that with us!
Martha says
Could I make red velvet crinkle cookies and or gingerbread cookies?
Tonia says
Hi Martha,
Can you believe I’ve never made red velvet crinkle cookies? I’ve never tested either recipe with this dough so I’m not sure if you can or not.
Warmly,
~Tonia
Sheri says
Can these be rolled into a log shape and cut into slices?
Tonia says
Hi Sheri,
Yes, that should work. You’ll want to refrigerate the log of dough before cutting it into slices.
~Tonia
Sharon says
Can you freeze the finished cookies?
Tonia says
Definitely! I’ve done that several times. You store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. Happy Baking! ~Tonia
Linda says
I don’t have a stand mixer. Can these be made in a food processor?
Thanks
Tonia says
I’m sorry but I don’t have any experience making cookies in a food processor. Mine is small and could never handle this recipe but I know there are bigger/nicer ones than what I have.
Talia says
I made these with a hand mixer and wooden spoon, since I don’t hve a standing mixer either. They turned out amazing!
Carrie Newman says
I have Celiac, so even the thought of making cookies sends shivers down my spine! Now that many companies have come out with 1-1 gluten free flour, I decided to give your recipes a try. While I made mine GF, my daughter made regular cookies. Happy to say that all of the cookies turned out great. We loved the ease of varying the flavors of the cookies. We had a great day of Christmas cookie fun!!
Tonia says
Hi Carrie,
Thank you for sharing your experience! It’s great to know that the 1-1 gluten free flour worked!
Happy Baking,
Tonia