Christmas Lights Cookies

A classic sugar cookie with candy decorations that look just like festive light strands, these gorgeous Christmas light cookies will be the star of any holiday cookie spread!

wire rack with homemade cookies decorated with Christmas light designs

Christmas Light Cookies โ€” 2 Designs

As a kid, Christmas lights were one of my favorite things about the holiday season. To be honest, they still are!

These festive sugar cookies are decorated to look like they are covered in strands of colorful Christmas lights. There are two different designs that you can make with one batch of dough!

For the cookies, this is a simple sugar cookie dough. M&Ms are used to make the colored lights. So simple, but the end result is absolutely stunning!

This is a Christmas cookie that is sure to stand out on any party table! They’d also make wonderful gift ideas for friends, family, teachers, neighbors…anyone who would love a sweet treat that’s both beautiful and delicious!

Here are the two cookie designs:

First is a round cookie, each with 2 strands of Christmas lights:

round cookies with Christmas light decorations

We also cut out cookies in the shape of Christmas trees and used the same technique to make them look like they are decorated trees:

Christmas tree cookies decorated with M&M "light" bulbs

Let’s get baking!

Ingredients

Affiliate links provided for your convenience in re-creating this recipe; readย disclosure policyย here.

For the Cookies:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Icing:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Black/green (or desired color) decorating icing or piping gel
  • Mini M&M Candies

Helpful Kitchen Tools

Christas light cookies: round and tree shaped

Instructions

To Prep: Preheat oven to 350ยบ

To Make the Cookies:

  1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
  3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients, stirring as you add, until the cookie dough comes together.
  4. Roll dough out on a floured surface to ยผ-โ…“ inch thick, sprinkling a little flour on top as needed to keep dough from sticking to your rolling pin.
  5. Cut out your cookies and arrange them on the prepared cookie sheet so that no cookies are touching.
  6. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 4-6 minutes.
  7. Bake in center of oven for 10 minutes, until cookies no longer look wet on top, but arenโ€™t yet brown.ย Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To Make the Icing:

  1. While the cookies cool, make the icing by whisking together all icing ingredients until smooth.
  2. When cookies are cool, scoop a spoonful of icing on top of each cookie, spreading out the icing in a circular motion toward the edge.
  3. Lay each cookie on a flat surface to allow the white frosting to set for about 10 minutes. You’ll want a crust on top of the icing before you decorate, but the icing doesn’t need to be fully hardened.

To Decorate:

  1. For the round cookies, pipe a couple strands of black icing from one side of the cookie to the other, with a slight “droop” like you’d see on a strand of real Christmas lights.
  2. For tree-shaped cookies, pipe diagonal lines from one side to the other to mimic light strands wrapping around a Christmas tree.
  3. Gently press miniature M&Ms into the icing along the piped lines, to make the colorful light bulbs.

4 step photo collage showing how to decorate cookies to look like they're covered in Christmas lights

Prep Tips

  • For the round cookies, I recommend using a 2.5 inch or 3 inch circular cookie cutter. Any smaller and you won’t have a lot of room for the decorations.
  • Freezing the cookies immediately prior to baking helps cookies keep their shape. Don’t skip this step!
  • When making the glaze, it should be stiff enough that when you drizzle a spoonful back into the bowl, it takes several seconds for the trace to disappear fully, but still thin enough to drizzle slowly off your spoon. This way the icing will be smooth when you glaze your cookies, but not run off the edges. If the glaze is too runny, stir in more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add another spoonful of milk until you have the right consistency.
  • To make the light strands, you can either use pre-made black frosting and/or green frosting, such as cookie icing or gel icing. You can also use melted white chocolate mixed with black food coloring, black candy melts, etc. There are a lot of options so you can use what you have on hand or what is easily accessible at the store.

wire rack with Christmas light cookies

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Cookies Does This Recipe Yield?

This recipe makes about 15 round cookies, using a 3-inch cookie cutter.

Can You Use Full Sized M&Ms?

We used mini M&Ms for our “lights” because they are just the right size to look like a light bulb. Regular M&Ms would stick out too far and not look quite right. If all you have on hand is full size M&Ms you can cut them in half and press them into the icing cut-side down.

Do These Cookies Need To Be Refrigerated?

These cookies do not require refrigeration. I recommend storing in an airtight container at room temperature, in a single layer. If you need to stack the cookies, place a sheet of parchment paper between the layers to protect the icing decorations.

Christmas light cookies on parchment paper

More Christmas Cookie Recipes To Try:

Christmas Light Cookies Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)

If you tried this recipe and liked it, please rate it!

Want to Save This Recipe?

Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox.ย Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!

Save Post

By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from The Soccer Mom Blog

wire rack with homemade cookies decorated with Christmas light designs
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Christmas Light Cookies (2 Ways)

A classic sugar cookie with candy decorations that look just like festive light strands, these gorgeousย Christmas light cookiesย will be the star of any holiday cookie spread!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Decorating Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Christmas, cookies, sugar cookies
Servings: 15 round cookies
Calories: 157kcal
Author: Stacey aka the Soccer Mom
Cost: $12

Equipment

  • Baking sheet
  • Stand mixer
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wire Rack

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

For the Icing:

Instructions

  • To Prep: Preheat oven to 350ยบ

To Make the Cookies:

  • In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
  • Slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients, stirring as you add, until the cookie dough comes together.
  • Roll dough out on a floured surface to ยผ-โ…“ inch thick, sprinkling a little flour on top as needed to keep dough from sticking to your rolling pin.
  • Cut out your cookies and arrange them on the prepared cookie sheet so that no cookies are touching.
  • Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 4-6 minutes.
  • Bake in center of oven for 10 minutes, until cookies no longer look wet on top, but arenโ€™t yet brown.ย Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To Make the Icing:

  • While the cookies cool, make the icing by whisking together all icing ingredients until smooth.
  • When cookies are cool, scoop a spoonful of icing on top of each cookie, spreading out the icing in a circular motion toward the edge.
  • Lay each cookie on a flat surface to allow the icing to set for about 10 minutes. You'll want a crust on top of the icing before you decorate, but the icing doesn't need to be fully hardened.

To Decorate:

  • For the round cookies, pipe a couple strands of black icing from one side of the cookie to the other, with a slight "droop" like you'd see on a strand of real Christmas lights.
  • For tree-shaped cookies, pipe diagonal lines from one side to the other to mimic strands of Christmas lights wrapping around a tree.
    4 step photo collage showing how to decorate cookies to look like they're covered in Christmas lights
  • Gently press miniature M&Ms into the icing along the piped lines.

Notes

Nutrition information is an estimate only and will vary based on exact ingredients used and serving size.

Nutrition

Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 93mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 207IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

Pin our Christmas Lights Cookies on Pinterest:

2 photo vertical collage showing cookies decorated to look like they are covered in Christmas lights

You might also like these Christmas light craft ideas:

A simple, yet beautiful Quilled Christmas Lights Card that is easy enough for beginners to make. Step-by-step video and photo tutorial inside.

Quilled Christmas Light Card

Christmas light snow globe photo collage

Christmas Light Snow Globe

Stacey aka the Soccer Mom
Latest posts by Stacey aka the Soccer Mom (see all)

Share this post:

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating