Looking for Christmas cookies ideas that will make your holiday baking extra cozy this year? You’re in the right place! There’s something magical about a kitchen filled with butter, sugar and warm spices while the cookie tins slowly fill up.
This collection brings together 13 festive favorites. You’ll find soft gingerbread and buttery spritz, plus unique Christmas cookies like Linzer sandwiches, Italian pizzelles and German Vanillekipferl. Some are easy Christmas cookie recipes for busy weeknights, and others make perfect weekend projects.
So grab your rolling pin. Let’s bake!
Christmas Cookies Ideas – Table of Contents
Gingerbread Cookies – Classic Recipe with Molasses
These soft gingerbread cookies are everything a holiday cookie should be. They’re warmly spiced with cinnamon, ginger and cloves and richly flavored with blackstrap molasses and dark brown sugar. An egg yolk keeps them extra soft and chewy.
Jeanine and Phoebe say chilling the dough for at least 2 hours is a must. They bake a 3-inch cookie for about 8 minutes, while the middles are still soft. Cut out gingerbread men and snowflakes, then decorate with icing or enjoy them plain with hot chocolate!
Jam Thumbprint Cookie Recipe
These easy thumbprint cookies with jam are rich, buttery and melt in your mouth. The dough needs just butter, sugar, vanilla and flour. A spoonful of your favorite jam fills each little well before baking.
A simple powdered sugar glaze gets drizzled on top, and one batch makes around 45 cookies in about 36 minutes. The author recommends an ungreased cookie sheet. She also notes they freeze well for up to 3 months, so you can bake ahead for the holidays.
Traditional Mexican Wedding Cookies – Melt in Your Mouth Holiday Favorite
Debs shares that she and her mom have been baking these buttery cookies for as long as she can remember. They’re traditionally served as favors at Mexican weddings, and they also make a wonderful addition to any Christmas goodie platter.
This traditional Mexican wedding cookies recipe uses chopped walnuts or pecans and just a handful of pantry staples. Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while they’re still warm. Once they’ve cooled, give them a second coat for that snowy finish.
Shortbread Cookies
PJ Hamel calls this shortbread a starting point for all kinds of sweet adventures. You press the buttery dough into a pan, dock it with a fork and bake it until golden. Then cut it into strips or wedges while it’s still slightly warm.
Dip half of each piece into melted chocolate and sprinkle with nuts or flaky sea salt, or try the ginger or chai-spiced variations. This easy shortbread cookie recipe is perfect for gifting, since the flavor actually improves as the cookies age!
Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookies Recipe
Megan is a professionally trained baker, and she spent over a year tweaking this recipe to balance taste, texture and workability. Her two key ingredients? Cornstarch reduces spread and makes the dough easier to handle. Cream cheese adds a lovely tang and keeps the cookies tender.
The result is a soft, chewy cookie that holds its shape, and chilling is optional. Top them with the creamy vanilla almond buttercream for easy cut out sugar cookies that look as good as they taste.
Peanut Butter Blossoms
These classic peanut butter blossom cookies come from a Pittsburgh wedding cookie table, where the bride’s family shared this version of the treat. The soft peanut butter dough is rolled in sugar and baked until lightly puffed.
Next, press a chocolate kiss into the center of each warm cookie so it cracks slightly. Then the cookies go back in the oven for a final few minutes. One batch yields about 60 cookies in 35 minutes, which is perfect for big holiday platters.
Linzer Cookies
These Linzer cookies turn an almond-flavored dough into what the author calls a stained glass window-esque cookie, easily one of the prettiest you’ll ever see. She credits her daughter for adapting the recipe. The cookies are buttery and crisp with a sweet yet tart jam filling.
Her favorite filling is homemade sour cherry amaretto preserves, but any fruit preserves work. Half the rounds get a peekaboo cutout, and a dusting of powdered sugar finishes them off. Fun to make and perfect for gifting!
Classic Spritz Cookies
For the author, spritz cookies are the treat you’ll find at just about every holiday gathering in Minnesota, and they’re a traditional Christmas cookie in Scandinavian countries. No two recipes in her recipe box were the same, so she combined them. Her version uses granulated sugar plus vanilla and a touch of almond extract.
This easy spritz cookies recipe makes about 50 buttery, not-too-sweet cookies in just 18 minutes. Pipe the soft dough through a cookie press, add sprinkles or food coloring, and bake!
Pizzelles Cookies – Authentic Italian Christmas Treat
These Italian waffle cookies are thin, crisp and beautifully patterned. They’re made in a pizzelle iron and flavored with optional anise. The author is a granddaughter of Italian immigrants and remembers stacks of them on the Christmas spread at her grandparents’ house.
The batter uses mostly pantry staples, and each cookie cooks in 30 to 90 seconds. That makes this easy Italian pizzelle recipe quick to finish. She loves them with coffee or espresso, and yes, she dunks! They keep for 2 weeks and freeze for 3 months.
Gluten Free Peppermint Bark Cookies Recipe
These chewy peppermint bark cookies are gooey mint chocolate cookies loaded with white chocolate, dark chocolate and crushed candy canes. Even better, they’re completely gluten free, so everyone at the cookie swap can join in!
The author’s top tip is to chill the dough well, since warm dough spreads too much. Give the cookies plenty of space on the tray, too. They mostly use storecupboard basics and bake in just 9 to 10 minutes after their time in the freezer.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Natasha says these taste like hot chocolate in cookie form. They have a rich, fudgy center and a crisp powdered sugar coating that crackles as they bake. The dough uses simple pantry staples and oil instead of butter, so you just mix, refrigerate and scoop!
Chilling for at least 3 hours is essential for a rollable dough. These fudgy chocolate crinkles get even better the next day and keep well for a few days. That makes them excellent for gifting or bringing to a holiday potluck.
Vanillekipferl (German Almond Crescent Cookies)
These delicate almond crescents are a traditional German Christmas cookie. They’re most commonly baked during Advent and are ideal for cookie exchanges. Made with ground almonds, flour, sugar and cold butter, they have a light, shortbread-like texture.
Chef Markus recommends weighing everything in grams for best results. Shape the dough into little half moons, bake briefly and toss the warm cookies in vanilla sugar. His tip: make your own by placing a cut vanilla bean in a jar of sugar a few days ahead.
Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Averie calls these an ode to Cranberry Bliss Bars in cookie form. They’re loaded with tart, chewy dried cranberries and sweet white chocolate chips. A mix of all-purpose and bread flour gives them chewy edges and soft, pillowy centers.
The dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours, but it keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days, so you can bake fresh cookies whenever you like. This smaller batch makes about 16 easy cranberry white chocolate chip cookies. Simply double it if you need more for your holiday tray.
Conclusion
These Christmas cookies ideas cover every taste, from soft gingerbread and buttery shortbread to unique bakes like pizzelles and Vanillekipferl. Wondering what cookies are popular during Christmas? Classics like gingerbread, cut out sugar cookies, spritz and peanut butter blossoms show up on so many holiday trays, and you’ll find them all right here.
My tip for a great cookie box: mix textures and colors. Pair something chewy, like the cranberry cookies, with something crisp, like spritz, and add a showstopper such as the Linzer cookies. Several of these doughs can be chilled ahead, and some cookies freeze well, which makes holiday baking so much easier.
Which recipe will you bake first? Pick your favorites, preheat that oven and fill your cookie tins!