This is the year I’m focusing on ALL of the Christmas cookies. I have so many ideas and not enough days to share…picking the best cookies has been hard! These were an easy choice though. They actually started out a little differently, but as soon as I had the idea to do Christmas lights, I was excited. My goal this year is fun holiday desserts – but easy. Nothing too time-consuming and no big scary decorating projects. Just delicious, easy, cute, and extra festive. These cookies are all of those things. My hang-up with basic sugar cookies is that they’re often flavorless and the frosting is even worse. They just taste like sugar, and I’m definitely not into that. With these cookies, I wanted to add flavor with brown butter and real vanilla bean. The chocolate on top, just makes them even better.
Ingredients
salted butter, at room temperature granulated sugar vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract hazelnut liquor (optional) 1 egg all-purpose flour, plus an additional 2-4 tablespoons, if needed baking soda kosher salt
VANILLA ICING
powdered sugar maple syrup vanilla extract chocolate chips, melted mini holiday M&M’s and vanilla sugar for decorating
The details
Brown the butter, then let it cool off in the freezer a bit. Once it’s cooled (you only need 15 minutes), you can start mixing and baking. Beat the butter with the sugar and vanilla bean powder. You’ll want to beat for at least a minute to really infuse the butter with the vanilla flavor. Next, add an egg and all the dry ingredients, then roll, cut, and bake. There’s absolutely nothing fancy here. Whenever I make any kind of cut-out cookie, I always like to roll out the dough, cut the cookies, and then freeze the cut cookies on a baking sheet for a few minutes. This ensures that the cookies hold their shape. To cut my cookies, I used a simple circle cookie cutter and a holiday tree.
If you want to skip the rolling – simply slice n’ bake
I LOVE slice-n-bake cookies, and you can easily slice-n-bake with this dough! Just divide the dough in half as directed, then roll each piece of dough into a log and chill in the fridge until totally solid. If you have an almost empty roll of wrapping paper around, cut the roll and fit it around each log, this will prevent the dough from forming a straight edge in the fridge! And when ready to bake, simply slice-n-bake!
Decorating is easy
I kept the icing simple, since I wanted the color to remain white but still have a nice flavor for these vanilla bean sugar cookies. I added a small amount of maple syrup and lots of vanilla. It’s simple, but with the chocolate on top, perfect! When it comes to cookies, I try to keep the decorating as easy as can be, and this is EASY. I used melted chocolate to draw on the cords for the lights, then used mini holiday M&M’s for the lights. Doesn’t get easier, but looks so cute once finished! Asher wasn’t around when I made these, so I can’t wait to make these again soon with her. She’s going to love them! They’re the perfect Christmas cookie to make with kids and for your next Christmas cookie exchange. Looking for other Christmas cookies? Here are my favorites: Holly Jolly Santa Cookies Vanilla Ginger Shortbread Wreaths The Santa Clause Cookies Lastly, if you make these Easy Vanilla Bean Christmas Lights Cookies, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
