Santa Claus Cookies

Heads up, holiday fans, a new Christmas cookie tradition is headed your way, thanks to these Santa Claus cookies. They’re adorable, they’re delicious and they’re pretty easy to make, as premade Nutter Butter cookies are doing the heavy lifting for you. Instead, you get to focus primarily on the fun of decorating these cuties, which is a family-friendly activity even younger kids can participate in.

These are Nutter Butter cookies Santa Claus himself would be happy to find beside the chimney, and the kids will have to hard-resist eating them to stay off that naughty list. Now, if a mom or dad snuck a bite after bedtime, that might just be a secret we adults can keep to ourselves.

Ingredients for Santa Claus Cookies

• White baking chocolate: Use pre-formed bits, or chop the baking chocolate yourself so it melts evenly.
• Nutter Butter sandwich cookies: As noted, using these popular store-bought cookies is what makes this recipe so easy and fun, no baking required.
• Red colored sugar: You can color sugar yourself with food coloring, but why not make it easy and buy colored sugar?
• Vanilla or white chips: For the recipe as portioned out here, you’ll need 32 chips.
• Semisweet chocolate chips: Stick with semisweet chocolate here, as there is already plenty of sweetness afoot.
• Red Hots candies: Here again you’ll need 32 pieces if you’re following the recipe as written.

Directions

Step 1: Melt the white chocolate

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

In a microwave, melt the white chocolate at 70% power for one minute, then stir it. Microwave the chocolate in additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until it’s even and smooth.

Step 2: Dip the cookies in chocolate, then decorate

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

Dip one end of each cookie into the melted chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off, then place the cookies on wire racks. For Santa’s hat, sprinkle red sugar on the top part of the melted chocolate, then press one vanilla chip off-center on the hat for a pompom. Let the cookies rest until the melted chocolate has set.

Step 3: Add the beard and the face details

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

Dip the other end of each cookie into the melted chocolate for a beard, leaving the center of each cookie uncovered. Place the cookies back on the wire racks and, with a dab of melted chocolate, attach semisweet chips for Santa’s eyes and a Red Hot for his nose. Place the finished cookies on waxed paper to rest until they’re set.

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

Santa Claus Cookie Variations

• Use sugar cookies instead: As this is really more about decorating cookies than it is about making them, the same decoration steps can be used with other cookies, with sugar cookies working quite well with the ingredients added here.
• Add a coconut trim: Adding a line of shredded coconut flakes at the bottom of Santa’s hat is a great visual element that’s also a welcome additional flavor.
• Use raisins for the eyes instead of chocolate: Raisins can be divisive, for sure, but if you’re raisin fans in your home, go ahead and use them instead of chocolate chips for the eyes.

How to Store Santa Clause Cookies

If you and your family will be enjoying these cookies within two to three days, store them in airtight packaging at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. They will last for a week or so if stored in the fridge.

Can you freeze Santa Claus cookies?

These cookies will keep well in airtight packaging in the freezer for four to five months, or you could even stretch it a bit more and enjoy them for Christmas in July.

Santa Claus Cookie Tips

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

Are these cookies easy enough for kids to make?

By all means! Any kid old enough to practice basic safety around the heated chocolate can handle the decoration of these charming holiday cookies.

Can I melt the white baking chocolate on the stove?

Yes, you can melt white chocolate on the stove, but it’s easy to burn it if you’re not careful. It’s best to use a double boiler if you have one, or to float the chocolate in a glass bowl placed into a pot of simmering water. Either approach will avoid scorching the chocolate.

Would regular chocolate work for this recipe?

Flavor-wise, regular chocolate would be great for these cookies, though of course the looks will be different. But if that’s what you have, go for it.