Make your holiday season even sweeter with our favorite 24 Christmas cookies for 2024! This year’s lineup is a festive mix of classic Christmas flavors and cookies inspired by traditions from home and around the world. From buttery shortbread and ginger-spiced delights to exotic treats like Greek honey cookies and macadamia alfajores (think Latin American macarons), there’s a cookie for every taste and tradition. Whether you’re baking for a cozy family gathering or filling tins to share with friends, these cookies will bring joy, a little nostalgia, and a dash of global flair to your celebrations. Grab a whisk and let’s dive into this year’s must-bake list!
Ginger Cheesecake Cookies
Gingerbread and cheesecake – does it get any better? These ginger cheesecake cookies from In Bloom Bakery will be a welcome addition to the cookie swap this year. Chewy gingerbread cookies, stuffed with creamy cheesecake, then rolled in spiced sugar. If you love gingerbread – you’ll be obsessed with these!
Polar Bear Cookies
The best thing about these super cute polar bear cookies from Everyday Dishes is that you can whip these up with almost ZERO baking skills. These are more crafting than baking but that’s what makes them so much fun to make with little ones! They’re pretty much white chocolate-covered Oreos so … what’s not to love?
Swedish Butter Cookies
Swedish butter cookies are simple, nostalgic holiday cookies that will add a cozy vibe to your table. They’re easy to make and offer a great alternative to traditional butter or shortbread cookies. These cookies from Taste of Home are flavored with maple syrup and go great with coffee or tea. You can make the dough four days in advance and store it in an airtight container.
Festive Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut butter blossoms are a must on every baker’s Christmas cookie list. This version from Made to Be a Momma takes these tasty little treasures up a notch by rolling the dough in red or green sanding sugar before baking. For an extra special touch, you can add peppermint kisses to some instead of chocolate kisses. Yum!
Cherry Wink Cookies
Good ol’ fashioned cookies are a hit during the holidays and these nostalgic cherry wink cookies from Amanda’s Cookin’ will win over hearts young and old. These prize-winning cookies have a soft, chewy center with a crispy cornflake exterior. The addition of chopped pecans, maraschino cherries, and dates up the interest level. The original recipe was created by Ruth Derousseau who entered these beauties into the 2nd annual Pillsbury baking contest in 1950.
Mantecaditos con Guayaba (Shortbread Almond Cookies with Guava)
Shortbread + almond + guava = delicious! These cookies from The Noshery are a popular treat during the holidays in Puerto Rico. Filled with guava marmalade, they’ll delight your tastebuds and maybe even take you away to a tropical island in the process! These are great to make, bake, package up, and give as a gift.
Café Coffee Cookies
This tried-and-true recipe from Betty Crocker combines chocolate, pecans, and coffee to give you a cookie worth drooling over. These cookies taste great served with a cup of coffee, but they’re pretty good on their own too! With a tablespoon of instant coffee granules and a coffee drizzle to boot, these cookies will give you a much-needed energy boost during this busy season!
Fattigman Cookies
These cardamom-infused cookies are a staple around the holidays in Scandinavia. From Norway, these deep-fried cookies are also called poor man’s cookies. This version from The Spruce Eats are simple to make, but luxurious to eat!
Christmas Coconut Pecan Cookies
These coconut pecan cookies from Pizzazzerie are crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. The powdered sugar on top looks like a dusting of snow, making these cookies an extra festive addition to your party.
Holiday Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Tangy, nutty, and finished with a white chocolate drizzle, these cranberry pistachio biscotti from The Recipe Critic are what Christmas dreams are made of! They’re crunchy, delicate and made with simple ingredients. Bonus: they only take about 20 minutes to prep!
Melomakarona Cookies (Greek Christmas Honey Cookies)
One of our favorite things to explore are Christmas cookies that grace the tables of countries around the world. These Greek Christmas honey cookies from My Greek Dish (also called melomakarona cookies) are one of the most popular cookies in Greece during the holidays. Made with cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, these cookies are super soft, loaded with flavor, and soaked in a delectable honey syrup. This recipe makes about 50 so you’ll have plenty for everyone. The word melomakarona is a combination of two words. Meli means honey and makarona comes from the word makaria, which means blessed. You’ll feel plenty blessed after just one bite!
