Eggnog cookies are festive, sweet cookies that melt in your mouth. They are soft and fluffy that tastes incredibly like eggnog and drizzled with a sweet eggnog glaze. They’ll be the most popular treat at the Christmas cookie exchange!
My heart jumps for joy every time I see eggnog in the grocery store this time of year. That means it’s officially Christmas season!
My husband’s face light up the first time I bring home this delicious holiday drink. It’s not just for drinking in my house though, I put it in EVERYTHING! It makes its way into pancakes, French Toast, cakes, and many other desserts.
One of my favorite things to make with eggnog is a batch of these cookies. Kids wait very impatiently for the oven to ding and the cookies to cool. Even if you don’t love the eggnog itself, you’re going to LOVE these cookies.
Ingredients in Eggnog Cookies
For your cookie dough, you’ll need:
- Unsalted Butter – Make sure you’re not using salted butter. You have a better control of salt content when you can add a pinch yourself.
- Brown Sugar – use light or dark, it’s a personal choice. Dark brown sugar has a higher molasses content.
- Salt – Just a pinch will do!
- Flour – all purpose flour is your best choice.
- Nutmeg – This is a key ingredient not just in these cookies, but in a traditional eggnog recipe as well! Nutmeg gives the dessert a richer flavor and aroma.
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon gives this treat just the right amount of spice.
- Baking Powder – make sure it’s fresh and not expired so it performs best for you.
- Egg Yolks – Don’t forget to separate the whites and the yolks! The yolks will make your cookies nice and chewy.
- Eggnog – Any brand will do, as long as it’s tasty! I recommend choosing whichever your favorite to drink is, that way you know you’ll love it. There are also brands of dairy-free eggnog for those who need to use a dairy free option.
- Rum Extract – Just a splash of this extract adds a delicious richness and spice to your cookies.
The homemade icing only needs these 3 simple ingredients:
- Powdered sugar – This is the most important ingredient in just about all icing recipes! It dissolves into the other ingredients without heat, making it so easy to mix.
- Ground Nutmeg – Just like in the cookie dough, nutmeg is perfect for pairing for anything eggnog.
- Eggnog – make sure to warm it up for smooth icing.
How to Make Soft Eggnog Cookies
In just a few easy to follow steps, you’re going to have your new favorite Christmas cookie!
To start:
Prepare the butter and eggs. Let the butter and eggs adjust to room temperature for about 45 minutes before you begin whipping up this recipe.
Separate the yolks. Once the eggs are at room temp, separate the yolks from the whites. (You can discard the whites, or I like to save it and make egg white omelet or use in another recipe. Just make sure to cover, refrigerate, and use within a day.)
Next, make the cookie dough:
Mix the butter and sugar. Your butter should be soft at this point, making this step easy. In an electronic mixer, beat these ingredients together on medium-high speed. After a while, scrape the bowl and beat for an additional minute, making sure everything is fully mixed.
Add rum extract and egg yolks. Keeping the speed at medium-high, toss in these ingredients and keep mixing until everything is fully incorporated.
Add remaining ingredients. Lower the speed of your mixer and add everything else. The flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and eggnog are going to transform your mixture into the most mouthwatering cookie dough! Make sure you keep beating the dough just until everything is combined.
Scoop cookie dough. Once scooped, gently roll each ball of dough into a ball. Work quickly, placing each ball onto a prepared baking sheet. They’ll need to be about 2 inches apart, so they don’t bake into each other.
Bake and cool the cookies. Let the cookies bake for about 11-13 minutes. Keep an eye on them! Once they’re baked, let them cool for a while on a wire rack before adding the homemade icing.
How to Make Icing for Cookies
Make sure to prepare the icing when cookies are cooled and ready to be drizzled in icing.
Prepare the ingredients. Place the powdered sugar and ground nutmeg in a bowl. Then, warm the eggnog for just a few seconds in the microwave. Once warmed, pour the eggnog into the bowl.
Whisk the mixture. Keep whisking until there are no bumps from the powdered sugar. When the icing is completely smooth, it’s ready to go!
Drizzle the icing. If you have kids, this is the fun part for them! Drizzle the icing over the room temperature cookies. It can be as neat or as messy as you want – the cookies will be delicious no matter what! Enjoy!
STORING INSTRUCTIONS
You can store these cookies at room temperature or in the refrigerator. At room temperature, store them in an air-tight container for about 2 days. If you need to store them longer, place them in the refrigerator. Make sure to keep them in an air-tight container.
MORE EGGNOG RECIPES
If you happen to be an eggnog lover like my family, I have a few other recipes that you’ll fall in love with all season long.
Eggnog cookie balls are classic Christmas Eve cookies in my house. We also love leaving spiced eggnog cookies with eggnog glaze out for Santa!
If you’re looking to really impress an audience with a holiday dessert, be sure to check out these recipes for eggnog poke cake and eggnog cheesecake.
To incorporate some great eggnog flavor into your breakfast, make a batch of Eggnog Pancakes or Eggnog French Toast.
If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @willcookforsmiles and #willcookforsmiles so I can see all the things you tried!
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Eggnog Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup eggnog
- 1 tsp rum extract
Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp eggnog warmed
Instructions
- Take butter and eggs out of the refrigerator and leave it on the counter to get to room temperature for 30-45 minutes.
- When the eggs are at room temperature, separate egg yolks from egg whites. (You can discard egg whites or use it to make an egg-white omelet or something else.)
Prepare cookie dough:
- Preheat oven to 350° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugars together for a couple of minutes in an electric mixer on medium-high speed.
- Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and beat for another minute.
- Beat in rum extract and egg yolks.
- Lower the speed to low and mix in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and eggnog.
- Beat just until combined. Turn off the mixer, scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and make sure that all ingredients are mixed evenly.
- Use a cooking scoop (preferably #50) to scoop cookie dough and quickly but gently roll it into a ball.
- Place all rolled cookie dough onto the prepare baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Baking:
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie.
- Cool cookies on a wire rack before adding icing.
Icing:
- Place powdered sugar and ground nutmeg into a wide and shallow bowl.
- Warm up eggnog for only a few seconds (until hot but not too hot where it's boiling) in a microwave and mix it into the powdered sugar.
- Keep whisking until the icing in completely smooth.
- Drizzle the icing over cooled cookies.
Nutrition
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