An ideal recipe to prepare for the holidays: Cinnamon Christmas cookies with royal icing... Easy to make and delicious with their good taste of cinnamon and spices. A great activity while waiting for Santa Claus! I also give you my tips for successfully making your icing and decorations.
What You'll Love About This Cinnamon Christmas Cookie Recipe
- flavors : we feel the taste of Christmas spices, with a touch of honey.
- Texture : these are dry, crunchy biscuits that keep for a very long time in an airtight box (or to give as a gift).
- Difficulty level : I would say rather easy. It is an ideal activity to do with children for example. The longest part will be decorating each cookie one by one with royal icing. But know that they can also be eaten without icing!
Ingredient details
- Cinnamon + 4 spice mix : these are the spices I use to bring out the maximum flavors of Christmas (and it will smell great in your kitchen too!)
- brown sugar + whole sugar cane : I mix these two sugars because they bring a caramel side that classic powdered sugar does not bring. Whole sugar is the most fragrant of the two by the way.
- Miel : it brings a gourmet and comforting side that works very well with spices.
How to make cinnamon Christmas cookies?
- First mix the dry ingredients together.
- Separately, beat the butter with the two sugars, the honey and the eggs.
- Then add the dry ingredients to the dough and refrigerate it to make it easier to work with.
- We roll out the dough on the work surface then cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
- Refrigerate again and bake, then let cool completely before decorating.
- Royal icing is prepared by simply mixing the ingredients.
- Fill a piping bag with this mixture and cut the end very finely, like a pencil.
- We decorate the cookies as we wish!
NB: the detailed recipe with a complete list of ingredients is given to you at the bottom of the page.
My tips for perfectly successful cinnamon Christmas cookies
- to roll out the dough more easily on your work surface (without adding flour), I advise you to roll out the biscuit dough between two sheets of baking paper.
- so that your cookies keep their shape while baking (and do not spread): it is very important to refrigerate them before putting them in the oven.
- to find out if your royal icing is the right consistency to use : draw a knife line in the icing. If the line disappears completely in less than 15 seconds, add more icing sugar. If it disappears more slowly, add a few drops of water.
How to properly store your cinnamon Christmas cookies?
Those are dry biscuits, so they have the advantage of keeping well. That's why we easily offer them at Christmas! I advise you to place them in an airtight box at room temperatureaway from any heat source. They keep this way up to 2 weeks.
To avoid damaging their decor, you can arrange them in a box on several levels, interspersed with a sheet of baking paper. On the other hand, I do not recommend the cookie box: it is better not to put them in bulk, it would damage their decor.
Other recipes to try
If you like these kind of homemade Christmas treats, I suggest you take a look at these other recipes from the blog for the holidays:
- Lemon meringue log
- Crispy chocolate pear speculoos log
- Christmas shortbread with jam
- Matcha white chocolate raspberry log
- Vanilla caramel pecan nut log
- Chocolate Christmas cookies with icing
- Chocolate crinkles, the recipe for cracked cupcakes
If you make these cinnamon Christmas cookies, please tag @liliebakery on Instagram so I can see your cute cookies!
- 330 g of flour
- 125 g cornflour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1,5 tsp four spice blend
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 40 g light brown sugar
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 170 g soft butter
- 50 g of honey
- 1 egg white
- 2 cc lemon juice
- 280 g icing sugar
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, salt, spices, cinnamon).
- In the bowl of the food processor, beat the diced butter and the sugars (brown sugar and wholemeal) to obtain a creamy mixture. Then add the honey and the eggs.
- Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients. It will stick but it's normal! Form a ball with the dough and place it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 190 ° traditional heat.
- Roll out the dough to a height of about 3mm between two sheets of baking paper. Cut the desired shapes using a cookie cutter. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, refrigerate for 10 minutes (so that the biscuits do not deform during baking).
- Bake each plate for 8-10 minutes, the cookies should be golden. Then leave to cool on a rack.
- Mix the egg white and lemon juice. Gradually add the icing sugar while mixing. Add a few drops of water if the mixture is too compact.
- Little tip: when you draw a line in the bowl of icing, wait 15 seconds for the line to disappear: if it disappears too quickly, it is too liquid (add icing sugar), if it disappears too slowly it is too compact (add a little water).
- Fill a piping bag with this icing, very finely cut the end and decorate the cooled cookies.
They are cute as everything, really too cute!
I love making little Christmas cookies. I'm keeping your recipe!
These little cookies are delicious!
Your cookies are so beautiful!! I discovered ginger cookies not long ago and I love them :)
Very cute these little cookies!
I also just posted a recipe for gingerbread cookies! Yours are so cute!
I want to make these little wonders today, do we have to add cornstarch... I don't have any. What can we replace it with?
Hello, with the same dose of flour :)
Cute and seasonal! I get started as soon as possible!
