Christmas Cookie Ornaments Recipe

Add baking Christmas cookie ornaments to your holiday to-do list! It is an easy-to-make, one-bowl homemade ornament recipe to make the fully customizable cookies to decorate your Christmas tree.

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I can't get enough from holiday baking every year, and these cute gingerbread ornaments are not an exception.

Last year, I started making holiday cookies and turning some of them into Christmas baking ornaments.

The most fun I got was when I used unusual Christmas cookie cutters, some fancy ones.

I wish such a baking project turned out into our holiday tradition along with setting up a Christmas tree, watching Christmas movies, and sending holiday cards.

To make cookie ornaments, I chose a no-fail gingerbread dough. I adapted a recipe for holiday cookies created by the French chef Gilles Marchal.

Experimenting with different Christmas ornament cookie cutters and decorations, I ended up with plain cookies arranged into a sweet gingerbread garland.

Edible cookie ornaments vs. non-edible ornaments

Anticipating your question about how to make cookie ornaments, I would advise deciding if you want to proceed with edible or non-edible decorations.

Edible baked Christmas tree ornaments are mostly gingerbread or sugar cookies made with real cookie dough and hung on a tree.

Non-edible ornaments are usually made with different spices, applesauce, and white glue, dried in the oven, then tied with a piece of twine or ribbon for hanging on the tree.

While both edible and non-edible ornaments (salt dough ornaments, as an example) are fun to make with kids, edible ones are yummier and safer when kids want to taste "the dough" or ready decoration.

Edible sweet ornaments also make a great edible gift during the holiday season. Moreover, you can eat these treats right from the tree!

Why you should try this recipe

1. One bowl, cookie ornament recipe is great during a busy holiday season.
2. This easy recipe results in a batch of cookies to please the crowd.
3. These cookies make a beautiful edible gift during the holidays. Bake cookies and make a Christmas ornament cookie jar to give to your family and friends.
4. Making a small hole in each cookie before baking makes unique and edible Christmas tree decorations.
5. Cookies are fully customizable: leave them plain or decorate them any way you desire.
6. This recipe for homemade ornaments is basic. Turn it into making beautiful ornaments or simple gingerbread cookies to enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate. If desired, omit ground allspice and bake regular almond cookies.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making this recipe as written for the best results. 

Butter: use unsalted softened butter. Take it out of the fridge 1 to 2 hours before you start.

Almond flour: it brings melt-in-your-mouth texture to these cookies. If desired, hazelnut flour is a great substitute for almond flour.

Icing sugar: make it yourself with a coffee grinder or purchase a store-bought confectioner's sugar.

Salt: it enhances the flavor of cookies.

Flour: the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

Egg: use one large egg.

Ground allspice: use this spice or replace it with a mixture of ground clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

How to make Christmas ornament cookies

To make the cookie dough, place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix at medium-high speed until smooth. Add almond flour (photo 1) and mix.

Then add icing (powdered) sugar, ground allspice, salt, flour, and egg, and mix at low speed until the dough becomes homogeneous (photo 2).

Using a rolling pin, roll dough between two sheets of parchment paper to the thickness of about ⅕ inch/5 mm. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees C. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and cut cookies into different cookie cutter shapes.

Save, press together, and re-roll the dough scraps (you need to chill the rolled dough before cutting the cookies again.)

Make a small hole in each cookie using a plastic straw but not close to the cookie edge.

Place cutouts on cookie sheets (or a large baking sheet) covered with parchment (photo 3).

Bake cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cookie edges just start to turn golden brown (photo 4).

Place ornaments on a wire rack to cool down. Then thread a baker's twine, a ribbon, a string, lace, or raffia through the hole in each cookie, tie the ends, and hang cookies in the tree.

You can tie each cookie individually or use finished ornaments to make an edible holiday garland.

Recipe variations

This homemade ornament recipe is fully customizable: from the cookie dough to cookie decorations.

Almond flour is great for cookies, but it is nice to change things up and use some new ingredients.

Replace almond flour with hazelnut flour, hazelnut meal, or ground pistachios to bring another nutty flavor to your cookies.

Aren't you a fan of allspice? No problem, use ground cinnamon instead (1 to 2 teaspoons) and make edible cinnamon ornaments.

Play with different Christmas cookie cutters, smaller or bigger, funny or real-looking ones.

Make animated or classic cookie tree ornaments, a cookie in the shape of a Christmas pickle to make fun and bring good luck, or build your cookie tree if desired!

You can leave cookie cutter ornaments bare, undecorated. Just make a hole in the cutout cookies before baking, tie on a ribbon, and hang them on a tree.

Also, you can make a dough hook, or like Betty Crocker, use a candy cane to make an ornament hook for your cookies.

You can arrange pieces of dried fruit or nuts on top of each ornament before baking. It brings additional texture to this sweet baking project.

Using alphabet cookie stamps set before bringing cookies in the oven is a great way to personalize cookies.

The simplest way to decorate baked cookie ornaments is to brush the tops of cookies with Royal icing (add food coloring to the white icing if desired).

Or brush the top of each cookie with melted chocolate and sprinkle with Belgian pearl sugar, edible glitter, or candy sprinkles.

The more elaborate way that takes much time is to decorate these ornaments using homemade or store-bought decorating cookie icing.

In any way, use different varieties of cookie cutters, kids-friendly or grown-up themed ones, or create your own ornaments. They are all great ideas!

Leave them plain or turn them into decorated Christmas tree cookies. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, don't you agree that everything homemade is better? And these homemade cookie ornaments are the best. They truly bring on the holiday spirit!

Storage

Store cookie ornaments in an airtight container in a cool, dry place or hang them on a Christmas tree. They last up to 4 weeks.

Can you freeze cookie ornaments? No, I don't recommend freezing Christmas cookie ornaments since they can be affected by moisture.

But you can freeze cutouts before baking and decorating. Cut your cookies, make a hole through the top of each cookie. Arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and freeze.

On the day of baking, thaw your cookies at room temperature and bake. Or bake them from frozen, adding 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time.

Expert tips

1. Beat softened butter using an electric mixer. Combine the rest of the ingredients with a rubber spatula or your hands if you do not have a stand mixer.
2. Decorate baked cookies any way you desire.

Frequently asked questions

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The recipe was adapted from https://www.lemonde.fr/. It was originally published on December 24, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.