75 traditional cookie recipes

Cayenne and chocolate make a nice combo in this cookie from Paula Tuchscherer-Jones of Milwaukee; they would provide an interesting complement when plated with more traditional cookies.

Buttery crescent cookies with ground nuts, chilled overnight, then shaped into half moons and rolled hot in powdered sugar. A traditional Christmas cookie with crumbly shortbread texture.

Hungarian vanilla kifli cookies: tender butter crescents rolled in vanilla sugar, then dipped in semi-sweet chocolate. A traditional Eastern European holiday cookie with a melt-in-the-mouth crumb.

A hamantash (also spelled hamentasch, homentash, homentasch, (h)umentash, a filled cookie traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Traditional Jewish Purim hamantaschen with honey-sweetened ground poppy seed filling, lemon zest, and raisins folded into triangular dough pockets. Holiday cookies with deep cultural roots.

Poppyseed and nut filling for hamantaschen blends ground poppy seeds with chopped nuts, raisins, citron, and milk into a thick, jewel-toned paste. The traditional mohn filling for Purim cookies.

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."

Italian meatball cookies with warm spices, cocoa, raisins, nuts, and chocolate chips rolled into small round drops. A traditional Italian-American holiday cookie that looks like its dinner-table namesake.

Medianyky, traditional Ukrainian honey cookies spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, topped with almonds and sugar crystals. A fragrant holiday cookie with Old World charm.

Greek semolina honey cookies (melomakarona): torpedo-shaped orange and cinnamon cookies soaked in a warm honey-cinnamon syrup and dusted with sesame or walnuts. Traditional Christmas tradition.

Grandma's mincemeat cookies are a Christmas tradition: spiced dried-fruit filling folded into a tender shortening dough, dropped by the spoonful and baked golden in about 12 minutes.

Italian chocolate nut cookies (mostaccioli) are dense, spiced cocoa cookies with chopped almonds and raisins on whole wheat flour. A traditional Calabrian holiday cookie with deep chocolate-clove flavor.

Mexican polvorones, crumbly cinnamon shortbread cookies coated in a chocolate-cinnamon sugar. Baked low and slow for a melt-in-your-mouth traditional Mexican cookie.

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

Kwarezimal, traditional Maltese almond cakes with cinnamon, citrus zest, and orange extract. Baked in logs and sliced into crisp biscotti-style cookies.

Traditional German Spekulatius Christmas cookies spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, made with ground almonds and butter. Thin, crisp, and warmly spiced, these are a holiday cookie tin essential.