Ready or not, Christmas will be here before you know it. That means holiday parties will be in full gear. I always have such a hard time deciding what to bring to potluck parties but these dessert boards are perfect for Christmas. And who doesn’t love a good Christmas cookie? These are great for cookie exchanges too! Have everybody bring and extra dozen to decorate a tray and try out some new recipes!

Remember, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Some of these cookie board ideas include store bought cookies that are arranged to look pretty and fancy. There are so many possibilities here!

As always, please pin from the original post!

Best Christmas Cookie Recipes from Number 2 Pencil

Christmas Cookie Dessert Board from Modern Glam

Christmas Dessert Board from Ain’t Too Proud to Meg

Decorating Store Bought Cookies by Inside Bru Crew Life

Christmas Cookie Platter from The Sweetest Occasion

Christmas Cookie Box from Pies and Tacos

Easy Christmas Dessert Board from Meg’s Everyday Indulgence

Christmas Cookie Dessert Board from A Pumpkin And A Princess

DIY Christmas Holiday Dessert Charcuterie Board from Mama Cheaps

Chocolate Charcuterie Board for Christmas from Bellyfull

No Bake Christmas Cookie Charcuterie Board from The Rebel Chick

I just love these ideas so much! You can literally make this with any cookie – homemade or store bought! Grab a tray and get creative!

I think I’m going to put one of these together for our office Christmas party this year using our sugar cookies and thin mints. I’d love to see some of your board ideas! Share them with me on Facebook!

The post Christmas Cookie Board Ideas for the Holiday Parties appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Who else loves Christmas cookies and holiday baking?  Every year, I make our Best Rolled Sugar Cookies, Thin Mints, and chocolate chip cookies.  This year I’m looking to branch out and try my hand at something a little different!  We’ve scoured the web for these amazing Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes to get your creative juices flowing!

As always, please pin from the original source!

Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes

Easy Reindeer Cookies from Create.Craft.Love

Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies from Liv for Cake

Soft Batch Christmas Sprinkle Cookies from The Salty Marshmallow

Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies from Small Town Woman

Christmas Shortbread Bites from Cooking Classy

Thin Mint Cookies from Create.Craft.Love

Eggnog Gooey Butter Cookies from Wicked Good Kitchen

Christmas Pinwheel Cookies from Yellow Bliss Road

Homemade Gingerbread Cookies from Create.Craft.Love

Easy Reindeer Sugar Cookies from One Project Closer

Peppermint Mocha Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Peppermint Patties from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

M&M Christmas Cookie Bars from Number 2 Pencil

Christmas Wreath Cookies from The First Year Blog

Soft and Chewy M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies from Averie Cooks

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups from Butter with a Side of Bread

Old Fashioned Spritz Cookies from Saving Room for Dessert

Peppermint Meltaway Christmas Cookies from Cake’s Cottage

Four Christmas Cookies with 1 Basic Dough from The Gunny Sack

Eggnog Cheesecake Cookie Cups from Liv for Cake

Cake Batter Christmas Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Cranberry Orange Cookies from Let’s Dish

Butter Swirl Shortbread Cookies from All Created

Slice n Bake Christmas Tree Cookies from Mom Loves Baking

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies from OMG Chocolate Desserts

Christmas Confetti Cake Batter Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies from Crazy for Crust

Eggnog Snickerdoodles from Amy’s Healthy Baking

Crackle Brownie Cookies from Cincy Shopper

Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies from If You Give a Blonde a Kitchen

White Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Sugar Cookies from Cooking Classy

Vanilla and Chocolate Pizzelles from Recipe Runner

Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies from This Silly Girl’s Kitchen

Stained Glass Christmas Cookies from Noshtastic

Best Rolled Sugar Cookies from Create.Craft.Love

Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies from Dear Crissy

Chocolate Drizzled Christmas Cookie Sticks from Creations by Kara

Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookie Cups from Life Love and Sugar

Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks from Delish

Which is your favorite Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipe?

Now I can’t decide which to try!  And I’m hungry….

