Ho ho ho! Make yummy Santa Cookies that are soft inside and a bit crispy outside. It’s easy – just one bowl and a spoon, no mixer needed!
This recipe creates a small batch of cookies, ideal for Christmas Eve and especially suited for Santa. For an even smaller batch, consider trying Single Serve Chocolate Cookies or Single Serve Oatmeal Cookies!
Cookies For Santa Plate
In our home, Santa is quite selective about his cookies. Every year, the kids understand that we’ll set aside special time on Christmas Eve to prepare cookies for Santa and Reindeer Chow for his reindeer. This is because my husband and I (or rather, “Santa”) need substantial fuel for wrapping presents and preparing everything for Christmas morning!
Santa Cookies
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt reduce if using table salt or if sensitive to salt
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet or dark chocolate—whichever is your favorite
- 1/2 cup Christmas M&M’s
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a very large, microwave-safe bowl. Once melted, refrigerate it for 3–5 minutes or until at room temperature. The butter can’t be hot when you add in the sugars or it will melt the sugar and make the cookies greasy.
- Once butter is cooled to room temperature, stir in brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Add egg, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Stir again until smooth.
- Add cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Again, stir until smooth. Add in the correctly measured (see note 1) flour and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Add chocolate chips and M&M’s. Gently stir until combined.
- Tightly cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Roll dough balls into tall cylinders (see picture #11 above for shape and size). Place 6–8 cookie balls on a sheet, allowing plenty of room to spread. Dough balls should be about 1.7 ounces if you have a food scale (the batch should make about 16 total cookies).
- Bake 8–12 minutes, erring on the side of underbaking to keep them soft and chewy. The cookies will firm up a little more out of the oven, so take them out as soon as the edges start to lightly brown and the top is no longer wet looking.
- Optional: Press a few extra chocolate chips or M&M’s onto the tops of the cookies as soon as you remove from the oven. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So simple yet so delicious!! 🙂
Thanks so much Ozzie! 🙂
I’m not sure I was to share these cookies with Santa…. I would much rather eat them all myself.
Haha totally understandable!
hey