Christmas Baking Projects to Make with Kids

Inside: 21 of the best holiday treats to bake with your little ones. Tutorials and recipes for Christmas baking with kids that’s fun and easy.

One of the best parts of Christmas is baking treats with your family in the kitchen.  And yet…having little ones underfoot while baking sweet treats can also be a recipe for frustration!  Here are some ways to create baking memories that adults and kids will both love.

Keep it simple!

Most kids have a pretty short attention span and won’t want to make elaborate things from scratch.  So I find that’s the best to either start with something store bought and decorate it, or you can make it part-way and invite the kids to come help you with the fun part.  Older kids may want to help with the more elaborate baking tasks, and that’s great! But be realistic about what each age can handle, and remember that this is supposed to be fun.

Focus on the decorating!

We all know that’s the fun part. So stock up on fun decorating items like:

• Sweetened shredded coconut
• Edible gold stars
• Red, green, and white sprinkles
• Christmas M&M’s
• Royal icing wreaths for gingerbread houses
• Mini candy canes
• And even (the horror) pre-made squeeze bottles of icing.

Okay!  Here are baking recipes that would be great to make with kids.  Any of these would make a great Christmas project to keep at home and eat, or give as Christmas gifts to family and friends.  

P.S Want to skip the baking altogether? Just make a cute project like these gingerbread hot chocolate bombs!

 1. Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

Expecting kids to assemble real gingerbread houses is way too much pressure and I can guarantee you’ll be hysterical over it because just baking the walls took you forever and now everyone is ruining them.  (Can you tell I’ve tried it?)

It’s time to realize there is a time for graham cracker houses, and this is it.  

Here is a tutorial and supply list for setting up your own easy gingerbread house party for kids.

2.  Drop Sugar Cookies

I have a recipe for our favorite cut out sugar cookies, and our favorite drop sugar cookies, if you want to make them yourself.

And don’t forget to pick up lots of options for decorating your festive treats!

 3. Christmas Rice Cereal Treats 

If you want an even easier way to make a treat out of these, you can get a prepacked kit.  This is usually not my thing, but with little ones who really want a christmas baking project of their own, its a solid choice.

 4. Christmas Light Cupcakes

(Get the tutorial for this cute and easy Christmas cupcakes here.)

You can make them or you can buy them, but the important part is the decorating!

 5. Molasses cookies

Having a cookie scoop is so helpful for these, especially with little kids.  It makes sure the cookies are all the same size and keeps them from mashing down the dough too much.
 

6. Dipped pretzel rods

Okay so this isn’t even a baking project. Oh well! Don’t be afraid to do something super, super easy, like pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with Christmas decorations. They are super simple if you have the right supplies. All you need to do it melt, dip, ands sprinkle.

Here is a nice, simple tutorial on dipped pretzels rods.

7. Gluten free sugar cookies

If you have have little ones with food allergies, these sugar cookies are vegan and sugar free! Fun to decorate in any color!

Get the sugar cookies recipe here.

8. Rolled Snowball Cookies

Everyone loves to roll cookie dough and toss them in powdered sugar! These are fun and easy to make with kids!

Get the snowball cookie recipe here!

9. Christmas Butter Cookies

Make this dough for the kids, let them have fun fun piping it out into simple swirls and then let them dip and sprinkle the baked cookies. As an important bonus, these cookies are absolutely delicious too!

Get the full recipe here.

10. Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Of course the most fun part of this easy Christmas cookie is making the indentation and filling them. And why not?!

Get the recipe for the cookies and chocolate filling here.

10. Santa Cupcakes

Adorable! Everyone knows a kids favorite part of baking is decorating, and these Santa cupcakes are ALL about the decorations. Easy to do and so rewarding!

Get the full instructions and supply list here

11. Stained Glass Window Cookies

Jolly Ranchers are melted into sugar cookies to create a beautiful stained glass effect. Kids might need a little bit of of adult help with this recipe but the end result is so beautiful.

Get the full stained glass cookie tutorial from the Holy Mess.

12. Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

Here’s another super fun decorating project that the kids will love. Let the older ones do the Christmas tree design and the littles do the sprinkles and the star decoration. Impressive and elegant looking, but very easy to do!

Get Christmas tree sugar cookie instructions here.

13. Jam Filled Christmas Cookies

This is another recipe that will require adult help, but little ones will love punching out cute little trees and stars to make these deliciously festive treats.

Get the recipe for jam filled Christmas cookies here.

14. Krispy Treat Christmas Trees

Rice Krispy treats shaped into Christmas trees! These are easy to make and have decorated M&M “ornaments”. These would make great homemade gifts from the little ones!

Get the recipe for Krispy Treat Christmas Trees here.

15. Hot Chocolate Muffins

Sugar, cocoa, and marshmallows all wrapped up into one delicious muffin! Kids will definitely be able to mix these up and will love adding the marshmallows on top.

Get the recipe for chocolate chip muffins here.

16. Cornflake Christmas Wreath

These cornflakes wreaths are so cute and festive. Super easy for even the littlest ones to make with a little help getting set up! When you want a project that be done start to finish quickly, this is the one you need!

Get the recipe for cornflake wreathes here!

17. Hershey Kiss Garland

This candy garland would be the perfect gift made by the kids. Simple and easy to make with Hershey Kisses and Rolos, this garland will be welcomed by anyone.

Get the candy garland instructions here.

18. Pretzel Christmas Treats

These pretzel chocolate trees are cute and simple and make a nice special snack. Simple enough that even the preschoolers could help to make them!

Get the instructions for M&M pretzel trees here!

19. Easy Pistachio Cookies

Drop cookies are the easiest to make since there’s no rolling and no cutting! And these pistachio cookies are green and Christmasey, and so easy to make!

Get the easy pistachio cookie recipe here!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you enjoy baking with your family this year. If you don’t have kids, consider inviting some over for an afternoon of baking. I think most moms would love to drop their kids to visit and bake with a family friend.