These funny Santa Claus cookies are an absolute must during the Christmas season! The easy shortcrust pastry recipe is perfect for baking with kids, because little hands can cut, decorate, and nibble along the way.
A Christmas season without St. Nicholas Day would not feel complete – and a St. Nicholas Day without these funny, decorated Santa Claus cookies would be only half as fun! That’s why today I’m sharing with you our favorite Christmas cookie recipe, which we bake every year with our children. It’s always a highlight of our family’s Christmas baking tradition.
I wish you lots of fun in the kitchen & a joyful St. Nicholas Day with these cute cookies!
Pink DIY gift tag set for Christmas
With our Christmas gift tags you can give your homemade Christmas presents that “special something”
Tags, labels & banderoles to decorate your gifts.
Recipe for Santa Claus Cookies
These Santa Claus cookies bring together two things that make Christmas baking with kids extra fun:
- A simple recipe
- Lots of decorating fun
The cookies are based on a classic round shortcrust base. If you don’t have a cookie cutter at home, your kids can simply use a glass to cut out the shapes.
Ingredients for 25 Santa Claus Cookies
Almond Shortcrust Pastry:
- 200 g spelt flour + flour for rolling
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100 g caster sugar
- 200 g butter
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
Decoration
- red melts*
- white melts*
- 50 sugar eyes*
- 25 red chocolate buttons
- white mini marshmallows
Mini tip: You can also replace the melts with icing. Mix 200 g powdered sugar, 4–5 tbsp lemon juice and red food coloring for a homemade alternative.
Baking utensils
Mixing bowl, scales, rolling pin, round cutter or glass, saucepan, small bowls, pastry brush, baking sheet, baking paper, cooling rack, toothpick
Preparation
Die Santa Claus Cookies lassen sich wunderbar in mehrere Arbeitsschritte aufteilen: Teig herstellen, Kekse ausstechen & backen und natürlich die witzigen Nikolaus-Kekse dekorieren!
Prepare the yummy cookie
Put all the shortcrust pastry ingredients into a mixing bowl and knead into a smooth dough. Chill for one hour in the fridge. (This step can easily be prepared ahead if your little ones prefer decorating instead of dough-making 😉).
After chilling, knead the dough briefly, then roll it out to about 0.5 cm thickness. Cut out round cookies with a cutter or glass and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 175°C (top/bottom heat) for 8–10 minutes until lightly golden.
Let cool completely on a rack before decorating.
Decorate the Santa Claus Cookies
Now comes the best part of this Christmas cookies recipe for kids: the decoration!
Melt the red candy melts. Spread one half of each cookie with red melts to form Santa’s hat. Place a mini marshmallow at the top for the fluffy pompom.
Melt the white candy melts. Spread on the lower half of the cookie to form Santa’s beard.
Add mini marshmallows or coconut flakes for an extra fluffy effect.
Add two sugar eyes and a red chocolate button as Santa’s nose. Fix them with small dots of melts using a toothpick. For extra details, draw eyebrows and a smile with the melts.
And that’s it – your funny Santa Claus cookies are ready! These easy Christmas cookies for kids are as fun to decorate as they are to eat.
Ho ho ho, ready are your funny Santa Claus Cookies!
I wish you and your little ones lots of fun baking, decorating, and enjoying these Santa Claus cookies together. They’re perfect for St. Nicholas Day, Advent, and Christmas family baking afternoons!
Yours, Lia
How to encourage your children to bake
Baking with children is much more than just a delicious treat that can be enjoyed together!
By baking with your child, you'll teach them many valuable things! Learn more about this in my blog post: How to encourage your children to bake!
To make baking a wonderful, shared experience for you and your little ones, you'll find tips for stress-free baking in the following blog posts:
- My tips for baking with children
- Baking tasks for children aged 2 and over
- Safety when baking with children
- Q & A about baking
Have fun baking! Yours Lia!
Do you still need Christmas presents? Then I now have a few ideas for you!
I put together a small list of (Christmas) gifts for baking fans! You're sure to find a nice little something to give away! Have fun strolling through my ideas.
Have you baked the recipe?
How exciting! We're really happy about that! We are pleased that we were able to delight you with our recipe. Feel free to share your treat with us on Instagram using the hashtag #backenmitminis.
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