126 holiday cookie recipes

Soft, spiced drop cookies loaded with fruity mincemeat filling. A holiday cookie jar staple that makes 3 dozen in 30 minutes. Old-fashioned flavor your grandmother would recognize.

Birds in the Nest cookies with brown sugar dough rolled in ground nuts and filled with jelly. A thumbprint cookie recipe passed down through generations of holiday baking.

Chocolate sandwich cookies filled with melted Andes mint candies. Crisp chocolate wafers rolled in sugar with a creamy mint center, perfect for holiday cookie tins and gift platters.

Nut crescents: buttery shortbread cookies shaped into crescents, dipped in egg white and a nut-sugar coating, baked golden, then dusted with powdered sugar. A holiday cookie classic.

Soft drop cookies made with mashed cooked carrots and shredded coconut, topped with a bright orange butter icing. Makes 4 dozen, great for holiday cookie trays and bake sales.

Thin, crispy wafer cookies rolled into delicate tubes while warm, then dipped in melted chocolate and crunchy pecans. A show-stopping holiday cookie that bakes in just 6 minutes.

Butter cookie press poinsettias for Christmas with red flower shapes and hand-formed green leaves topped with silver dragees. A beautiful, festive holiday cookie with almond and vanilla flavor.

No-bake snow balls made with peanut butter, crisp rice cereal, and chopped nuts, rolled in powdered sugar and coconut. Holiday-ready cookie tray candy ready in 20 minutes.

German honey spice cookies rolled into bite-sized balls with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace, and black pepper, then dipped in a sweet vanilla glaze. A traditional Pfeffernusse-style holiday cookie.

Italian Christmas cookies (Patina di Natale) studded with toasted pine nuts and brightened by lemon zest. A buttery, golden-glazed cookie-cutter classic from the holiday tables of southern Italy.

Pecan thumbprint cookies, the classic shortbread-style holiday cookie. Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth dough rolled in finely chopped pecans with a thumbprint well ready for jam, chocolate, or icing.

Tiny Bohemian chocolate cookies with melted milk chocolate, grated walnuts, and butter, baked low and slow until they melt on your tongue. Makes 16 dozen bite-sized cookies for holiday platters.

Rich, fudgy Austrian chocolate balls loaded with chopped nuts and dipped in a glossy chocolate glaze. These bite-sized baked cookies are a European holiday cookie tray staple that disappears fast.

Pfeffernüsse-style German spice cookies with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, and allspice, finished with a drop of brandy before baking. A traditional holiday cookie that keeps for weeks in a tin.

Peanut butter blossom kisses with sugar-rolled cookies and a chocolate kiss pressed warm into each top. The classic holiday cookie tray standard, soft and chewy with a crackly sugar crust.

Christmas cookie slices are old-fashioned icebox cookies: vanilla shortbread dough rolled into logs, chilled, sliced thin, and baked into crisp golden rounds. Make ahead and ready to slice for holiday baking.