The post Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes appeared first on Create Craft Love.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I seem to have a thing for reindeer. It seems to be a common theme in my holiday crafting and printables. They are just the cutest and I love them so much. Rudolf is one of my favorite holiday movies. My friend Sue used to make ghosts from Nutter Butters and I thought it would be cute to make some reindeer for Christmas! This is a great recipe for cookie exchanges because you can whip up a lot really fast. These cookies are sure to be a big hit!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Make your own Easy Reindeer Cookies

Ingredients:

Nutter Butter Cookies
Mini Twist Pretzels
White Icing
Wilton Candy Eyeballs
Red M&Ms

Nutter Butter cookies create the perfect reindeer head.  Orient your cookie in a vertical position.  Place a glob of white icing on either side of the cookie towards the top of aforementioned cookie.  Add pretzels to the icing. Set aside and let dry. Once the icing hardens, the pretzel antlers will stay in place.

Add glob of white icing in the middle of the cookie towards the top and another glob of icing in the middle of the cookie towards the bottom to form the eyes and nose.

Set aside and let the icing dry.  Repeat above process until you have enough Reindeer Cookies for your holiday gathering! Store in an airtight container and take to all of your holiday parties!

Isn’t he the cutest?!

What’s your favorite holiday cookie recipe? Share with us in our Facebook group! We love new ideas and recipes!

Print

Easy Reindeer Cookies

Only 5 ingredients needed to create these adorable and Easy Reindeer Christmas Cookies!

Ingredients

• Nutter Butters
• Red M&Ms
• Wilton Candy Eyeballs
• White writing icing
• Mini Twist Pretzels

Instructions

• Orient Nutter Butter in vertical position.
• Place two globs of white icing on either side of Nutter Butter cookie towards the top edge.  Add pretzels.
• Place glob of white icing in the middle towards the top and add candy eyeballs.
• Place glob of white icing in middle towards the bottom and add red M&M.
• Set aside and let icing dry for about an hour.

If you’re looking for more reindeer treats and crafts, check these out!

Reindeer Party Favors

Reindeer Noses Printable

Reindeer Wreath

The post Easy Reindeer Cookies appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Who doesn’t love Santa around Christmas time? Okay, maybe the Grinch. But that big old tummy in a bright red suit just screams Christmas to me! So I decided to turn one of my favorite party cocktails into unique jello shots you can serve all through the holiday season!

Make your own Santa Belly Jello Shots

We have a tradition that started when I was growing up. Every Christmas Eve I read our kids ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. One of my favorite lines is, “He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.” These shots totally jiggle like Santa’s belly! Love love love!

I went with the easy option of adding a dollop of whipped cream in the middle of the shot to add the belt buckle to. If you want to get all fancy, you can pipe a line of whipped cream across the cup (piping bag with a #10 round tip) and put the buckle in the center. But I’m all about easy prep ad then popping these bad boys! They’re sure to get you on the Nice List!

Hungry for more?

Christmas Crinkle Cool Whip Cookies

Eggnog Fluff

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Every year I buy a gingerbread house for us to build and decorate.  And every year, I swear I will never put myself through the pain and suffering every again.  You spend hours “gluing” and decorating the house for it to just sit around and go stale.  I decided to actually make gingerbread cookies this year!  We had so much fun making them and coming up with our own decorations!  These Homemade Gingerbread Cookies turned out great and taste amazing!

Gingerbread used to intimidate me.  I think it was the whole idea of using molasses.  My friend gave me this recipe and it was so easy!  It substituted butterscotch pudding mix for the molasses.  The result is a soft cookie that tastes even better!

Ingredients:

1 package of butterscotch pudding
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Cream together dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter and brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir together until smooth.  Stir in the egg.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon.  Stir into the pudding mix.  Cover and chill dough until firm – about an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.  On a floured board, roll out gingerbread dough.  Cut into gingerbread man shapes using cookie cutter.  Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment covered cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10-12 minutes in oven – until golden brown on the edges.  Cool on wire racks.
4. Decorate!

