Christmas Baking Ideas for Children

Of all the Christmas baking ideas for kids, they seem to enjoy this one the most. This recipe comes down from my Mom who made every Christmas special at our home. Each year we would look forward to making Christmas cookies. Sometimes we would eat them until we just couldn't eat any more - they were so good. But the best part was how fun Mom made it when she included us in baking and decorating hundreds of cookies. These cookies are among the all-time easiest recipes for kids to make at Christmas.

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OK, the absolute easiest way to make these cookies is buy ready-made sugar cookie dough at your local market.

Simply follow instructions on the package. Typically, 1/4-inch thick cookies should bake about 5 to 9 minutes at 350° F (176.6° C). More time in the oven means crispier cookies, less time and cookies will typically remain soft and chewy.

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Baking tip: Store-bought, refrigerated sugar cookie doughs tend to spread out more on the cookie sheet when baking. This may cause the cookies to be thinner and more brittle. If you want a stiffer dough that doesn't spread as much when baking, add in some extra flour by kneading it into the dough.

Do a test run and bake one cookie, add more flour if needed until you get a cookie that won't spread so much. Also, you can place the raw cookies in the freezer and let them chill for about 15 minutes right before baking. This will also keep them from spreading too much.

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Note: If you or your kids want to make cookies from scratch, there is an easy recipe for kids sugar cookie dough at the end of this article.

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Other things you will need:

• rolling pin

• wax paper

• 2-inch (5.08cm) round cookie cutter

• 3-inch (7.62cm)round cookie cutter

• spatula

• kitchen knife

• baking or cookie sheet

• wire cooling rack

• parents or adult to help

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List of ingredients and tools:

• batch of sugar cookie dough

• flour

• small M&M candies (all colors)

• regular size M&M candies (all colors)

• mini chocolate chips

• white cookie icing

• food coloring (red, green, blue and yellow)

• granulated sugar in various colors

• small fruits and nuts

• any other edible decorating items

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1) Take out a sheet of wax paper, about two feet long and place it on a table or counter top. Dust the wax paper with some flour.

2) Place the cookie dough on the wax paper and use the rolling pen to roll out the dough into a single sheet about 1/4 (6.35mm) to 3/8-inch (9.525mm) thick.

Take a look at the short video to the right for some great tips on how to roll out cookie dough.

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3) Using the large and small cookie cutters, cut out an equal number of both large and small dough circles.

4) Use the smaller cookie cutter to remove a small notch from one side of each large dough circle. Use some water to moisten the cut notch. Place the smaller dough circle into the notch, gently pressing the two dough circles together to make one snowman shape.

If you're using pre-shaped cookie cutters, take a look at this video…

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5) Using the spatula, carefully lift the raw snowman cookies from the wax paper onto a baking sheet. Bake according to directions on the package of cookie dough. Typically, cookies should bake about 5 to 9 minutes at 350° F (176.6° C).

6) After baking, allow the hot cookies to cool for about 10 minutes. Then use the spatula to carefully remove the cookies from the baking sheet to the cooling rack. Let the cookies cool for about half an hour. While you're waiting, you can make the frosting...

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7) Once the cookies are completely cool, it's time for the fun part - adding the icing or frosting to the cookies! For younger kids, this is really the part they look forward to. I have such fond memories of myself and all my siblings sitting around the table as Mom would bring tray after tray of freshly baked sugar cookies, ready to be decorated.

8) There are so many optiions for decorating but a few of the "must-haves" are colored frosting, colored granulated sugar, frosting tubes with decorating tips, and any sort of small candies or fruits like raisins and dates. Just let your imagination go wild. As kids, we had contests for most outrageous cookie, most frosting on a single cookie, best-looking cookie, etc.

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Look in the store for a set of cookie cutters that have different holiday shapes. As a kid, I remember the cookie cutters we used were in the shapes of a bell, Christmas tree, Santa, a star, a candy cane and a snowman. Here are some links at Amazon.com for different types of cookie cutters in fun holiday shapes.

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