These melt-in-your-mouth Christmas Sandwich Cookies feature pastry cookies with a sweet and creamy filling. They’re a vintage treat that’s sure to become a family favorite!
I remember Christmas at my grandma’s house including lots of treats like divinity and these sandwich cookies. They’re a little old-fashioned, but they taste delicious, nonetheless!
It’s the perfect vintage sweet to celebrate the season!
This recipe works because it:
- Uses inexpensive pantry staples that you likely have on hand. If you need a last-minute treat you can skip a trip to the store.
- Makes a great dessert or gift. But, be sure to make some for yourself to enjoy as a festive treat or Christmas dinner dessert.
- A classic treat that everyone will love! These cookies have a nice, sweet flavor that caters to every palate. It’s no wonder they’re a Christmas classic.
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a medium mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of softened butter using a pastry cutter. Add 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream and mix until a dough forms.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours (or until the dough is easy to handle).
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Divide the dough in half and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Roll out one half of the dough on a floured surface to no thinner than 1/8th of an inch thick.
Use a round cookie cutter to cut the cookies.
Toss the cookies in a shallow dish filled with granulated sugar until both sides are coated.
Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets, and prick them with a fork three times. Place the sheet in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
Bake the chilled cookies for 7 minutes, or until they’re set. Place them on a baking rack to cool. Repeat until all of the dough has been cut and baked.
While the cookies bake, cream 1/2 cup of softened butter and 1½ cups of powdered sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and mix well.
Separate the filling into bowls and color with food coloring.
To create the sandwiches, spoon the filling into piping bags and pipe about 1 teaspoon on half of the cookies. Top each cookie with filling with the remaining cookies to create a sandwich.
Keep refrigerated in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
The original recipe said to mix the whipping cream with the flour and butter, but I found that it wasn’t combining into a dough very easily. I used a pastry cutter to break down the butter and I noticed it combined much better.
I left the dough in the fridge overnight and it was very hard in the morning. The original recipe says to leave one part of the dough in the fridge while you roll out the other half so it doesn’t get sticky, but I left both out at room temperature so they would be easier to roll. I never thought the dough got sticky at all.
Don’t cut the cookies too thin or they will break easily. You don’t want to go thinner than 1/8 of an inch.
I used a 2 inch cookie cutter to make my cookies and they were very dainty and small. My family makes them a little bigger so if you don’t want them super small, use a cookie cutter that’s bigger than 2 inches.
The cookies will shrink slightly in the oven so keep that in mind when you’re choosing how big to cut them.
If you want your cookies to stay completely round, you can use a small spatula to gently remove the circles from your floured surface so you don’t pull the cookies into an oval trying to get them up.
Chilling the dough before baking will also help the cookies to keep their shape while baking.
Feel free to use any festive cookie cutter shape to make your cookies.
Try vanilla paste in the frosting for a stronger flavor.
You can color the frosting any colors you want. Traditionally green and red are used, but I went with a candy cane look with white and red.
You can also add some peppermint extract to the frosting if you’d like the cookies to have a mint flavor.
More Like This
Looking for more yummy Christmas treats? You’ll love these:
- Snow Globe Sugar Cookies
- Marshmallow Fudge
- Cracker Candy
- Chocolate Almond Balls
- Mint Brownies with Chocolate Ganache
FAQs
There are a few methods to quickly soften butter.
The first is to heat 2 cups of water in the microwave like they do in this tutorial. Place the cut butter in a bowl and then place the bowl in the microwave. The heat from the boiling water will soften the butter in about 10 minutes.
Or you can cut the butter into small cubes like I did in the photos and let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
The one complaint I hear when making these cookies is how delicate they are.
If you’ve already baked your cookies, they’re probably too thin. Use a piping bag to add the filling and be very gentle when making the sandwiches.
If you have some dough left, don’t roll the dough as thin so you have a thicker, more sturdy cookie.
Probably not! I had leftover filling when I made this recipe. You can use it to decorate a gingerbread house or eat it with graham crackers or vanilla wafers!
I hope your family loves these Christmas sandwich cookies! If you make them, take a picture and tag me on Instagram with @ashcroftfamilytable and use the hashtag #ashcroftfamilytable!
And if you’d like to get a 4-week meal plan featuring my recipes, just enter your email in the form above and you’ll get it straight to your inbox!
Classic Christmas Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup softened butter, 2 sticks
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- granulated sugar
Filling
- ½ cup softened butter, 1 stick
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- food coloring, if desired
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour with softened butter using a pastry cutter. Add heavy whipping cream and mix until a dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours (or until the dough is easy to handle).
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Divide the dough in half and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Roll out one half of the dough on a floured surface to no thinner than 1/8th of an inch thick.
- Use a round cookie cutter to cut cookies from the dough.
- Toss the cookies in a shallow dish filled with granulated sugar until both sides are coated. Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets, and prick them with a fork three times. Place the sheet in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
- Bake the chilled cookies for 7 minutes, or until they're set. Place them on a baking rack to cool. Repeat until all of the dough has been cut and baked.
- While the cookies bake, cream softened butter and powdered sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
- Separate the filling into bowls and color with food coloring.
- To create the sandwiches, spoon the filling into piping bags and pipe about 1 teaspoon on half of the cookies. Top each cookie with filling with the remaining cookies to create a sandwich.
- Keep refrigerated in an airtight container until ready to serve.