Get ready to sleigh your holiday baking with these festive Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies! These jolly treats are a must for your holiday cookie swap. With colorful swirls of red and green, and loaded with white chocolate chips, they're like little bites of Christmas joy. Perfect for leaving out for Santa or sharing with loved ones, these cookies will have your taste buds dancing through a winter wonderland.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together shortening and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until fluffy.
Gradually beat in flour mixture.
Divide dough into three equal portions. Stir in ⅔ cup of white chocolate chips to one portion.
Add red food coloring to one portion - mixing well. Stir in ⅔ cup white chocolate chips.
Add green food coloring to the remaining portion of dough, mixing well. Stir in ⅔ cup white chocolate chips.
Take two teaspoons of each color of dough, and roll into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Notes:
To get the festive Christmas colors, I used gel food coloring so the dough didn’t get thinned out. I bought the gel food coloring at Hobby Lobby. The gel food coloring is with all the cake decorating supplies.
I use white chocolate chips. Feel free to use semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, or dark chocolate chips.
Can I freeze chocolate chip cookies? Yes! You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze the cookie dough balls until you are ready to bake the cookies.
You can either thaw the dough before baking or just add a few minutes to the baking time. I LOVE being able to whip up some festive Christmas cookies at the drop of a hat.
You may also freeze the baked cookies. Cool the cookies completely and transfer to freezer bags. Store the cookies in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Feel free to add nuts to the cookie dough. Chopped pecans or walnuts to the dough.
For an extra festive cookie, add holiday sprinkles or crushed candy canes.
This recipe uses shortening. I know some people don’t like baking with shortening. I have not made these cookies with butter. If you choose to substitute butter for the shortening, it will totally change the texture of the cookie. I LOVED the cookie just the way it was.