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These Christmas funfetti butter cookie bites are festive little cookies—perfect for sharing, gifting, or simply savoring all season long! You can even make the dough ahead, slice into bite-sized pieces, and bake when you’re ready. These cookie bites pack perfectly into jars, mugs, or tins to share with family and friends!
If you love homemade Christmas cookies, don’t miss these recipes for No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and Pork Rind and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect for Gifting: These buttery shortbread cookie bites look charming in mugs, jars, or tins—ideal for teachers, neighbors, book clubs, or anyone on your list.
- Festive and Fun: Multicolored nonpareils or seasonal sprinkles add a playful, holiday touch. To make this for other holidays, shape the dough with tiny cookie cutters in shapes that match the season or celebration.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: The dough can be prepped and frozen for up to 2 months, making it easy to bake off batches as needed during the busy holiday rush.
- Effortless Yet Impressive: Slice into hundreds of adorable ½-inch bites from just one batch of dough—no piping, no shaping, just quick cutting and baking.
- Better Than the Classics: These cookies are similar to Danish butter cookies, sugar cookies, or spritz—but are easier, faster, and just as melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Ingredients
Curious what ingredients you need for these Christmas funfetti butter cookie bites? Grab these key ingredients, and you’ll be ready to bake these easy, shareable treats!
- Butter: Use good quality unsalted butter that’s been softened to room temperature. If you can, use European butter (like Kerrygold), as it has a lower water content than American butter and will make your cookies just a little bit better!
- Almond Extract: This extract adds a wonderful flavor to the dough, but may also be substituted with vanilla extract. (If you love almond extract in cookies, don’t miss my Christmassy Pineapple Cherry Nut Cookies!)
- Nonpareils: Nonpareils of any color work beautifully in this recipe! Feel free to change the color based on the season or holiday to make these even more festive.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Switch Up the Sprinkles: Use seasonal or themed nonpareils—pastels for Easter, red and green for Christmas, or pink and blue for baby showers—to match any occasion.
- Get Creative with Shapes: Use mini cookie cutters in fun shapes to suit holidays or events. The smaller the cutter, the better the bite!
- Adjust Size Thoughtfully: If making larger cookie bites, be sure to consider how they’ll fit into gift boxes, jars, or tins.
- Gift with Flair: Display cookie bites in creative containers like dollar-store mugs, small tins, or clear jars for a festive and charming presentation. (These fudgy pecan bourbon balls and no bake gingerbread rum balls are also great gift ideas!)
- Mix and Match Colors: Leftover sprinkles from one celebration? Use them up for the next—these cookies are flexible, fun, and always adorable.
How to Make Christmas Funfetti Butter Cookie Bites
Scroll down for the full printable recipe or stick around for the step-by-step breakdown with photos to walk you through every delicious detail.
1
Make the Cookie Dough
Heat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 1-inch-long overhang on both ends. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Beat softened unsalted butter with sugar and almond extract. I begin on low speed and gradually increase speed as the butter and sugar become creamy. Reduce the speed to low again, then add in flour and salt and beat until mixed. Add the nonpareils (anywhere from 4-7 teaspoonfuls).
2
Assembling the Cookies
Scrape the dough onto a work surface and knead the dough 4 or 5 times, then pat it into the 8 x 8-inch baking dish.
Next, use the plastic film overhangs to lift the dough out of the pan and onto a work surface. Use your rolling pin very lightly, and without pressing down too hard, to smooth the surface of the dough.
Use a long, sharp kitchen knife and a ruler, cut the dough into 1/2-inch squares. (Yes, they’re tiny!) Gently lift the squares using a metal spatula and place them on the prepared sheet about 1/2-inch apart.
3
Baking the Butter Cookie Tidbits
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the bottoms just begin to turn golden brown. Remove the sheets from the oven and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Funfetti or funfetti cake was created in 1989 by the Pillsbury Company who also own the trademark to ‘Funfetti’. Since its inception which began as a marketing campaign, funfetti has become the most popular birthday cake ‘flavor’ right up there next to chocolate! So why not celebrate it by baking it up in a Christmas Butter Cookie recipe?
Yes, that’s right! A funfetti cake is a basic vanilla cake with sprinkles folded into the batter. These cookies are a basic vanilla butter cookie (albeit with almond extract in my version!) with nonpareils added.
These cookie bites keep beautifully when stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. For longer storage, layer them between sheets of wax paper in a sealed tin or plastic container to maintain their crispness.
You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months—just let them cool completely first, then pop them in a freezer-safe bag or container. Let them thaw at room temp before serving or gifting!
Yes, but up to 2 months! Prepare the cookie dough according to the directions in the recipe card below up to the part of slicing the dough into 1/2-inch squares.
Instead, remove the dough from the baking dish using the plastic film overhangs and place directly onto a sheet of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the top very gently, then cover with another sheet of wax paper.
Slip into a gallon-sized zippered freezer bag, label, and freeze. When you are ready to bake, simply pull from the freezer the night before and allow dough to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Slice into tidbits and bake!
Serving Christmas Funfetti Butter Cookie Bites
These funfetti cookie bites are the perfect sweet treat to enjoy at Christmas! Serve them with other cookies like my irresistible Christmas almond cookies, elegant angel wing cookies, and buttery whipped shortbread cookies! Or enjoy them as an ice cream topping.
Want to package these cookie bites for gifts? Package the cookies in jars, festive tins, or clear cellophane gift bags secured with a twist tie, ribbon, or fabric scraps. Tie on a tiny gift tag or glue on a few jingle bells with a hot glue gun. Be creative and have fun!
