December in my kitchen means butter, sugar, and a whole lot of sprinkles. This page is every Christmas cookie recipe I trust for holiday baking, cookie exchanges, and the trays I leave out on Christmas Eve.
I've broken them into sections so you can find exactly what you need - whether you're decorating cut-outs with kids, cranking out easy drop cookies for a last-minute party, or building gift boxes that travel well. No fancy techniques, no ingredients you have to Google. Just Christmas cookies that work.
Cut-Out and Decorated Christmas Cookies
These are the cookies that earn their spot on the holiday dessert table before anyone takes a bite. Roll-out doughs that hold their shape, icing that sets, and designs that make people ask if you bought them somewhere. Spoiler: you didn't.
Stamped and Glazed
Iced Gingerbread Cookies
Iced Gingerbread Cookies Stamped with a pattern instead of cut, so you skip the rolling and cutting entirely. A thin vanilla glaze settles into the grooves and hardens just enough to stack. All the warm gingerbread flavor with a fraction of the decorating fuss.
Showstopper!
Linzer Cookies
Linzer Cookies Buttery almond cookies sandwiched with raspberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. The little cutout window in the top cookie lets the bright red filling peek through. They look like they came from a European bakery window and they taste even better.
Easiest Cut-Outs!
Sugared Christmas Shortbread Cookies
Sugared Christmas Shortbread Cookies Simple shortbread rolled in sugar and cut into holiday shapes. No icing needed. They hold clean edges in the oven and taste like pure butter with a tiny crunch from the sugar coating.
Reader Favorite!
Homemade Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Homemade Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies The cream cheese in the dough keeps these tender for days without going stale. They roll out smooth, hold their shape, and take frosting beautifully. My go-to when I'm decorating with kids because the dough is practically indestructible.
Family Favorite!
Cutout Molasses Cookies
Cutout Molasses Cookies Deep, dark, and spiced with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon. These roll thin and bake crisp, and the whole kitchen smells like the holidays while they're in the oven. Decorate with a simple powdered sugar glaze or leave them plain and let the spice do the talking.
Crowd Favorite
Soft Frosted Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream
Soft Frosted Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Thick, soft sugar cookies topped with real buttercream frosting instead of a thin glaze. These are the ones I make when someone says they don't really like sugar cookies, and then they eat three.
Holiday Classic!
Soft Gingerbread Man Cookies
Soft Gingerbread Man Cookies Classic gingerbread men that stay soft even after cooling. Warm ginger, cinnamon, and a touch of molasses without any of that dry cardboard texture grocery store gingerbread gets. Decorate with royal icing or keep them simple with a few currant buttons.
Easy Drop Christmas Cookies
When the holiday to-do list is already long and the oven is running on its third batch of the day, drop cookies are what get me through. No rolling, no cutting, no chilling. Just scoop the dough onto a sheet pan and let the oven do the work. These are the cookies I make when I need volume fast because they stack and freeze beautifully, and they hold up on a cookie tray next to fancier decorated cut-outs without looking out of place.
Family Favorite!
Christmas Cookie Butter Cookies
Soft cookies made with Biscoff cookie butter and warm holiday spices. The dough comes together fast with no chilling required, and the flavor tastes like gingerbread and shortbread had a baby. These are the ones my family starts stealing off the cooling rack before they're even set.
Freezer Staple
Snowball Christmas Cookies
Soft cookies made with Biscoff cookie butter and warm holiday spices. The dough comes together fast with no chilling required, and the flavor tastes like gingerbread and shortbread had a baby. These are the ones my family starts stealing off the cooling rack before they're even set.
Crowd Favorite
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Soft peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss pressed into the center while they're still warm. The peanut butter stays chewy, the chocolate sets just enough to hold its shape, and these are always the first thing gone at every cookie exchange I've ever attended.
Easiest on the List
Thin and Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies
No mixer required for these. Brown sugar gives them a deep caramel note and a chewy center with barely crisp edges. They look simple on the tray but people always ask for the recipe, which is my favorite kind of cookie.
Holiday Cookie Tray Staple
Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
Because chocolate chip cookies belong on Christmas trays too. These come out thick with soft centers and crisp golden edges, and the chocolate stays melty even after they cool. Make a batch, freeze half the dough balls, and you've got fresh cookies on demand through the whole holiday season.
Crinkle, Rolled, and Spiced Christmas Cookies
Crinkle cookies look fancy but they do all the work themselves. Roll the dough into balls, coat in powdered sugar, and the oven takes over. They crack on top as they bake, leaving those snowy white crevices against whatever color is underneath. These are the cookies I put on the front of the cookie tray because they look impressive and I didn't have to decorate a single one.
Two Bite Showstopper
Chocolate Crinkle Kiss Cookies
A chocolate crinkle cookie with a chocolate kiss pressed into the center right as it comes out of the oven. The powdered sugar cracks in that classic crinkle pattern and the kiss melts just enough to stick. Fudgy in the middle, snowy on top, and the chocolate kiss makes them look like you piped something.
Holiday Favorite
Peppermint Hot Cocoa Crinkle Cookies
Chocolate crinkle cookies with a hint of peppermint that tastes like hot cocoa and a candy cane stirred in. The powdered sugar coating splits into deep cracks while they bake, and the peppermint hits on the finish instead of overpowering the chocolate. Cold milk required.
