52 traditional cookie recipes

Traditional Tuscan twice-baked nut cookies studded with whole almonds and hazelnuts. Crunchy, fragrant, and built for dunking in Vin Santo or espresso.

Classic hamantashen with a tender oil-based dough scented with orange zest, folded into triangles around your favorite filling. The traditional Purim cookie.

Lemony springerle, traditional German embossed cookies stamped from a wooden mold and air-dried overnight before baking. Lemon zest brightens the classic anise.

Kolachkies are flaky Polish cream cheese cookies with thumbprint centers filled with apricot jam. A buttery holiday tradition that melts in your mouth.

Classic springerle: traditional German anise cookies embossed with intricate designs, dried overnight, and baked pale, then mellowed for a week into crisp, picture-perfect holiday treats.

Norwegian kringla are soft pretzel-shaped buttermilk cookies twisted into figure-eights. A traditional Scandinavian coffee-time treat that needs an overnight chill for flavor.

Pfeffernuesse are traditional German pepper nut cookies spiced with cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and allspice. Tiny rounds dried overnight and finished with a drop of brandy.

Biscotti crocanti, traditional Italian twice-baked cookies with whole almonds and a pairing of almond and anise extracts. The classic crisp Italian biscotti for dunking in espresso or vin santo.

Classic prune and raisin hamentachen filling with chopped nuts and whole orange (rind included) for citrus brightness. Traditional Purim cookie filling pulsed in the food processor.

Authentic biscotti di Prato from Tuscany. Twice-baked Italian almond cookies with toasted almonds, a pinch of saffron, and the traditional pasta-board well method. Crisp, dunkable, and built to keep.

Lebkuchen German Christmas cookies blend honey, molasses, cardamom, and clove into a dense spiced dough rolled and cut into shapes. Family tradition, ages and keeps for months.

Nut kolachky filling is a traditional Eastern European walnut filling for kolachky cookies and pastries. Ground walnuts, egg whites, sugar, and melted butter mixed into a thick paste.

Traditional New Mexican biscochitos made with lard, egg yolks, anise, and vanilla. Rolled, cut into shapes, and baked until tender. New Mexico's official state cookie and a holiday staple.

Traditional Norwegian anise syrup cookies made with honey, dark corn syrup, and star anise, finished with a warm powdered sugar glaze. Soft, fragrant, and sweetly spiced. Makes 4 dozen.

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.

Cucidati, the traditional Sicilian Christmas fig cookies, with a rich filling of figs, raisins, nuts, chocolate and rum wrapped in tender pastry, shaped into slashed horseshoes and dusted with sugar.