Easy Christmas Cookie Decorating: 5 Fun M&M Ideas for Kids (No Fancy Cutters!)
Looking for stress-free holiday baking that genuinely involves the kids? You’ve come to the right place! We’re ditching the complex cookie cutters and intricate decorating skills this year. Get ready to create 5 super EASY and adorable Christmas cookies, all made with a simple circle cookie cutter and decorated using delicious frosting and colorful M&M’s. These festive treats are perfect for little hands and big smiles, making your holiday season sweeter and simpler.
Effortless Christmas Cookie Fun for Kids
Baking with children during the holidays should be a joyous and memorable experience, not a stressful one. If you’re searching for a delightful Christmas baking activity to share with your kids or grandchildren, I’ve got you covered! This guide features 5 incredibly EASY Christmas cookie decorating ideas that require minimal skill and maximum fun. They are also fantastic for cookie decorating parties, ensuring everyone can participate and leave with charming, edible masterpieces.
Each of these simple Christmas cookie designs comes with clear pictures, making them incredibly easy to follow. You can print them out or pull them up on a tablet, allowing kids to replicate the designs independently, fostering creativity and a sense of accomplishment.
Essential Supplies for Your Kid-Friendly Christmas Cookies
This comprehensive list includes everything you’ll need to create ALL 5 of these easy Christmas cookies. However, if you only plan to make one or two designs, feel free to adapt the supplies as needed. These kid-friendly Christmas cookies are suitable for ages 6 and up, but I’ve also incorporated valuable tips for baking with younger children or toddlers, ensuring everyone can join in the holiday spirit.
- Cut Out Sugar Cookie Dough: You can use your favorite go-to sugar cookie recipe, or for ultimate convenience, a premade mix from brands like Pillsbury or Betty Crocker works wonderfully. I’ve linked to my preferred recipe below, which yields about 12 cookies. For a batch of 24 cookies (enough for all 5 designs), you’ll want to double that recipe. The beauty of these circular cookies is that slight imperfections in the dough won’t detract from the final adorable designs!
- Frosting: My personal favorite is the sugar cookie buttercream recipe detailed in the recipe card. Its rich texture and creamy consistency are ideal for holding decorations. Alternatively, store-bought canned frosting is a perfectly acceptable and time-saving option. Important Note: Because we’re using M&M’s as decorations, I highly recommend avoiding thinner, liquid sugar cookie glazes. The moisture from a glaze can cause the M&M colors to bleed, potentially ruining your cute designs. A thicker buttercream is much more forgiving.
- Circle Cookie Cutter: No need for fancy, expensive cutters! A standard 2.5-inch round cookie cutter is perfect for achieving the right “face” size for our designs. If you don’t own one, simply use a glass cup, a jar lid, or any other round object you can find in your kitchen to cut your sugar cookie dough into perfect circles.
- Food Coloring: To achieve vibrant, festive colors, I prefer to use gel food coloring due to its concentrated nature. However, any liquid food coloring you have on hand will work. I’ve provided specific color formulas below, using Wilton food coloring gel, to guide you in mixing the perfect shades of brown and red.
- Candy M&M’s: This is the secret ingredient for our easy decorations! Grab a bag of both regular and mini-sized M&M’s. While regular-sized M&M’s are sufficient, incorporating mini M&M’s adds a delightful variation in size and texture to your cookie faces. Using M&M’s is a budget-friendly and incredibly simple way to decorate, eliminating the need to purchase various eyeball sprinkles or mix tiny batches of frosting just for small facial features. Plus, kids love working with candy!
- White Sanding Sugar(optional): For an extra touch of sparkle and texture, especially on your snowman or polar bear cookies, consider having some white sanding sugar on hand. You can gently dip the frosted cookies into it or sprinkle it on top for a beautiful, glistening effect.
Your Go-To Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
For convenience and plenty of delicious cookies, I’ve included a double batch recipe for my favorite Cut Out Sugar Cookies in the recipe card below. This recipe is designed to make approximately 24 (2.5-inch round) cookies, providing ample canvases for all your decorating adventures. Encourage the kids to get hands-on with rolling out the dough and cutting out the circles – it’s a fantastic way to engage them from the very start!
While expert bakers often advise against overworking sugar cookie dough to prevent spreading, the beauty of making circular cookies is that this rule becomes less critical. Even if the kids enthusiastically play with the dough a bit too much and it spreads slightly during baking, it will still retain its circular shape! So, release the stress of achieving “perfect” sugar cookies. The true goal here is to create lasting memories and have an absolute blast in the kitchen.
Cut out sugar cookies truly shine as one of my top kid-friendly Christmas baking recipes because they’re more about the enjoyable activity and creative expression than a rigid, methodical baking process.
Simple Frosting Preparations
One of the fantastic aspects of these simple Christmas cookies is that you only need three basic frosting colors: white, brown, and red. This simplifies your prep work immensely! If you plan to make all five cookie designs shown, I recommend dividing your white buttercream frosting into three separate bowls: roughly ¾ cup for white, ¾ cup for brown, and ½ cup for red.
