Christmas Cookies

Cookie season arrives the minute December hits. The mixing bowls stay out. The powdered sugar dusts every counter. The oven runs warm for weeks.

These are my favorite Christmas cookies. Soft gingerbread men with icing smiles. Snowball cookies buried in powdered sugar. Peppermint crinkle cookies that taste like a candy cane in cookie form. Shortbread cutouts, linzer sandwiches, and butterscotch gingerbread that disappears from the cookie tray faster than I can refill it.

Some of these are tradition. Some are new finds that earned a permanent spot in the rotation. All of them belong on a holiday platter with a glass of cold milk. Grab your cookie sheets and let December begin.