Introduction
Christmas cookie recipes are my December personality. Every year I tell myself I will bake “just a few batches,” and every year the kitchen ends up looking like a flour bomb went off while I test one more variation of gingerbread. I have baked these 25 Christmas cookie recipes in my own kitchen — in the same slightly-too-hot oven, with the same KitchenAid stand mixer I have owned for a decade — and each one earned its spot by surviving real life: cookie swaps, gift tins, kids with sticky fingers, and one memorable incident involving royal icing and my white curtains. You will find cut-out classics, chewy drop cookies, and a few old-fashioned recipes worth reviving. Every cookie here has honest notes on what freezes, what ships, and what is best eaten warm off the pan. Tie on your apron; we have baking to do.
1. Classic Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
The cut-out sugar cookie is the foundation of every Christmas cookie plate, and the recipe I swear by rolls out like a dream: cold dough, a lightly floured surface, and a quarter-inch thickness so the cookies bake up soft in the middle with crisp edges. I chill the cut shapes for 10 minutes before baking — it is the difference between sharp stars and blob-stars. My Wilton snowflake and tree cutters have seen a decade of Decembers. For decorating, I use a simple royal icing made with meringue powder (no raw egg whites to worry about) and let the kids go wild with sprinkles. These keep beautifully in tins for a week, which is why they anchor every gift box I make.
My twist
A teaspoon of almond extract alongside the vanilla. It gives the cookies that nostalgic bakery flavor — the one from the mall cookie shops of my childhood. People always ask what it is.
2. Gingerbread Men
A proper gingerbread man should be chewy, deeply spiced, and sturdy enough to survive being decorated by a four-year-old. My recipe leans heavy on the molasses and uses fresh grated ginger along with the dried spices — the fresh ginger adds a warmth that dried alone cannot match. Roll the dough a full quarter-inch thick; thin gingerbread goes crisp, which is fine for houses but sad for men. I bake a test cookie first to check the spice level, because molasses brands vary. The decorating is half the fun: simple white icing smiles and buttons, nothing fancy. Mine have lopsided faces every year, and I love them more for it.
3. Mexican Wedding Cookies (Snowballs)
These buttery little snowballs — also called Russian tea cakes — melt in your mouth and look like December itself. The dough is simple: butter, powdered sugar, flour, finely chopped pecans, and vanilla. The critical step is rolling them in powdered sugar twice: once while warm (it melts into a glaze-like coating) and once when cool (for the snowy finish). Skip the first roll and they look dusty instead of frosty. I make a double batch every year because they vanish from the tin first. They also happen to be the cookie I recommend to beginners — no rolling pins, no decorating, no chilling. Just scoop, bake, and roll.
4. Peanut Butter Blossoms
The peanut butter blossom is proof that three ingredients and a Hershey’s Kiss can become a legend. Soft peanut butter cookie dough gets rolled in granulated sugar, baked, and the moment it comes out of the oven — still puffy — you press a chocolate Kiss into the center so it softens just slightly into the cookie. Timing matters: press the Kiss in within a minute of the pan leaving the oven, or the cookie sets and the Kiss sits on top like a hat instead of melting in. I use the classic Hershey’s Kiss, though the striped hugs version makes a pretty variation. These are the first cookies my kids learned to make, and the recipe card is now smudged beyond reading.
5. Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
When peppermint season hits, these are the cookies I bake. A soft, buttery cookie studded with crushed candy canes and topped with a candy cane Hershey’s Kiss — the red-and-white stripes look like Christmas exploded in the best way. Crush the candy canes in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin; aim for a mix of fine dust and small shards so you get peppermint flavor in every bite plus a little crunch. One honest note: the candy cane bits get sticky in humidity, so these are a December cookie, not a make-in-October cookie. Store them in a single layer with parchment between, or the Kisses smear. They are worth the fuss.
What you need
Candy cane Hershey’s Kisses (they sell out — buy early), regular candy canes for crushing, and McCormick peppermint extract. A zip-top bag and rolling pin handle the crushing.
6. Chocolate Crinkles
Chocolate crinkles are the drama queens of the cookie tin: deep, dark, fudgy centers with a crackled white powdered-sugar crust. The crackle happens because the dough is rolled in powdered sugar before baking and spreads as it bakes, splitting the coating into that signature pattern. Chill the dough at least two hours — warm crinkle dough spreads into pancakes. I learned this the hard way one year and ended up with what my family now calls “the chocolate frisbee incident.” Use Dutch-process cocoa for the darkest color and deepest flavor. These are also naturally dairy-flexible if you swap the butter, and they freeze beautifully baked.
