40 Christmas Cookie Recipes to Treasure

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated October 22, 2020

Sugar cookies, chocolate cookies, butter cookies and more will add a little sparkle, a little dazzle and lots of memories to your holiday season.

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Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies with Watercolor Icing

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These crisp, airy cookies taste like old-fashioned bakery cookies-but they're decorated in a totally modern way that's fun and so kid-friendly. The "canvas" is royal icing, and the "paint" is just food coloring! 

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Valencia Delights

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Orange and chocolate: a holiday cookie match that tempt every Santa to take seconds. This recipe comes from Jill Drury in Milwaukee, who loved to bake cookies with her grandmother. "For the longest time I couldn't decide which cookie I liked best, until one day Grandma had me mix my favorite flavors: chocolate and orange," she says. "We came up with this cookie that I now call my holiday favorite."

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Oaxacan Mexican Chocolate Cookies

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The recipe for these ultra-rich, cinnamon-laced cookies comes from the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, which hosted a cookie swap.

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Sugar Cookies Like You Remember

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Nutmeg lends unmistakable holiday flavor to these puffy, old-fashioned cut-out cookies. They do spread a bit, so don't use this recipe for delicate shapes. It's best-suited for circles, bells and the like.

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Caramel Heavenlies

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Graham crackers form the base for this bar cookie with layers of marshmallows, brown sugar, almonds and coconut. "I've made these cookies since 1984," says Georgine Simmonds of Genesee, Michigan. "They're one of my family's favorites."

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Peanut Butter Temptations

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Calling all peanut butter fans! These cookies offer double-the-PB compared to the classic peanut blossom cookie with a chocolate kiss on top. And they couldn't be easier.

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Peppermint Sugar Cookies

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Peppermint extract infuses these crisp, buttery cookies with holiday flavor. Choose between slice-and-bake swirls or candy-cane shape cookies.

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Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels

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These cookies are easier than they look -make one batch of dough, divide it in half, and blend cocoa into one portion and crushed candy canes and peppermint extract into the other. The recipe comes from the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, which hosts an annual cookie swap.

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Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies

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These cookies from the Inn at Cedar Falls in Logan, Ohio, make a colorful treat anytime of year.

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Fanciful Raspberry Ribbons

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These festive "bake-and-slice" cookies look stunning on a tray of holiday desserts. 

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Butter Dream Cookies

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A festive red maraschino cherry tops each cookie in this recipe, contributed by one of our Midwest Living® editors.

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Tosca Diamonds

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These cookies are extremely rich, so cut them into small bars. We love the indulgent flourish of the caramel sauce, but the cookies are delicious without it.

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Fat Molasses Cookies

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Packed with flavor from molasses, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar, these cookies look especially nice when cut with a scalloped or round cutter and sprinkled with coarse sugar or crystallized ginger.

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Eggnog Sugar Cookies

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The eggnog flavor in these buttery cutouts comes from nutmeg and rum extract; it's subtle enough to be a pleasant twist on classic holiday sugar cookies without being overpowering. The recipe comes from the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Chicago, which hosts an annual cookie swap.

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Mindy Segal's Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These to-die-for cookies use special chocolate and two kinds of salt, and they call for an overnight chill-and you can absolutely taste the difference. Because of the expense and time involved, we don't recommend them for any old weekend, but they are incredible for a gift or other special occasion. The recipe comes from Chicago chef Mindy Segal's cookbook Cookie Love.

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Triple Peanut Butter Streusel Bars

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Dry-roasted peanuts, peanut butter-flavored pieces and peanut butter bring triple flavor to this make-ahead bar cookie.

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Gadettes

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Dust off your waffle iron to bake these Belgian-style cookies. The recipe comes from Connie Shaw of Bettendorf, Iowa, who learned it from her grandmother. "As she taught me to make them, she explained that when she lived in Belgium, families served them when neighbors called," Connie says. "I sent them to my son the two Christmases he was deployed in Iraq. They are part of his Christmas memories, too."

