Quick and Easy Christmas Cookies Recipes

I love baking cookies with my children. We eat them, share them with friends, give them as gifts and, of course, leave some out for Santa. We have a busy schedule so it's hard to find time to bake sometimes, though. When the days are too busy, I rely on ready-made store bought cookie dough. On other days, I have time to make cookies from scratch. Both methods turn out well and with just a few additions, that store-bought dough makes cookies that look and taste homemade.

One of my favorite quickie cookie dough recipes has only 2 ingredients -- a roll (18oz) of refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough and a bag of mini-kisses. Heat the oven to 350 F. Work with half of the dough at a time, putting the unused half in the refrigerator. Cut dough into 10 equal slices, cut each slice into quarters. Roll each one into a ball, place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 7-9 minutes or until light brown. Immediately top each cookie with 1 chocolate candy - pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around the edge. Remove from the cookie sheets and, the hardest part - leave alone until chocolate cools and firms up. Store in tightly covered container.

The kids love this variation of a summertime classic - 'Smores! All you need is a roll (18oz) of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, 16 large marshmallows and 8 oz of chocolate-flavored candy coating, chopped. Heat oven to 350 F. Shape dough into 32 balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-13 minutes or until edges are light brown. While they are baking, cut each marshmallow in half crosswise with scissors. Remove partially baked cookies from oven. Immediately place 1 half marshmallow piece, cut side down, on top of each hot cookie. Return to oven; bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or just until marshmallow begins to puff. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Gently flatten marshmallow with fingers. Melt candy coating according to package directions. Spoon about 1 teaspoon melted candy coating over each cookie. Let stand until candy coating is set, about 30 minutes. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container.

Sometimes a little decorating is all that's needed to turn a common cookie into something special. Bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies using either refrigerated cookie dough or your favorite from scratch recipe. Once cooled, put white frosting in a plastic bag and cut a corner to make a decorating piping bag. Squeeze frosting out in the shape of a candy cane and then place red cinnamon candies on top of the frosting to make Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies. Or bake a batch of sugar cookies and once cooled dip half of each one into frosting and add a few festive red and green sprinkles.

I hope this gives you some ideas to make your own cookie creations this Christmas season. Baking cookies is fun for children and adults alike - and Santa likes a little variety!