7. Brown Butter Shortbread
Shortbread is three ingredients — butter, sugar, flour — so every one of them has to be excellent. Browning the butter first adds a nutty, caramel depth that turns simple shortbread into something people remember. I bake it in a round pan and score the wedges before baking, then re-cut while warm; the traditional petticoat-tail shape looks beautiful and breaks apart easily. Prick the surface with a fork (docking) so it bakes evenly. The texture should be sandy and crisp, dissolving on the tongue. My grandmother made plain shortbread every Christmas; the brown butter version is my small rebellion, and I think she would approve.
Make-ahead tip
Shortbread dough freezes perfectly for up to three months. Slice-and-bake logs mean fresh shortbread on demand all December — just slice frozen and bake, adding two minutes.
8. Linzer Cookies
Linzer cookies are the prettiest cookie I make, full stop. Buttery almond-flavored rounds sandwich raspberry jam, with a cut-out window in the top cookie showing the jewel-red filling beneath. The almond flour in the dough gives them a delicate, almost marzipan-like crumb. Dust with powdered sugar after assembly — the contrast of white sugar, golden cookie, and red jam is stunning. Use a seedless raspberry jam so the filling is smooth. These are a bit fiddly, so I save them for a quiet afternoon with a podcast. They keep well for days, and the flavor actually improves as the jam softens the cookie slightly.
9. Chewy Snickerdoodles
Snickerdoodles are the cookie I bake when I want comfort without chocolate. The tang comes from cream of tartar — do not skip it, it is the entire point of a snickerdoodle — and the cinnamon-sugar coating caramelizes into a crackly shell around a chewy center. Underbake them slightly; they should look just set in the middle when you pull the pan. They finish on the hot sheet. I add a pinch of extra cinnamon to the dough itself because the coating alone never feels like enough. These are the cookies I bring to new neighbors. Warm, familiar, impossible to dislike.
10. Raspberry Thumbprints
Thumbprint cookies are endlessly adaptable, but raspberry is the Christmas classic. A tender butter cookie gets a thumbprint dent (the back of a wooden spoon works better than an actual thumb — more even), filled with raspberry jam before baking. The jam bubbles and sets into a glossy jewel. I fill them before baking rather than after; the jam melds with the cookie and does not slide off. A drizzle of simple powdered-sugar glaze over the cooled cookies makes them look bakery-worthy. Swap the raspberry for apricot or lemon curd in other seasons, but for December, raspberry is the one.
11. Spritz Cookies
Spritz cookies require a cookie press, and if you do not own one, this is your sign. The press extrudes buttery dough into trees, wreaths, and flowers in seconds — dozens of professional-looking cookies with almost no skill required. The dough must be the right consistency: too cold and it will not press, too warm and the shapes blur. I press directly onto ungreased, unlined baking sheets (parchment makes the dough slip instead of sticking). A tiny bit of colored sugar on top before baking, and they look like they came from a German bakery. My press is older than my marriage and still going strong.
What you need
A cookie press with holiday discs, room-temperature butter, and colored sanding sugar. No parchment on the pan — the dough needs to grip the bare metal.
12. Italian Ricotta Cookies
These soft, cake-like cookies are an Italian-American Christmas tradition I married into, and I am a convert. Whole-milk ricotta makes the crumb incredibly tender and keeps them soft for days — these are the answer to “how do you keep cookies soft.” The classic version gets a simple glaze and rainbow sprinkles, which my kids consider non-negotiable. Use full-fat ricotta and drain it if it looks watery; excess liquid makes the cookies spread. They are not fussy, they feed a crowd, and the glaze sets into a pretty shell. I now make a triple batch: one for us, one for the neighbors, one for the freezer.
13. White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
This is the cookie that converts oatmeal-cookie skeptics. Chewy oats, tart dried cranberries, and creamy white chocolate chips — the red-and-white color scheme even looks like Christmas. I use old-fashioned oats for chew (quick oats go mushy) and add the white chocolate off the heat of my mixing so the chips keep their shape. A rest of 20 minutes before baking lets the oats hydrate, which makes a noticeably chewier cookie. These are sturdy enough to ship, which is why they go in every care package I mail. My college roommate still texts me about these every December.
14. Pecan Sandies
Pecan sandies are shortbread’s nutty cousin: buttery, sandy, loaded with toasted pecans. Toasting the pecans is non-negotiable — raw pecans taste flat against the rich dough. I chop them fairly fine so every bite has pecan, not just every third bite. The dough is slice-and-bake, which makes these the easiest cookie on this list to keep on hand: roll logs, freeze, slice and bake as needed all month. A light roll in powdered sugar while warm gives them a pretty finish. These are my father’s favorite cookie, and he is a man of strong, correct opinions about butter.
