40 traditional cookie recipes

Traditional fortune cookies made from scratch with 9 ingredients including instant tea for authentic color and flavor. Chill the batter, work with cotton gloves, and fold while hot for bakery-quality results.

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.

Ginger bread is one of the classic and traditional cookies people make for Christmas. The rich flavor from brown sugar and molasses is so good and the spices make the uniquely delicious taste.

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.

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.

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.

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 lebkuchen cookies with honey, molasses, almonds, candied fruit, and five warm spices. Soft, chewy spice cookies brushed with lemon glaze for a classic Christmas treat.

Diabetic-friendly pecan oatmeal cookies made with egg whites instead of whole eggs, plus bran flakes for extra fiber. Crisp edges, chewy centers, and lighter than traditional oatmeal cookies.

Traditional German Springerle cookies with anise oil, stamped with carved molds and dried overnight before baking to a pale straw color. This heirloom recipe makes 72 delicate, picture-perfect cookies.

Moustokouloura (Greek wine must cookies) shaped into oval wreaths with olive oil, petimezi, honey, cinnamon, cloves, and orange. A traditional vegan Greek cookie with a crunchy, spiced bite.