Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s that time of the year again for endless amount of cookies. This year I decided make holiday dessert box for my friends and family. 2020 has been a tough year, so to spread joy, I wanted to add some delicious treats to their Christmas presents. I hope to ship them out next week and pray that they’ll get to their destinations safely before Christmas.
Whenever I think of Christmas cookies, I immediately think of gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies with royal icing. Both cookies are so simple yet always make me smile whenever I see them. You can be as creative as you want when it comes to decorating, it’s the best. You can use store bought or make your own royal icing. It is also a fun activity to do it with a friend or with your kids.
Today, I decided to share not just one, but THREE recipes you can bake for the upcoming holidays! You’ll find that these are classic sugar cookies with a twist. Instead of using food coloring, molasses and Hojicha powder were used to give gingerbread cookies that mellow brown color and nutty flavor. Matcha powder was used to give Christmas tree cookie its green color. And snowflake sugar cookies are packed with vanilla and earl grey tea flavors. Yum!
DECORATING COOKIES
Due to limited time, I used store bought cookie icing here. If time permits, you can totally make your own royal icing!
HOMEMADE ROYAL ICING
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp meringue powder
- 5 tbsp lukewarm water (plus more for thinning)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Beat powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water together until the icing forms stiff peaks. Add a few drops of warm water to thin the icing to desired consistency (should be slightly thicker than corn syrup).
- One you have achieved piping consistency, add food gel coloring if decorating with colors.
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe your designs onto the cookies.
- Allow the icing to dry completely, about 10 hours or overnight.
TIPS: Add a few drops of water if the icing is too thick. Add more powdered sugar if the icing is too thin.
COOKIE BOX
I got this wood box from Michaels (12 in x 9 in), and used white card board as dividers.
MORE HOLIDAY RECIPES:
If you make this recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Make sure you also tag me @onehappybite on Instagram and hashtag it #onehappybite so I can see your creations!
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Hojicha Gingerbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Chilling Time: 2 hrs
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
Description
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup molasses or corn syrup
- 1 large egg
- 3 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp Hojicha powder
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
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In a large bowl with electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, and molasses together until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract, mix until combined.
-
In a separate bowl, prepare the dry ingredients. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, Hojicha powder, ginger, and cinnamon together.
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Add dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until combined.
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Once dough comes together, divide it into half. Form each dough into a disc shape and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. The dough can be quite sticky if you don’t refrigerate first.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray.
- Take a disc of chilled dough from the refrigerator. Dust the kitchen counter and rolling pin. with flour. Roll the disc until about 1/8 inch (for thinner cookies), or 1/4 inch (for thicker cookies). Use gingerbread cookie cutter to cut dough into shapes, then transfer the cut out dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the second disc of chilled dough. Continue to flour the working surface as needed.
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Bake for about 9-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American, Japanese
Keywords: christmas, cookies, gingerbread, hojicha, holiday
Matcha Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Chilling Time: 2 hrs
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
Description
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
-
In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract, mix until well combined.
-
In a separate bowl, prepare dry ingredients. Sift and whisk together flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and salt.
-
Add dry ingredients into the butter-egg mixture, until well combined. Divide the dough into half. Wrap each dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray.
-
Take a disc of chill dough from the refrigerator. Dust the kitchen counter and rolling pin with flour. Roll out the disc to about 1/8 inch (for thinner cookies), or 1/4 inch (for thicker cookies). Continue to flour the working surface as needed. Repeat with the second disc of chilled dough.
- Use Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer the cut out dough to the prepared baking sheets.
-
Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until edges become golden brown. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American, Japanese
Keywords: christmas, holiday, matcha, sugar cookies
Earl Grey Snow Flakes Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Chilling Time: 2 hrs
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
Description
- Pretty snowflakes sugar cookies packed with vanilla and earl grey flavors!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 earl grey tea bags
Instructions
-
In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract, mix until well combined.
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In a separate bowl, prepare dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, matcha powder, earl grey tea leaves (removed from tea bags), and salt together.
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Add dry ingredients into the butter-egg mixture, until well combined.
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Divide the dough into half. Wrap each dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray.
-
Take a disc of chill dough from the refrigerator. Dust the kitchen counter and rolling pin with flour. Roll out the disc to about 1/8 inch (for thinner cookies), or 1/4 inch (for thicker cookies). Continue to flour the working surface as needed. Repeat with the second disc of chilled dough.
- Use snowflake cookie cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer the cut out dough to the prepared baking sheets.
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Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until edges become golden brown. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: christmas, earl grey, holiday, sugar cookies
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