15. Chewy Molasses Cookies
Chewy molasses cookies are gingerbread’s softer, darker sibling. Dark molasses, ginger, cloves, and black pepper (yes, pepper — it adds a background warmth you will not identify but will miss) make a cookie that stays soft for days thanks to the molasses’ hygroscopic magic. Roll them in coarse sugar for a sparkling, crackled top. These are the cookies I bake on the first cold weekend of December; the smell alone puts the house in the holiday mood. They also happen to be one of the best keepers on this list — a week in a tin and they are still perfect.
My twist
Brown the butter before creaming it with the sugar. It sounds like extra work for a humble cookie, but the nutty depth against the dark molasses is remarkable. Try it once and you will never go back.
16. Peppermint Pinwheels
Pinwheels look like they require pastry school, but they are just two doughs — vanilla and peppermint-tinted pink — rolled together into a log, chilled, and sliced to reveal the spiral. The trick is rolling both doughs to the same thickness and chilling the log until very firm before slicing; a soft log squishes the spiral. I add crushed candy cane to the peppermint dough for texture and tiny red flecks. These are the “wow” cookie of the tin, the one people pick up and examine. Slice with a sharp, thin knife and rotate the log a quarter turn every few slices to keep it round.
17. Stained Glass Cookies
These are the cookies kids remember forever: buttery cut-outs with a “window” filled with crushed hard candy that melts into translucent colored glass in the oven. Use clear or brightly colored hard candies — Jolly Ranchers work perfectly — crushed in a bag, and fill each window generously; the candy melts down significantly. Poke a hole at the top before baking and thread ribbon through after, and they double as tree ornaments (though in my house they never survive until hanging). Bake on parchment because the melted candy welds itself to bare pans. The look on a child’s face when they hold one up to the light never gets old.
18. Danish Butter Cookies
The blue-tin cookie, but better, because homemade. These piped butter cookies — ridged rings, pretzel shapes, simple rounds — are pure butter, sugar, and flour with a vanilla backbone. The dough needs to be soft enough to pipe through a large star tip but firm enough to hold the ridges; if your kitchen is warm, chill the piped shapes 15 minutes before baking. I dip half of each cooled cookie in dark chocolate for the bakery look. They keep for two weeks in a tin, which is why the blue tin existed in the first place. My version will never be as iconic as the tin, but it tastes about ten times better.
19. Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
Chocolate cookie, mint middle, chocolate drizzle — these taste like the restaurant after-dinner mint grew up and got ambitious. The trick is pressing an Andes mint into the hot cookie right out of the oven, waiting two minutes for it to melt, then swirling it with a toothpick into a marbled green-and-brown top. Work quickly; the mints set fast. I use a dark chocolate cookie base so the mint pops. These are the cookies people hover around at parties, and they look impressive with almost no decorating skill. Unwrap the mints while the cookies bake — you will need them ready and waiting.
What you need
A bag of Andes mints (unwrapped ahead of time — trust me), Dutch-process cocoa for the base, and toothpicks for swirling. Timing is everything with this one.
20. Pizzelle
Pizzelle are the delicate, anise-scented waffle cookies of my husband’s Italian family, and making them is a December ritual at our house. You need a pizzelle iron — the batter is thin and the iron stamps it into lacy, crisp rounds in about 30 seconds per cookie. Anise extract is traditional; I also make a vanilla-lemon batch for the anise skeptics. Roll them into cannoli-like tubes while hot if you are feeling fancy, or leave them flat and sandwich with Nutella. They stay crisp for weeks in a tin, which makes them ideal for shipping. The iron is a one-time purchase that pays for itself in about two batches.
21. Orange Cardamom Sugar Cookies
When I want a sugar cookie that tastes like something new, I reach for orange and cardamom. Fresh orange zest and ground cardamom in a tender butter cookie, finished with an orange-juice glaze — the flavor is bright, warm, and completely unexpected on a Christmas cookie plate. Cardamom is potent, so measure carefully; a heavy hand turns “exotic” into “medicinal.” I learned that lesson with a batch I still apologize for. These pair beautifully with tea, which makes them the cookie I serve when friends come over in December rather than the ones I pack in tins. Different job, perfect cookie.
22. Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Macaroons are the easiest impressive cookie I know: sweetened coconut, condensed milk, egg whites, vanilla — mixed, scooped, baked until golden. No flour, which means they are naturally gluten-free (a lifesaver when baking for mixed crowds; my gluten-free dessert ideas has more). Dip the bottoms in dark chocolate and let them set on parchment. The contrast of chewy coconut and snappy chocolate is perfect. They keep well for a week and travel like champions. I always make extra because “just one more” is the official macaroon serving size.
