89 holiday cookie recipes

Butter ball cookies (Russian tea cakes) with ground walnuts, cake flour, butter, and vanilla rolled in powdered sugar twice. A melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookie with just five ingredients.

Chocolate hazelnut raspberry thumbprints: chocolate-cocoa cookies rolled with ground toasted hazelnuts, indented and filled with raspberry jam. Three dozen elegant holiday cookies.

Snow cap meringue cookies fold semi-sweet chocolate chips into low-and-slow baked egg-white meringues, then dip the tops in melted white chocolate. Crisp, airy holiday cookies. Makes 6 dozen.

Tender sour cream pastry rolled with apricot jam, walnuts, and raisins into elegant strudel cookies. These make-ahead sweets are perfect for holiday cookie trays.

No-bake Rudolph's Antlers Christmas cookies made with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chow mein noodles, and maraschino cherries. A fun holiday treat kids love to shape.

Kolacky cookies made with a tender cream cheese pastry dough filled with fruit spread, pinched into tri-cornered shapes, and baked golden. A Czech holiday cookie tradition.

Tiny green sugar cookie balls arranged in rings with candied cherry "berries" to make festive Christmas wreath cookies. A fun, easy holiday baking project for kids.

Chocolate chip cherry drop cookies with cream cheese in the dough, maraschino cherries, and a half-cherry crown on each cookie. Holiday-bright bite-sized treats.

Santa Claus cookies decorate flat sugar cookies with red sugar caps, miniature marshmallow tassels, currant eyes, cinnamon candy noses, and coconut beards. A festive holiday craft cookie kids can help build from baked rounds.

Russian tea cakes (also called Mexican wedding cookies): buttery nut-studded shortbread balls rolled twice in powdered sugar. A classic holiday cookie tin staple in 30 minutes.

Fortune Christmas Cookies, tiny marble-sized dough balls baked into bite-sized holiday treats. A simple, quick-baking variation of the Mysticandy cookie dough for the Christmas tin.

Brown sugar cookie dough balls pressed onto pecan halves arranged like tiny turtle legs, then baked and topped with glossy chocolate frosting. Adorable, crunchy, and completely addictive holiday cookies.

Refrigerator cookies pack chopped dates, shredded coconut, and walnuts into a buttery slice-and-bake log rolled in extra nuts. Make-ahead icebox cookies for holiday baking or anytime.

Raspberry gems are delicate sandwich cookies with a sour cream pastry dough, raspberry jam filling, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with almonds. A gorgeous holiday cookie tin addition.

Buttery pecan shortbread cookie balls dipped in vanilla frosting and rolled in tinted coconut. Melt-in-your-mouth tender, baked low and slow, and perfect for holiday cookie exchanges. Makes 48.

Orange sugar-crusted meltaway cookies with chocolate chips and chopped nuts, dipped in fresh orange juice and rolled in sugar to form a delicate citrus-sugar shell. A bright, buttery shortbread-style holiday cookie.