How to Make Brown Frosting: To achieve the perfect shade for our reindeer and gingerbread cookies, add 2 drops of Wilton Brown gel food coloring along with 1 drop of Wilton Yellow for every 1 cup of frosting. Mix thoroughly until the color is consistent. The touch of yellow helps create a warm, inviting brown.
How to Make Red Frosting: For Santa’s iconic hat and rosy cheeks, aim for a vibrant red. Combine 4 drops of Wilton Crimson with 2 drops of Wilton Red for every 1 cup of frosting. This combination creates a deep, festive red that truly pops. Remember to mix well to avoid streaks.
5 Delightful Christmas Cookie Creations to Make With Kids
Easy Reindeer Cookies
These adorable Rudolph cookies are among the easiest and most charming Christmas treats you can make with children. Their simplicity makes them incredibly satisfying to decorate. The iconic red nose is always a favorite!
- Begin by spreading a generous layer of brown frosting evenly over the entire surface of your circular sugar cookie.
- Carefully place two brown regular-sized M&M’s for the eyes, positioning them towards the top of the cookie. Then, press one vibrant red M&M just below them for Rudolph’s famous nose. For a sweet smile, have an adult carefully cut a brown M&M in half and place one half, curved side down, for the mouth.
- Finally, gently press two mini pretzels into the frosting at the top of the cookie to form the reindeer’s antlers.
Video Tutorial: Click here to watch me decorate these festive reindeer cookies as part of my 12 days of easy Christmas cookies series!
Easy Snowman Cookies
These cute Frosty the Snowman sugar cookies are truly some of the simplest Christmas cookies to create, making them perfect for even the youngest decorators. You can even decorate a few cookies with just green M&M buttons and stack them to create a full, multi-layered snowman effect!
- Start by spreading a smooth layer of white frosting over your cookie. For an optional extra sparkle, gently press the top of the frosted cookie into a shallow bowl of white sanding sugar to give your snowman a glistening, snowy texture.
- Position two brown M&M’s for the eyes and two red M&M’s slightly below and to the sides for rosy cheeks. For the classic carrot nose, place one orange M&M sideways. To create a cheerful mouth, have an adult carefully cut a brown M&M in half and place one half, curved side down.
Easy Santa Cookies
These adorable Santa sugar cookies are consistently one of my go-to Christmas baking ideas for kids. While this design involves a few more piping steps, it’s a bit easier for older children to execute. For younger kids, you can handle the frosting steps yourself and then let them enjoy the fun of adding Santa’s M&M face!
- Using red frosting (either piped from a bag with a round tip or carefully spread), create a curved line across the top third of the cookie, mimicking Santa’s hat. Fill this area in and smooth it out.
- With white frosting in a piping bag (or a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped), pipe small white dots along the curved edge of the red hat. Add one larger white dot at the very end to create Santa’s fluffy pom-pom.
- Next, pipe white dots around the bottom edge of the cookie. Fill in the entire bottom third of the cookie with white frosting to form Santa’s iconic beard, smoothing it as you go.
- Pipe two small white dots on the outer sides of the “face” area for the eyes. Pipe one larger white dot in the center – these dots will serve as the base to help hold the M&M’s in place securely.
- Press two mini brown M&M’s onto the white dots for the eyes and one regular-sized red M&M onto the central white dot for Santa’s jolly nose. If desired, press half of a brown M&M (cut by an adult) for his mouth.
- For an extra touch, pipe on two small white eyebrows above the M&M eyes.
Video Tutorial: Click here to watch the full tutorial on how I decorate these charming Santa cookies for my 12 days of easy Christmas cookies series!
Easy Gingerbread Man Sugar Cookies
- Spread an even layer of brown frosting across the entire surface of your circular cookie. This creates the gingerbread “skin.”
- Place two brown M&M’s for the eyes and two red M&M’s for rosy cheeks, positioned slightly below the eyes. For the characteristic gingerbread smile, have an adult cut a brown M&M in half and place one half, curved side down, for the mouth.
- Using white frosting (piped with a fine tip or a Ziploc bag with a tiny corner snipped), pipe a whimsical squiggle line across the top of the cookie’s “head” to mimic the classic gingerbread man’s frosting detail.
- Optional Customization: To add even more personality, you can pipe small white bows (or use mini candy bows) on the top or bottom of the cookie to create distinct little girl and boy gingerbread faces.
Video Tutorial: Coming soon! Keep an eye out for our video guide to these charming gingerbread cookies.
Easy Polar Bear Cookies
These adorable little polar bear cookies are another cherished Christmas baking idea that delights children. They’re not only fantastic for holiday cookie trays but also make a fun, thematic winter sugar cookie idea that can be enjoyed throughout the colder months, long after Christmas has passed!
- Start by spreading a smooth, even layer of white frosting over the entire cookie. For a delightful frosty effect, you can optionally press the top of the cookie into a bowl of white sanding sugar, giving your polar bear a sparkling, snowy coat.
- Using white frosting (piped with a round tip or a Ziploc bag with a small snip), pipe a large dot in the lower center of the cookie for the polar bear’s snout. Then, add two smaller white dots at the top of the cookie, slightly apart, for the ears.
