586 holiday cookie recipes

This cut-out cookie from Bev Bosveld of Waupun is dressed up with chewy oats and crushed peppermint for a pleasing result.

Kolachki: tender, flaky Eastern European cream cheese cookies wrapped around a sweet ground walnut filling and rolled in sugar. A buttery, melt-in-your-mouth holiday tradition.

These delicious and melted in your mouth cookies don't last long.

This recipe, though fussy to make, is attractive and tasty. Cheryl Kaufenberg of Darien said it came from a very old Better Homes & Gardens magazine

Cranberry and lemon star in this winning drop cookie with fluffy frosting from Liz Bannon of Port Washington, which was adapted from a recipe in a Taste of Home cookbook.

Macadamia nut brittle with dried banana chips and coconut, made in the microwave. A tropical twist on classic peanut brittle that's ready in under 15 minutes.

Light, chewy coconut macaroons made meringue-style from whipped egg whites and grated coconut, sweetened sugar-free and scented with almond. Naturally gluten-free, and lovely topped with a glace cherry.

Linzer Augen are Austria's almond shortbread sandwich cookies: two tender, nutty rounds glued with apricot jam, the top cut with a little window that frames the glistening preserves under a snowfall of powdered sugar. A Christmas cookie tin classic.

Halloween black cat cookies turn rich chocolate cookie dough into spooky-cute pops, with pinched ears, fork-pressed whiskers, candy corn eyes, and red-hot noses. A fun bake the kids can help shape.

Halloween gag cookies rolled in Grape-Nuts and served from a clean litter box with a scoop. Chocolate and gingerbread dough logs shaped like, well, you know. Harmless fun.

Half moon cookies with a soft, cake-like buttermilk crumb, frosted half white and half chocolate. The classic upstate New York holiday cookie, also known as a black-and-white.

The crisp, densely chocolaty cookies, with an unusually long baking time, were an annual favorite among the 20-plus recipes that Susan Couchman of Hartland remembers were made each year by her mother, Gloria Kuchler.

These rich chocolate-toffee bars from Mary Lueke of Menasha were our top pick in the bar category.

Spooky chocolate cookies with pretzel stick legs coated in melted chocolate and sprinkles with candy eyes. These Halloween tarantula treats are fun to make with kids.

Citrus lovers will like this refreshing crispy cookie from Jocelyn Moritz of Waukesha.

The colors the fruits used in the cookies suggest those of the robes worn by the four ordres mendiants, monastic orders that originally lived on charity -- the Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans and Franciscans.