455 christmas baking recipes

Red and white peppermint pinwheel cookies with a buttery almond dough, rolled jelly-roll style and topped with crushed candy canes. A festive Christmas cookie classic.

Classic rolled-and-cut Christmas sugar cookies sprinkled with colored sugar before baking. Crisp, buttery, and ready for stars, trees, and bells without any frosting required.

Authentic springerle, the embossed German anise Christmas cookies. Egg dough pressed with carved molds, dried overnight, then baked low so the white design stays crisp. Aged to mellow the flavor.

Magic window cookies are sugar cookies with stained glass centers made from crushed hard candy that melts during baking. A holiday favorite for tree ornaments and gifts.

Festive lebkuchen cookies made with honey, brown sugar, allspice, and lemon. A traditional German Christmas cookie decorated with white icing.

Christmas ribbon cookies made with a cookie press, featuring pink, green, and white striped dough. A festive butter cookie with lemon extract that makes about 60 cookies.

Hazelnut and anisette biscotti are twice-baked Italian cookies flavored with toasted hazelnuts, anise seed, lemon zest, and espresso powder. Crisp Christmas cookies for dunking in coffee.

A treasured memory of Christmas at Great-Aunt Elizabeth's house was a cookie that I never learned to eat in moderation. Although my mother warned me not to say anything, one of the first things I would say upon arrival was, "I'm hungry" hoping that these cookies would appear. Much to my delight they usually did, and in fact, began also to appear at Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and any other time we got together to celebrate.

Surprise packages are butter cookies with a chocolate mint wafer hidden inside each one, iced and decorated to look like tiny Christmas presents. A fun holiday baking project.

Sparkle cookies rolled in red and green sugar for a festive Christmas look. Made with cookie mix, almond extract, and cream of tartar for a soft, tender bite. Makes 4 dozen.

Christmas tree cake cut from a 13x9 sheet cake into a tree shape, frosted green and decorated with peppermint candies, pretzel rod trunk, and a gumdrop star. Festive holiday show-stopper from one boxed mix.

Lele Party Cookies are thumbprint cookies rolled in egg white and chopped nuts, then filled with colorful jelly. A buttery, nutty holiday cookie perfect for Christmas trays.

Lemon Lassie cookies, a Christmas classic with cinnamon-molasses dough wrapped around a tangy lemon-coconut curd filling, then sliced into bars before baking.

No-bake chocolate cookies with melted chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, coconut, and chopped nuts. Three steps, 15 minutes, zero oven time needed.

Traditional Scotch shortbread with just butter, sugar, flour, and salt. Baked low and slow until pale and sandy with a pure butter crumble in every bite.

Christmas cream wafers sandwich tinted buttercream between sugar-coated, fork-pricked butter wafers. A retro holiday cookie that comes together with just five ingredients in the dough.