This recipe for no-bake Christmas wreath cookies has just six ingredients and can be made in 15 minutes. These cornflake wreath cookies are a festive addition to your holiday dessert table!
These amazingly delicious little cornflake cookies are dressed up for the holidays, kids and adults alike adore them!
Don’t these cheerful Christmas wreath cookies just put you in the holiday spirit?! Best of all, they’re super easy to make, you don’t even have to turn on the oven! The kids go CRAZY for these cookies, in fact, the first time I saw them was at a holiday tea at my girls’ preschool. They were enamored and we’ve been making them ever since.
How to make Christmas Wreath Cookies
You only need a handful of ingredients for these cornflake wreaths – butter, marshmallows, cornflakes, green food color, vanilla and red candies. It’s like making rice krispy treats, but with cornflakes. You can either use red hot candies or red chocolate covered candies. I used mini red M&M’s here; I bought the Christmas variety that comes in red and green and had the kids sort out all the red ones. We used the leftover green M&M’s to decorate our gingerbread houses. Or you can just snack on them of course.
While these cookies aren’t difficult to make, the “dough” is extremely sticky which can be a little tricky to shape into wreaths. After some trial and error, I found the best way to do this was to pack the cornflake mixture into a greased measuring cup, turn it out onto the cookie sheet, and then wet your fingers or coat them with cooking spray to form the hole in the middle of the wreath. You’ll want to add the red candies right away so that they adhere while the mixture is still tacky. I let my kids add the red candies while I shaped the cookies, in fact, my 5 year old did a better job than I did with the candy placement!
These Christmas wreath cookies add a fun pop of color to any holiday cookie tray. They’re fun to make and even more fun to eat!
More festive holiday recipes
Christmas Wreath Cookies Video
Christmas Wreath Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
- 30 large marshmallows
- 6 drops green gel food coloring or 1 and 1/4 teaspoons liquid green food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups cornflakes
- 1 bottle of red hot candies or 1/2 cup red candy coated chocolates such as mini M&M's
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Place the marshmallows and butter in a large bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until melted.
- Add the green food coloring and vanilla; stir until the marshmallow mixture is smooth.
- Add the cornflakes to the bowl and gently stir to coat the cereal evenly with the marshmallow mixture.
- Pack the mixture into a greased 1/4 cup measuring cup and turn out onto the sheet pan. Use your fingers to make a hole in the middle to form a wreath shape and decorate with red candies. It's easiest to form the wreath holes if your fingers are damp or coated in cooking spray.
- Cool completely until firm and serve.
Silly question but will these turn your tongue green?
I don’t recall these cookies turning mouths green!
If liquid food coloring is used, is the recommended amount 1 1/4 teaspoons?
It’s 1 and 1/4 teaspoons
I’ve been looking for the best tips on making these and I have clearly found them here. Thank you!
Hi,
I live in a humid country and I want to make this and give it as Christmas gifts. If I pack it in bottles, must I place it in the fridge before giving?
What kind of bottles are you referring to? If it’s a warm climate I’d refrigerate them.
Your so right…. my kids did go crazy for these cookies and even helped make them
I love these cookies so I tried making them and after they cooled they became hard as a rock. I used a saucepan instead of the microwave so maybe that’s what went wrong? I was hoping for soft and chewy.
I’m guessing that you may have overcooked the the marshmallow mixture, how long did you cook it and at what temperature? The cookies can also become dense if you pack the mixture together in the measuring cup.
Can you use small marshmallows instead of the large ones and how many would you use?
One regular marshmallow is the equivalent of 13 mini marshmallows!
5 large marshmallows is equal to 2/3 cup mini marshmallows according to grams on the packages. So 4 cups mini is equal to 30 large.
How long do the wreath cookies last?
They should be good for a week!
They last about 30 minutes at my house!
for “make ahead” should these be frozen or just refrigerated ?
You can freeze or refrigerate, I prefer to refrigerate them let them come to room temperature before serving.
Can these wreaths be frozen?
That should be fine although I haven’t tried it myself!
I love making these. I used a mini donut pan to form these. It worked great. I’ll be making these for years to come.
Thank you for this suggestion! I definitely try this!
Giggles, these are so cute, do you think that I could get away with giving these as goodies to new friends, my boys are all grown up, and we’ve moved, so I want to make a little something to thank some wonderful friends who have been great to us. Besides, my husband bought corn flake cereal and it’s not a real hit with me (don’t tell him, I don’t want to hurt his feelings)
I always substitute cinnamon jelly bellies to protect my teeth from the hard red hots.
We used to make these all the time growing up…
I have made these many times and everyone LOVES them… one thing to remember is you need to work pretty quick.
My mom used to make a big wreath, instead of the smaller ones. She would make them for Christmas parties. During the party, the kids would pull off pieces and eat them! Occasionally she was able to cut it into pieces before the kids got to it. I have great memories of the fun we had taking the wreath apart…
❤️
My mom made the big wreath when I was growing up too! 😉
Love those cookies. They look like so much fun to make!
I make these every year but use almond extract instead of vanilla. To shape the wreaths, I put sandwich bags on my hands and spray a little Pam on them. Much easier to deal with the dough, and my hands don’t turn green!
LOVE the sandwich bag idea!
Great idea! I have plastic gloves that come with boxed hair color (unused)… they would work well too.
Thanks for the tip! ????
I haven’t seen these in years! A blast from the past for me – thanks – they are so pretty!