Jingle Bell Bites (Holiday Shortbread Cookies) (2024)

December 9, 2014

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Jingle Bell Bites are tiny holiday shortbread cookies speckled with green and red nonpareils for fun Christmas cheer! These Christmas shortbread sprinkle cookies are perfect for a Christmas treat bag!

You saw these shortbread cookie bites during Halloween, and now I'm introducing them again for Christmas. Jingle Bell Bites! It took me up until just five seconds ago to finally decide on what I would name these this time around. I started with "HO! HO! Bites" to keep in line with the "BOO! Bites", but then I changed to "Holiday Bites" and then finalized with "Jingle Bell Bites".

Ah, the life of a food blogger trying to figure out the perfect name when all I really want is to share a fantastic recipe idea with you! Name it what you want! 😉 I even sometimes call them Holiday Shortbread Cookies.

You should add these Jingle Bell Bites to your Christmas basket list because it makes quite a bit! It's a nice palette cleanser from the other very sweet things you may be including in your baskets, giving your gift recipients a little taste buds break! They're also super easy to whip up and hold up for days. You can even freeze the shortbread cookie bites!

These tiny shortbread cookies are incredibly easy to make. Mix together a quick dough, press into a square baking dish and cut into tiny little squares. Bake and voila! Done!

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4.48 from 131 votes

Jingle Bell Bites (Holiday Shortbread Cookies)

Jingle Bell Bites are tiny holiday shortbread cookies speckled with green and red nonpareils for fun Christmas cheer! These Christmas shortbread sprinkle cookies are perfect for a Christmas treat bag!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: American, Scottish

Keyword: Christmas Shortbread Cookies, Holiday Bites, Holiday Shortbread Cookies, Jingle Bell Bites, shortbread, Shortbread Cookies, sprinkle cookies, tiny shortbread cookies

Servings: 12 -18 servings

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature (plus more to butter the pan)
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons Christmas colored nonpareils

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x8-inch pan, then line with parchment paper, pressing the sides and corners to stick.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and extract at medium speed until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour and salt. Mix on low speed until well mixed. Stir in the nonpareils until evenly distributed.
Use your hands to knead 4 to 5 times to form a dough ball. Transfer the dough to the lined pan and press evenly into the bottom. Use the parchment paper to lift the dough from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut the dough into ½-inch square pieces (a pizza cutter works well). Place the squares ½-inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet; discard parchment paper. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until bottoms just begin to brown.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Land O Lakes

Notes

If dough is too dry, add a splash of milk until mixture comes together. Don't add too much!
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Too soft, and the cookies will spread. Too cold and the dough will be too dry.
Nutrition information is an estimate only.

Nutrition

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