We grabbed bags of pre-made decorating icing and lots of different Christmas candies to decorate our gingerbread men!  Make an evening out of it!!  Enjoy! You can also use this recipe to make your own gingerbread houses!

Click HERE to see more of our awesome recipes!

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I am so excited to be participating in my second Cookie Swap!  This year I get to be a co-host too!  My partner this year is Brandie from Home Cooking Memories.  This recipe for Tropical White Chocolate Chip Cookies will have you sing ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ and dreaming of palms trees instead of Christmas trees!

I love the play on flavors in these cookies!  The white chocolate, macadamia nuts, coconut and dried pineapple taste amazing together! It certainly reminds me of our time in Hawaii.

Make your own Tropical White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup finely diced dried pineapple

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar until well combined.  Beat in vanilla and egg until combined.  Gradually beat in flour mixture and mix until smooth.
4. Stir white chocolate chips, nuts, coconut and pineapple into cookie mixture by hand.  Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown on edges.  Cool on baking sheet for five minutes and transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.

A huge thanks to Julie for all of her hard work putting this together!  And another big thanks to Brandie for being my Cookie Swap partner!  These cookies were a huge hit!! You have to try these!

Click HERE to see more of our awesome recipes!

The post Tropical White Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on Create Craft Love.

There is something so decadent about blending salty and sweet.  I think that’s why I love chocolate covered pretzels so much!  If you love Thin Mints, you will love these Candy Cane and White Chocolate Covered Pretzels!  They are an easy Christmas candy that can be whipped up last minute!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Make your own Candy Cane and White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

The ingredients are simple!  All you need are pretzel rods, white chocolate candy melts and candy canes.

I enlisted my son’s help to crush up candy canes.  I have to say that the look on his face as he pounded away on the candy was my favorite part of making these sweet treats!  He pounded away with such intensity! Unwrap 4-6 candy canes and place in a plastic baggie.  Use a meat mallet and begin pulverizing the heck out of them!  The kids will love this part. Place the crushed candy canes in a bowl and set aside. (I actually prefer eating candy canes this way! LOL!)

Melt the white chocolate candies per package instructions. Pay attention to the wattage on your microwave and time set to avoid burning the chocolate.

Dip the end of the pretzel rods in the melted white chocolate.  Allow excess to drip off.  Lay out some wax paper and sprinkle the candy canes onto the wax paper.  Gently roll the dipped pretzel rod through the crushed candy cane.

Set aside and let dry!

 Great for Christmas and holiday parties!  Or simply package in a treat bag and gift to your neighbors!  Everyone will love this festive treat!

Do you like chocolate covered pretzels? I know some people don’t like mixing the salty and sweet but it’s one of my faves! So yummy!

Click HERE to see more awesome recipes!

The post Candy Cane and White Chocolate Covered Pretzels appeared first on Create Craft Love.

My favorite part of the holiday season is baking!  I spend hours in the kitchen baking up all sorts of goodies for friends and family.  It’s become a tradition to devote an entire weekend to this.  My boys and I hunker down in the kitchen and crank out some truly amazing desserts and treats to take to holiday gatherings.  I’m kinda famous for my Sugar Cookies.  You can get that recipe here!  We also make fudge every year. But I’m always looking for ways to work easier, not harder.  These Holiday Baking Hacks will help you master the baking season!

You will love these Holiday Baking Hacks

As always, please pin from the original post!

I gotta tell you.  When I read that frosting hack from Sweet C, my mouth fell open.  How easy is that?!  It’s genius! I love finding ways to work smarter and not harder – especially during the holiday season.

I also love all of the egg substitution ideas! I’m so glad there are people out there smarter than me that can come up with this stuff.

Here are some of our favorite holiday cookie recipes!

Thin Mint Cookies

Tropical White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Easy Reindeer Cookies

Those are just a few of my favorite from our blog. But you can find more holiday cookie exchange recipes here too!

Click HERE to see more amazing recipes!

The post Holiday Baking Hacks appeared first on Create Craft Love.