- Now for the facial features: Press two mini brown M&M’s onto the cookie above the snout for the eyes. Position two mini red M&M’s slightly below and to the sides of the eyes for rosy cheeks. Finally, place one regular-sized brown M&M directly on top of the large white snout dot to create the polar bear’s nose.
Video Tutorial: Coming soon! Stay tuned for a video guide on how to create these charming polar bear cookies.
Top Tips for Baking Christmas Cookies With Kids!
Making holiday cookies with children is about creating joyful memories, not striving for perfection. Here are some enhanced tips to ensure your Christmas baking adventure is fun, engaging, and successful for everyone involved:
- Fully Involve the Kids: From start to finish, let the children be active participants. Empower them to help measure ingredients, mix the dough (under supervision, of course!), and especially enjoy cutting out the sugar cookie dough. Since we’re only making simple circle cookies, there’s no need to fret about intricate shapes or potential dough spreading during baking. Even if the dough expands a little, it will still be a perfectly round canvas! Sugar cookie dough often feels like edible play-doh to kids, making the entire process a delightful sensory experience.
- Establish Individual Decorating Stations: To minimize chaos and maximize individual creativity, set up distinct decorating stations for each child. Provide each child with their own plate of baked cookies, a small bowl of assorted M&M’s, and their designated frosting color. Depending on their age and skill level, it might be easiest for you to pre-frost the cookies, allowing the children to focus solely on the exciting part: adding the M&M faces and other small details. This approach can prevent frustration and keep the activity enjoyable.
- Provide Visual Inspiration: Children thrive on visual cues. To guide their decorating efforts, print out pictures of each finished cookie design from this post, or display the images prominently on an iPad. This gives them a clear goal and sparks their imagination, helping them visualize their creations.
- Baking with Toddlers: When baking with very young children, like toddlers, these easy Christmas cookies offer a wonderful opportunity for learning and development. Use the decorating process to teach them basic concepts like “eyes,” “nose,” and “mouth.” Guide their little hands to identify each part of the face and allow them to take charge of pressing the M&M’s into the frosting. It’s a fantastic way to develop fine motor skills and introduce them to new vocabulary in a fun, edible context.
- Prioritize Fun Over Perfection: This is arguably the most crucial tip! Remember that Christmas baking with kids is fundamentally about the experience, the laughter, and the shared moments, not about producing bakery-quality cookies. Don’t stress over getting every cookie to look exactly like the picture. Embrace the unique charm of each child’s creation. The joy derived from the process will far outweigh any minor aesthetic imperfections. Let their imaginations run wild, and celebrate every single cookie, no matter how “perfect” it may or may not be.
5 EASY Christmas Cookies for Kids
Ingredients
- 24 Round Cut Out Sugar Cookies (make a double batch of my regular recipe)
- 2 cups White Buttercream Frosting
- Food Coloring
Face Toppings
- Regular Sized M&M candy
- Miniature M&M candy
- Miniature Pretzels
- White sanding sugar optional
Before you begin! If you make this, will you do me a huge favor and leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe? This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Instructions
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Cut sugar cookie dough into 2.5″ circles and bake according to recipe instructions, and let cool completely.
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Divide your frosting into 3 bowls (¾ cup white, ¾ cup brown, ½ cup red) and mix in food coloring according to the formulas provided in the post above.
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Pipe or spread the appropriate color frosting onto each cooled cookie as demonstrated in the pictures above. To decorate, immediately press M&M’s, pretzels, and sanding sugar (if using) into the fresh frosting to create the faces and features before the frosting sets.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe! This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Notes
- Storage: Store your decorated cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days to maintain freshness and prevent them from drying out.
- Freezing: For longer storage, these cookies freeze beautifully. Place them in an airtight container or freezer bag, separating layers with parchment paper, and they will keep well for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Packaging for Gifts: If you plan to package these cookies as gifts, ensure the frosting has fully dried and developed a slight crust. This typically takes up to 8 hours at room temperature. To speed up this process, you can place the decorated cookies in the fridge for about 1 hour, then allow them to return to room temperature before carefully packaging them. This prevents smudging and ensures they look their best!
Nutrition
Expand Your Holiday Baking Fun!
Ready to dive deeper into stress-free Christmas baking and crafting with your family? Explore some of these other fantastic and easy ideas that are perfect for kids and adults alike. From delicious frosting recipes to fun holiday activities, we’ve got everything you need to make your season bright:
- The Best Christmas Cookie Frosting Recipe: Master the perfect buttercream for all your holiday cookie decorating needs.
- Easy Christmas Tree Cookies: Discover another simple yet charming cookie design that’s great for beginners.
- Free Printable Christmas Bingo Cards: Take a break from baking and enjoy a festive game with these fun, printable bingo cards.
- More Kid-Friendly Baking Resources: Look for guides on involving kids in other simple recipes, from no-bake treats to easy holiday snacks. Building confidence in the kitchen starts with fun, accessible projects!
We hope these easy Christmas cookie ideas bring joy, laughter, and delicious memories to your holiday season. Happy baking!