In this ultimate guide to Christmas cookies, I’m sharing my best cookie success tips, recommended tools, a free shopping list printable, and top-rated cookie recipes from my website. If you need cookie help or inspiration, this page is for you!
Welcome to my complete cookie guide. There’s enough sugar to last us an entire year!
After years of baking cookies—and writing a cookie cookbook—I have a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Let me help you avoid a failed batch of cookies with my highest rated recipes and no-fail success tips. I recommend starting with my beloved Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies—also a reader favorite. 🙂
My Cookie Success Guides
- Cookie help? Here are my top 5 Cookie Baking Success Tips to improve your next batch
- Royal icing trouble? Here’s my full royal icing tutorial.
- Which tools are best? Here are my 10 best Cookie Baking Tools and Cookie Decorating Supplies
- Mailing cookies? Here is the Best Way to Ship Cookies
- Planning ahead? Here is How to Freeze Cookie Dough
- Cookie spreading? Here are my tips for How to Prevent Cookies from Spreading
- Sugar cookie decorating help? Here’s How to Decorate Sugar Cookies
Room Temperature Butter
Most cookie recipes call for room temperature butter. There’s legitimate science behind this, so don’t overlook it. Room temperature butter is cooler than you think, so review my Room Temperature Butter page. And here’s my trick to soften butter quickly.
Let’s talk recipes. Here are 75+ Christmas cookies including classic Christmas cookies, decorated Christmas cookies, allergy-friendly cookies, chocolate, white chocolate, shortbread cookies, and a category for QUICK cookies!
I’m confident you’ll find a cookie to love this holiday season. 🙂
Classic Christmas Cookies
1) Spritz Cookies and Butter Cookies
2)Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
3)Peanut Butter Blossoms and Peanut Butter Cookies
4) Soft Molasses Cookies and Crisp Molasses Cookies
5) Pinwheel Cookies
6) Iced Oatmeal Cookies
7) Raspberry Pistachio Linzer Cookies
8) Snowball Cookies or Peppermint Snowball Cookies
9) Gingerbread Cookies or try Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies
10) Christmas Sugar Cookies
11) Snickerdoodles (no dough chilling)
12) Jam Thumbprints from Sally’s Cookie Addiction
13) Cinnamon Spice Palmiers
Super Festive Christmas Cookies
14) Homemade Gingerbread House
15) Drop Style Christmas Cookies and Christmas Cookie Sparkles
16) Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
17) Brown Butter Sugar Cookies
18) Easy Cookie Icing for decorating or try classic Royal Icing
19) Red Velvet Kiss Cookies
20) Snowmen Sugar Cookies
21) Chocolate Swirled Meringue Cookies
22) Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
23) Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
24) Stained Glass Window Cookies
No Chill/Quick Christmas Cookies
25) Christmas Cookies in a Jar
26) Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
27) Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches (like Nutter Butters!)
28) and
29) Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
30) Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies (use festive sprinkles!)
31) Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Monster Cookies
32) Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
33) Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
34) Vanilla Bean Biscotti and Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti
35) Magic Cookie Bars
Allergy-Friendly Christmas Cookies
36) Lace Cookies (GF and no dough chilling)
37) No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Snowballs (nut free + GF, but make sure oats are certified GF)
38) Coconut Macaroons (nut free + GF)
39) Almond Butter Coconut Macaroons (GF)
40) No-Bake Cookies(make sure oats are certified GF)
41) Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies(make sure oats are certified GF)
42) French Macarons (GF)
43) Rice Krispie Treats (GF)
44) Chocolate Truffles (GF)
*Here are all of my egg free baking recipes.