Prettiest on the Tray
Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
Bright red crinkle cookies with that mild cocoa taste red velvet is known for. The white powdered sugar against the deep red makes these stand out on any cookie tray. Soft and almost brownie-like in the center with that classic crinkle crackle on top.
Kitchen Smells Like the Holidays
Cinnamon Crinkle Cookies
Rolled in cinnamon sugar instead of powdered sugar, so the cracks have that warm brown spice running through them instead of white. These bake up soft and chewy with cinnamon hitting first and a buttery finish. Simple ingredients, huge payoff.
Best of Both Worlds
Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
Everything you love about gingerbread without the rolling pin. Brown sugar, molasses, ginger, and cinnamon rolled in powdered sugar so they come out of the oven looking like little snow-capped gingerbread hills. Soft in the middle with that warm ginger bite that says December.
Christmas Cookie Bars and Slices
Some nights in December you want a tray of Christmas cookies without scooping three dozen individual dough balls. That's where bars earn their keep. Press the dough into one pan, bake, and slice. Same holiday flavor, a fraction of the hands-on time. These are the bars I make when the oven is already full of casserole dishes and I still promised to bring dessert.
Loaded Holiday Bar
Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars
Soft sugar cookie dough pressed into a pan and loaded with chocolate chips and red and green M&Ms. The base stays tender while the candy bits give you that holiday pop of color and a little crunch. All the work of a sugar cookie in one pan with zero decorating required.
Kids Go Nuts for These
Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars
Same soft sugar cookie base as the Christmas version but decorated to look like a reindeer face. Chocolate antlers, candy eyes, and a red candy nose on every bar. This is the one I make when the kids are home and I need them occupied for a solid twenty minutes of decorating.
Frosted and Festive
Christmas Cookie Bars
Soft sugar cookie base baked in one pan and topped with Russian buttercream. That's the frosting that whips up silky and not too sweet, so it balances the cookie underneath instead of overwhelming it. Add sprinkles and slice into squares. Same great sugar cookie taste, zero rolling and cutting.
Cinnamon Sugar Favorite
Snickerdoodle Blondies
Dense, chewy blondie bars with cinnamon sugar swirled through the batter and sprinkled on top. Tastes just like a snickerdoodle cookie but you press it into one pan and call it done. These are the ones that disappear at bake sales while the decorated cookies are still sitting there looking pretty.
Christmas Cookies for Gifting and Shipping
Some cookies travel better than others, and these are the ones I trust to survive a mail truck, a front porch drop-off, or a cookie tin that gets jostled around the back seat on the way to Grandma's. Sturdy, stackable, and they taste just as good on day three as they do fresh. I pack these in tins with parchment between the layers and ship them with confidence.
Melts in Your Mouth
Whipped Shortbread Cookies
Light as air and buttery enough to crumble the second you bite in. These hold their shape perfectly and stack beautifully in a cookie tin. No fancy ingredients, just a texture that tastes expensive and travels like a dream.
Sturdy and Satisfying
Monster Cookies
Peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&Ms in one hefty cookie that doesn't crumble or break. Hearty enough to survive shipping and substantial enough that one or two actually feel like a treat. Naturally gluten-free and always a surprise hit in a holiday box.
Surprise Favorite
Christmas Ritz Cracker Cookies
Ritz crackers sandwiched with peanut butter and dipped in chocolate. Salty, sweet, and crunchy in a way that makes people ask what's in them even though the answer is embarrassingly simple. They stack tight and ship without breaking. I make a double batch because half of them disappear before the tins even come out.
Soft and Cinnamony
Classic Snickerdoodle Cookies
Rolled in cinnamon sugar with that signature crackled top and chewy center. These stay soft for days and hold up well in a cookie tin. The cinnamon sugar coating keeps them from sticking together when you stack them, which makes packing a breeze.
Cookie Tin Classic
Snowball Cookies
Buttery little nut cookies rolled in powdered sugar that look like snowdrifts in a cookie tin. Ship them without the final powdered sugar coating, then roll them fresh when they arrive - or just dust them heavy and accept that some sugar will shake off in transit. Either way, they taste like the holidays.
Better with Age
Chewy Gingersnap Cookies
Deep molasses and ginger flavor with a chewy center and sugar-crusted outside. These actually improve after a day or two in a tin, which makes them perfect for shipping. The spice deepens over time and the texture stays soft instead of snapping into shards like store-bought gingersnaps.
Tips for Holiday Cookie Baking
A few things I've learned after too many Decembers spent covered in flour.
Give yourself more butter than you think you need. Holiday baking burns through it, and running out mid-batch is a special kind of frustration. I buy an extra pound every time I shop in December.
Freeze dough, not just finished cookies. Most drop cookie dough balls freeze beautifully on a sheet pan, then go into a zip-top bag. You can pull out exactly how many you need and bake from frozen - just add two minutes to the bake time.
Stagger your baking by texture. Crisp cookies go first because they hold up. Soft cookies and anything with a glaze or icing go last, ideally the day before or day of serving. That way nothing goes stale and nothing gets soggy.
The freezer is your cookie tray's best friend. Most Christmas cookies freeze well for at least a month. I start baking in November, freeze everything in layers with parchment between, and pull trays together the week of Christmas without losing my mind.
Looking for more? Browse all my cookie recipes or check out the full Christmas recipe collection for holiday mains, sides, and everything else that belongs on the table in December.
Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
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