Christmas Meltaway Cookies + Video
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Meltaway cookies are a soft, lightly sweet shortbread cookie that literally melts away in your mouth. Top it with a thin glaze and red and green sprinkles for a festive Christmas cookie treat.
These meltaway cookies remind me of when I was working in a bakery about 8 years ago now. We made them a lot for weddings and such. They were actually quite popular and easy to make.
Meltaway cookies are very basic — butter, powdered sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, salt and flour. NO EGGS OR BAKING SODA. The reason being, is that they are a shortbread cookie, not a sugar cookie, even though they look like one.
The cornstarch and powdered sugar make these meltaway cookies literally melt away into a buttery pleasure of sweet powder in your mouth.
The glaze on top adds just enough sweetness to the meltaway cookies to have a complete treat, and the red and green sprinkles are just for fun. These are great cookies for Christmas neighbor gifts!
Christmas Meltaway Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, (1 ½ sticks or 12 Tbsp) room temperature
- ½ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (80 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour, (stir, spoon & level)
Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups (180 g) powdered sugar
- 3 to 4 Tbsp milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla or almond extract
Optional:
- red & green sprinkles/nonpareils
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter with the powdered sugar and cornstarch. Add vanilla. Mix well.
- Combine the salt and flour. Add to the batter. Mix until dough clumps together.
- Scoop cookie dough onto silicone lined baking sheets. Flatten dough balls with the bottom of a measuring cup dipped in powdered sugar.
- Bake at 350˚F for 8 to 12 minutes until just set. Do not over-bake.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze adding extra milk 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency. (Keep it slightly thick, a little milk goes a long way.) Spoon on top of cooled cookies.
- Immediately shake sprinkles on top of wet glaze. Allow glaze to harden. Store cookies in an airtight container up to 5 days.
110 Comments on “Christmas Meltaway Cookies + Video”
Yum! Made these for a cookie exchange and all loved them! Will be making these again!
Wonderful! Glad you liked them!
Hi! Are these similar to Lofthouse Cookies?
No; Lofthouse cookies are much heavier than meltaways
Hi Sarah,
Meltaway cookies are more similar to a shortbread cookie than a sugar (Lofthouse) cookie. They are very lightly sweet. Most of the sweetness comes from the glaze on top. Since the cookie doesn’t have any leavener (eggs, baking soda, etc.) it has a different texture. The cookie itself crumbles, and then dissolves in your mouth while you are eating it. It’s pretty different, but worth trying. If you’ve had snowball cookies, they’re kind of like that, but lighter and more delicate.
Thanks for taking time to answer my question! I think my mother in law might love these! I’ll let you know! merry Christmas!🎄
Truly a keeper. They definitely melt in your mouth. So good.
Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi, Do you think a “nondairy butter” would work in this recipe?? Thank you. Love shortbread, allergy in the family.
I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it myself, but I’m guessing that would be ok from what I’ve read through researching online. Coconut oil or shortening should also work.
I made these awhile back and put a thumb print in the center then added raspberry jam in the divot. I still put the icing on the top. This became an instant hit and I make them all the time for family and special events. This has become my go-to cookie recipe.
Yum! Love that idea! Thanks for sharing!
I made these at Christmas and they were a huge hit. I varied the recipe by adding raspberry jam to the center where I had made an impression with my thumb then baked the normal time. Afterwards i added the glaze over the jam. I made some cookies with the glaze and colored sprinkles. They were all Super! Love these and my coworkers were very happy too.
That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing Denise!
Just made 2 batches of these & followed the recipe exactly, wow! Super easy and absolutely fantastic! The kids loved these, these are just like those melt away cookies you find at the store with frosting. The icing was super easy and I love the flavor. We used vanilla extract but I bet peppermint extract would be great too. Thank you for sharing!
That’s great! Thanks for your comment. Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
My son enjoys the taste of almond. Is this by chance a recipe that would take “kindly” to that flavor? I want to bake cookies this coming weekend. Thanks.
Yes, I actually prefer almond extract in the icing of this cookie. You could probably use it in the cookie dough too.
just made these…had to throw the dough away. Way too dry of a dough. I couldn’t form at all…it seems the ratio of dry to wet is way off.
Next time that happens, try nuking the dough in the microwave to soften the butter. This is typically a very soft, moist dough. The other problem could have been that the flour was packed into the measuring cup. To prevent this, stir and spoon the flour, then level it off.
Same thing happened to me. I had to throw it away. Was way too dry and didn’t form soft dough.
Without the glazing, its already been too sweet my tooth almost falls off. But it truly meltaway like you said. If only i can take pictures.
Those that have play dough taste might hv underbake like some of my batches
Thank u for the recipe!