- Recipes
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- Cookies
updated Nov 29, 2022
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December officially marks the start of the baking olympics, better known as holiday cookie season. The key to success during these times requires serious strategy. Are you going to reach for a never-fail classic holiday cookie like gingerbread men, or will you try something new and exciting? Do you make a vegan treat for your friends, or go crazy with the chocolate and butter? Will the hand mixer be your secret weapon, or will you rely solely on a spatula and a little elbow grease? Decisions need to be made.
But whether you’re attending a cookie exchange this year or want to make a celebratory spread for your family, we’ve gathered 34 recipes that you won’t regretting trying. From classic sugar cookies to chocolate thumbprints to peppermint cream-filled butter cookies, these winning recipes will never let you down.
What cookies will you make and eat this December?
Classic Holiday Cookies
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The Original Family Sugar Cookie
This sugar cookie recipe is beloved in Molly Yeh's family during the holiday season and pretty much any other season of the year. With a delicious almond-lemon-infused dough and the ease to cut-out and decorate to your liking, soon enough these thick cookies will also become a staple in your house.
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Fruitcake Cookies
All of the delicious components of a classic fruitcake, minus waiting weeks for the flavor to preserve.
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Cornflake Cookies
These candy-like cornflake cluster cookies are a fabulous no-bake sweet for the holidays (and beyond).
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Classic Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Gingerbread cut-out cookies that are crisp enough to snap in half, but tender and ever so slightly chewy when you take a bite.
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The Best Coconut Macaroons
As long as you have some shredded coconut in your pantry and a few eggs in the fridge, a batch of sweet macaroons can be yours in less than half an hour.
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Spritz Cookies
These old-fashioned spritz cookies only take 30 minutes to make and only seconds to impress.
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The iconic back-of-the-bag cookies, but with a small homemade twist. Instead of store bought candy, a dollop of creamy, dreamy espresso ganache kissese the top of each chewy peanut butter cookie.
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Snowball Cookies
As if powdered sugar wasn't dazzling enough, quite sparkly enough, these snowball cookies are rolled in glittery white decorating sugar for an extra top coat of sparkliness.
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Rugelach
This decadent cookie starts with a cream cheese-based dough and whatever filling you can dream up. Honey-walnut or chocolate are good places to start!
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Pignoli Cookies
These classic Italian confections —made with almond paste, sugar, egg whites, and pine nuts — are guaranteed to be a stunner at any holiday cookie swap.
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Macadamia Nut Cookie
A soft-baked, crispy-edged cookie loaded with pieces of macadamia nuts, white chocolate chips, and brown butter for good measure.
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Shortbread Cookies
The best shortbread cookies you'll make! The rich cookie — which sometimes takes on the crispy, snappy quality of a cracker — doesn’t require a stand mixer, rolling pin, or cookie cutter, and can be stashed in the freezer for an impromptu holiday cookie plate.
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Rainbow Cookies
A mainstay of any cookie platter, rainbow cookies are layers of cakey, chocolatey perfection.
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Super Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
There's many reasons why these snickerdoodles will remain super soft to the delight of anyone who eats them at a cookie exchange. For starters, they take a cue from our favorite chocolate chip cookie and involves absolutely no creaming of butter or sugar. That means there’s very little air in the dough to gradually leave and dry out the cookie.
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Chocolate Cookies
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Salted Tahini Brownie Cookies
A warm, fudgy brownie cookie drizzled with nutty tahini and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
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Triple-Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies
With thrice the chocolate (two types in the dough, plus more in the filling), a mix of whole-grain flours, and crushed candy cane bits, these thumbprint cookies scream cozy holiday baking.
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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The most tantalizing brown butter chocolate chip cookie we ever did eat.
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Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
They're soft, tender, and just a little bit chewy, with a delicate exterior that's coated with a thick layer of powdered sugar.
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Coconut Macaroons Dipped in Chocolate
Because sometimes it’s the smallest things in life that always make us the happiest, we present a simply delicious recipe for chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.
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This cookie has everything you'd want in a chocolatey treat. It's deeply chocolatey and almost brownie-like in the middle, but has a crisp exterior. For fun pops of texture, it's studded with tart cherries and crunchy nuts.
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Chocolate Chip and Toffee Shortbread Cookies
Crumbly, buttery shortbread dunked in melted chocolate.
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Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
A classic gingerbread and a Mexican chocolate cookie become one in this rich cookie laced with subtle heat. Grated ginger, ground ginger, and cinnamon give the cookie plenty of flair, while bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder throw a one-two punch of chocolate.
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Vegan Cookies
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Chocolate Chip Paht (Sweet Red Bean) Cookies
Working in sweet red bean paste gives this classic vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe a distinct lightness, while also imparting chewiness.
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Life-Changing Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Nutty, oat-y, sweet with maple syrup and a touch of jam, these thumbprints will please vegan and non-vegan palates alike.
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Coconut Snowballs
No-bake, gluten-free, vegan coconut snowball cookies that are quick to assemble.
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Chewy Almond Spice Cookies
These almond spice cookies are kind of like a chewy peanut butter cookie, filled with spices for the holidays.
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A Little Something Extra
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Brown Butter Cinnamon Roll Sandwich Cookies
The iconic cinnamon bun like you've never seen it before: as a a bize-sized sandwich cookie.
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Cookie Butter Hamantaschen
Spiced cookie butter and a white chocolate drizzle gives these cookies their showstopping flair.
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Lemon Lime Curd with Rosemary Sables
Sables are rich, buttery French shortbread cookies. The rosemary in this version provides a fresh, unexpected holiday twist. Together with the citrus curd, each bite is the perfect blend of sweet and savory.
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Fig Cookies
Trust us on this one: sprinkle-topped, fig-filled cookies - known as cucidati in Italy - will be the crowning jewel of the holiday cookie plate.
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Spiced Mexican Wedding Cookies
Buttery, nutty one-bite cookies, also known as Russian Tea Cakes, Italian Wedding Cookies, or Snowball Cookies.
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Bourbon Balls
If you don't want to crank on the oven but don't want to show up empty-handed, bourbon balls are the fudgiest, booziest no-bake treats you can easily make to impress.
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Peppermint Cream-Filled Butter Cookies
The combination of the peppermint coating and the peppermint cream filling worn by this supremely tender cookie give it a sweet mintiness that deems them just perfect for the holidays.
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Gingerbread Cake Cookies
These chewy, molasses-spiked cookies are filled with warm, spiced flavor.
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