If you are looking for cute Christmas cookie ideas, these Christmas Lights Cookies are perfect! Tender, melt in your mouth Lofthouse sugar cookies frosted and decorated into a string of Christmas lights with and easy quick drying royal icing recipe and mini M&Ms. The perfect decorated Christmas cookie idea that is easy and fun to make with your kids, perfect for any holiday cookie exchange, bake sale or even a great homemade gift.

Christmas Lights Cookies

When it comes to decorated Christmas cookie ideas, I admit that I am sometimes intimidated. The fear of decorating these Christmas Lights Cookies was real and it was heavy.

Food bloggers aren’t supposed to say they aren’t AMAZING at … everything … but I know my strengths and my weaknesses are always obviously apparent (#stillfrostscupcakeslikeafouryearold).

All of those homemade Christmas cookie insecurities fell by the wayside because these Christmas Light Cookies are sooooooooo easy to make and so much fun to decorate.

I cannot take the credit for being the genius who came up with this Christmas string light M&M candy idea but honestly, these sugar cookies are just too cute!

Perfect for bake sales, holiday cookie exchanges, gift giving or just taking a moment to appreciate the Season.

In quiet.

Alone.

…. in hiding ….

WHY THESE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS COOKIES ARE THE BEST

When it comes to the perfect sugar cookie recipe, Lofthouse Sugar Cookies are a particular weakness of mine. They are thick and fluffy, almost cake-like and are the perfect Christmas cookie to transform into these fun M&M string light cookies.

Christmas Lights cookies are a mile high and are a cake like cookie with a super delicate crumb. This means it will melt in your mouth.
These sugar cookies don’t spread out so they hold their shape perfectly and deliver round Christmas light cookies without needing cookie cutters.
We are combining butter and shortening in this cookie dough. Butter for flavor and shortening will help make the cookies extra soft.
This is the perfect sugar cookie recipe to get the kids involved in the kitchen. Simple ingredients and perfectly thick cookies and mini M&Ms for little fingers to work with.
These lofthouse cookies are decorated with an easy quick drying royal icing recipe that anyone can make with next to no time waiting for it to set.

To make these Christmas Lights Cookies, you will need:

Cake flour – cookie consistency post-baking is delicate, softer, fluffier, and, well, more cake-like
All purpose flour – helps hold the cookie together, providing it with its structure
Sugar – sweetness, moisture, chewiness, and spread
Butter – adds richness and flavor
Eggs – Eggs add structure, leavening, color, and flavor and don’t forget to bring them to room temperature before using
Butter flavored shortening – gives these cookies a delicate and flaky texture.
Baking powder – Leavening agent to help your cookies rise.
Cream of Tartar -a vital ingredient for soft, chewy cookies. It helps cookies poof up and gives a hint of tangy flavor.
Vanilla and almond extract – flavor!
Powdered sugar – the foundation for your quick drying royal icing
Lemon juice – the magic behind quick drying royal icing :)pre

HOW DO YOU MAKE CHRISTMAS LIGHT COOKIES

To make Christmas Lights Lofthouse Cookies, start by creaming together your butter, sugar and shortening until light and fluffy.

Add in the vanilla and almond extract. Mix in the egg and egg white until well combined.

In a small mixing bowl, combine cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cream of tarter. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Cover with plastic wrap and move to chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Once chilled, remove and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Using a cookie scoop or a large spoon, scoop up cookie dough and roll into a 2 inch ball.

Lightly roll your cookie ball through a bowl of all purpose flour, making sure the entire ball is lightly coated in the flour.

Move the cookie ball to your baking sheet and using the bottom of a glass or any other flat surface, press the ball flat so that it is about only about 1/4 inch thick.

Place in oven and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 1 minute before moving the cookies to a cooling rack.

Once your Christmas Lights Lofthouse Cookies are completely cooled, make your royal icing.

EASY QUICK DRYING ROYAL ICING RECIPE

Next, make a small batch of quick drying royal icing. Royal icing usually take a long time to dry but this is just the BEST recipe because your royal icing hardens in just a few minutes.

