Santa Cookies are exactly what the big guy wants this year! Soft, crispy, and perfectly sweet, they’re so easy to whip up, you’ll still have time for holiday magic!

This small-batch recipe is perfect for Christmas Eve and Santa. For more small batch cookies, try Single Serve Chocolate Cookies or Oatmeal Cookies!

A collection of santa cookies, adorned with festive red and green chocolate candies.

Table of Contents

Cookies For Santa Plate

In our home, Santa is quite particular about his cookies. Every year, the kids know we’ll set aside special time on Christmas Eve to bake cookies for Santa and make Reindeer Chow for his trusty team.

Of course, my husband and I (or rather, “Santa”) need some extra fuel for wrapping presents and prepping for Christmas morning! Treat Santa right this year with a batch of these delicious cookies.

Combining ingredients, shaping dough into cylinders, and baking in the oven.

Quick Tip

Santa Cookies with red and green M&M’s are great for Christmas, but you can change the colors for any holiday—green for St. Patrick’s Day, light colors for Easter, or red, white, and blue for July 4. Or just use mixed M&M’s for everyday treats!

How To Make Santa Cookies

  1. Melt Butter: Melt unsalted butter and let it cool.
  2. Combine: Mix the butter with sugars, an egg , vanilla, and maple syrup.
  3. Dry Ingredients: Stir in cornstarch, baking soda & powder, salt, and flour.
  4. Add Chocolate: Fold in chocolate chips and Christmas M&Ms.
  5. Chill: Chill the dough for an hour.
  6. Bake: Preheat the oven, shape dough into cylinders, and bake.
Santa Cookies baked to perfection, ideal for leaving out on a 'cookies for Santa plate.'

Storage

To freeze Santa Cookies: Freeze dough balls on a tray until firm, then move them to a sealed container or bag for up to 3 months.

Bake straight from frozen, adding 1-3 minutes, or let them thaw in the fridge before baking.

More Christmas Treats

Santa Cookies baked to perfection, ideal for leaving out on a 'cookies for Santa plate.'
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5 from 4 votes

Santa Cookies

By Chelsea Lords
Ho ho ho! These Santa Cookies are soft inside, a little crispy outside, and super easy—just one bowl, a spoon, and no mixer needed!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 16 large cookies

Equipment

  • Sheet pan
  • Parchment paper or a silicone baking mat

Ingredients 
 

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt reduce if using table salt or if sensitive to salt
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet or dark chocolate—whichever is your favorite
  • 1/2 cup Christmas M&M’s

Instructions 

  • Melt the butter in a very large, microwave-safe bowl. Once melted, refrigerate it for 3–5 minutes or until at room temperature. The butter can’t be hot when you add in the sugars or it will melt the sugar and make the cookies greasy.
  • Once butter is cooled to room temperature, stir in brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Add egg, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Stir again until smooth.
  • Add cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Again, stir until smooth. Add in the correctly measured (see note 1) flour and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Add chocolate chips and M&M’s. Gently stir until combined.
  • Tightly cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
  • Roll dough balls into tall cylinders (see picture #11 above for shape and size). Place 6–8 cookie balls on a sheet, allowing plenty of room to spread. Dough balls should be about 1.7 ounces if you have a food scale (the batch should make about 16 total cookies).
  • Bake 8–12 minutes, erring on the side of underbaking to keep them soft and chewy. The cookies will firm up a little more out of the oven, so take them out as soon as the edges start to lightly brown and the top is no longer wet looking.
  • Optional: Press a few extra chocolate chips or M&M’s onto the tops of the cookies as soon as you remove from the oven. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour, you’ll pack in way too much flour—which will yield cake-y and less flavorful cookies. Instead, spoon flour into a measuring cup and level the top with the back of a table knife. See a visual here. Even better? Weigh your ingredients on a food scale!
Storage: I like these cookies best on day 1 and 2. They last up to 1 week, but they begin to lose texture and flavor quality. To store, place completely cooled cookies in an airtight container and keep at room temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 16large cookies | Calories: 236kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2.3g | Fat: 10.1g | Cholesterol: 26.9mg | Sodium: 7.8mg | Fiber: 1.2g | Sugar: 28.7g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

Meet Chelsea

Hello, and welcome to Chelsea’s Messy Apron! I’m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. I’m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping by—I hope you find something delicious to make!

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5 from 4 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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5 Comments

  1. Ozzie Castro says:

    5 stars
    So simple yet so delicious!! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Chelsea says:

      Thanks so much Ozzie! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Bryan says:

    I’m not sure I was to share these cookies with Santa…. I would much rather eat them all myself.

    Reply
    1. Chelsea says:

      Haha totally understandable!

      Reply
  3. k says:

    5 stars
    hey

    Reply