PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: RILEY WOFFORD
We can all agree: One of the BEST parts of the holiday season are all the sweet treats, the most classic of which are Christmas cookies. We get excited every year to combine our old standbys with creative and innovative recipes to share with friends and family. Luckily, there are myriad opportunities to try them all out, whether you're making them for a party, to give as gifts, or just to enjoy during a cozy night in at home. Whether you’re a master baker looking for a new challenge or a kitchen novice looking for easy recipes, you can get in on the holiday baking fun. Check out our favorite Christmas cookies for ideas—don’t forget to make enough to leave out for Santa and his reindeer too.
While we’re all for completely homemade recipes, Christmas is also one of the best holidays to get creative with store-bought options. These are great for any variety of decorating party, especially ones with little kids. You really just need some icing or frosting, some miniature candies, and a little bit of creativity to create holiday masterpieces. Check out our melted snowmen cookies, our Milano reindeer cookies, our rolo ornament cookies, our Christmas light cookies, or our Oreo Christmas tree for ideas, but feel free to get creative. The fun of decorating is the best part!
LUCY SCHAEFFER PHOTOGRAPHY
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Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
These extra fudgy chocolate cookies are just as beautiful as they are delicious. The best ways to guarantee your crinkles stand out? Chill your dough and roll it in powdered sugar twice.
Photographer: Erik Bernstein, Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne
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Spritz Cookies
These buttery cookies are named after the German word “spritzen,” which means “to squirt,” because of the cookie press used to form their signature shapes. From snowflakes to Christmas trees, spritz cookies can come in many festive forms. We use food coloring to add another level of holiday cheer—but you can also decorate them with colorful sugar and sprinkles if you’d like.
Even Santa has a snacky side. These cookies are loaded with chocolate chips, sprinkles, pretzels, and potato chips for the salty-sweet dessert of your (and his!) dreams.
PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: RILEY WOFFORD
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Christmas Tree Cookies
It isn't Christmas without cookies, and this year, we're starting with these trees decorated with a super-simple marbling technique that's totally Tik Tok-worthy. It's perfect for getting kids involved or for using on other holiday cookie shapes, like candy canes done with a red and white marble or snowflake shapes done in blue and white. The possibilities are endless!
To think a fluffy, enriched bread can somehow translate into a buttery cookie might seem preposterous. But don’t stop reading! These cookie are the perfect base for the orange peel, currants, dried apricots, chocolate, and almonds you love about the original, with half the work.
Fair warning: the powdery confectioner's sugar that makes these snowballs "snowy" and delicious can end up dousing you in sugar with every bite, so make sure you have napkins ready and eat them over a plate to catch the winter wonderland. We should also say that this mess is totally worth it for these nutty sweet cookies, and they couldn't be easier to make.
PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: RILEY WOFFORD
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Santa Cookies
Here's a crazy idea that just might be brilliant: This year, leave the plate of cookies for Santa in his own image. He'll love sliding down the chimney to see his portrait! (Just don't forget the carrots and celery for the reindeer.)
These melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookies are an Italian classic, and a breeze to make. What’s more fun than frosting? Sprinkles! You can adorn these cookies with any combination of sprinkles, whether for a Christmas celebration or just another Tuesday.
For us, gingerbread should have a lot of ground ginger, a bit of cinnamon, and a tiny amount of cloves. It's the perfect Christmas formula. But if you don't have cloves (or really loathe them), you can just leave them out. As for the ginger, it's necessary but negotiable. Feel free to use less.
As the story goes, a woman by the name of Mrs. Freda F. Smith from Ohio developed the original recipe for these for The Grand National Pillsbury Bake-Off competition in 1957. She lost, but her cookies still became legendary, particularly after Pillsbury instated the Bake-Off Hall of Fame and ranked her recipe 7th on the list. The more you know!
PHOTO: DANE TASHIMA; FOOD STYLING: JASON SCHREIBER
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Peppermint Meringues
A cookie box filled with a wide assortment of shapes, sizes and colors is such a treat to gift during the holidays. These peppermint meringues are the perfect addition to add a pop of color and fun. They practically scream “holiday!” and they taste fantastic as well.
