All the flavors of the classic holiday drink in a soft, fluffy cookie! These eggnog cookies are packed with warm spices, topped with an eggnog icing and are the perfect treat to bring to holiday parties this year.
Soft Eggnog Cookies
One thing that’s always at the top of my list around Christmas is making homemade eggnog! I love the flavor, and if you feel the same, you’ll love these eggnog cookies plus eggnog fudge, eggnog pie and eggnog French toast, too.
These eggnog cookies are soft and have classic eggnog flavor in every bite. The eggnog flavor is even in the powdered sugar icing! They are the perfect Christmas cookie to enjoy this season along with classics like snickerdoodles and ginger molasses cookies.
Recipe Ingredients
With just a few baking staples, some warm spices and this popular creamy holiday drink, you’ll have eggnog cookies ready to add to your Christmas dessert board in no time!
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Baking staples: All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt.
- Eggnog: You can use whatever kind of eggnog you like to make these Christmas cookies. I usually just use whatever I have on hand since you only use just over a half cup. However Darigold eggnog is my favorite.
- Spices: A mix of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves add the perfect holiday warmth to these eggnog cookies.
- Icing: An easy eggnog glaze made with just powdered sugar and eggnog. You can adjust the flavor to suit your flavor preferences by adding either more or less of each. It’s meant to be drizzled over the top of the cookie, rather than fully covered by it. That’s the best way to get a balanced flavor. Top it off with a shake of nutmeg and you’ve got the perfect eggnog cookie!
Variations
To enhance the eggnog flavor, try substituting the vanilla with rum extract instead. You can also sprinkle in more spices for a bolder taste or use other varieties like all-spice or cardamom.
A cream cheese glaze would also taste delicious drizzled over the tops, or you can even frost the entire cookie with a creamy eggnog frosting, classic buttercream or a tangy cream cheese frosting.
Add a maple glaze like in my maple brown sugar cookies for seasonal flavor!
How to Make Eggnog Cookies
Ready in just 30 minutes from start to finish, this eggnog cookie recipe is the perfect holiday dessert to whip up when you’re short on time!
- Dry ingredients. Start by whisking together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
- Wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars. Add the eggs (yolks only) and vanilla and mix until smooth. Then pour in the eggnog and beat until creamy.
- Combine. Slowly add the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients until combined. Then place the dough in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes.
- Scoop. Use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop the dough onto the baking sheet. Then bake at 350°F for about 15 to 20 minutes. You don’t want to overbake these eggnog cookies…the bottoms should just be barely golden.
- Icing. While the cookies cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and eggnog until it’s smooth and drippy. Add more powdered sugar to thicken the consistency, or more eggnog to thin it out.
- Drizzle. Use a spoon or piping bag to drizzle the icing on top of the cooled cookies. Then finish them off with a small sprinkle of nutmeg for good measure!
Expert Tips
- No overbaking. This is supposed to be a soft cookie, so you definitely don’t want them to overbake. Remove them from the oven when the bottoms are just barely golden. This way they stay soft and fluffy in the centers, with a slightly crisp edge. Perfection!
- Chill the dough. I recommend chilling the cookie dough in the refrigerator for about 20 to 30 minutes before baking. This is the secret to eggnog cookies that are super thick and chewy. Don’t skip this step if you have the time!
- Let cool. Give the cookies time to cool before drizzling with the glaze. This way it holds it’s shape on top and doesn’t melt from the warmth.
Recipe FAQs
Eggnog is one of those flavors that you either love or hate. It is thick and creamy with heavy vanilla flavor and notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Traditional eggnog is made with cream and eggs, so there’s a depth to the flavor profile.
This cookie recipe has the same eggnog flavor, but before you skip making it because you don’t like eggnog, my non-loving eggnog friends have tried it and then begged for the recipe!
You can, although using a full fat, high quality brand of eggnog will definitely give these cookies the best flavor. It’s worth the splurge in my opinion!
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3 to 5 days. You can also freeze these eggnog cookies for up to 2 months, however I would recommend leaving off the icing if you have plans to freeze them.
No problem, simply cut the recipe in half! Two dozen is the perfect amount if you’re making these cookies for a cookie exchange or larger crowd, however you can definitely make less if you don’t need so many.
Looking for more holiday treats? Try my gingerbread man cookies, eggnog cupcakes or this delicious chocolate peanut butter fudge.
More Christmas Cookies
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Eggnog Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar , packed
- ¾ cup butter , slightly softened
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup eggnog , I used Darigold
Icing:
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons eggnog
- ground nutmeg , for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks and vanilla to the mixture and beat until smooth. Finally, add in eggnog and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Slowly add flour mixture into the eggnog mixture and stir until combined. Chill dough for 20 minutes.
- Use a cookie scoop or drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. Do not over cook. Remove cookies from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
- For the icing, whisk powdered sugar and eggnog together. Add more of each, depending on the consistency you prefer.
- Drizzle icing on cooled cookies and sprinkle with nutmeg. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Freezer-Friendly, Frosted Cookies, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly, Nut-Free, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
My family has been making Christmas cookies for generations. We’ve handed down recipes that are a “must make” every year. After I introduced this recipe a few years ago, it has quickly become a staple in the rotation of “must make” every year. The cookies have an excellent eggnog flavor, are soft, and just right every time when you follow the instructions as written. Thank you for a new family favorite!
Thanks for sharing Kerry! That makes me so happy to hear they’ve become part of your families tradition!
Can you make this recipe with low fat eggnog?
I think that would be just fine! :)
Can’t wait to make these! Can you freeze them with the icing already on?
Hi Lauren! I usually recommend frosting fresh since icing doesn’t freeze great. But they should be fine for a couple weeks if you would like to do it before.
These were amazing. I used light eggnog and they turned out amazing. tysm!
My husband LOVES eggnog, so these were a hit! Thanks for sharing.
My family of eight *loves* these cookies!
They are soft and chewy and have so much eggnog flavor! Buy the best eggnog you can, as the flavor is best with a higher quality eggnog.
In my oven (which seems fairly consistent/accurate) these cookies were perfect at 17 minutes. I used parchment paper and let them cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. Seriously, so good!!
New favorite for the holidays!
Thank you!
So glad your family loves them! I agree, high quality egg nog makes a difference :)
Great recipe! The only thing I changed was the amount of nutmeg in the batter to 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, based on personal preference, and upped the cinnamon to 1tsp. These were phenomenal and won the approval of the local police department! LOL
I’m so glad they were a hit! Thanks for sharing your substitutions!
I have made a ton of cookies to include these. I followed this recipe and I was severely disappointed. I should have known better when I realized this recipe didn’t include salt. I also was shocked to see a bake time of 15-20 minutes for a drop cookie. I suspected that may have been off and I was right. I checked them after 10 minutes and they were perfectly brown on the bottom and raw on top, any longer and they would have been burnt. I tasted it to see how they turned out and they had zero flavor. I even kicked up the spices a little and they did nothing. It almost tasted like baked flour with an aftertaste of melted butter. I’m wondering if maybe the recipe was recorded incorrectly. These were supposed to be for work and now I can’t bring them in.
There is salt in the recipe. The problem I had is they came out a bit flatter than pictured. They taste amazing though!