Add baking Christmas cookie ornaments to your holiday to-do list! It is an easy-to-make, one-bowl homemade ornament recipe to make fully customizable cookies to decorate your Christmas tree.
I can't get enough of 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, and then tied with a piece of twine or ribbon for hanging on the tree.
While both edible and non-edible ornaments (salt dough ornaments, for 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!
Cookie ornament recipe
- This one-bowl cookie ornament recipe is great during a busy holiday season.
- It results in a batch of cookies to please the crowd.
- 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.
- Making a small hole in each cookie before baking makes unique and edible Christmas tree decorations.
- Cookies are fully customizable: leave them plain or decorate them any way you desire.
- 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
For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.
Butter: Use unsalted softened butter. Take it out of the fridge 1 to 2 hours before you start.
- Almond flour brings a 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 enhances the flavor of cookies.
- Flour: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour.
- Egg: Use one large egg.
- Ground allspice: Use it or replace it with a mixture of ground clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
How to make Christmas ornament cookies
Step 1. 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.
Step 2. Add icing (powdered) sugar, ground allspice, salt, flour, and egg, and mix at low speed until the dough becomes homogeneous (photo 2).
Step 3. 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.
Step 4. Heat oven to 300°F (150°C). Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and cut cookies into different cookie cutter shapes.
Step 5. Save, press together, and re-roll the dough scraps: chill the rolled dough before cutting the cookies again.
Step 6. Make a small hole in each cookie using a plastic straw, but not close to the cookie edge.
Step 7. Place cutouts on cookie sheets (or a large baking sheet) covered with parchment (photo 3).
Step 8. Bake cookies for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cookie edges just start to turn golden brown (photo 4).
Step 9. 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 the cookies in the tree.
You can tie each cookie individually or use finished ornaments to make an edible holiday garland.
Expert Tips
- 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.
- Decorate baked cookies any way you desire.
Recipe variations
This homemade ornament recipe is fully customizable: from the cookie dough to cookie decorations.
- Nuts: Replace almond flour with hazelnut flour, hazelnut meal, or ground pistachios to bring another nutty flavor to your cookies.
- Flavoring: Use ground cinnamon instead (1 to 2 teaspoons) and make edible cinnamon ornaments.
- Shaping: 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.
- Make a hole or a hook: Leave your cookie cutter ornaments bare and undecorated, making a hole in the cutout cookies before baking. Then, tie on a ribbon and hang them on a tree. Or make a dough hook using a candy cane to make an ornament hook for your cookies.
- Decoration: Arrange pieces of dried fruit or nuts on top of each ornament before baking to bring additional texture to your cookies. Use an alphabet cookie stamps set to personalize cookies before baking.
- Brush the tops of cookies with Royal icing, homemade or store-bought decorating cookie icing. Or brush the top of each cookie with melted chocolate and sprinkle with Belgian pearl sugar, edible glitter, or candy sprinkles.
Storing and freezing
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, and 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.
Recipe FAQ
You can turn basic sugar or gingerbread cookies into beautiful ornaments. Just make a hole at the top of each cookie with a plastic straw or a chopstick before baking. Once the cookies are baked, thread twine or a ribbon through the hole and tie the ends.
Yes, you can bake cookie ornaments in advance. Keep them in an airtight container for up to 2 to 4 weeks. You can layer cookies with pieces of parchment paper.
These sweet gingerbread cookie ornaments are a seasonal baking project. They aren't supposed to be saved for the following year.
Love Christmas cookies? Try these next!
- Bredele Christmas cookies
- Zimsterne cookies
- Mini gingerbread men cookies
- Chocolate banana pecan cookies
- Or browse all the Christmas recipes
Want more delicious and beautiful recipes? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for my latest updates. If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and comment below!
PrintRecipe card
Christmas Cookie Ornaments
Add baking Christmas cookie ornaments to your holiday to-do list. It is an easy-to-make, one-bowl recipe to make these fully customizable cookie ornaments to decorate your Christmas tree.
- Total Time: 1 hour (plus chilling time)
- Yield: 50 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 10.5 oz (300 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups (125 g) almond flour
- 1 cup (125 g) powdered (icing) sugar
- 2 pinches of salt
- 2 cups + 6 ¼ tablespoon (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) ground allspice
* If needed, please refer to Baking Conversion Charts.
Instructions
- To make the cookie dough, place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add almond flour and mix. Then add icing (powdered) sugar, ground allspice, salt, all-purpose flour, and egg, and mix until the dough becomes homogeneous.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of about ⅕ inch (5 mm). Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and cut cookies using Christmas cookie cutters. 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. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown color.
- Place ornaments on a wire rack to cool down. Then thread red and white striped 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.
Notes
- Beat softened butter with an electric mixer and combine the rest of the ingredients with a rubber spatula or your hands if you do not have a stand mixer.
- Decorate baked cookies any way you desire.
