Our 50 Best Classic Christmas Cookies to Bake for the Holidays

These slice-and-bake cookies reveal a snowy Christmas tree decked out with twinkly lights.

Keep a log of these chocolate-orange-flavored buttery cookies in your freezer to bake at a moment’s notice.

The act of decorating and munching on Christmas tree cookies is an easy-peasy way to spark holiday cheer.

They’re super rich and fudgy on the inside, with the most incredible crispy bite. Along with snowball cookies, butter cookies, and peanut butter blossoms, chocolate crinkle cookies are a staple in many Christmas cookie tins during the holidays.

This is the easiest way to make these iconic Christmas cookies at home. If you don't like peppermint, you can make these with almond extract instead.

In the massive world of cookie recipes, we have a soft spot for the cute little one-bite Italian cookies that are covered with icing and sprinkles. These soft, cakey sweets can be anise flavored or even loaded with ricotta cheese, but nothing beats the classic version flavored with almond extract.

These buttery pressed cookies are a Christmas tradition. Decorate them with sanding sugar, nonpareil sprinkles, or shaped sprinkles.

These festive peanut butter cookies are the best thing to happen to a chocolate kiss.

Mixed with toasted nuts and coated with powdered sugar, these five-ingredient cookies are a holiday classic.

A mainstay of any holiday cookie platter, rainbow cookies are made with almond paste in three colorful layers.

Soft, buttery, and filled with a brightly colored jam (or sometimes salted caramel), thumbprint cookies are universally loved. These thumbprint cookies are perfect on a holiday cookie plate, but are also great at any other time of the year when you want a pretty little sweet treat.

From the outside, these simple, soft, sugar-coated shortbread cookies look a little like snowballs, but take a bite and you’ll discover a chocolate kiss candy tucked away in the center.

These Scottish-style brown butter raspberry shortbread cookies are made from just a few easily accessible ingredients — butter, sugar, salt, flour, and jam.

It tastes just like a hot chocolate in cookie form, complete with a creamy marshmallow filling.

Put a little yee-haw in your holiday cookie tin.

Crisp, light, tender, and filled with a rich cinnamon flavor, biscochitos are a simple twist on the classic shortbread cookie.

Everything you love about coffee cake, reimagined as a treat that fits in the palm of your hand.

Blend store-bought butter cookies with cream cheese, nutmeg, cinnamon, and rum for a boozy no-bake treat that tastes just like rum-spiked eggnog.

Elevate thumbprints with coconut, almond, and plum jam for a festive take on the classic cookie.

These nutty, chewy cookies feature a shiny, sweet-tart cranberry glaze.

They're wildly easy and no-bake (that's what we call a holiday win win!).

Ricotta cookies are fluffy, lightly sweet, and full of Italian American bakery vibes. Super soft and cakey, thanks to the ricotta cheese, these cute little cookies are a bit like Lofthouse sugar cookies.

These festive bar cookies are a fun holiday twist on classic Funfetti cake.

Just like the trendy, slightly bitter, bright orange cocktail from which they get their name (and flavor), this modern-day twist on the classic spritz cookie gets its zest from oranges and extract.

These classic pinwheel cookies are make-ahead-friendly and a retro treat worthy of a comeback.

Pizzelle are a simple yet beautiful Italian cookie made with a special pizzelle press. The resulting cookie is sweet and buttery, and keeps well for days.

One of the easiest (not to mention deliciously boozy) no-bake treats you can make during the holiday season. All you need is a food processor, some vanilla wafer cookies, nuts, your favorite Kentucky bourbon, and some pantry staples.

Bake these Italian almond cookies twice for the perfect crunch.

Linzer cookies might look like another pretty sandwich cookie, but these sweet-tart cookies have a rich, tender crumb, thanks to a nearly invisible ingredient.

These classic Italian cookies — made with almond paste, sugar, egg whites, and pine nuts — are naturally gluten-free.

Ube, pronounced ooh-beh, has a natural, deep purple color and a flavor that's a mix between vanilla and pistachio. Here, it replaces chocolate in the classic crinkle cookie.

In this classic Italian cookie recipe, the soft, tender crumb paired with the gentle scent of anise is guanteed to be a hit during the holidays.

The best cut-out sugar cookies you can make! A delicious dough, with tips for cutting out pretty shapes and easy decorating.

Toasting the sugar before mixing it into the dough concentrates the sweetness and gives the cookies a surprising honey-lemon flavor.

Brown sugar and a touch of molasses lend richness and depth of flavor to these easy sugar cookies.

Making classic homemade shortbread is actually quite simple and only requires four simple ingredients – just butter, sugar, flour, and salt – and a baking pan.

The combination of almond and lemon makes these intensely thick and soft treats taste like nostalgic bliss, and some almond flour in the dough gives them a lovely dense texture.

Just like the cookies from the classic blue tin, these butter cookies are just sweet enough with a crisp, snappy bite, sandy texture, and a generous blanket of coarse sugar on top.

Rich and nutty brown butter is a special ingredient with the power to make everything it touches taste a little more luxurious — including sugar cookies. With the addition of brown butter, the classic sugar cookie of our childhood takes on a deep, mellow richness with hints of toasted nuts in every bite.

Snickerdoodles are classic cookies made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Unlike regular sugar cookies, snickerdoodles are rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture before baking. Popular at holiday cookie exchanges, they’re best when freshly baked and will fill your house with an intoxicating aroma.

These sweet-and-salty buttered popcorn cookies come together in just one bowl — no mixer required.

Here's everything you need to bake your own gingerbread houses, including a printable template.

Strong winter spices are paired with treacle in this spectacular cookie recipe. These gingerbread cookies taste great on their own, but are equally great with a hot beverage (like a pumpkin spice latte!).

These snappy gingerbread cookies call for an easy glazing technique to make the prettiest swirls.

Soft and chewy cookies with signature flavors of both snickerdoodles and ginger snaps in every bite.

The combination of molasses and a blend of spices means these cookies deliver the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. Enjoy them on their own, or try using them to make ice cream sandwiches!

Gingerbread is the scent of the season. This richly spiced cookie, teeming with ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon, perfumes your house from the moment you begin mixing the dough to the first tray that’s pulled out of the oven.

These chewy, white chocolate- and pecan-flecked blondies are as molasses-rich and spicy as the classic cookies.

Unlike traditional ginger cookies, we've added crystallized ginger, chopped dark chocolate, and espresso powder to our recipe to make them really stand out.