The best Meltaway Cookies are buttery, tender, and simple! These Christmas cookies are incredibly easy to make, and look so festive with the easy red and green icing. Have a bite, and this melt-in-your-mouth cookie might become one of your favorite holiday cookies!
These meltaway cookies are a family favorite! They may not be traditional meltaways, they’re more like a cross between a crumbly meltaway and a sugar cookie. Made with just a handful of baking staples, we iced these cookies with a simple 4 ingredient homemade icing, and sprinkles some crushed mints.
Add some color to your Christmas trays this year with these unique cookies! They’re also perfect to be shipped as they hold their shape very well when packaged and shipped.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy Cookie Recipe: This recipe is so easy that anyone can make it! It does not require any special equipment or techniques.
- Melts in Your Mouth: These cookies literally melt in your mouth! You will absolutely love their texture.
- Colors! Adding the icing to the cookies is so fun! Use any colors that you like to go with your occasion or party theme.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Flour – We need simple all-purpose flour for this recipe, nothing fancy. Make sure to level it when you measure it out using cups.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder – These two ingredients will give the cookies a nice lift, and a tender texture.
- Salted butter – Using salted butter is key to the flavor and be sure that it’s softened but not melted. Setting the butter out about an hour before you start baking and letting it get soft will give it the perfect baking consistency for these cookies.
- Eggs – We need 2 large eggs that are at room temperature for this recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: This is an ingredient in almost every cookie recipe, and makes the cookies taste and smell amazing. I prefer pure vanilla extract, but imitation vanilla would also work here if that’s what you prefer.
- Powdered sugar – We need this ingredient to make the easy icing. If you’re worried about lumps, sift the sugar before adding it.
- Food Coloring – I recommend using gel coloring rather than liquid food coloring. You will get nicer and brighter colors and the coloring won’t change the consistency of your icing.
How To Make Meltaways
Before you start, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°F (160°C fan oven), and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat silicone mats.
- Dry Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, combine flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a separate medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer cream butter with sugar until smooth and creamy (3 minutes). Add egg and vanilla, and beat again for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Add Dry to Wet: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Form: Scoop out cookie dough balls with a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoon size), and place them on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Press: Spray the bottom of a clean glass with baking spray, and press each cookie until it’s about 1⁄2-inch thick.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes or until the centers of the cookies are set. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Icing:
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar with corn syrup, milk, and vanilla extract. Add more milk or powdered sugar if needed to reach the desired consistency.
- Split the icing into two small bowls, and add food coloring to each.
- Dip the top of each cookie into the prepared icing, and allow the excess to drip off, then place on a wire rack and sprinkle with crushed red mints and allow to set/dry.
Top Tips
- Don’t Flatten too Much: These cookies spread a little, so make sure not to flatten them too much before baking.
- Overbaking: Remember that all ovens are different, so you have to watch your cookies to make sure not to overbake them. Overbaked cookies are dry and crumbly, and you want to avoid that.
- Other Flavors: Turn these into lemon or orange meltaways, by adding some citrus extract to the cookie, white icing, and top the icing with lemon or orange zest.
Storing
- Storing: When the icing has set, store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: These cookies freeze well in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
More Easy Christmas Cookies To Try
- Christmas Shortbread Cookies with Icing
- Candy Cane Cookies
- Cake Mix Snickerdoodles
- Pecan Meltaways
- Chocolate Reindeer Cookies
- Pie Crust Cookies
- Gingersnaps
Whatever your baking plans are this holiday season, make sure that these fun Meltaway Cookies are on the list! Pin the recipe so you have it every single year.
Recipe
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Christmas Meltaway Cookies
cookies
The best Meltaway Cookies are buttery, tender, and simple! These Christmas cookies are incredibly easy to make, and look so festive.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup 1 stick salted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup optional
- Red and green gel food coloring
- 6 round red mints crushed
- 6 round green mints crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°F (160°C fan oven), and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat silicone mats.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer cream butter with sugar until smooth and creamy (3 minutes).
- Add egg and vanilla, and beat again for 1 minute. Scrape down bowl as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Form cookie dough balls with a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoon size), and place on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Spray the bottom of a clean glass with baking spray, and press each cookie until it’s about 1⁄2-inch thick.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes or until the centers of the cookies are set. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Icing:
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar with milk, corn syrup if using, and vanilla extract. Add more milk or more powdered sugar if needed to reach the desired consistency.
- Split the icing into two small bowls, and add food coloring to each.
- Dip the top of each cookie into the prepared icing, and allow the excess to drip off, then place on a wire rack and sprinkle with crushed red mints and allow to set/dry.
Notes
- Don’t Flatten too Much: These cookies spread a little, so make sure not to flatten them too much before baking.
- Overbaking: Remember that all ovens are different, so you have to watch your cookies to make sure not to overbake them. Overbaked cookies are dry and crumbly, and you want to avoid that.
- Corn syrup helps the icing harden. If you don’t have it, you can leave it out.
- Storing: When the icing has set, store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: These cookies freeze well in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 161kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 171mg | Potassium: 21mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 196IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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