These Soft Eggnog Cookies (slice and bake!) are the perfect fun treat to add to your family’s Christmas baking! These cookies are soft, chewy, and topped with rich eggnog frosting. Enjoy them over the holidays, while eggnog is available!
Isn’t it funny how foods you don’t like as a kid can be so incredibly delicious once you’re an adult?
I wasn’t a very picky kid, but I was NOT a fan of eggnog – no matter how many times I tried it. My brother, on the other hand, could drink it by the gallon. Not sure where my sister fell in the mix.
As an adult, I think eggnog is DELICIOUS. I’m not sure when the switch happened. I just opened a carton last week and OMG it is just so good (of course you probably know all about my love of rich food).
I’ve been wanting to make eggnog cookies for over a year now. I could somehow imagine a big plate of soft but slightly chewy eggnog cookies with creamy icing, a big cup of black coffee, and jazzy Christmas music playing softly in the background… snow swirling outside and the fireplace warming the living room…. haha okay. Getting carried away. 🙂
Anyway, I’m happy to report that I HAVE THE COOKIES! It took a lot of sifting through lots of recipe and adjusting for personal taste and what I was aiming for. Laurier grew up in a sugar cookie house (not a literal sugar cookie house, sadly), but my family were more shortbread lovers, so it took some experimentation on my part.
These eggnog cookies are formed into a log and frozen for 30 minutes, before you can slice and bake them. They are actually pretty fast to mix up, and they cook in just 8 minutes! I had fun making them and I LOVE that they just call for pantry staples and eggnog.
I also tested them after leaving half the log of dough in the freezer overnight. If you let the log thaw for about 15 minutes you can slice them and bake them as usual – but you might need to add a minute to the baking time. Still, pretty convenient. You could also pre-slice them and completely freeze them that way, and just add a few minutes to the time when you pop them in the oven.
I experimented with a couple of different types of frosting, but I found they didn’t really taste enough like eggnog. Finally I decided to try just thickening actual eggnog. Maybe that’s unusual, but it worked, and it tastes very eggnoggy, which I like.
Step-by-step photo instructions are below the recipe!
These Soft Eggnog Cookies (slice and bake!) are the perfect fun treat to add to your family's Christmas baking! These cookies are soft, chewy, and topped with rich eggnog frosting. Enjoy them over the holidays, while eggnog is available!
- 2 and 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg (at room temperature*)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract**
- 1 cup eggnog
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
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Whisk together flour, baking powder and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl.
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In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a hand mixer for several minutes, until it's light and fluffy.
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Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Scrape down sides of the bowl and make sure it's all mixed in.
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Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add another 1/3 and mix. Add remaining flour and mix just until it's combined. Don't overmix!
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Roll out a large piece of parchment paper, dump dough on it, and form it into a large log near the long side of the paper.
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Roll up the log, using pressure from your hands to form it into a tight cylinder with no air pockets. Try to make it the same thickness across the entire length of the log. Freeze for 30 minutes (you can also freeze for longer, but then let it thaw for 15 minutes before slicing).
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Take out log and use a sharp knife to slice it into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices. You can use your fingers to reshape the circles if they get a little squished. Bake on parchment paper lined pan for 8 minutes. If you froze the dough for longer than 30 minutes, add an extra minute or two to the baking time. You don't even want to edges to brown - just for the cookies to look "set". If you overbake the cookies they'll be crumbly, instead of soft and chewy.
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Whenever you want to frost them, mix eggnog and cornstarch in a small pot and heat over medium-low heat, whisking, until it thickens. If you frost the cookies right away, store them in the fridge or freezer. Or you can refrigerate the frosting until you're ready to eat the cookies. If it gets too thick just thin it with a little more eggnog.
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Enjoy! 🙂
* If you want to quickly bring an egg to room temperature, submerge it in a bowl of quite warm water for a few minutes
** Find out how to make your own vanilla extract (it's easy!)
Soft Eggnog Cookies – (Slice and Bake!) – Step-by-Step Instructions
Soft Eggnog Cookies – (Slice and Bake!) – Ingredients
Whisk together 2 and 3/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Set aside.
In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together 1 cup of softened butter and 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy – probably 2-3 minutes. Add 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and mix well.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1/3 of the flour mixture.
Mix until just combined. Add another 1/3 of the flour. Mix slightly. Add remaining flour and finish mixing. Don’t overmix!!! That will give you tough cookies.
Roll out a big piece of parchment paper. Dump cookie dough on it and form into a rough log near one of the long edges.
Roll dough up, squeezing it into a solid cylinder so there are no air pockets. Try to make sure it’s the same size across the entire length. Freeze for 30 minutes. You can also freeze longer, but then let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Slice cookies around 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick. I have some smaller ones because the ends of my cylinder tapered. That’s why you want to make sure it’s the same size all across. You can use your fingers to reshape them into circles if they get a little misshapen. Bake for 8 minutes if you just froze the dough for 30 minutes. If they were frozen longer you’ll have to add a minute or two to the bake time. Just don’t overbake them or they’ll be crumbly. You don’t even want to look for browned edges – just a general “set” look. Let them sit on the pan to cool completely.
When you want to “frost” them, mix 1 cup of eggnog and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a small pot over medium-low heat. Heat gently until it thickens.
Because the “frosting” is basically just eggnog, you’ll have to refrigerate it (if it thickens too much you can loosen it up with a little extra eggnog). I would just quickly frost the cookies before you eat them to keep them looking the best, or you could do it before and just store the cookies in the fridge or freezer. The frosting won’t look as good, so I guess it depends on who you plan to serve them to!
Enjoy! 🙂
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