These soft, nutmeg and eggnog cookies with creamy eggnog filling are the perfect cookie for the eggnog lover in your life!
I’ve had a pint of eggnog in my refrigerator for about 10 days now. I don’t even drink eggnog. But… I have baked with it in the past. Last year I made cinnamon eggnog & bourbon cupcakes that I rave reviews about. This year, I wanted to try something a little different.
I had seen eggnog drop cookies that were iced all over Pinterest. I’m sure they were all delicious, but I wanted a cookie that looked a little more polished and finished. So, I set out to come up with a recipe that I could roll out and cut with a cookie cutter!
I started with a basic sugar cookie recipe. To compensate for the eggnog I wanted to add to the batter, I needed to reduce some of the other wet ingredients. I figured the fat and the egg would be the best… since there was both of those in the eggnog itself.
The batter – well it was delicious on it’s own. I took one lick off the beater and I was like WOAH this is so much better than I thought it would be! I mean, I expected the eggnog flavor to be there… but I didn’t think it’d be that strong! I was so excited to get them baked!
Although the cookies looked neater, being a cutout cookie – they were still a little plain. So, I decided to put two of them together and fill them with an eggnog frosting. This frosting is essentially a buttercream, but it’s not a thick as what I’d use to frost a cupcake. To get the rich, eggnog flavor – I didn’t use any milk or cream… all eggnog. And of course, I whipped the heck out of it to get it fluffy and smooth!
Serious amounts of eggnog flavor in these cookies. Serious amounts of yum. So, if you’re looking for something a little different this holiday season and you absolutely love eggnog… try these eggnog cookies! They won’t disappoint!
Enjoy!
Eggnog Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup eggnog
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2" cutter (I used a snowflake shape)
Filling
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 5 Tbsp eggnog
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- sugar crystals in various colors (I used red/green and blue)
Instructions
Cookies
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and egg until smooth and fluffy - about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggnog and mix until completely smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure everything has been incorporated.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg.
- Add the flour to the wet mixture and mix on medium-high until the dough comes together.
- Bring the dough together in a loose ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm. (NOTE - If you have time, you can chill in your fridge for 4-5 hours or overnight instead.)
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove about 1/3 of the dough and place the remaining back in the freezer.
- On a generously floured surface, knead the reserved dough 5-8 times or until it's not sticky anymore.
- Reflour your surface and roll the dough to 1/8" thickness.
- Cut out the same shape using your 2" cutter and place the dough on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 4-6 minutes or until the top is firm and the edges have barely begun to brown. Do not over bake! Mine took exactly 5 minutes to bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan for about 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar and nutmeg then mix on high until incorporated.
- Add 4-5 Tbsp eggnog and vanilla then mix until smooth. If you'd like a thinner filling, add more eggnog.
- Mix on high for 2 minutes.
Assembly
- Using a piping bag fitting with a small round tip - pipe the filling onto the bottom side of one cookie. Place another cookie, bottom down on the frosting, on top. Don't press the top down too hard - you don't want the filling oozing out the sides.
- Roll the sides of each cookie in the sugar crystals.
- Let the cookie set out for a few hours to allow the frosting to set up.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- If the filling is still soft, place them in the freezer to firm for an hour. Then store them in the refrigerator. Remove 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
While you're not working with the dough or while the cutout dough is waiting to bake... keep the dough chilled. If you want to cut out all the dough at once, prep a few cookie sheets with parchment paper and keep the cutout dough chilling on the cookie sheets in the freezer while they wait their turn to bake.