- Store Christmas cookie ornaments in an airtight container for up to 2 to 4 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 90
- Sugar: 2.6 g
- Sodium: 44 mg
- Fat: 6.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.7 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1.3 g
- Cholesterol: 16 mg
The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.
The recipe was adapted from Le Monde. It was originally published on December 24, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos.
Anita says
Such a great idea using cookies to decorate a Christmas tree. And these are good too, so they are not just for decoration. 🙂
Irina says
Yes, I made this cookies as ornament cookies, but you can easily make them, using any cookie cutter and/or cookie stamps. The cookie dough is so manageable:) Thanks for your comment.
Sara Welch says
What a great recipe for the holidays! I will have to give these a try this afternoon! Looks too fun to pass up!
Irina says
Thanks Sara! It is a great baking idea this holiday season. Happy baking and enjoy!
Adriana says
Lovely idea to make edible ornaments, like the fact that you made them monochromatic. When I was a child, my mom and I were used to making gingerbread cookies to hang in the tree. Thanks for the memories and Merry Christmas.
Irina says
Adriana, I am happy to hear that these cookies brought you warm memories from your childhood. I know this feeling. Merry Christmas!
Raquel says
What a sweet idea! I don't think they'd last long on my tree:)
Irina says
Thanks Raquel! My cookie ornaments quickly disappear from a Christmas tree! One day I discover that they are gone:) I know what you mean. Happy holidays!
Haley D. Williams says
Such a fun and festive project! I remember doing this with my mom when I was younger and plan on keeping up the tradition. Thank you!
Irina says
Haley, I agree that making cookie ornaments is fun with kids. Thanks for your comment. Happy holidays!
Claire Cary says
These are too cute!! and I love this simple recipe!
Irina says
Thanks Claire! This simple recipe brings so much fun and a whole batch of Christmas tree cookie ornaments!
Cindy Smith says
I was looking for a fun activity to do with my kids and some extended family that came in for Christmas! This was so much fun for my family of ALL ages! We loved this!
Irina says
Thanks Cindy! I am happy to hear that I gave you a great idea of making these cookie ornaments during the family gathering!
Veena Azmanov says
Thanks for your recipe and great idea and delicious cookies. Love the combination of ingredients making these cookies so delicious and yum.
Irina says
Thank you Veena! Still, there is some time this holiday season to make Christmas tree cookie ornaments. Enjoy!
Dannii says
These are so pretty. I love anything with ginger in.
Irina says
Really? In this case, Dannii, you will enjoy these Gingerbread cookies.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
I love these gingerbread ornaments, they're so cute and perfectly festive! What a wonderful idea.
Irina says
Yes, these cookies are fun to make! Moreover, they are multi-functional: they make a great edible gift and work as Christmas tree ornaments. Thank you Bintu!
Morgan Eisenberg says
What a perfect hostess gift! Pinning this one for 2020.
Irina says
Thanks for saving the recipe! Happy holidays and enjoy!
thisiswholesome says
These look so pretty! Do you think I could swap the butter with oil?
Irina says
To answer to your question, you can't switch the butter for oil in this recipe. Butter is a solid at room temperature, while oil is a liquid. This cookie dough has be chilled for two hours and needs to be relatively solid for cutting cookie ornaments. That is why you can't substitute butter for oil. Shortening might be a better option, but I have not tried such the variation.
Beth says
We made these for the kids this holiday and they were just perfect! Loved it!
Irina says
I can imagine how much fun you had making these cookies with kids. Beth, thank you for letting me know:)
Alison says
These turned out so cute, and my kids and I had a blast making them together.
Irina says
What could be a better family activity around the Christmas time than to make these Christmas tree cookie ornaments?! I am glad that you enjoyed, Alison! Thanks.
Jessie says
I love this!! And this can make for some amazing family time!
Irina says
Thanks, Jessie. It can be a baking project for a whole family 🙂
Dannii says
These are super cute. I think my kids would love making these and hanging them on the tree.
Irina says
Sure thing, Dannii. These cookies are fun to make, fun to hang on the tree, and fun to eat 🙂
Chris Collins says
These are so fun! Perfect for the kids to get involved and help 🙂
Irina says
You are right, Chris. Please, have fun 🙂
Danielle Wolter says
What a cute idea! This would be a great family project for Christmas.
Irina says
I agree with you, Danielle. Please, enjoy the recipe 🙂
Beth Sachs says
I'm definitely adding these to my Christmas bake list. The kids will love helping me make them.
Irina says
Yes, it is one of the best baking projects with kids, Beth. Please, enjoy it!
John says
When I was little, we used to make cinnamon ornaments. I believe the recipe was 1 c. of cinnamon and 1 c. of store-bought applesauce. It makes a dough that can be rolled out and cut into shapes. Dry in a low oven for a few hours. They smelled amazing and probably look a lot like gingerbread!
Irina says
Oh, John, you are talking about non-edible cookie ornaments. Yes, I agree with you. Please try edible cookie ornaments this time. 🙂 Please, enjoy the recipe.
Patricia Ann Honeycutt says
I am excited to make the cookies!