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One Easy Cookie Dough 5 Different ways to make holiday cookie boxes super easy and stress free!
Ready for a cookie dough that will change your life?! Holiday cookie baking this year will be a whole lot easier with this super easy cookie dough recipe. We’re baking up peanut butter, sprinkle sugar, dark chocolate pretzel, and white chocolate cranberry oat and candy cane cocoa cookies.
Five different flavors, all from one cookie dough recipe!! And we have to say that this is one of the best cookie recipes we have created – it makes a chewy and delicious cookie no matter the variation.
One of our favorite traditions every year is to make a cookie box for friends and family around the holidays. Cookie boxes are an inexpensive and fun way to show love for those who mean the most to you. There is just something special about making something home-made and gifting someone. And who doesn’t love a box of assorted cookies?!
We were wanting to look for a way to make holiday cookie boxes easier this year. So we got in the kitchen and researched, experimented, failed and tried again to come up with a fool-proof cookie recipe that will taste delicious with just about any ingredient add-ins. We’re obsessed with how these cookies turned out!
One Easy Cookie Dough 5 Different Ways
How to Make the Dough
The base dough recipe is a simple vanilla cookie dough we created that we found to work best with all the variations of flavors included in this recipe. We found the best combination to create a delicious, soft dough that created a chewy cookie every time. It took some trial and error to find the right combination.
Mix Your Dry Ingredients…
First start by mixing your dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. For the base recipe, your dry ingredients include flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk the ingredients together and set the bowl aside.
Cream The Sugar…
Next you will start to cream your fat and sugar. In a large bowl, add softened butter and sugars and start to cream. For our base cookie recipe, we are using half brown sugar and half cane sugar. We felt this added the perfect amount of chewiness and caramelization when the cookies baked. Once you have creamed your sugars and it reaches a creamy, whipped consistency, add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
Mix It All Together…
Lastly, add in your flour mixture. We like to gradually add in our flour mixture and mix until just combined. You want to make sure that you are not over mixing your dough. If you need to, scrape the edges and mix for a couple seconds more to incorporate.
Now that you have your base dough and you can make what-ever flavor you choose. Keep reading below on how to make each cookie flavor with your base dough.
How to Make Each Cookie Flavor
Peanut Butter Sugar Cookie
Using your electric mixer, add 1/2 cup of peanut butter to the batter and mix until incorporated into the dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Refrigerate for an 2 hours before bakings. We found this dough to be a bit softer, so a longer chilling time before baking resulted in a better cookie texture.
Once chilled, pour course sugar into a bowl. Roll cookies into even dough balls and roll in the sugar, coating the whole surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Christmas Sprinkle Cookie
This is the easiest dough to make because you are not altering the base dough. You will want to start by chilling your base dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap.
Once the dough has chilled, remove from fridge. Pour assorted holiday sprinkles into a bowl and roll your even dough balls in the sprinkles, coating the whole surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Once you have your base dough prepped, add 1 cup of dark chocolate chips and 1 cup of roughly chopped tiny pretzel twists to the dough. Mix in your stand mixer until pretzels and chocolate are incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookie
Once you have your base dough prepped, add 1 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup white chocolate chip morsels and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. Mix in your stand mixer until pretzels and chocolate are incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Candy Cane Cocoa Cookies
In your mixing bowl with your base dough, add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. Mix on medium speed until cocoa powder is mixed well into the dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 15 minutes or until completely cooled. In a small bowl, melt white chocolate melting chips. Dip your cookies in the white chocolate or spread with a knife and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
Want to make all 5 Flavors in One Batch?
Yes, there is a way to make all 5 flavors with one batch of dough!! If you are wanting to make all 5 flavors in one batch, here is what we recommend. You will need to make adjustments to the amount of dough you make and the portions of your add-ins to make each flavor. We’ve added some of our baking notes below to accomplish this.
First, DOUBLE the base dough recipe. This will allow you to have enough dough to make about 12-15 cookies of each flavor.
Second: Roughly FIFTH the dough. We aren’t super technical, jus make sure your dough is as evenly separated into five different dough balls.
Third: Adjust your add-in amounts. You will need to decrease the amount of peanut butter, cocoa powder, oats, chocolate and pretzels. See notes below for each flavor:
- Peanut Butter Sugar Cookie: Reduce Peanut butter to 1/4 cup peanut butter.
- Christmas Sprinkle Cookie: No adjustments to add-in’s you will just use less sprinkles to coat the dough balls.
- Dark Chocolate Pretzel: Reduce amount of chopped pretzels and chocolate chips. Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup pretzels.
- Cranberry White Chocolate Oat Cookie: Reduce amount of oats, white chocolate chips and cranberries in dough. Add 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup cranberries
- Candy Cane Cocoa Cookies: Reduce amount of cocoa to about 3 Tbsp cocoa powder.
One Easy Cookie Dough 5 Different Ways
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
Vanilla Base Cookie Dough
- 2 1/2 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup butter ((2 sticks))
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Peanut Butter Cookie
- 3/4 cup coarse sugar (for coating )
Christmas Sugar Cookie
- assorted Christmas sprinkles
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Cookie
- 1 cup tiny pretzel twists (roughly chopped)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookie
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Candy Cane Cocoa
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup white chocolate melting wafers
- 5 candy canes (crushed)
Instructions
Vanilla Base Dough
- Start by mixing the dry ingredients – flour, salt and baking powder- in a medium sized bowl. Whisk the ingredients together and set the bowl aside.
- Next you will start to cream your fat and sugar. In a large bowl, add softened butter and sugars. Turn to medium speed and mix until you have creamed your sugars and it reaches a creamy, whipped consistency. Add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
- Lastly, add in your flour mixture. We like to gradually add in our flour mixture and mix until just combined (making sure not to over mix). If you need to, scrape the edges and mix for a couple seconds more to incorporate.
- Now that you have your base dough and you can make what-ever flavor you choose.
Peanut Butter Cookie
- Using your electric mixer, add 1/2 cup of peanut butter to the batter and mix until incorporated into the dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Refrigerate for an 2 hours before bakings. We found this dough to be a bit softer, so a longer chilling time before baking resulted in a better cookie texture.
Once chilled, pour course sugar into a bowl. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll cookies into even dough balls and roll in the sugar, coating the whole surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Christmas Sugar Cookie
- This is the easiest dough to make because you are not altering the base dough. You will want to start by chilling your base dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap.
Once the dough has chilled, remove from fridge. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour assorted holiday sprinkles into a bowl and roll your even dough balls in the sprinkles, coating the whole surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Cookie
- Once you have your base dough prepped, add 1 cup of dark chocolate chips and 1 cup of roughly chopped tiny pretzel twists to the dough. Mix in your stand mixer until pretzels and chocolate are incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookie
- Once you have your base dough prepped, add 1 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup white chocolate chip morsels and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. Mix in your stand mixer until pretzels and chocolate are incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown on the edges. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Candy Cane Cocoa Cookie
- In your mixing bowl with your base dough, add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. Mix on medium speed until cocoa powder is mixed well into the dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic cling wrap. Chill your dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, roll into even dough balls, about 1 inch thick. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven. Cool dough on a cooling rack for 15 minutes or until completely cooled. In a small bowl, melt white chocolate melting chips. Dip your cookies in the white chocolate or spread with a knife and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
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