Beth’s Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
You know when a cookie is named after someone, it’s gotta’ be good. These spicy oatmeal raisin cookies from AllRecipes are spicy, chewy little gifts from heaven! A woman named Beth Sigworth submitted this recipe (her own) to AllRecipes and we’re so glad she did. These cookies have nearly five stars from more than 5,200 reviews. Put these on your list!
Christmas Macadamia Alfajores
Alfajores are traditional Latin American Christmas cookies. These Christmas macadamia alfajores from En Casa Cooking Space have a smooth dulce de leche center and are covered in rich Belgian white chocolate. Basically, these are Latin American macarons. You’ll love them!
Peppermint Meringue Cookies
These peppermint meringue cookies from Momsdish are light, airy and beautiful to boot! These little jewels are low-fat, gluten-free, and they melt in your mouth!
Nanaimo Bars
If you’ve never had Nanaimo bars, you’re missing out. These bars are a Canadian source of pride, named after the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. These used to be sold on the ferries to and from Vancouver Island. These delicious bars from Insanely Good Recipes are made with chocolate, coconut, custard powder-infused buttercream, and a blend of chocolate and butter on top. These will have you singing “Oh Canada!” in no time!
Christmas Crack
OK, OK – Christmas crack is technically not a cookie, but we couldn’t resist adding this to our cookie roundup. This Christmas crack from Sweet Little Baker is a crispy, chocolatey, addictive dessert that will keep you coming back for seconds (and thirds). It’s super easy to make with just four ingredients and it only takes 30 minutes to whip up. This candy is made with saltine crackers coated in toffee and topped with chocolate. It’s an easy method of candy-making, which doesn’t require a candy thermometer or exact measurements.
Cuccidati (Sicilian Christmas Cookies)
There’s just something about Italian Christmas cookies that bring out the best in all of us. These Sicilian Christmas cookies, also called cuccidati, are one of Sicily’s oldest cookie recipes. If they’ve been around that long, you know they’ve got to be good! These divine cookies from Chef Franco Lania are filled with sweet, nutty fig filling with notes of citrus and honey. Italian or not, you’re going to love these!
Linzer Cookies
Linzer cookies are one of the tastiest things to come out of Austria, if you ask us! These buttery, nutty cookies from Cooking Classy are a great version of a classic linzer, filled with a jam center and dusted with powdered sugar. Try your hand at a variety of cookie cutters – rounds, squares, diamonds, stars, hearts, you name it!
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
Do not be fooled – Mexican chocolate is not the same as traditional chocolate. Lucky for us, you can find Mexican chocolate right at H-E-B. These Mexican hot chocolate cookies from Muy Bueno use Mexican chocolate that’s infused with a hint of cinnamon and chili spice. These beauties are crisp on the outside, fudgy in the middle, and speckled with chocolate chips. Even better, they only take about 20 minutes to make! Make sure you buy Mexican chocolate for this recipe. This option works great and you can pick it up at H-E-B.
Peppermint Meltaways
If you don’t have at least one peppermint-infused cookie on the table, is it even Christmas? These buttery peppermint meltaways from Lil’ Luna magically melt in your mouth – and they’ll magically disappear pretty quickly too! These are super soft, loaded with flavor, and have a cooling peppermint glaze with crushed candy canes on top. Delish!
White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies
These white chocolate dipped ginger cookies from Cooking Classy are almost too pretty to eat, but we’re going to indulge anyway! These spicy cookies are packed with ginger flavor, with complementary spices (molasses too) that take them up a notch. They’re soft and chewy with crisp edges and will be the perfect centerpiece for your holiday dessert table.
Eggnog Truffles
If you love eggnog, you’ll love these eggnog truffles from Shugary Sweets! These little morsels of yum are made with real eggnog. They’ve got a creamy center and are topped with white chocolate (a little nutmeg too). These are easy, delicious, and worth every calorie.
Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars
While traditional sugar cookies are always a safe bet for the holidays, step out of your comfort zone and try these Christmas sugar cookie bars from Love to Be in the Kitchen to spice things up this year. They’re easy to make and perfect for sharing. Because they’re bars, you don’t need to chill the dough, roll it out, or shape it. For some festive flair, top these bars with your favorite Christmas sprinkles.
Lemon Drop Cookies
Another classic Italian cookie we love this time of year are lemon drop cookies, also called anginetti. This version from Ahead of Thyme is topped with an easy lemon glaze for a bright, beautiful finish. These are easy to make, taking only about 30 minutes in total. They don’t require chilling and, like most Italian cookies, they’re not overly sweet.
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