5 Easy Christmas Treats You Can Make With Your Kids

It's December already and Christmas is just around the corner. As the season calls for a closer family time together, preparing some sweet treats will be more fun when the whole family prepares them together.

Here are some food ideas that you and your kids will have fun preparing and munching on.

Snowman Cookies

These sweet snowmen are a delight to make, and an even more delightful thing to eat. The recipe comes from BHG.com.

Pop canned white frosting in the microwave for 10 seconds on high. Dip and coat 24 plain doughnut holes in frosting, and allow to set.

Once the frosting is set, decorate half of the doughnut holes with “eyes” and “mouths” with chocolate frosting piped through a tube. Put a dried papaya triangle for the nose.

Place a fruit-leather scarf atop undecorated doughnut holes, and put decorated “face” on top. Make “hats” using half an Oreo Mini and a cut from an Oreo Cookie Stick. Put on top of the snowman.

Snowflake Chips

This is a simple variation of a classic favorite.

Make some chocolate-chip dough,. Instead of putting chocolate chips, put Nestlé Toll House Premier White Mini Morsel Toppers and Wilton's Jumbo Snowflake Sprinkles.

Roll the dough and continue to bake like the usual procedure for chocolate-chip cookies.

Snowman Cupcakes

Snowmen are just plain cute. This recipe comes from Martha Stewart.

You can use either chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, topped with some icing, preferably Stewart's Swiss meringue buttercream.

Take two plump marshmallows. Cut off a little portion from one, and squish it to make it a bit smaller.

Assemble the snowman's body on top of the cupcake: big marshmallow first, a little icing, then the smaller marshmallow next. For the face, use chocolate sprinkles as “eyes” and a gummy fish for the nose.

Top with a piece of chocolate-covered mint for the “hat.”

Shining Stars

As seen in Parents, these cute stars will allow your kids to exercise creativity.

Knead a two-third cup of flour into a pound of refrigerated sugar-cookie dough. Roll 1/4-inch thin. Cut into “stars” using star-shaped cookie cutters in various sizes.

Place in lined cookie sheets, and have your kids decorate with dots using Cake Mate decorating gels in different colors. Bake until golden.

Candy Ornaments

These little sweets can serve as decorations before you and your kids gobble them up.

Using the same dough as the Shining Stars (seen above), make “ornaments” using ornament-shaped cookie cutters. Poke a hole on top of each piece using a straw. Place “ornaments” 2 inches apart in cookie sheets then bake at 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes. Let cool.

Frost cookies using colored Royal Frosting, then chill for at least four hours.

Microwave Tootsie Roll Fruit Chews for a few seconds, flatten 1/8-inch thin using a rolling pin, and have your kids cut them into strips using a pizza wheel. Be careful to supervise your kids as they do.

Using water as glue, secure Tootsie Roll strips on frosted cookies. If desired, tie thread through the cookie's hole and hang.

Have fun!