These easy Italian Christmas cookies have only seven ingredients! This recipe uses refrigerated sugar cookie dough which saves you lots of time in the kitchen. These bite sized morsels are perfect for holiday baking!
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Last week I told you how much I love the holiday season. This week, I'll let you in on a little secret… I also get SUPER stressed out during the holiday season. Somewhere between all the shopping, decorating, baking, and traveling, I get burned out.
In an attempt to be more mindful this year, we cut back in several ways. We're not exchanging gifts as a family. Instead, we're selecting a charity and donating money. We're not doing Christmas cards, but that's usually a given for us. We didn't put up ALL our Christmas decorations, although the tree was a must. At first I questioned whether we were cutting back too much. But as much as I love all the little "extras" of the holiday season, that's not what it's about. For me, the season is about spending time with loved ones. And that's exactly what we're doing this season.
How Can I Save Time Baking Cookies?
This year, I was all about streamlining my holiday baking. I did NOT want to spend hours in the kitchen baking. One way to cut down your time in the kitchen is to use pre-made cookie dough. You can find it in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. You can then make additions to this basic dough which will take things up a notch. I even spotted peppermint flavored sugar cookie dough in the store last weekend. While that won't work for this recipe, I loved this idea for a peppermint crunch sugar cookie!
Another way to save time when baking cookies is to roll out your balls of dough in advance. Once you've got your balls of dough formed, place them on a baking sheet in the freezer. They will freeze after an hour and you can remove them and place them in a plastic bag. Then when it's time to bake, you take them out of the oven and VOILA, you're ready to bake. Make sure to increase your baking time to allow for the cooled dough.
Lets Make Some Italian Christmas Cookies!
As I mentioned, I love these cookies because they are oh-so-easy. Like, 5 minutes to prepare easy. That is my kind of cookie recipe this close to Christmas. You could honestly eat these cookies without the frosting. Don't they look delicious?
The frosting for these Italian Christmas cookies is a simple glaze made of confectioners sugar + water. You could add a little bit of almond extract to jazz things up a bit if you'd like. Pick your favorite holiday sprinkles and go to town before the glaze sets. Once the glaze is dry, the sprinkles won't adhere very well.
A word of caution about the glaze. Your festive Christmas sprinkles may bleed a little into the glaze. This isn't exactly a problem, but more of a heads up. If you're looking for a more"perfect" look without bleeding, you might want to try and thicken the glaze up a bit. You can do this by adding less water.
Can I Freeze These Cookies?
You can totally prepare these Italian Christmas cookies in advance and freeze them. Since I needed these cookies to bring to an event on Wednesday, I made them over the weekend. After they cooled, I wrapped them in plastic and stored them in a plastic bag in the freezer. The night before, I took them out of the freezer and let them come to room temperature. Afterwards, I frosted them and they were good to go!
Another way to save time when baking cookies is to roll out your balls of dough in advance. Once you've got your balls of dough formed, place them on a baking sheet in the freezer. They will freeze after an hour and you can remove them and place them in a plastic bag. Then when it's time to bake, you take them out of the oven and VOILA, you're ready to bake. Make sure to increase your baking time to allow for the cooled dough.
Heather's Helpful Hints
- I love making my cookie dough ahead of time and freezing it. These cookies freeze best if you portion out the dough beforehand. Shape the cookie dough into balls as you would if you were preparing to bake them. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours. Once frozen, the little balls of dough get sealed up inside a plastic freezer bag.
- When baking cookies, it's best to put one batch at a time in the oven. Cookies need to bake on the middle rack for even baking. If you can fit two pans on the middle rack without touching each other, you'll get the baking results you want. If you add additional sheets of cookies on higher or lower racks, they might bake unevenly. You may save some time, but the cookies will suffer.
Related holiday recipes
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Recipe
Italian Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough 16.5 oz
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Heat over to 350 degree Fahrenheit and place rack in the center of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Break apart cookie dough and crumble into a large bowl. Add cream cheese, flour, and ½ teaspoon vanilla and mix until combined.
- Shape dough into balls (mine were about 20 grams each) and place on lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are ever so slightly browned. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
- In a small bowl stir together powdered sugar, water, and remaining vanilla. Dip each cookie into the glaze and add sprinkles. Allow glaze to set before storing cookies.
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