215 sugar cookie recipes

The 2nd place winner in the Chicago Tribune's 1996 Annual Holiday Cookie Contest, a simple brown-sugar shortbread from Sandra Petrille of Naperville, Illinois.

Classic Florentine cookies with chopped almonds, brown sugar, and cream, finished with a smooth chocolate coating on the bottom. Thin, lacy, and elegantly crisp.

Five-ingredient Southern pecan dainties with brown sugar, egg whites, and vanilla. Crispy, chewy, flourless pecan cookies baked low and slow. Makes six dozen from one batch.

Warsaw chrusciki, the crisp Polish bow-tie cookies known as angel wings. An egg-yolk-rich dough spiked with rum, rolled paper-thin, twisted, fried light, and dusted with powdered sugar.

Greek almond cookies shaped like little pears, scented with lemon and rolled in powdered sugar. A delicate confection perfect for special occasions and gift-giving.

Mexican wedding cookies shaped into crescents with butter, crushed pecans, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Tender, crumbly, and melt-in-your-mouth with just six ingredients.

Buttery lemon drop cookies glazed with fresh citrus. Tender melt-in-your-mouth texture from egg yolk dough, rolled in sugar and baked until barely golden.

Butterscotch shortbread cookies made with dark brown sugar and unsalted butter, topped with chopped walnuts or pecans pressed into the dough. Makes 72 bite-sized squares.

Buttery cream wafer sandwich cookies with a rich fudge filling made from unsweetened chocolate and coffee. Delicate, flaky, and sugar-crusted with a dark chocolate center.

French lace cookies bake corn syrup, shortening, brown sugar, flour, and pecans into thin, delicate, caramel-toffee disks. Optional chocolate drizzle. Five ingredients, holiday tray classic.

Slice-and-bake vanilla wafer cookies with powdered sugar, butter, and cream of tartar. Make the dough ahead, chill, slice thin, and bake crispy in 10 minutes.

Brigette's almond crescent cookies bring together buttery shortbread, rolled oats, and finely chopped almonds, finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. A classic passed-down holiday bake.

Almond crescent cookies with rolled oats and finely chopped almonds, dusted with powdered sugar while still warm. A heartier, oat-packed twist on classic holiday shortbread crescents.

Witch hat Halloween treats made from chocolate cookies, sugar cones, and chocolate frosting with hidden candy inside. A no-bake kids' craft activity with a candy surprise.

Butter toffee pecan bars with a shortbread base, boiled butter-sugar topping, and swirled milk chocolate on top. A three-layer cookie bar that yields 36 pieces.

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.