23. Red Velvet Crinkles
Red velvet in cookie form: a cocoa-based dough with that signature deep red color, rolled in powdered sugar for the crinkle effect. The color makes them instant Christmas cookies — no decorating required. I use gel food coloring rather than liquid; you need far less and the color is more vivid. A touch of vinegar in the dough reacts with the cocoa for tenderness (the old red-velvet chemistry trick). Cream cheese chips instead of white chocolate chips take them over the top. These photograph beautifully for cookie-swap bragging rights, and they taste as good as they look.
24. Almond Crescent Cookies
Delicate crescents of almond dough, baked until just golden at the tips and rolled in vanilla-scented powdered sugar while warm. These are the quiet, elegant cookie of the tin — not flashy, just perfect. The dough is fragile, so shape the crescents gently and do not overwork it. I infuse the coating sugar with a split vanilla bean a few days ahead; the aroma when you open the tin is unreal. These are another excellent freezer cookie: freeze the baked, uncoated crescents, then roll in fresh sugar after thawing. My aunt sends these every Christmas, and her tin is the one everyone fights over.
25. Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling
Two soft, chewy ginger cookies sandwiching tangy cream cheese frosting — this is the cookie I invented one December when I had leftover frosting and a batch of ginger cookies, and it is now the most requested recipe I own. The cookies need to be completely cool before assembly or the filling melts into a mess (ask me how I know). I pipe the filling for neat edges, but a spoon works. The sweet-spicy-tangy combination is genuinely addictive. These do not keep as long as plain cookies — three days refrigerated — so they are a bake-close-to-serving cookie. Worth it. Every single time.
Make-ahead tip
Bake the cookies up to a week ahead and freeze them unfilled in a zip-top bag. Thaw, fill the day you serve, and nobody will know they were not baked that morning.
Pro Tips
- Chill cut-out and slice-and-bake doughs thoroughly — cold dough holds its shape, warm dough spreads into blobs. When in doubt, chill longer.
- Invest in an OXO cookie scoop for drop cookies; uniform size means uniform baking, and no two-cookie pans of mixed sizes.
- Cool cookies completely before storing or stacking. Warm cookies steam each other soggy in a closed tin — the number one cookie storage mistake.
- Store crisp cookies and soft cookies in separate tins. They trade moisture through the air, and you will end up with soft shortbread and hard snickerdoodles.
- Freeze baked cookies in single layers between parchment, then bag. Most Christmas cookies freeze 2-3 months; thaw at room temperature.
- Baking for gifts? Pair a cookie tin with my easy DIY handmade gifts ideas or pack them into Christmas gift baskets for a present people actually want.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do Christmas cookies last? Most Christmas cookies stay fresh 5-7 days in an airtight tin at room temperature. Soft cookies like ricotta cookies and molasses cookies keep the full week; crisp cookies like shortbread and pizzelle last two weeks or more. Always cool completely before storing.
Can you freeze Christmas cookies? Yes — nearly all of them. Freeze baked, undecorated cookies in single layers between parchment for up to 3 months, then thaw at room temperature. Royal-iced cut-outs and filled sandwich cookies also freeze well; add fresh glazes and fillings after thawing for the best texture.
Which Christmas cookies freeze best? Drop cookies (chocolate crinkles, molasses, snickerdoodles), shortbread, pecan sandies, and almond crescents freeze beautifully. Delicate decorated cookies freeze fine too if packed carefully — freeze them solid on a tray first, then layer with parchment so nothing smears.
How do you keep sugar cookies soft after baking? Do not overbake — pull them when the centers look just set. Store with a slice of bread in the tin (the cookies absorb its moisture), and choose soft-style recipes with extra egg yolk or a little cornstarch. Ricotta cookies stay soft for days thanks to the cheese.
Final Thoughts
Twenty-five cookies is a marathon, not a sprint — pick five or six that fit your December and bake them well rather than rushing through all of them. My personal formula: one cut-out for decorating fun, one chewy drop cookie, one nutty shortbread-style, one chocolate, and one wildcard that makes people ask for the recipe. If you are baking for gifts, my DIY Christmas gifts and hot chocolate bar ideas pair perfectly with a cookie tin, and these Thanksgiving dessert recipes will get you through November first. Now preheat the oven — December waits for no baker.
If you want more than cookies on the dessert table, these easy Christmas dessert recipes cover trifles, bark, and no-bake treats that come together fast.
