553 sugar cookie recipes

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.

Pfeffernuesse German pepper cookies with molasses, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper, rolled in powdered sugar. Small, spicy, and deeply aromatic holiday cookies from the old country.

Mexican mocha balls: shortbread-style chocolate-coffee cookies with chopped walnuts and maraschino cherries, rolled in extra-fine sugar. Perfect for the holiday cookie tray.

Mexican polvorones, crumbly cinnamon shortbread cookies coated in a chocolate-cinnamon sugar. Baked low and slow for a melt-in-your-mouth traditional Mexican cookie.

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.

Fudgy mint chocolate crinkle cookies coated in powdered sugar with crackled tops. Makes 3 dozen chewy cookies with cool minty flavor in just 30 minutes.

Almond Brown Sugar Biscotti: classic twice-baked Italian cookies with anise, brown sugar warmth, and chopped almonds. Crisp, dunkable, makes 3 dozen and stores for a month.

Two-ingredient palmier cookies made from puff pastry and sugar, folded and sliced into caramelized golden crescents. A classic French bakery cookie with shattering, flaky layers and a crunchy sugar crust.

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.

Snowball cookies made with butter, ground nuts, vanilla, and flour, then rolled in powdered sugar while warm. A classic melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookie.

Oatmeal orange cookies with rolled oats, cinnamon, and chopped orange pamelas (pomelo) mixed into brown sugar cookie dough. Chewy citrus-spiced drop cookies.

Classic snickerdoodle cookies: tender soft cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar, with the signature cream of tartar tang. Yields five dozen for the cookie tin.

Chocolate crinkle cookies made with real melted unsweetened chocolate, rolled in powdered sugar, and baked until crackled. Deep, fudgy centers with a snowy sugar shell.

Frosted applesauce cookies with molasses, bran flakes, raisins, and a boiled caramel frosting. Soft, spiced drop cookies with warm allspice and clove flavors topped with buttery brown sugar icing.

Frying pan cookies cook chopped dates, eggs, butter, and sugar into a sticky caramel, then fold in crisp rice cereal and walnuts before rolling into balls coated in coconut or powdered sugar. A no-bake retro cookie with serious chew.

Soft pumpkin walnut cookies topped with maple frosting. Made with real pumpkin puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and crunchy walnuts for a cakey fall cookie.