Perfect for any holiday cookie tray, these Old Fashioned Cherry Christmas Cookies are a seasonal classic. This slice and bake cookie recipe is pretty as well as delicious. They are also perfect if you like to get ahead, as you can make the dough rolls in late November/early December. Then just stash them in the freezer until it’s time to slice and bake them.
My late Mom used to make these colourful Cherry Christmas Cookies. I have fond memories of eating them when I was very little. They are also one of the first cookies I began to bake by myself.
As a kid, I always loved taking little holiday cookie trays round for neighbours and friends as holiday gifts. I used these Cherry Christmas Cookies on these gifted cookie plates because they are so colourful and pretty. They remind me of stained glass windows.
Fast forward to when I was a young wife and mum living in England, and I wanted to make these beautiful cookies once again. It proved slightly harder than I expected. The first challenge was getting such colourful glacé cherries. When I first lived in England in the late 1980’s the only glacé cherries you could buy were red, and not a bright red at that. In fact, it took me several years before I could source bright red and green glacé cherries.
Cherry Christmas Cookies – A Great Make Ahead Treat
The dough for Cherry Christmas Cookies can be made up to three weeks ahead and frozen, ready to slice and bake. It’s a great way to get ahead with your holiday cookie tray preparations. I also like to keep the rolls of dough on hand in the freezer to make cookies for last minute guests.
Cherry Christmas Cookies’ colourful appearance makes them perfect for putting in little treat bags as well. They make a really nice hostess gift, and still feature on my gifted holiday cookie plates as well.
Your family will love this crunchy, chewy holiday classic, a lovely cookie to have on hand all season long.
What If I’m Allergic to Nuts?
You can leave the nuts out of this recipe. The texture of the cookies is slightly different, but the cookies still taste delicious.
Cherry Christmas Cookies – Printable Recipe
Cherry Christmas Cookies – an Old Fashioned Slice and Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup icing sugar icing sugar is also known as confectioner's sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups colourful candied cherries, halved It is nice to use an assortment of colours like red, green and gold if possible, but just red and green are fine too.
- ¾ cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). You may need to set the temperature a bit lower for a fan or convection oven.
- Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer.
- Add the egg and either the vanilla or almond extract to the butter and sugar mixture.
- Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the flour, beating in slowly a bit at a time..
- Remove the bowl from the electric mixer and fold in the cherry halves and chopped pecans using a wooden spoon.
- Put the dough in the fridge for an hour.
- Shape the dough into 3 rolls, each about 9 to 10 inches long.
- Wrap the dough rolls in cling film (plastic wrap) and either refrigerate for up to 3 days, or place the rolls in freezer bags and freeze for up to 2 months.
- When ready to bake, remove the rolls from the fridge or freezer and allow to warm up a little.
- Gently roll the wrapped rolls on a flat surface to ensure they are round and don’t have a flat edge where they have been sitting.
- Cut the chilled or frozen rolls in ⅛ inch slices.
- Bake on ungreased baking sheets for 10 – 12 minutes until the edges of the cookies are beginning to turn golden.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
did you make this recipe?
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More Recipes for Holiday Treats
Aunt Dorothy’s Old Fashioned Butterscotch Squares
Comments & Reviews
April, those cookies look delicious!
Thank you so much, Cristina!
Oh these look scrumptious! I love all the festive colors! Pinning this one for later for sure.
Thank you, Johanna, and thank you for pinning too!
These cookies look so perfect to pass around at Christmastime and probably taste even better than they look! I can’t wait to try to make them myself. I love that they can be made beforehand then sliced and baked. Thank you for sharing your mom’s recipe!
Thank you, Catherine! I hope you enjoy them, and that they become part of your family’s traditions too!
These cookies look fabulous, thanks for sharing. I am visiting you from a full plate link party. I followed you on Pinterest and IG and would love if you followed back. TIA https://WeDishItUp.com
Thank you, Stacy. It’s lovely to ‘meet’ you! Thank you for the follows. I’ve followed you back, and I look forward to reading more of your blog!
At what temperature am I baking these?
Your awesome post was featured on Full Plate Thursday,464. Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us and hope you have a great New Year! Hope to see you in 2020!
Miz Helen
Thank you so much for the feature, Miz Helen! Happy New Year!
I love a bake ahead recipe. We just don’t ‘do’ cookies the way you Americans do, PINNED ready for the holidays.
Pamela x
http://www.style-yourself-confident.com
Thank you so much for pinning the recipe, Pamela. This recipe is better frozen unbaked though. Just freeze the cookie dough rolls. You can freeze the cookies after slicing and baking but they won’t be as nice.
I’m actually British and Canadian, not American, although we travel to the US a lot and always enjoy our time there 🙂 I’ve lived in the UK for over 30 years now. For much of that time, I’ve been on a one woman mission to share the joys of cookies with my fellow Brits 😉
The colors in these cookies first caught my eye. I have never heard of glace cherries before, but I just Googled it, and found I can order them online. Might have to just give this a try.
I love how colourful they are too, Alexandra 🙂 I buy my glacé cherries online as well. There’s an affiliate link in the text of the blog post to the ones I get.
What beautiful cookies for the holidays April! They remind me of fruitcake in a cookie form!
Thank you so much, Leslie!
Delightful cookies & so easy love the idea of being able to make in advance.
These cookies are easy but I would like to add I used icing sugar to roll the dough into 3 rolls which stop it sticking.
Any more cookie recipes
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Carole. I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies.
I haven’t had a lot of issues with the dough sticking myself, but that is a great idea to use the icing sugar! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I’m working on some more cookie recipes to share soon, but in the meantime, you can find some more here which I hope you will enjoy https://apriljharris.com/category/food/by-course/desserts/cookies/
I love this recipe for the holidays April, the cookies look like mini fruitcakes! I think I could easily make them gluten free!
Thank you, Leslie! They really are cute cookies 🙂 I think they would be great made gluten free. Please let me know how it goes if you do try!
Hi I made these last month. They are so easy to make. My husband and I ate them all before Christmas. Today I’m making another batch…… but will bake them just before Christmas. Really Good thanks
Hi Doris,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I am so glad you and your husband enjoyed the cookies. They are definitely a favourite with my family and friends. I love that the recipe can be made in advance and baked at Christmas – such a great way to make things more relaxing at a busy time.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas! x