Christmas 2020 has been bittersweet for many of us. But you can challenge that sad energy into giving energy, by sending these cookie boxes to friends and family you may not be able to see this year.
My Chocolate and Vanilla Sugar Cookie recipe is the perfect base for these charming cut Christmas cookies. I call them my "Hole in My Heart" Christmas cookies because it's a bit how I feel right now, missing family and friends this holiday season.
While the trees may have a hole in them, we can fill them with love, signified by filling the holes with vanilla sugar cookie hearts and send these cookies off to loved ones to let them know that even though we can't be together, we are thinking of them this year.
In the video below I'll also give you some cute ideas for how to package the cookie boxes up for gifting.
For an even easier Christmas Cookie for gifting, try my Easiest Christmas Cookie EVER recipe or my Holiday Shortbread Cookie. Both would also make great food gifts to send!
If you don't celebrate Christmas, but you like this concept, you can use a different design. I really love this House-shaped cookie cutter to signify your "home" is missing someone right now.
These cookies and soft, and buttery, easy to roll out, and will certainly put a smile on anyone's face you send them to!
Host a Cookie Exchange Party!
- These cookies are also great as part of a cookie exchange party! You invite 6-10 friends, each of who brings 2 dozen of their favorite Christmas cookies.
- One dozen cookies for everyone to sample at the party and the other dozen for each person to take a few to bring home with them.
- Some of my favorite Christmas cookies for a cookie exchange include my Chewy Chocolate Cookies, Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies, and of a course my classic Chewy Gingerbread Cookie.
Watch my Video Demo of These Cookies Below!
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Baking the Christmas Tree Cookies
- The fun part about the Christmas trees is that it's a bit like playing with Play-doh.
- You'll roll out the chocolate dough and cut the trees out. Then use a mini heart cookie cutter to cut out the hearts in the center to fill them with the vanilla sugar cookie hearts.
- Once they bake they will fuse together and create the cutest design.
- Just make sure when you roll out the doughs, they are the same ⅛" (3mm) thickness. That way when you insert the heart dough it will be at the same level and create a seamless surface.
Using Candy Cane Crush
- Another fun way to decorate vanilla sugar cookies is to dip the Christmas tree tops in melted white chocolate and then sprinkle crushed candy canes on top. It's a cute festive look for the holidays!
- Just melt white chocolate chips in a Pyrex pitcher in the microwave at :30 increments until smooth and melted. Then sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top.
- The best way to crush candy canes is to unwrap them, place them in a Ziploc bag, seal the bag and then whack them with a rolling pin.
Keeping the Dough Chilled
- One thing to keep in mind when making any kind of cut Christmas cookie is the importance of keeping the dough chilled.
- This will help the cookie retain its shape when it bakes.
- If the dough is too warm, it will melt once it hits the hot oven, and the shape will become a bit distorted.
Depending upon how quickly you are able to cut out the mini hearts, you may want to place the trees in the freezer or refrigerator to firm up. Then all you'll have to do is pop in the vanilla hearts.
Filling the Trees with Sugar Cookie Hearts
- How many trees you fill, is really up to you.
- I typically keep half the trees unfilled as silhouettes and then fill the other half.
- Since the filled heart is so small, the cookies will still bake at the same rate so no need for concern on these, it's the 2-inch hearts you should bake separately.
Bake Cut Christmas Cookies According to their Size
- If you are baking the 2-inch hearts to send as a coordinating cookie, these should be baked separately on a different tray.
- Otherwise, they will be done before the trees are done and it will be a hassle to remove them mid-stream.
- Really the rule of thumb should be, bake cut Christmas cookies together according to size! Since size will dictate the baking time.
- When my girls were little they would always load up the tray with all these different shaped Christmas cookies and wonder why some burned and some were still raw. Now they know why!
You can also bake off the smaller hearts, that are created from the center of the house-shaped cutter. But again, these should be baked on a separate tray. I also think it's fun to mix the hearts in the packaging, giving your recipient a few of the larger ones, mixed with a few of these mini ones.
Decorating the Cookie Boxes
For the Christmas tree cookies, I like to wrap them up in these bright red cookie tins, which have been filled with some Natural Raffia to keep them from breaking, then tie them with a classic ivory grosgrain ribbon, decorated with a faux evergreen sprig and a Christmas Tree gift tag.
For the House Shaped Cookies and for more of a "winter-theme" box. I love these Rose Gold Cookie Tins, tied up with some Mauve Grosgrain Ribbon, a Silver Snowflake, and Silver Berry Sprig.
To continue the snowy theme, you can attach a snowflake gift tag, which comes in the Gift Tag Set that also includes the Christmas Tree tags!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes!
- Chocolate Hazelnut Linzer Cookies
- Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
If You Enjoy these Cookies Recipes
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Chocolate and Vanilla Sugar Cookies
These chocolate and vanilla sugar cookie recipes create the perfect dough for cut Christmas cookies that you can mix and match to create cute designs!
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
- 1 cup (240g) butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoon (7.5ml) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (100g) cocoa powder
- 2 cups (240g) flour
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon (3.75ml) salt
VANILLA SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
- 1 cup (240g) butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoon (7.5ml) vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) flour
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon (3.75ml) salt
Instructions
- FOR CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES:
- Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a large bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk further to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, to the butter mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Divide the dough into 2 balls, flatten it into disks and wrap it up in the parchment paper. Refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours.
- Roll cookies out to ⅛" thick (3 mm) leaving the dough on the parchment paper. Cut out the Christmas Tree cookies, transfer them to a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Cut out the heart inserts in the center of all the trees. Place the tray in the freezer or refrigerator while rolling out the vanilla sugar cookie dough. It's important the trees stay chilled in order to retain their shape.
- Roll out the vanilla dough to ⅛-inch thick (3 mm). Then using the same mini heart cutter cut out half the amount of hearts for filling. I like to keep half the trees as silhouettes, and half filled with vanilla hearts. Place the vanilla dough hearts inside the trees.
- Bake at 350F (175C) for 12 minutes for a 3-inch (7.6cm) Christmas tree. Then roll out the vanilla dough and cut out 6-8 2-inch hearts (5cm) and bake those on a separate tray at 350F (175C) 8-9 minutes. Keep these hearts refrigerated until ready to bake. Allow to cool completely and then package them up for gifting!
- FOR VANILLA SUGAR COOKIES:
- Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, to the butter mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Divide the dough into 2 balls, flatten it into disks and wrap it up in the parchment paper. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Roll cookies out to ⅛" thick (3 mm) leaving the dough on the parchment paper. Cut out the cookies, transfer them to a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350F (175C) for 12-14 minutes for the House. Bake 8-9 minutes for the 2-inch (5 cm) hearts.
Notes
The dough will keep for 3-5 days in the refrigeraror. Or 2 months in the freezer
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 7Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 6mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 1g
judy derrick
hello! would you provide a link to get the heart (clear) cookie cutter set for chocolate/vanilla sugar cookie recipe
Beth Le Manach
Sure here is the link! :). Enjoy! https://amzn.to/3d34Lso
Barb M.
Love all these ideas, Beth! This year I am going to host a small family cookie decorating party and will include these. Can you provide me with some suggestions for snack ideas to have at the party? Things that are easy to eat in between frosting cookies and could be portioned out individually? I'm staying away from bowls of snacks to keep things sanitary.