Omnivore loving vegan, gluten-free & beverage recipes
This Grilled Beets recipe is easy to make on your grill using fresh, in-season beets, regular olive oil, and fine salt.
Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies are delicious oatmeal cookies without raisins or cranberries. There's plenty of cinnamon and brown sugar flavor in these tasty cookies. They are perfect for a snack or even with your breakfast coffee or tea 😉 (gluten-free option)
This Pumpkin Spice Bread yields 2 generous loaves and can be customized with your favorite toppings and Vanilla Coconut Icing! Bring this favorite to your next holiday gathering! Be sure to check out the other #FoodieMamas pumpkin recipes below!
3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are easy to make with peanut butter, an egg, and sugar. They are flour-free and make the most delicious, classic, chewy peanut butter cookies. Enjoy them as is or drizzled with chocolate.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is our family recipe perfect for the Christmas & Holiday season making a big batch of cookies. These cookies are easy to customize to your tastes with various toppings and make a fun activity for everyone involved. Check out our family home video of our cookie-making session below!
Hi Everyone, we have made a tradition of making this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe every year.
After Eric and I got married, it started with my husband Eric asking his mom, Linda, about these favorite cookies that her mother used to make when Eric was a little boy.
Linda found the recipe in her recipe box of hand-written recipes.
Many of the recipes in the box were written by her mother and passed down to her.
This sand tarts cookie recipe is classic Pennsylvania Dutch baking.
I have a selection of recipes that I plan to share on Life's Little Sweets.
It feels so good to share these recipes with everyone and have a permanent place where we can all reference them.
Each recipe brings back fond memories and continues the tradition.
I have pictured here antique family cookie cutters that have been passed down in Linda's family.
She said this kind of cookie cutter with a sharp edge is good for this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe.
This post may contain affiliate links that won't change your price but will share some commission.
I have included recipe process photos to help guide you through the process of making these cookies.
The full, printable recipe with instructions is at the bottom of the post.
If you like this Sand Tart Cookie Recipe, make sure to check out my Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies recipe and check out the "Cookie" category on LLS 🙂
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is also great as a family/kids activity because the decorating part is like an art project!
This recipe is ideal for cookie swaps or when you have to make a huge amount of cookies.
It is sure to become your family's favorite Holiday cookie recipe!
What’s your favorite family cookie recipe?
If you try this recipe, please give it a rating in the recipe card below and let us know in the comments below!
Thank you for reading and following along!
This Sand Tart Cookie Recipe is our family recipe perfect for the Christmas & Holiday season making a big batch of cookies. These cookies are easy to customize to your tastes with various toppings and make a fun activity for everyone involved. These sand tarts are a thin, crisp sugar cookies topped with crunchy nuts.
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned #ad
Please note that the Calculated Nutrition is an estimate at best. If you make this recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating – it helps others find the recipe!
[…] sugar; Texas Rolls (found only at SuperLo in East Memphis) to go with Thanksgiving dinner; and Sand Tart Christmas cookies from an original Pennsylvania Dutch recipe handed down from Vicki’s American […]
Ruth Soule says
I can’t believe that you use 1lb of Sugar and Flour! Comparing recipies and I have 2cups of Sugar & 5Cups of Flour
Sara says
Hi Ruth, I know it sounds like a lot. 1 pound sugar is 2 1/4 cups. This recipe makes a large amount of cookies, ideal for cookie making parties or if you are making cookies for a large crowd/family gathering. This is a recipe from my husband's family and those kinds exactly what this type of sugar cookie recipe was used for. You can try making it with a little less sugar if you want, I haven't tried it with less. You could also try the "Lil' Sugar Cookies," "Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies," or "Easy Funfetti Sugar Cookies" (just search in the search box in the top right) both which require less amounts of sugar. I hope that helps! Thank you!
Sara says
Ruth, I also checked the recipe with my husband's mom, she said 2 cups is totally fine by the way.
Lucille Arslanian says
Why do my cookies turn out hard? I used the same recipe last year and they turned out great.
Why does the dough need to be refrigerated as the dough is hard to roll out? How long do I need to let the cookie become room temperature so I can roll them out? I had to put the dough in the microwave to make it soft enough to roll out.
Thank you
Sara Maniez says
do you mean they turn out hard when they are cooked?
It depends on the temperature of your room. If you are finding that the dough is too soft to work with, some people find it easier to refrigerate it (1/2 hour) to make it less sticky. I find that it takes 20 minutes-1/2 hour after taking it out of the refrigerator to get it to room temperature to work with it again. The only thing with the microwave is that it might cook some of the dough if it's in there too long. Good luck, I hope that helps!
Carol says
These cookies and cutters look exactly like my grandmother’s who made these every Christmas in the 1970s. She was Pennsylvania
Dutch. I have the cutters now but never made the cookies as the recipe makes so many. Can this recipe be halved?
Dawn says
I grew up in Lancaster County with Mennonite and Amish relatives. This is very similar to my great grandma's recipe. I don't see why you couldn't halve it. Or make the batch and freeze half the dough for a bit to make later
Richard Todd says
Both my Pennsylvania grandmothers made these for ages. They used to roll them so thin they turned out almost like a potato chip in crispness. When I started making them, I discovered any easy way to get them really super thin - put the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out. After rolling out the dough, we stick it in the refrigerator to chill for about 10 minutes to stiffen up. Then pull out of the fridge, pull off the top layer of paper and cut , decorate and bake as usual. Unfortunately, the really thin cookies do not survive shipping very well.
Sara Maniez says
Thank you for sharing your experience, Richard! My mother-in-law, showed me this way too, exactly as you describe! Best wishes!
Chad says
I have my mothers cutters and they are exactly the same as yours except the tree cutter was broken years ago but mine has a big gingerbread man. Which is my favorite. The recipe is close except it is 2 lbs sugar and flower and 4 sticks of butter. And 4 eggs. And no seperating the eggs and all you do is combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead by hand till mixed together. (Very hard on your hands!) and ours we leave thicker and they come out more chewy than crisp. This recipe was my grandmothers moms recipe. Which takes it back to the 1800’s!
Paul says
What pattern / maker is the plate with blackberries and blossoms? Beautiful!