586 holiday cookie recipes

Swedish rosettes are crisp, lacy fried cookies shaped by a decorative iron dipped in batter and flash-fried until golden. A Scandinavian holiday tradition dusted in powdered sugar.

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.

Cinnamon applesauce ornaments: two-ingredient dough of ground cinnamon and drained applesauce, rolled, cut with cookie cutters, and dried into fragrant holiday keepsakes that scent the whole room.

Melomakarona are classic Greek Christmas cookies, olive oil dough spiced with orange zest and cognac, soaked in honey-cinnamon syrup, then sprinkled with toasted almonds. Holiday tradition perfected.

Peanut butter cookie dough wrapped around mini Snickers or Mars bars on a stick. Golden, chewy, and loaded with candy bar surprise in every bite. A total showstopper for bake sales and holiday parties.

Glazed butternut balls shape buttery nut shortbread into eggs, then half-dip in glaze or chocolate with coconut or sprinkles on top. Pretty holiday cookies that store for weeks.

Old-fashioned raisin pastries: flaky pie-dough half-moons stuffed with ground raisins, nuts, and citron in a honey-cinnamon-jelly filling. Hand pies for the holiday cookie box.

Almond krumkake: paper-thin Norwegian wafers pressed on a krumkake iron, rolled into delicate cones while warm, then filled with whipped cream or jam. The Scandinavian holiday cookie classic.

Mexican wedding cookies (polvorones): tender almond shortbread balls baked low and slow, then rolled twice in powdered sugar for that signature snowy coating. Melt-in-your-mouth holiday classics.

Festive cocoa cards are large chocolate-molasses cookies cut into rectangles and decorated with frosting to look like greeting cards. A fun holiday baking project for kids and adults.

Greek kourabiedes wedding shortbread, buttery powdered-sugar cookies scented with brandy or ouzo and topped with a single clove. A snowy holiday and wedding classic that melts in the mouth.

No-bake chocolate hazelnut balls made with crushed vanilla wafers, melted dark chocolate, Frangelico and toasted hazelnuts. Rolled in powdered sugar for a marbled finish. Boozy holiday cookie box staple.

Holiday decorating icing whisks powdered sugar with a splash of milk and a drop of flavor extract into a smooth, pipe-able glaze for outlining, flooding, and drizzling Christmas cookies.

Soft applesauce spice drop cookies with cold coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, raisins, and nuts. One batch makes 7 dozen with just a 7-minute bake time - a holiday baking staple.

Holiday molasses crinkles are spiced sugar-coated cookies with cracked, snowy tops. The water-droplet trick guarantees that signature crinkled surface every time. Soft inside, slightly crisp at the edges.

Gingerbread martini shakes RumChata with gingerbread liqueur over ice and pours it into a cookie-crumb-rimmed glass. A creamy, spiced holiday dessert cocktail that tastes like Christmas in a glass.