1,839 sugar cookie recipes

Shamrock cookies for St. Patrick's Day, a tender mint-scented shortbread tinted green, shaped from three little dough balls plus a stem and dusted with green sugar. A fun holiday baking project.

Pate sucree (sweet short pastry) made the French way with butter worked by hand into flour, powdered sugar, and eggs. Tender, cookie-like crust for tarts and tartlets that keeps for days.

No-bake fudgy oatmeal cookies with cocoa, peanut butter, and rolled oats. Boil the sugar mixture for one minute, stir in oats and peanut butter, drop on wax paper, and you're done.

Light, airy coconut meringue cookies topped with candied cherry halves. Made with egg whites, sugar, and shredded coconut, these gluten-free bites are crisp on the outside and chewy in the center.

Vermont maple cinnamon swirl cookies: a flaky butter-and-maple pastry rolled around brown sugar cinnamon filling, then sliced and baked. Crisp edges, tender centers, and a real maple glaze on top.

Classic peanut butter cookies with the signature fork crisscross top, made with butter, equal parts brown and granulated sugar, and a full cup of peanut butter. Yields five dozen and freezes well.

Italian-style almond drop cookies decorated with pine nuts and dusted with confectioners' sugar. A double-boiler whipped batter creates a delicate, marzipan-rich crumb that bakes up crisp on the outside.

Twice-baked Jewish biscotti loaded with crunchy almonds, mixed dried fruit, and a cinnamon-sugar crust. Crisp edges meet tender centers in this traditional cookie perfect for dunking in coffee or tea.

Yuletide ginger cookies made with oat bran and egg whites instead of butter and whole eggs for a lighter holiday treat. Rolled in festive colored sugar crystals for sparkle and crunch on every bite.

Buttery Italian-style shortbread cookies made with powdered sugar, vanilla, and three-quarters of a pound of real butter. Chill the dough, roll it out, cut your favorite shapes, and bake until golden.

Buttery shortbread sticks with ground almonds baked into the dough and a crunchy almond-sugar topping. These elegant little cookies snap with a satisfying crumble and make 3 dozen in under an hour.

Buttery pecan coconut cookie balls with a hint of almond, baked golden and finished with a tropical pineapple honey glaze or a roll in powdered sugar. Makes about 6 dozen bite-sized treats.

Chinese-bakery style almond cookies with shortening, brown sugar, and a whole blanched almond pressed into each round. Egg yolk wash gives the signature glossy golden top from your favorite dim sum tray.

Praline macaroons from Mississippi: chewy meringue cookies built on whipped egg whites, brown sugar, and toasted pecans, each one crowned with a whole pecan half. Crisp shell, soft center, pure Southern bakery counter.

Old-school chocolate chip cookies built on shortening and brown sugar for crisp edges and chewy middles, studded with semi-sweet chips and toasted pecans. A throwback recipe from the original Crisco era.

Golden biscotti packed with sliced and whole almonds, perfumed with orange zest and almond extract, then twice-baked into crunchy Italian cookies topped with cinnamon sugar. Keeps for months and begs for espresso.