Saint Nick Cookies
Saint Nick Cookies are crisp sugar cookies with a hint of ginger. For my family, they symbolize the beginning of the Christmas season! They are so easy to make and fun to decorate with kids.
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Story Time
These cookies began as a holiday tradition when my dad was a kid. On December 5th, you leave a shoe outside your bedroom door. The next morning you’ll wake up to discover chocolate coins and a small gift in your shoe!
To top off the day, on December 6th we always enjoy Saint Nick cookies. As a child, they were always in the shape of a saint, but nowadays we just do whatever fun shapes we feel like making. It’s a simple tradition, but a fun way to get the festivities rollin’.
Saint Nick Cookies
I’m telling you, Saint Nick cookies are crazy easy to make. Basically, throw all of your ingredients together and beat until you have a cohesive dough. You don’t need to chill the dough, but you can if you’d like.
Roll the dough out and use your favorite cookie cutters. You’ll bake the cookies for just a few minutes. There will be just a hint of golden brown along the edges and bottoms of the cookies.
Top Tips for Cut Out Cookies
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cookies a nice texture.
- Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
- Do NOT over mix. Once you add the dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
- Use a rolling pin with measurement guides to get an even thickness.
- Cold dough won’t spread as much in the oven.
- Bake a test cookie before baking the rest of the batch to determine the best bake time.
Rolling Out The Dough
I like to use this rolling pin because it has attachments for getting precise measurements. Since I’m a terrible judge of any measurement, this is a lifesaver. It also ensures an even thickness which will allow all of the cookies to bake evenly.
Sometimes I like to cut the dough into two or three chunks, rather than rolling it all out at once. I wrap up the other dough chunks and flatten them into discs. They stay in the fridge while I work on my current bit of dough. If your dough ever becomes too soft or difficult to work with, wrap it up and chill in the fridge for a bit before continuing.
Related Reading: 10 Christmas Cookies to Make
Cookie Decorating
As a kid, we mostly just ate Saint Nick cookies plain. They are delicious as they are and need no jazzing up. But as soon as my son was old enough to voice an opinion, he wanted to decorate them.
I use buttercream when I’m decorating since I’ve just never enjoyed the crunch of royal icing. You can pipe buttercream onto the cooled cookies, or smear it on with a spatula. Feel free to pull out all manner of sprinkles as well. This is a great activity for the kids!
Cookie Magic
Be sure to check out the recipe tutorial for these Saint Nick cookies on the Bakes & Blunders YouTube channel. I’ll take you through every step of the recipe so you can see exactly how easy these holiday cookies are to make.
These cookies are basically a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie. They are crisp, but oh so tender and sweet. I’m a huge fan.
Enjoy!
This Christmas season, whip up a batch of delicious sweet Saint Nick cookies. They are fantastic as a simple treat, or you can go the extra mile and decorate them with frosting and sprinkles. Either way, they are sure to be a hit.
For more holiday help with menu planning and inspiration, check out the gems in my resource library. My email subscribers have unlimited access and there’s never any charge.
Have a holly jolly Christmas!
Saint Nick Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (8 oz)
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted (4 oz)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- 2 ¼ cups all- purpose flour 10.5 oz
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, dry ingredients, and vinegar. Blend with a hand mixer on low until combined, scraping the bowl down as needed. (If the dough is too dry, work in milk 1 teaspoon at a time.)
- Roll the dough out to ⅛ inch thickness on a lightly floured pastry mat. Cut out your shapes and place on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.
Notes
- Depending on the size of your cutters, you should be able to get 40- 50 cookies out of the batch.
- I like to divide the dough into 2- 4 portions and work with one portion at a time. The rest I keep wrapped up and in the fridge so the dough doesn't get too soft.
- Read the blog post for tips and more information.
My Favorite Products For This Recipe
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
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