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Anisette Buttons

Credit: Blaine Moats
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"Anisettes feel so Italian because it's about abundance," says Chicago food writer Shauna Sever, of these deliciously soft, cakey cookies with a licorice flavor. "Small bites, but a huge yield."

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Crispy Gingerbread

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This festively spiced recipe (with a hint of orange zest) makes thin, crunchy cookies that work well for gingerbread houses, edible place cards and ornaments. 

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Bet You Can't Eat Just One Sugar Cookies

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These melt-in-your-mouth cookies come from the recipe file of Georgia Morehouse of Columbia, Missouri. Her family insists she bake at least one batch for New Year's Eve. Sprinkle them with colored sugar right before they bake to give them quick-and-easy sparkle.

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Orange-Ginger Cookie Sandwiches

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A round cookie cutter with scalloped edges makes a nice shape for these cookies, but bell, tree or star cutters would also be good choices for the holidays.

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Holiday Seven-Layer Bars

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Chocolate, nuts, coconut and more fill our easy-to-make bar cookies. Mixed dried fruit bits and candy-coated milk chocolate pieces are among the layers that make this bar cookie distinctive.

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White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

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Dip these cherry-studded cookies in melted white chocolate, then roll in nonpareils and edible glitter for extra color.

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Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroon Cookies

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You can make these chewy cookies up to three months ahead of the holidays. Just freeze undipped cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container. When you're ready to serve them, thaw and then dip bottoms in melted chocolate.

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Lingonberry Hearts

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A "window" on the top of these cookies shows off the jam inside, but if you're feeling lazy, just sandwich the preserves between two solid cookies. They'll taste just as good.

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Chocolatey Shortbread Bites and Lemony Spritz Cookies

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Finishing touches add a festive flair to these cookies. Dip Chocolatey Shortbread Bites (recipe above) in melted semisweet or white chocolate and top with a chocolate candy. Give extra zing to Lemony Spritz Cookies with Lemon Glaze and colored sugar.

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Chocolate-Mint Blossoms

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Candy cane-flavor candies make these thumbprint cookies look festive for the holidays.

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Holiday Cranberry-Orange Slices

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This slice-and-bake cookie recipe brings several favorite holiday flavors to the cookie tray. Beverly Olson of Marshfield, Wisconsin, added cranberries and orange peel to her butter cookies along with pecans. Finely chop these additions so they won't get in the way when you slice the dough.

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Super-Duper Chocolate Kisses

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Create these rich, chocolatey cookies from refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough--just add cocoa powder, chocolate sprinkles and a candy center. Use colored sprinkles instead of chocolate if you'd like a more festive presentation.

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Ultimate Chocolate-Mint Cookie Sandwiches

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These gooey cookies tuck mint filling inside a soft chocolate cookie sandwich, topped with a swirl of fudgy frosting.

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Buzz Cafe Butter Cookie Cutouts

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An Oak Park, Illinois, cafe uses this recipe year-round for all of the holidays. "For Christmas, we make snowflakes and Christmas trees. The cookies are delicious even without the icing."

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Colorful Sparkling Sugar Cookies

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A Decorah, Iowa, reader passed along the recipe for these much-loved treats, which she enjoys bringing to cookie exchanges.

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Chocolate-Mint Thins

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Half chocolate and half mint, these cookies offer a great flavor combo and a pretty look.

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Snowballs and Nutjammers

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The Cole family of Wadsworth, Ohio, bakes these each year for friends and family. The tradition started more than 50 years ago when Phrania (Fran) Cole and her sister, Ann, began making cookies as affordable gifts. The Coles like the Snowballs' tang of black walnut and the snowy, powdered-sugar coating (recipe at link above). You can choose from two fillings when you bake the tiny, turnoverlike Nutjammers.

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Date Pinwheel Cookies

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Minneapolis blogger Alyssa Ruesch says it's not Christmas without these slice-and-bake cookies. It's her grandma's recipe.

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Kolackys