[…] with caramel and pear. You also have quite a few good ideas on culinary blogs. Here you will find a recipe for gingerbread Christmas cookies. And there I have […]
Hello
Can you replace brown sugar with powdered sugar?
Hello, here I do not recommend it (unrefined sugar has more taste) for biscuits it is great. But if you only have that, go ahead, but put less in quantity.
Well. I made Christmas cookies for the first time so I'm delighted! However, I had difficulty getting rid of all the sugar crystals (the mixer wasn't powerful enough I think) so they came out on top of the cookie ^^ And for the icing, it was super hard to draw, I admire people who make beautiful things because all my snowmen have a crooked smile and a mean look and my reindeer look like goats.
Overall, I'm happy with your recipe but phew it was long, I'll have to practice to reach a good level hahaha.
Thank you very much and happy holidays!
Hello, glad you liked the cookies! It's an activity that can take up a whole afternoon, it's perfect in winter :) For your crystals it depends on several things: the sugars you used, your creaming with butter... For the decoration, it's a knack that is acquired over time :) In any case, children always love doing it, adults too! See you soon :)
Hello, is it possible to leave the dough for 3 hours in the fridge? Thanks
Hello Claude, 3 hours is a bit long: the dough will harden. You will therefore have to leave it at room temperature for longer to be able to roll it out without too much difficulty. See you soon :)
Thank you Lily. Very good recipe.
Happy New Year!
Hello,
Can you specify the 4 spices present in the 4 spice mix?
Thank you!
Hello Laura, in a 4 spice mix sold commercially, you have: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg. See you soon :)
Recipe made today, the smell that fills my living room is succulent and the shortbread delicious. This recipe will become my favorite, thank you!!
Thanks Cindy for your feedback! Glad you like them so much :) See you soon
I made this recipe to test it before Christmas. I've already made it twice for my family who ask for more and certainly not the last. Many thanks to you.
Thank you very much Nanette! It's the time to make lots of batches of cookies, you're right :) See you soon
Great recipe!
Well I'm not putting photos because they were made with children but we loved it!
I replaced the unrefined sugar with moscavido and used half t80 and t65 flour to have a rustic side.
Quick question: I doubled the quantities and it was too much in the end, can this dough be frozen?
Thanks Elise for your feedback! Yes you can freeze the freshly prepared dough. You wrap it well in cling film then in aluminum foil to protect it from the humidity of the freezer. You will let it defrost in the refrigerator or at room temperature when you want to use it. See you soon :)
What temperature do you set the oven to? I don't see it noted on your recipe. Thank you.
Hello Babette, it is written in the recipe "Preheat the oven to 190° traditional heat." See you soon :)
A very good recipe, it was a sensation! And with your recipe I finally succeeded in making the icing which was delicious!
Oh thank you very much Nadège!
Hello,
Thank you for this recipe! The cookies are very good, and they smell like Christmas!!! :)
My husband asked me to make him some for the office Christmas party with his colleagues :)
Thank you very much Oxana! I'm glad you like them, see you soon :)
Hello, I would like to know how many biscuits for this recipe? THANKS
Hello Sabera, it's written in the recipe card "24 biscuits", see you soon :)
Hello,
I don't have a food processor, just a whisk (old fashioned), can that still do it?
Hello Celine, you will need strength and patience to cream the butter with the sugars by hand :) If you are not afraid, go for it! Happy Holidays :)
Hello,
The cookies were made last night, I'm continuing this morning and I'm wondering:
I didn't have any cornstarch so I replaced the equivalent with flour, i.e. 455g, and when tasting I feel the taste of flour and they are a little heavy...
Other than that they are very fragrant!
Thank you ☺️
Elodie
Hello Elodie, you already have the answer: you must always follow the instructions on the ingredients if you want to make your recipe a success. I can't say anything more! Happy holidays :)
These shortbreads are delicious! I have made them several times with or without frosting and it is very good. Thank you for this recipe !
Thank you very much Anne-Laure, glad you like the biscuits decorated or not :) See you soon
Hi, my group and I want to make this recipe in our food and nutrition class, although we don't have time for step 3 to put it into the fridge for an hour, would skipping this step be okay?
Hi Zara, you need to follow exactly the recipe or it would be too sticky.
Hello, thank you for your recipe.
We made double quantity
not too sweet it's very good
I'm adding it to my favorites
Thanks Emilien, glad you like them! See you soon :)
I simplified the recipe (melted butter in the microwave instead of creamed, no refrigeration of the dough) and it was still perfect, delicious, and no problem making the biscuits!
I also used a gingerbread mix instead of the 4 spices because I had some left over from a previous recipe.
Great! Thanks for your feedback. See you soon :)
Very good recipe.
I have a lot of icing left over, how long can I keep it?
Hello, it will harden, it doesn't keep. See you soon :)
Hello! I've already made your recipe once without icing, and the cookies were delicious! This time, I'd like to make the icing too, but will it last two days?
Hello, the icing dries quickly in the bowl or on the cakes. See you soon :)