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Christmas cookie season is the best season in our kitchen, and the cookie tray is the one tradition my girls will never let me skip. These 32 Christmas cookies are the ones we bake for our own family every December: soft sugar cookies, gingerbread men, molasses crinkles, chocolate blossom cookies, raspberry thumbprints, chocolate dipped shortbread, snowball cookies, red velvet sandwich cookies, peppermint whoopie pies, and hot chocolate cookies. Most of them are from scratch, plenty of them freeze beautifully so you can bake ahead, and every one of them is cozy enough to fill a cookie tin for the neighbors. We also invited two blogger friends to share their favorite holiday cookies. Pick a few, grab the sprinkles, and let the baking begin.
Classic Sugar and Frosted Christmas Cookies
Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
Soft, chewy, and rolled in sugar, these stay tender for days on the cookie tray. Maddie and I bake a double batch every holiday weekend because little hands can help with every step. Get the recipe →
Small Batch Sugar Cookies
Just six buttery sugar cookies with crispy edges and soft, chewy middles, and no chilling the dough, from my friend Carla over at Chocolate Moosey. It is the perfect little batch when you want warm cookies tonight without baking for the whole neighborhood. Get the recipe →
Christmas Lofthouse Cookies
Soft, cakey sugar cookies piled with fluffy frosting and red and green sprinkles, just like the grocery store bakery ones, from my friend Lori over at Recipe Girl. Homemade tastes even better, and they are a hit on every holiday cookie tray. Get the recipe →
White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Peppermint Sugar Cookies)
Soft vanilla sugar cookies dressed up with a white chocolate drizzle and a shower of crushed candy canes. They show up every December weekend once the candy canes hit the pantry. Get the recipe →
Easy Chocolate Sugar Cookies Recipe
Everything you love about a soft sugar cookie, only chocolate, and it has turned into my most requested cookie of all. Roll them in red and green sugar and they are ready for the holiday tin. Get the recipe →
Easy Sprinkle Cookies Recipe (Soft and Chewy)
A soft, chewy sugar cookie rolled through a full cup of sprinkles before it bakes. Swap in red and green sprinkles and you have the happiest cookie on the Christmas tray. Get the recipe →
Christmas Tree Cookies
Light, crisp meringue piped into little Christmas trees, and they could not be simpler. My girls fight every year over who gets to add the star on top. Get the recipe →
Gingerbread, Molasses and Spice Cookies
Gingerbread Men
Soft, warmly spiced gingerbread men made from scratch and so much fun to decorate. Maddie and Lizzie load them up with icing and candy every Christmas Eve. Get the recipe →
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Thick, chewy, and packed with molasses and spice, then loaded with cinnamon chips and white chocolate chips. One batch fills the whole house with that cozy Christmas smell. Get the recipe →
Molasses Crinkle Cookies
Soft, chewy, and crackled all over with gingerbread spice, then rolled in powdered sugar so they look like little snowballs. Bake them on a snowy evening and the whole house smells like the holidays. Get the recipe →
Soft and Chewy Spice Cookies
Warm cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves with a hint of molasses, rolled in cinnamon sugar for a sparkly, crackly top. They bake up thick and chewy every single time. Get the recipe →
Spiced Gooey Butter Cookies Recipe
Soft, sweet, melt in your mouth cookies that start with a spice cake mix and a little cream cheese. They are the easiest cookie on this list and they taste like the holidays in one bite. Get the recipe →
Blossom and Thumbprint Cookies
Chocolate Blossom Cookies (Christmas Sprinkle Peanut Butter Kiss)
A fudgy cocoa peanut butter dough rolled in red and green nonpareils with a chocolate kiss pressed into every warm center. They are the prettiest cookie on our holiday tray every year. Get the recipe →
Red Velvet Blossom Cookies (With Candy Cane Kisses)
Soft red velvet rounds with a striped candy cane kiss melting into the center, and only four ingredients. They look bakery bought, but they are about as easy as a Christmas cookie gets. Get the recipe →
Peanut Butter Blossoms (Hershey Kiss Cookies)
The classic soft peanut butter cookie rolled in sugar and crowned with a chocolate kiss, straight from my Mom’s go to recipe. It is not Christmas at our house until these come out of the oven. Get the recipe →
