212 sugar cookie recipes

Very simple cookies made with an almond-meal base. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, which have been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. They are also very high in vitamin E (a powerful anti-oxidant), magnesium and potassium (important for maintaining healthy blood pressure).

Sugarplum cookies with dried or candied fruit hidden inside each ball of vanilla sugar cookie dough. Topped with creamy frosting and colored sugar for Christmas cookie trays.

Santa's Thumbprint cookies with oats, brown sugar, and chopped nuts rolled on the outside, filled with jelly. A festive holiday cookie recipe that makes 3 dozen.

Banana-Walnut Cookies pack two cups of rolled oats into a soft, cinnamon-spiced drop cookie with mashed banana and brown sugar. A generous 60-cookie batch ready in 30 minutes.

Spice cookies with pumpkin dip: molasses-and-ginger cookies rolled in sugar, served with a creamy cream cheese and pumpkin pie dip. A holiday cookie plate with a dunking twist.

Finska Pinnar are classic Finnish butter cookies rolled in pearl sugar - crisp, buttery shortbread fingers made in 30 minutes that yield 4 dozen cookies.

Soft drop cookies made with mincemeat stirred into a fluffy sugar cookie base. A nostalgic holiday cookie recipe that yields a big batch from simple pantry ingredients.

Chocolate snowball cookies rolled in powdered sugar for a craggy, snow-dusted finish. Brown sugar and unsweetened chocolate give these holiday cookies a deep cocoa flavor that's not too sweet.

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.

Cream cheese snowflake cookies with lemon zest, topped with powdered sugar icing and edible glitter. Delicate, buttery Christmas cutout cookies that sparkle.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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