553 sugar cookie recipes

Egg shortbread cookies with a tender, crumbly texture from butter, sugar, and a whole egg. Blind-baked with pie weights for an even, golden result. Simple 5-ingredient recipe.

Marinated oranges soaked in Grand Marnier and sugar for 24 hours. A three-ingredient French dessert with boozy, candied citrus flavor. Served with chocolate cookies for an elegant finish.

Crisp rolled poppy seed cookies made with oil instead of butter, loaded with a third cup of soaked poppy seeds and a sugar-sparkle top. Simple dough, big crunch.

Rugelach roll flaky cream cheese dough around apricot preserves, cinnamon-brown-sugar, walnuts, and raisins into bite-sized crescents. A classic Jewish bakery cookie for Hanukkah and Christmas alike.

Pignoli cookies (pine nut macaroons): the chewy almond-paste Italian classic studded with toasted pine nuts and dusted with powdered sugar. Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and totally addictive.

Pecan crisps made with butter, brown sugar, and vanilla, rolled thin and topped with a pecan half. A simple kneaded dough yields tender, nutty cookies with lightly browned edges.

Pecan meringue cookies with brown sugar, egg whites, and just a touch of flour. Light, crisp, and loaded with toasted nut flavor. Naturally gluten-light and simple to make.

Crisp oatmeal cookies with brown sugar, walnuts pressed into the tops, and a thin, crunchy texture that spreads to 4 inches wide. Snappy edges with a buttery oat flavor.

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with brown sugar and rolled oats for a chewy, hearty texture. Crisp edges and soft centers loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chips in every bite.

Chewy peanut butter cookies loaded with ground and whole sesame seeds, brown sugar, honey, and a warm ginger kick. Rolled in raw sesame seeds for a nutty, crackly coating.

Old-fashioned currant jelly uses just two ingredients: fresh currants and sugar. Traditional cook-and-strain method without commercial pectin. Bright tart-sweet jelly for toast, lamb, or thumbprint cookies.

No-bake chocolate hazelnut balls made with crushed vanilla wafers, melted dark chocolate, Frangelico and toasted hazelnuts. Rolled in powdered sugar for a marbled finish. Boozy holiday cookie box staple.

Maple syrup shortbread bars with a buttery shortbread base topped with a brown sugar, maple syrup, and toasted walnut layer. A two-layer cookie bar that's part shortbread, part praline.

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.

Kolachkes are Polish-American cream cheese cookies: a tender butter-and-cream-cheese dough wrapped around fruit jam, walnut, or sweet cheese filling. Rolled in powdered sugar instead of flour.

Traditional Tuscan cavallucci spice cookies built from a hot sugar syrup kneaded with walnuts, candied orange peel, and warm spices like clove, anise, and cinnamon. Chewy, perfumed, and unmistakably medieval.