52 traditional cookie recipes

Traditional Chinese almond cookies with butter and shortening get an egg wash for glossy shine. Dough chills 2 hours, then slices into rounds topped with whole almonds.

Norwegian sandbakkels rolled-out sugar cookies with a buttery, sandy crumb. A traditional Scandinavian holiday cookie that bakes up crisp and tender.

Classic roll-out gingerbread cookies with ginger, nutmeg, and molasses, perfect for cookie cutters and holiday decorating. The traditional Christmas cookie kids and grown-ups both love to ice.

Moravian white Christmas cookies are rich, butter-and-cream rolled cookies cut into fancy shapes. Pennsylvania-Dutch tradition with a crisp snap and tender middle.

Hamantaschen are triangular Purim cookies with a tender butter dough wrapped around a prune, raisin, walnut, and lemon filling. Traditional Jewish holiday treat, makes 5 dozen.

Greek Easter cookies (koulourakia) are buttery braided twists brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds, a traditional Orthodox Easter treat with a tender, not-too-sweet crumb.

Traditional yeasted hamantaschen for Purim, a sweet egg-rich yeast dough folded into the iconic three-cornered hat shape around poppy seed or fruit filling. The Old World version, not cookie dough.

Simple Chinese almond cookies that stay pale and cream-colored, decorated with whole almonds or red food coloring dots. Traditional cookies perfect for celebrations.

Twice-baked Jewish biscotti loaded with crunchy almonds, mixed dried fruit, and a cinnamon-sugar crust. Crisp edges meet tender centers in this traditional cookie perfect for dunking in coffee or tea.

The traditional cookie for Purim, hamantashen is Yiddish for "Haman's pockets". They are meant to recall the story of Haman, a wicked Persian prince who wished to destroy the Jews but was foiled by Mordecai and Esther."

Traditional kolache fillings: ground walnut, dried apricot, coconut-pecan, and poppyseed. Four classic Czech and Eastern European pastry fillings for cookies and yeast buns.

Festive lebkuchen cookies made with honey, brown sugar, allspice, and lemon. A traditional German Christmas cookie decorated with white icing.

Le Bisse are traditional S-shaped butter cookies with lemon zest, made from a simple egg-butter-flour dough. Crisp and golden, these French-style cookies have an elegant shape and delicate crumb.

Lebkuchen (German honey cakes) blend honey, brown sugar, lemon, almonds, citron, and warm spices into a chewy spice cookie cut into fancy holiday shapes. Traditional Christmas cookie from Nuremberg.

Napoleon's Hat cookies are Scandinavian butter cookies shaped like tricorn hats with a ground almond meringue filling peeking from the top. A traditional Swedish holiday cookie.

Sirups kager are traditional Danish brown spice cookies made with dark corn syrup, cinnamon, and cloves. Crisp, warmly spiced, and ideal for holiday cookie tins and Christmas baking.