Celebrate the holiday season with these easy Christmas cookies! Find recipes for gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread, and more.
Let’s make Christmas cookies! The holiday season is here, and I’m ready to bake.
Every year, I make Christmas cookies to share with friends and family. These sweet treats are my favorite way to spread holiday cheer. They look so festive—cut into seasonal shapes, decorated with icing, or dusted with powdered sugar—and they taste delicious. If you want to make someone smile this season, gift them a Christmas cookie tray. Just be sure to save some cookies for yourself too!
I’ve rounded up my best Christmas cookie recipes below. They range from classics like gingerbread and sugar cookies to unique treats like tahini cookies with pomegranates. They’re all easy and fun to make. I hope you find some you love!
Our Best Christmas Cookie Recipes
Gingerbread Cookies
Warmly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, these gingerbread cookies will make your house smell amazing as they bake. Once they cool, have fun decorating them with icing, sprinkles, and/or seasonal candy!
Mexican Wedding Cookies
This recipe makes a big batch—we’re talking 40 cookies!—but trust me, it goes fast. With their rich pecan flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture, Mexican wedding cookies (also called snowball cookies) are impossible to resist.
Thumbprint Cookies
One of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes! These treats are tender, buttery, and filled with vibrant pools of apricot and raspberry jam.
Chewy Molasses Cookies
Set out these cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, and they’ll all be gone the next morning! They’re soft, chewy, and packed with ginger-molasses flavor.
Best Sugar Cookies
These thick, soft sugar cookies are perfect for decorating with frosting, royal icing, and/or red and green sprinkles. Both kids and adults will love to cut out shapes and decorate them!
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut butter blossoms are some of the most popular Christmas cookies. It’s not hard to see why. Who doesn’t love chocolate and peanut butter together?!
Shortbread Cookies
This classic shortbread is easy to make with 5 ingredients! For a festive twist, add a few drops of almond extract to the cookie dough. What better treat to enjoy with a mug of hot chocolate?
More Christmas Cookies To Try
Snickerdoodles
You can whip up these holiday cookies in less than 30 minutes! With a crisp cinnamon-sugar coating and soft, chewy middles, they’re sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Cranberry Cookies
Dried cranberries and pistachios give these chocolate chip cookies holiday flair. To make them even more festive, use white chocolate chips!
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Lemon juice, lemon zest, and fresh thyme leaves add bright, unexpected flavor to these cookies. Drizzle them with my quick and easy lemon glaze to take them over the top!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Whether you count chocolate chip cookies as Christmas cookies or not, you have to admit that they’re delicious. No one would be upset to find these on a holiday cookie plate!
Best Peanut Butter Cookies
They taste like the inside of a peanut butter cup!
Lemon Cookies
Love lemon poppy seed muffins? You’ll go crazy for these lemon cookies too. With a perfect chewy texture and delicate citrus flavor, they taste like a gourmet bakery treat.
Tahini Cookies
These holiday cookies are made with almond flour, so they’re totally gluten-free! I love to top them with pomegranate arils for a bold pop of color, but dried cranberries and chocolate chips are yummy here too.
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
A plant-based twist on the traditional dessert! Almond butter keeps these cookies perfectly soft and chewy.
Orange Shortbread Cookies
We always have fresh oranges around the house at Christmastime. If you do too, use their juice and zest to add a citrusy kick to these cut-out shortbread cookies!
Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
This classic oatmeal cookie recipe calls for raisins and walnuts, but don’t hesitate to change up the mix-ins for the holidays. Dried cranberries, pecans, macadamia nuts, or chocolate chips (any kind!) would be great too.
Almond Butter Cookies
Like peanut butter cookies, but made with almond butter. Take one bite, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t try them sooner!
Matcha Cookies
Dipped in white chocolate, these festive green tea cookies are perfect for the holidays.
No Bake Cookies
Give your oven a break, and whip up these chewy chocolate cookies on the stovetop!
Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ever had a cream cheese cookie? These cookies have a similar tangy taste and soft texture, but they’re totally vegan. I’m happy devouring them plain, but they look super-cute with frosting and sprinkles on top.
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
These cookies taste like Nutter Butters in the best possible way. They’re bursting with sweet peanut butter flavor!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tahini, vanilla extract, and brown sugar make these vegan cookies SUPER flavorful. A heaping cup of dark chocolate chips doesn’t hurt either.
Tips for Baking Success
- Spoon and level your flour. Measuring flour is surprisingly tricky. You might think you’re using the right amount for a recipe but accidentally add too much. That’s because flour can easily become compacted. To avoid packing it down in your measuring cup, use the spoon-and-level method for measuring flour. Find step-by-step photos in this blog post!
- Bake one sheet at a time. Temperatures can vary throughout an oven, so for the most even baking, I recommend baking one sheet of cookies at a time. If the oven is too crowded, some cookies may over-bake before others are ready.
- Decorate the cookies once they’ve cooled. If they’re still warm, the frosting will melt! Instead of frosting freshly baked cookies, I often bake gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies a few days in advance. Then, I freeze them until I’m ready to decorate.
How long will Christmas cookies stay fresh?
Most Christmas cookies keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. Refer to each recipe for specific storage instructions.
Can you freeze Christmas cookies?
Yes! All these Christmas cookie recipes freeze well. Store the cookies in an airtight container or bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow them to thaw at room temperature before enjoying!
Best Christmas Cookies: Easy Sugar Cookies
Serves 30
We love this Christmas cookie recipe! These cut-out sugar cookies have crisp edges and thick, soft middles. They’re perfect for decorating.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix to combine, then mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.
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Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until combined. The dough will be soft.
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Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a ball, then flatten into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼-inch thick. If the dough is too firm to roll right away, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes, then transfer the cut-outs to the prepared baking sheets, re-rolling the scraps as necessary.
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Bake, one sheet at a time, for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to turn golden brown. The cookies will seem underdone in the middle, but they will set up as they cool. The exact timing will depend on the size of your cookie cutters.
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Let cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, decorate as desired.
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Makes about 30 cookies. Exact yield will vary based on the size of your cookie cutters.