30 traditional cookie recipes

Traditional Sicilian fruit-filled pastries stuffed with figs, dates, chocolate chips, nuts, and warm spices, glazed with a lemon icing. A holiday cookie tray showstopper.

Hazelnut and apricot biscotti, traditional twice-baked Italian cookies studded with toasted hazelnuts and dried apricots. Crisp, dunkable, and perfect alongside espresso or vin santo.

Fattigmann, a traditional Norwegian fried cookie flavored with cardamom, lemon zest, and brandy. Diamond-shaped, paper-thin, and dusted with sugar.

Kolachki: tender, flaky Eastern European cream cheese cookies wrapped around a sweet ground walnut filling and rolled in sugar. A buttery, melt-in-your-mouth holiday tradition.

Koulourakia, Greek special occasion cookies made with olive oil, cinnamon, brandy, and sesame seeds. Egg-free, dairy-free, and hand-shaped into traditional forms.

Traditional New Mexican biscohos cookies spiced with cinnamon, star anise, and cloves, then dusted with cinnamon sugar while still warm from the oven. A cherished holiday cookie that fills the kitchen with the most intoxicating aroma.

Halwa Shebakia: traditional Moroccan fried flower-shaped cookies soaked in honey and coated in toasted sesame seeds. A Ramadan dessert served with harira soup.

Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch lebkuchen spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and wine, loaded with raisins and chopped nuts. A heritage holiday cookie baked in just 15 minutes.

Melomacarona, traditional Greek honey cookies made with oil instead of butter, dipped in warm honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. Egg-free and butter-free.

Melomakarona: traditional Greek Christmas cookies made with olive oil, orange zest, and semolina, soaked in honey syrup and topped with walnuts. Fragrant, syrup-drenched holiday staple.

Nusskipferl are Austrian yeast-leavened crescent cookies filled with sweet ground nut meringue. A traditional Viennese coffeehouse pastry rolled jelly-roll style and curved into delicate horns.

Haselnussmakronen, traditional German hazelnut macaroons: a cocoa meringue folded with crushed hazelnuts and lemon zest, baked low into chewy, flourless cookies. A naturally gluten-free holiday treat.

Finikia are Greek torpedo-shaped semolina cookies scented with orange and cinnamon, baked golden then dipped in a honey-cinnamon syrup and rolled in sesame or walnuts. Traditional Christmas melomakarona.

Melomakarona are classic Greek Christmas cookies, olive oil dough spiced with orange zest and cognac, soaked in honey-cinnamon syrup, then sprinkled with toasted almonds. Holiday tradition perfected.