Best Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies (with Lemon Glaze)
Buttery, melt in your mouth shortbread with a little well of raspberry jam and a sweet lemon glaze on top. Maddie and I could not stop sneaking them off the cooling rack last Christmas. Get the recipe →
White Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Buttery thumbprint cookies with a little well in the middle filled with smooth white chocolate. I baked a big batch one snowy December afternoon and they were gone by dinner. Get the recipe →
Shortbread, Snowballs and Meltaway Cookies
Christmas Shortbread Cookies (Chocolate Drizzled Bites)
Buttery little shortbread squares drizzled with dark, milk, and white chocolate, and one batch makes about 100 bites. They are perfect for cookie trays, tins, and neighbor gifts. Get the recipe →
Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies
Buttery, crumbly shortbread dipped in dark and milk chocolate and drizzled with white. Just a handful of ingredients, and they are the prettiest thing on any cookie tray. Get the recipe →
Easy Snowball Cookies Recipe (Christmas Cookies with M&Ms)
Soft cream cheese dough hiding mini chocolate chips and festive candies under a double coat of powdered sugar. They are the first thing to vanish from our Christmas cookie tray every single year. Get the recipe →
Cream Cheese Meltaway Almond Cookies Recipe
An addictive cream cheese dough rolled in sugar and topped with a sliced almond. They are soft, tender, and melt the second they hit your tongue. Get the recipe →
Meltaway Lemon Cookies
Tender little sugar rolled puffs of bright lemon that dissolve the second you take a bite. They are a sunny break from all the chocolate on the holiday tray. Get the recipe →
Sandwich Cookies and Whoopie Pies
Christmas Sandwich Cookies (Buttercream Filled M&M Cookies)
Soft M&M and sprinkle cookies hugging fluffy buttercream tinted red, green, and white. My kids call them double decker Santa cookies and they disappear fast. Get the recipe →
Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies
Two soft, crackly red velvet cookies hugging a swirl of tangy cream cheese frosting. Maddie and Lizzie went wild for them the first time I made a batch. Get the recipe →
Chocolate Whoopie Pies Recipe (Classic with a Peppermint Twist)
Two pillowy chocolate rounds hugging a cloud of marshmallow filling with a peppermint twist. Maddie mans the peppermint bowl every time we make them. Get the recipe →
Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies (Snickerdoodle Sandwich Cookies)
Two soft, cinnamon sugar coated snickerdoodles hug a fluffy white chocolate cinnamon frosting. They disappear off the counter every single time the girls spot them. Get the recipe →
Chocolate Covered Ritz Crackers (with Mint Frosting Filling)
Buttery Ritz crackers sandwiched around a quick mint chocolate filling and dunked in melted chocolate. They are the sweet and salty no bake cookie that steals the show on every holiday tray. Get the recipe →
Chocolate, Cranberry and Cozy Drop Cookies
Hot Chocolate Cookies
A rich chocolate cookie topped with fluffy marshmallow frosting that tastes just like a mug of cocoa. We bake them the first snowy weekend of the year and every weekend after. Get the recipe →
Soft White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies Recipe (with Oats)
Soft, chewy, and loaded with tart dried cranberries and sweet white chocolate chips, with a secret cup of oats that keeps every bite thick. The red and white look perfect on a Christmas plate. Get the recipe →
Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies (with Walnuts)
Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies packed with sweet tart cranberries and crunchy walnuts. I bake these all through the holidays because they fill the cookie jar fast. Get the recipe →
Chocolate Dipped Pistachio Cookies
Buttery slice and bake shortbread studded with real pistachios and dipped in dark chocolate. I brought them to a holiday cookie swap and they were the first plate to empty. Get the recipe →
Chocolate M&M Cookies (Soft Double Chocolate)
A soft, fudgy double chocolate dough loaded with chocolate chips and M&Ms. Use the red and green holiday M&Ms and they are ready for Santa’s plate. Get the recipe →
Save This Christmas Cookie Lineup
Pin this roundup so every cookie is one tap away when you start your holiday baking, and if you make one of these, leave a comment on the recipe and tell us which one disappeared first. From our kitchen to your table!