These are the cutest upgrade to store-bought Milanos, and are a fun holiday project for little kids to get in on. Swap for the mint Milanos to make them extra festive!
These cookies look so much more complicated than they are. They are actually just a simple sugar cookie where half of the dough gets dyed red and then twisted together. So simple!
A lot of treats consider themselves coffee/tea companions, but none hold a candle to the crispy, crunchy goodness that is the humble biscotti. These have the classic flavor combination of cranberry and orange, and we dipped in white chocolate and coated in chopped pistachios to add a little extra indulgence.
This recipe is the only one you need. It embodies both form and function: Not only does it taste fantastically buttery with just the right amount of sweetness, it also holds its shape, is perfect for decorating, and will get you sharp, clean edges every time after baking.
These easy pinwheel cookies are beyond mesmerizing but also so easy to make. Make a batch of our easy sugar cookie dough, then dye one half red. Then simply roll them together to create the swirl. The sprinkles are optional but they add so much extra fun!
If you like the flavor of French macarons, you'll love this take on Italian amaretti cookies. Soft, pillowy, moist, sweet, and lightly scented with amaretto liqueur as well as citrus zests, these cookies get made multiple times a season, year after year.
Looking for a super-satisfying new favorite cookie? We found it: This amazing cookie has the kick of tangy cranberry balanced with creamy, sweet white chocolate, all rounded out with satisfying, good-for-you oats.
Love sugar cookies but hate decorating them? These are for you! Simply fill cookie cutouts with hard candies like Jolly Ranchers, then bake. The candies will melt then turn soft and chewy after cooling, adding a bright pop of color to your holiday dessert table.
PHOTO: DANE TASHIMA; FOOD STYLING: JASON SCHREIBER
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Peppermint Meltaways
These cookies have a velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture and are topped with a pretty pink frosting, plus a shower of peppermints. There's just a touch of peppermint extract in the dough to lend the cookies a festive but not overpowering taste.
PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: RILEY WOFFORD
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Ugly Sweater Cookies
Looking to wow people at the Christmas cookie swap this year? Look no further than these gorgeous cookies. We know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but these stunners truly redefine "ugly sweater."
PHOTO: DANE TASHIMA; FOOD STYLING: JASON SCHREIBER
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Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies
With a texture similar to a crinkle cookie (minus the sugar coating), these chocolate peppermint crunch cookies are soft in the center and slightly chewy around the edges. They're made extra festive with a dip in melted chocolate and crushed peppermint candies too.
These are the perfect cookie decorating project for kids (and adults who just feel like one this time of year!). All you've got to do is snag some Lofthouse cookies and candy from the store, then get creative with the ornament decorations.
We know you'll be whipping up Christmas cookies this holiday season, and there's no better way to stand out from the crowd of classic chocolate chip and basic sugar cookies than with a platter of these gams, which fans of the movie A Christmas Story might deem hotter than "electric sex" and "indescribably beautiful." 😉
It's officially hot cocoa season, and we've got the cutest dessert ever to celebrate with. They look a little tricky but they couldn't be easier. We gave ours a Christmas spin with red and green sprinkles, but they're perfect for any winter holiday or snow day.
Want to get in on some Christmas cookie baking, but aren't so confident in the kitchen? These peanut butter chocolate cookies for you—they're a breeze to make and almost impossible to mess up.
Not everyone's all about the Christmas cheer, and that's okay! These adorable sugar cookies will warm hearts even if they're 10 sizes too small this holiday season.
Barely crunchy on the outside and soft and fudgy on the inside, these cookies call for a thick cardamom-flavored glaze that hardens into a candy-like shell. The addition of fresh ginger, orange zest, and rum gives these little bites a warm sweetness that blends well with the dark notes of molasses and black pepper.
These elegant snowflake cookies turn our best-ever sugar cookie dough into a magical work of art. Trust us: You don't need any special kind of decorating expertise to pull these off—just a snowflake cookie cutter and some decorating sugar pearls.
If you love cannoli, but making them from scratch seems daunting, let us introduce you to these cookies. They all of the flavors you love in a cannoli, like ricotta, orange zest, mini chocolate chips, and pistachios, yet they require just a fraction of the effort (perfect for a busy holiday season!).
