Easy holiday cookie recipes with five or fewer ingredients

---

Making festive cookies for the holidays doesn’t necessarily require having six types of sprinkles or three different types of sugar on hand. In fact, some of my holiday favorites have shockingly few ingredients and require no decoration aside from the occasional shake of powdered sugar.

If you think cookies should be easy to make and easier to consume, you’ve come to the right place. Here are 13 of my favorite Christmas cookies that contain five or fewer ingredients and where decoration is completely optional. (Note that many of them also don’t use flour, so this list contains a surprising number of gluten-free options.)

Pignoli cookies

Go to an Italian bakery and look for whatever your original intention was picky cookies First. It may not be as flashy as the rainbow cookie, but this knobby little blob is a secret crowd-pleaser, and for good reason. Pignoli cookies are soft, chewy, and absolutely almondy. The price may seem a bit high, but there is a reason for that. The ingredients are almond paste, sugar, egg whites and pine nuts. They’re not ingredients I’d resort to on a regular basis, but the holidays are a special time of year when I manage to find the extra $10. Chewy, light and full of almond flavor, with a slight resinous aroma – Pignoli cookies are unlike any other cookies on the market.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

A good cookie list isn’t complete without oatmeal cookies Here’s one This is sure to be a favorite. In addition to the oat flakes, the other three ingredients are also real flavor enhancers. Ripe bananas, chocolate chips, and peanut butter complete the list, and unlike most of the other cookies on this list, there is no added sugar. Mash all the ingredients in a bowl, scoop out and bake. One bite of this will feel a bit like childhood and a bit like eating healthy to eat another one.

Shortbread cookies

Sitting down with a good shortbread biscuit and a cup of tea sounds like something the (British) grandma version of me would do. Make them into coffee and I’ll still enjoy them because baking a batch of shortbread is pretty darn effortless. The first cookie on our list with some flour in it, Shortbreads All you need is the above and an addition of butter and sugar. The resulting treat is slightly sweet, incredibly tender, and delicious all year round. Most shortbread cookies hold their shape very well, so you can stamp a pattern into them or cut them into shapes if you want some decoration.

Meringue kisses

Surprisingly simple and completely fat-free, meringue kisses are a festive, sweet treat during these chilly months. Whipped egg whites and sugar are the only two ingredients you need. Some recipes Call in the assistance of cream of tartar and a few drops of any extract or flavoring, but if all you had was a few eggs in the fridge and your trusty can of sugar, no one could stop you. Depending on how far you want to delve into decorating, you can keep it simple and add a few drops of food coloring to the mix, or turn these cookies into a cute afternoon project with your kids. Stack a few meringue drops with frosting and add candy to make crunchy, sweet snowmen.

A simple but elegant wreath cake

If you’re looking for a stunning edible centerpiece that only requires four ingredients (including decoration), look no further than Norwegian Kransekake. The dough consists of almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites and a few drops of almond extract and the icing is royal icing, so just more powdered sugar and egg whites. Read here to get my holiday Kransekake recipe.

Peanut butter cookies

I don’t have to tell anyone how to make peanut butter cookies. You could use 50 ingredients if that meant they would taste just as good. Luckily you I really only need three. Because peanut butter already contains peanut solids (no additional flavoring required) and is high in naturally occurring fat, making a cookie requires just a little sweetness and enough binding to tie it all together. Let me introduce you to granulated sugar and an egg. Mix it all together and you’re ready to pave your way to holiday bliss.

Macaroon cookies

Another cookie that practically bakes itself is the amaretti, an Italian almond flour cookie with a tiny ingredient list and lots of flavor. You can make these chews with just the three basic ingredients, almond flour, sugar and egg whites, but with lots of them Recipes adds a drop of almond flavor or amaretto liqueur. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and cover with powdered sugar before baking. This step is optional, but the cookies will expand in the oven and allow the sugar coating to pop nicely. No further decoration required.

Coconut macaroons

These are not those French almond treats that stand in the bakery’s window in seductive, pastel shades and are sold for a whopping three dollars apiece. We’re talking big, chunky piles of tough coconut. The Macaroon is a popular spot for coconut lovers and it’s more than easy to get a one-way ticket there. Recipes varybut basically you need a bag of sweetened coconut flakes, a binder and a sweetener. Usually this comes in the form of sweetened condensed milk or egg whites. Mix the ingredients together, scoop out and bake until the bottom edges take on a hint of color and the flakes start to toast on top.

Flourless dark chocolate cookies

Try making a cookie that tastes like a very fudgy brownie, but is actually much easier to make than any other brownie these flourless chocolate chip cookies. I first tried something like this at Whole Foods, where it was called a chocolate chewy candy and was full of chopped walnuts. This recipe uses optional chocolate chips instead, but if you like mix-ins, I suspect you could add an equal amount of other ingredients. Use pecans, potato chips, cornflakes, or crumbled bacon to make this chocolate chewy candy your own amazing creation.

Almond Lace Cookies

Despite their delicate and complicated appearance Lace biscuits are very easy to make. Also called Florentines, they are the crispy, paper-thin, golden brown cookies that sometimes (thankfully) include a layer of dark chocolate. They are delicious. They’re called lace cookies because the sugary dough forms bubbles in the oven, which pop as they cool, leaving holes. Since almond cookies consist mainly of liquid sugar and butter, the dough is light. Make sure there is enough space between each cookie as they will spread even more as they bake. Adding a dark chocolate coating is decadent, but it’s entirely up to you whether these crunchy pals are perfect on their own.

Sugar cookies

She is a classic. Consisting of just a few ingredients, the sugar cookie is an extremely versatile mix. Shape it into mounds or roll it out for cookie cutters for a better holiday fit a lot of it. Sugar cookies have almost the same ingredients as shortbread cookies and contain more, well, sugar. (It’s difficult to build tension there.) They also use granulated sugar instead of confectioners’ sugar because, unlike shortbread, sugar cookies are not crumbly and delicate but are intended to be chewy sweetness bombs. Mix the butter and sugar together before mixing in the flour. Place them on a baking sheet and top with a few sprinkles if you have any leftover sprinkles. Bake according to instructions.

Nutella cookies

While it’s tempting to simply scoop a spoonful into your jar of Nutella, it’s not exactly appropriate for holiday guests to share, and even less appropriate for sending cookies to your loved ones. Instead of squeezing brown paste into a cookie shape, make it these delicious treats which have an equally intense flavor profile and are a little more manageable. Mix Nutella, flour and an egg in a bowl until a thick dough forms. Shape them into circles and bake them for a chewy treat.

Chocolate almond cookies

Cookies with minimal ingredients have the added benefit of requiring minimal effort these cookies be sure to follow up. Simply put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Place these on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake. The almond flour provides a nice texture, the sugar and cocoa powder balance sweetness and bitterness, and the baking powder prevents the cookie from turning into a sticky brick. This recipe uses palm sugar, but notes below that you can substitute it with an equal amount of white or brown granulated sugar.