This Easy Hanukkah Cookie Hack Is So Cute

I love discovering a new baking hack, and while scrolling through Instagram for longer than I care to admit publicly, I came across these adorable Christmas cookies using plastic numbers to countdown to the holiday. We don’t exactly have the same concept of a holiday countdown for Hanukkah (although we do have counting the Omer after Passover!), but I thought this idea might lend itself well to some very cute and easily decorated cookies. Easy, I promise.

All you need to make these adorable treats is store-bought sugar cookie dough (you could make your own, but why?), store-bought blue (or white) icing and non-pareil style sprinkles. The last items you will need are Hanukkah-shaped cookie cutters like these. The ones I have at home are approximately two inches, which is why you want to ensure your cookie will be large enough when baked to accommodate the size of your cookie cutters. When baked, my cookies were about three inches wide.

Baking with kids can seem like fun (in the Instagram version of your life) when in reality it can be frustrating and messy — but these decorated cookies come together quickly and are simple enough that your kids can actually make them together with you, without losing their attention span. It is also an idea you could replicate all year long with different types of cookie cutters, colors and sprinkles.

Ingredients:

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1 package store-bought sugar cookie dough (I used Pillsbury)
1 tube of blue icing
Blue and white sprinkles (non-pareil style ideally)

Additional equipment: Jewish-shaped cookie cutters.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
Remove cookies from the package and combine two rounds together if using the pre-cut cookies. If using the tube, slice a piece of dough around 1 inch thick. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of space around each cookie (at least 2 inches) since these will spread.
Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes or until just starting to turn golden around the edges.
Immediately after they come out of the oven, gently press a cookie cutter into the cookie, but not all the way thorough; you just want to create an indentation. Allow the cookies to cool completely.
Using blue or white icing, trace the line that the cookie cutter created with the icing. Top with sprinkles and then shake off any excess.

Shannon Sarna

Shannon Sarna is Editor of The Nosher. Born to an Italian mother who loved to bake, a Jewish father who loved to experiment, and a food chemist grandfather, loving and experimenting with diverse foods is simply in her blood. Her writing and recipes have been featured in Tablet Magazine, JTA News, New Jersey Monthly Magazine, The Jewish Week, Joy of Kosher Magazine, Vinepair, Modern Loss and Buzzfeed. She graduated from Smith College in Northampton, MA with a degree in Comparative Government and Spanish Language and Literature and lives in South Orange, NJ with her husband, daughters and rescue dogs. To see what Shannon is cooking and eating, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.