How to Bake Christmas Cookies With Your Kids

Apart from making holiday memories with your families, getting in the kitchen with your kids has far-reaching benefits that go beyond just creating something delicious to share with the family.

“Baking with kids offers parents the opportunity to bond and teach math and science! Baking is a science; it’s chemistry,” Atlanta-based author, mom, and chef Kimberly Houston told Mom.com. “If your kid struggles with fractions, recipes are a great way to teach them.”

Children’s Christmas baking is an ideal way to engage children in developmentally appropriate ways. Baking and cooking with kids affects their social-emotional development as well as language skills and physical and cognitive development.

“In baking, everything is exact. This is a great way to teach kids about following instructions, how to use proper measuring tools (wet vs. dry measure), and it absolutely helps with fine motor skills for littles,” Houston explained.

The first concern when you begin to bake Christmas cookies with kids is the issue of safety and hygiene. For many kids, the few years living through a global pandemic has drilled home the fact that washing your hands is an important habit, so you likely won’t run into any resistance there when it’s time to start baking.

Your children may, however, need a quick lesson on basic kitchen safety. Be sure to lay down ground rules ahead of time. Make sure your kids know who is allowed to use the oven and stove, and where the protective oven mitts and potholders are held. If it applies, teach your child proper knife skills and why cleaning up as you go is so important for a well-run kitchen.

Your children’s ages will of course affect how involved they can be in the kitchen. For example, tweens and teens can likely complete baking projects on their own. Those in the early elementary grades can be tasked with measuring ingredients, pouring, and scooping. They’re also the ideal age for mastering how to crack an egg, as well as learning how to operate small kitchen appliances.

Preschoolers and toddlers are great at adding premeasured ingredients, sprinkling in add-ons, rolling the dough into balls, stirring batter, and helping with prep by grabbing ingredients from the refrigerator or pantry.

One way to make baking with kids easier and more streamlined is to purchase all of the supplies you’ll need ahead of time, and have them on hand when inspiration strikes. Be sure to stock up on the following ingredients and supplies so you can just grab and go when your child is ready to bake:

• Butter
• Flour
• Sugar
• Sprinkles
• Cocoa powder
• Jams and preserves
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Confectioners sugar
• Cookie sheets, cooling racks and cookie cutters

While many family traditions grow and evolve, baking Christmas cookies is one tradition that often stands the test of time.

“My Italian Nana would bake anisette cookies at Christmas for her family. My mother would make them with her children and then the grandchildren and even great-grandchildren,” Massachusetts grandmother of nine Mary L. told Mom.com. “It was so much fun to all be together sharing a moment in time.”

Mary explained that she’s still passing this tradition along to her own grandchildren, as shown in this recent Facebook video of where she, her daughter Kelly and her grandaughters are making cookie batter together. The video, posted by daughter-in-law, Shelly, shows the family working furiously to corral the wet ingredients as they’re poured into the dry.

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There are just some children’s Christmas cookie recipes that stand the test of time. They remind us of our childhoods and bring back the nostalgia of old. These tried-and-true Christmas cookie recipes are just what you need to put you and your family in the holiday spirit.

• This vintage home-ec staple is making a comeback: no-bake Christmas Wreath Cookies made from melted marshmallows, cornflake cereal, and cinnamon candies are quick and easy. They’re the perfect recipe when you want something fast and Christmas-y with minimal fuss.
• Get little hands rolling with this 4-ingredient recipe from Jill Mills of Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons. “This Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls recipe is my favorite candy for the Holidays and so incredibly easy to make!” Mills wrote. “[They’re] like little Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but in ball form.”
• Finally, if you’ve always wanted to make a from-scratch gingerbread house with your kids, food blogger and author Aimee Winbrush-Bourque from Simple Bites has the perfect solution. “We broke the after-school gingerbread project down into five steps that can each be done in under 30 minutes,” the mom of three wrote in her 5-day Gingerbread House blog post.

If you’re struggling with how to bake easy Christmas cookies for kids this year while keeping up with everything else on your to-do list, remember that it’s ok to take shortcuts. Pre-packaged cookie mix tastes just as good as homemade and they’re quick, easy, and fun. Or opt for a pre-made Christmas cookie kit. Don’t feel bad if you can’t do it all this holiday season, you’re doing more than enough, Mama!