I distinctly remember going over to my grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and being utterly and completely grossed out by the cranberry sauce. The noise it made as it plopped out of the can and into the bowl is still ringing in my ears. For that very reason, I have despised cranberry ever since (unless it was mixed with vodka). It wasn’t until my husband began making cranberry sauce from real cranberries that I even considered sacrificing my taste buds. Made correctly they taste amazing! I wanted to incorporate this tried and true Thanksgiving favorite into a pastry. Add a flaky Pillsbury® Crescent and turn these Cranberry Turnovers into a great new holiday #warmtradition!

Nobody has time for a complicated recipe that uses 500 ingredients. I ran to Wal-mart, grabbed some Pillsbury® Original Crescents and fresh cranberries.

The sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and water you probably already have at home.

Ingredients for Cranberry Turnovers

1 can of Pillsbury® Original Crescents
12 ounce package of fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Begin by preparing the cranberry sauce allowing sufficient time for it to cool and set. Since we are essentially creating a cranberry preserve, you can even prepare it days before hand and refrigerate it. I like to keep a little extra on hand anyway for waffles.

Place the cranberries, sugar, water, and spice into a saucepan and bring to a boil. You will notice that the cranberries are floating. This is due to air pockets inside the berry. As the berries heat up, the air swells and causes the berries to pop. Therefore, it is best to keep it covered until the popping has finished to avoid hot splatters. Once that is over, stir well and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes to remove as much water as possible. Stir frequently to keep it from sticking. As it nears completion the bubbles should be coming slow and thick (reminiscent of the mud pots in Yellowstone).

Pour the sauce into a jar and allow to cool completely. As it does, it should set up nice and thick.

Pop open the Pillsbury Crescents® and separate the triangles of dough. Set down a piece of wax paper and sprinkle a little flour on it to keep it from sticking to the dough. With a rolling pin spread the dough out into a nice thin sheet.

Place about 2 tbsp. of the cranberry sauce in the middle of the dough.

Fold the upper two corners over the cranberry sauce.

Roll up the rest of the dough.

Place on cookie sheet, spaced about 1.5 inches apart. Bake at 375° for 10-13 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with or without a dollop of whipped cream on top!

The Pillsbury Crescents® create a light, flaky outer pastry layer that is better than homemade! You should also check out our Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins!

Even Grandma will love these Easy Cranberry Turnovers #warmtraditions!

For more #warmtraditions and unique recipes, be sure to check out the Pillsbury website!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pillsbury. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Cranberry Turnovers appeared first on Create Craft Love.

I’m so excited to be participating in the 3rd Annual Christmas Cookie Swap!  I do not cook but I can bake my butt off.  I was intrigued by the concept of swapping recipes and trying something new!  When Kelley from Miss Information sent me this recipe for Chocolate Chip PB Stuffed Cookies, I knew I had found a new favorite cookie!  Best part?  TWO INGREDIENTS!

(You can either make your own chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch, or grab some pre-made dough from the store.)

Make your own Chocolate Chip PB Stuffed Cookies

Ingredients:

Pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough
Reese’s mini peanut butter cups

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325°
2. Roll a spoonful of cookie dough into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand.
3. Place a peanut butter cup inside and press lightly but not all the way through.
4. Take a second flattened cookie on top and press edges together.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Let the cookies sit for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to baking rack or plate!

They are magical!  Reed fell in love with them too! I promise you won’t be disappointed. These would be great to bake for holiday cookie exchanges!

What are you go-to cookie recipes for the holidays?

Be sure to stop by Miss Information and check out her Creme Filled Snickerdoodle Sandwich Cookies!!

A huge thank you the co-hosts for this year’s annual cookie swap!

HOST

Julie from White Lights on Wednesday

COHOSTS

Aubrey from Real Housemoms

Rachel from {i love} my disorganized life

Wendy from Around My Family Table

Laura from Pink Cake Plate

Abbey from The Cards We Drew

Kelley from Miss Information

Carli from Dimple Prints

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