In a small bowl, add your sifted powdered sugar and lemon juice and whisk to combine.

Gently crack an egg and add the egg white to a small bowl and lightly whisk it to loosen it up, then scoop out 2 tablespoons of egg white and add them to your powdered sugar.

Whisk everything together. It will be very thick, keep whisking and it will loosen up as the sugar melts.

Spoon a small amount of royal icing onto each cookie and using the back of a spoon, spread it evenly almost to the edges of your cookies.

Let the royal icing harden completely on the cookies before moving forward. By the time I frosted my last cookie, my first cookie was almost set. I gave it another 5 minutes and they were hard.

Pipe thin black lines onto each cookie and then press the mini M&Ms sideways.. don’t forget to pick out the brown M&Ms 🙂

EASY FAST DRYING ROYAL ICING

This small batch of royal icing is my go-to recipe when it comes to Christmas cookie decorating.

Traditional royal icing is super intimidating and takes FOREVER to set up. Outline… wait .. fill .. wait .. special ingredients … too many rules and too much time.

This easy royal icing recipe is a dream come true. Using just powdered sugar, lemon juice and egg whites, this quick and easy royal icing recipe doesn’t run, doesn’t smear, doesn’t take four hours to make one cookie.

In just 15 minutes, this icing is ready to decorate.

Keep that quick timeline in mind when you are decorating. This icing is best when used right away so there is no long wait time and it’s ready to go when you are!

CHRISTMAS M&M COOKIES

To achieve the look of these Christmas string lights cookies, you can use a different methods but grabbing a bottle of black icing specifically made for decorating cookies seemed, by far, to be the easiest.

Easy is what you want, amazing results is what you are looking for.

Christmas cookies should be fun to decorate and make some memories with, not getting mad and frustrated because your piping bag broke and you exploded black frosting all over your kitchen.

Check out the cake decorating aisle of your grocery store or big box store and you will find the black icing bottle. Throw that bad boy in your cart and feel good about your problem solving skills.

Now the star of the show has to be the mini M&Ms. Regular M&Ms will work perfectly fine but those mini’s are cute! I found mine at my local grocery store (Hey there, Publix!) but I believe Walmart and Target also carry them.

They are also found online as everything else in the Universe is too.

*Sidenote: Mini M&Ms were not made for girls who wear really long pretty nails. Those girls will need to ask their husbands to help place their mini M&Ms on their cookies.

Their husbands will then eat half the bag of mini M&Ms as payment for their work. Plan accordingly.

PRO TIPS FOR PERFECT CHRISTMAS LIGHT COOKIES

I went almond forward on this recipe because that was what I was in the mood for last Saturday morning .. feel free to swap the almond / vanilla extract measurements if you want vanilla instead 🙂
Make sure to chill the sugar cookie dough so that your cookies stay thick. Chilling your dough keeps your cookies from spreading. Then form your dough into 2 inch balls and flatten them by pressing the tops down with the bottom of a cup or a plate.
Lofthouse cookies go from perfectly soft and tender to over baked in a heartbeat. You’re looking for the cookies to look just barely set up and slightly brown on the bottom.
Completely cool your Christmas Lights Lofthouse Cookies before frosting them or your icing will melt and you will be sad.
Sift your powdered sugar for your royal icing. I can’t stress this one enough.. if you don’t, you WILL have lumps, they will be NOTICED.
Your fast drying royal icing will be thick, that’s what it should be. Practice your icing and black piping on an ugly cookie no one was going to want before tackling all of them.
These cookie pictures are taken on a 15 x 11 jelly roll pan. This Christmas string light cookie recipe makes 12 cookies so when it says make your cookie balls 2 inches, I’m not exaggerating.
Once your royal icing is dry and your black lines are drawn, lightly push your mini M&Ms into your icing. You don’t need to push hard, they will stand up and they won’t fall.
These Lofthouse Sugar Cookies will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days on the counter.

MORE EASY CHRISTMAS COOKIES RECIPES

Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

I would love for you to leave a rating and a comment below! Let me know, how’d you do?! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