Chocolate Lovers Christmas Cookies
45) Peppermint Mocha Cookies
46) Chocolate Turtle Cookies
47) Brownie Cookies (quick dough chilling)
48) Chocolate Dipped Almond Biscotti(no dough chilling)
49)
50) Mint Chocolate Checkerboard Cookies
51) Dark Chocolate Cranberry Almond Cookies
52) Caramel Stuffed Nutella Cookies
53) Salted Dark Chocolate Cookies
54) Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Ginger Cookies
55) Homemade Thin Mint Cookies
56) Chocolate Chip Cookies
57) Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (could use red & green M&Ms instead of chocolate chips)
White Chocolate Lovers Christmas Cookies
58) Peppermint Bark Cookies
59) Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies
60) Holiday Magic 5 Cookies
61) Maple Cinnamon Star Cookies(dipped in white chocolate!)
62) White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
63) White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti(no dough chilling)
64) Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies(with white chocolate drizzle!)
65) Soft-Baked White Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies
66)White Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
67)Ginger Molasses Cookies from I Heart Naptime (dipped in white chocolate!)
Shortbread/Slice & Bake
68) Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
69) Pecan Shortbread
70) Salted Chocolate Pistachio Shortbread (no dough chilling)
71)
72) Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
73) Neapolitan Cookies
74)
75) Cherry Almond Shortbread Cookies
76)Pistachio Cookies
77) Wedge Shortbread Cookies (no dough chilling)
78) Cranberry Orange Cookies
Need Several Batches? How to Maximize Your Time
If you’re anything like me, you want to bake at least 5 different kinds of Christmas cookies at once. In fact, I have a dedicated Holiday Cookie Baking Day every single year. After a few stressful experiences trying to cram a bunch of recipes into 1 day, I found the perfect combination of cookies that maximizes my time.
I’m happy to share my schedule and recipe suggestions with you:
- Make 1 type of decorated cookie. I prefer my gingerbread cookies or Christmas sugar cookies. Make the dough the night before, then bake the cookies first thing in the morning so they are ready to decorate.
- Make a super festive cookie. I suggest my peppermint mocha cookies or Santa’s whiskers cookies. Either dough must chill, so make the dough the night before. The peppermint mocha cookies are one of the most popular cookie recipes on my website.
- Make a bar cookie and bake them as you prepare the next cookie. I suggest my ultimate magic cookie bars, , or peanut butter blondies. (Use festive colored M&Ms instead of Reese’s Pieces if desired.)
- Make a no-bake recipe as the bar cookies bake. I suggest my chocolate coconut snowballs, scotcheroos, or no bake cookies.
- Bake the cookies from #2. Decorate the cookies from #1 as #2 bakes.
- Finally, make a no-chill cookie recipe such as spritz cookies (pictured below), shortbread cookies, or . Continue decorating cookies from #1 as these cookies bake, if needed.
Free Printable – Ingredients & Shopping Chart
To make shopping easier, my team and I knew readers would find an ingredient chart helpful when shopping for ingredients. This chart fits 6 recipes—you can list the recipes at the top, then write in the amounts so you can see how many cups, bottles, teaspoons, etc that you need to purchase for each ingredient. You can add extras at the bottom too like candy canes, Hershey Kisses, molasses, etc. (This chart doesn’t include basics like salt, baking soda, and baking powder.)
**Free Baking Ingredients Chart PDF: Sally’s Baking Recipes Ingredients Chart
Here is a photo preview:
Final Cookie Baking Success Tips
- Chill the cookie dough.If the cookie dough is particularly sticky, wet, or greasy—chilling is in its best interest. Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading.
- Ditch the specified baking time.I never look at recipe times when I bake cookies. I look at the cookies themselves.The cookies are done when the edges are set and lightly browned.
- One batch at a time. You get the best possible results when the oven only concentrates on that 1 batch. If you need to bake more than one batch at a time, rotate the baking sheets from the top rack to bottom rack a couple timesthrough the baking process to encourage even browning.
And while we’re chatting about all things holiday baking, be sure to check out myHoliday Baking Gift Guide. Lots of fun ideas in there, either for yourself or other baker friends!
Q: Which Christmas cookies are you making this year? You might also enjoy making a masterpiece yule log, too!