Expert Tips
- Make sure all of the ingredients are measured out before you start so you’re not hunting things down mid-recipe.
- Use anywhere from 4 to 7 teaspoonfuls of nonpareils. If I do 7 teaspoonfuls, I set 3 teaspoonfuls aside for gently pressing into the dough once it’s all rolled out.
- If the idea of 1/2-inch tidbits aren’t appealing, grab some cute cookie cutters; however, they should be very small shapes to ensure the dough bakes the best way possible.
- I get the best results with this recipe when I use my stand mixer because this is a stiff dough. If, however you prefer to use a hand mixer, you’ll want to do so at medium speed consistently.
- One sheet of dough is equal to 256 half-inch bites of these cuties. I am using them to fill between eight and ten 4-ounce mini mason jars. They’re perfect for gift giving!
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Christmas Funfetti Butter Cookie Bites
Equipment
- 8 x 8-inch baking dish
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 teaspoons nonpareils, any colors
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325°F. Use plastic film to line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan leaving a 1-inch-long overhang on both ends. Set aside. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine a very soft stick of unsalted butter with sugar and almond extract. Beat until creamy. (This dough can be very hard to work with if the butter is not soft, so ensure your butter is pulled from refrigeration well before you plan to bake.)
- Reduce speed to low and add in flour and salt and beat until mixed. Add the nonpareils.
- Use your fingers or a spatula to scrape the dough onto a work surface. Knead the dough 4 or 5 times then pat it into the plastic-lined 8 x 8-inch baking dish. Use the plastic film overhangs to lift the dough out of the pan and onto a work surface. Use your rolling pin very lightly to smooth the surface of the dough. (If using additional nonpareils on the top, sprinkle over now and gently press into the dough.)
- Using a long, sharp kitchen knife and a ruler, cut the dough into 1/2-inch squares. Gently lift the squares and place them onto the lined baking sheet 1/2-inch apart. Discard the plastic wrap. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to turn golden brown. Remove the sheets from the oven and allow to cool.
- Package for gifting or store in an airtight container for up to 10 days. Happy Holidays!
Notes
- Use anywhere from 4 to 7 teaspoonfuls of nonpareils. If I do 7 teaspoonfuls, I set 3 teaspoonfuls aside for gently pressing into the dough once it’s all rolled out.
- If the idea of 1/2-inch tidbits aren’t appealing, grab some cute cookie cutters; however, they should be very small shapes to ensure the dough bakes the best way possible.
- One sheet of dough is equal to 256 half-inch bites of these cuties. I am using them to fill between eight and ten 4-ounce mini mason jars. They’re perfect for gift giving!
- Make Ahead Up to 2 Months: Prepare the cookie dough according to the directions in the recipe card but do NOT cut the dough. Remove the dough from the baking dish using the plastic film overhangs and place directly onto a sheet of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the top very gently, then cover with another sheet of wax paper. Slip into a gallon-sized zippered freezer bag, label, and freeze. When ready to bake, pull from freezer and thaw in refrigerator overnight. Slice into tidbits and bake!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Jenny, I was so excited to made these but I did something wrong. The dough was all crumbly. I was not able to cut it, it just fell apart. So I pressed the dough back in the pan and bake it. The flavor was delicious but still fell apart when cutting.(My husband was happy because it was all for him). Could you tell me what I did wrong because I would love to make them again. Thank you Lynn 4 stars for flavor
Lynn, first of all — bless your husband for bravely stepping up and eating the evidence. 😂 That’s true holiday teamwork right there.
What likely happened is that your dough didn’t quite have enough moisture to bind, which is very common with shortbread-style cookies. These doughs are famously fussy if the butter isn’t very soft or if the flour gets even a little over-measured. The good news? You didn’t ruin a thing — the delicious flavor tells me everything else was spot on.
For next time, I’d recommend:
Letting the butter soften until it’s almost creamy on its own
Measuring flour by spooning it lightly into the cup and leveling it off
And if the dough still feels crumbly, add 1–2 teaspoons of cream or milk and gently press it together
You absolutely had the right instinct pressing it back into the pan — that’s exactly how these cookies want to be handled when they’re feeling stubborn.
Thank you so much for baking along with me and for sharing your experience. Wishing you and your lucky husband a warm, joyful, cookie-filled holiday season! 🎄✨
Yummy! Thank you for these tidbits. I will be packaging these for our Ladies Bib l e Study class.
Gifting solved.
Gloria, I think these make wonderful gifts and I’d love to learn the feedback from your recipients! x-Jenny
Your recipe sounds heavenly, but the nutrition info seems WAY too good to be true! ~A serving of 12 tidbits has only 10 calories & 1 gram of carbs?? If so, this will be a staple in my diet! Please check the nutrition facts & post any corrections.
Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays, Jenny! ☃️
Nan, corrections made, and thank you. The auto-generate used the approximate number of pieces vs the number of servings, so that’s where it was off. Unfortunately, I doubt this will any longer be a staple in your diet however you may change your mind after you taste them! Jenny
These look so addictive and a perfect little treat to give for the holiday season as well. Love this!
Tammy, you think like I think which means we are both smart and delicious gifters!
So cute!
Oh Jenny these are absolutely adorable!!!
Nicolle, thank you 🙂 I did these for my book club and then realized how convenient they are only after I returned home with the bowl empty. They can be assembled, rolled into sheets, and frozen until ready to cut and bake.
I love these! Pinned! You can change the sprinkles for easy season! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner Party! Have a wonderful week!