Holiday cookies should be reliably delicious, genuinely makeable in a home kitchen, and worth the effort. These 12 classic recipes have decades of proven results. The 6 new favourites offer something different for tables that have seen the same cookie tin every year.
Two rules apply to all the recipes below: use room-temperature butter unless specified otherwise, and do not overbake. Most holiday cookies continue baking on the hot tray after removal from the oven. Remove them when they look slightly underdone and they will be perfect after 5 minutes of cooling.
The 12 Classic Holiday Cookies
1. Classic Butter Cookies
Beat 225g softened butter with 120g icing sugar until light, 3 minutes. Add 1 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 280g plain flour until a dough forms. Roll to 5mm thick. Cut with festive cutters. Bake at 180C for 10 to 12 minutes until edges are barely golden. Cool completely before icing. The base recipe for decorated sugar cookies. Double the batch: these disappear.
2. Gingerbread Cookies
Melt 115g butter with 100g brown sugar and 4 tablespoons golden syrup. Cool slightly. Mix in 1 egg, then 350g plain flour, 2 teaspoons ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, half teaspoon cloves, half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. Chill 1 hour. Roll to 4mm. Cut shapes. Bake at 175C for 9 to 11 minutes. Crispy edges, chewy centres. Royal icing for decoration.
3. Snickerdoodles
Cream 115g butter with 200g sugar. Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 220g flour, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, quarter teaspoon salt. Roll tablespoon balls in 2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Bake at 190C for 10 minutes. The cream of tartar is non-negotiable: it is what gives snickerdoodles their distinctive tang.
4. Shortbread
Classic 3:2:1 shortbread: 300g plain flour, 200g cold butter (cubed), 100g caster sugar. Rub butter into flour until breadcrumb texture. Add sugar. Press together into dough. Roll 8mm thick. Cut fingers or rounds. Prick with a fork. Bake at 160C for 20 to 25 minutes until pale golden. The low temperature prevents browning while developing the crumbly texture.
5. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Melt 115g dark chocolate with 60g butter. Cool. Whisk in 200g sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in 150g flour, 50g cocoa, 1 teaspoon baking powder. Chill 2 hours. Roll tablespoon balls in icing sugar. Bake at 180C for 11 to 12 minutes. The crinkle pattern forms as the icing sugar coating cracks while the cookie spreads.
6. Peanut Butter Cookies (3 Ingredients)
Mix 250g peanut butter, 200g sugar, 1 large egg until combined. Roll tablespoon balls. Press with fork to create crosshatch. Bake at 180C for 10 to 11 minutes. Naturally gluten-free. The simplest cookie on this list that still tastes like it required effort.
7. Linzer Cookies
Cream 225g butter with 100g icing sugar. Add 2 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in 300g flour and 50g ground almonds. Chill 1 hour. Roll and cut pairs: one solid base and one with a cutout window. Bake at 175C for 10 minutes. Sandwich with raspberry jam. Dust tops with icing sugar.
8. Pecan Snowballs
Beat 225g butter with 50g icing sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 250g flour and 150g finely chopped pecans. Roll into 2cm balls. Bake at 175C for 15 minutes until barely golden. Roll in icing sugar while hot. Roll again when cool. Also called Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies.
9. Pfeffernüsse (German Spice Cookies)
Warm 100g honey and 85g butter until melted. Cool. Add 1 egg. Mix in 280g flour, 1 teaspoon anise, half teaspoon cinnamon, quarter teaspoon each cardamom, cloves, white pepper, and allspice. Chill overnight. Roll into 2cm balls. Bake at 175C for 12 minutes. Roll in icing sugar. The black pepper gives these their distinctive character.
10. Florentines
Bring 100g butter, 100g sugar, and 2 tablespoons cream to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 100g flaked almonds, 100g mixed dried fruit, 2 tablespoons plain flour. Drop teaspoons onto lined trays, flatten. Bake at 180C for 8 to 10 minutes until golden. Cool completely. Dip underside in melted dark chocolate.
11. Classic Oatmeal Raisin
Beat 115g butter with 150g brown sugar and 100g sugar. Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 190g flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, half teaspoon salt. Stir in 270g rolled oats and 150g raisins. Scoop generously. Bake at 180C for 12 minutes. Thick, chewy, deeply satisfying.
12. Spritz Cookies
Beat 225g butter with 100g sugar until very light. Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in 280g flour. Load into cookie press with desired disc. Pipe onto ungreased trays. Decorate with coloured sugar or a glacé cherry. Bake at 190C for 8 to 10 minutes until edges are barely golden.
6 New Favourites
13. Brown Butter Tahini Cookies
Brown 150g butter until golden and nutty. Cool until solid again. Cream with 100g sugar and 80g brown sugar. Add 1 egg, 80g tahini, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 200g flour, half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, half teaspoon salt. Scoop large. Bake at 180C for 12 minutes. The tahini and brown butter combination is the most interesting flavour on this list.
14. Cardamom Orange Shortbread
Follow the classic shortbread recipe, adding zest of 1 orange and 1 teaspoon ground cardamom to the flour. The combination is unusual in the best way: fragrant, citrusy, with the warm spice of cardamom. These appeal to people who find plain shortbread boring.
15. Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Standard chocolate chip cookie recipe but add 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder to the butter and sugar, and use 70 percent dark chocolate chopped roughly rather than chips. The espresso deepens the chocolate flavour without making these taste like coffee.
16. White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Standard oatmeal cookie base but substitute white chocolate chips for raisins and dried cranberries for half the oats. The sweet white chocolate against the tart cranberry works particularly well as a festive combination.
17. Matcha Shortbread
Classic shortbread recipe with 2 teaspoons ceremonial grade matcha sifted into the flour. The matcha produces a striking pale green colour and an earthy, slightly bitter quality that contrasts with the buttery richness of shortbread.
18. Miso Caramel Thumbprints
Classic butter cookie dough. Roll balls, press thumb indent. Bake 10 minutes at 180C. Fill with miso caramel: heat 100g sugar with 2 tablespoons water until amber caramel, remove from heat, add 60ml cream and 1 tablespoon white miso. Spoon warm into indents. The miso caramel is complex, salty-sweet, and unlike any standard thumbprint filling.
What temperature should you bake holiday cookies?
Most butter-based cookies (sugar cookies, shortbread, snickerdoodles) bake between 175 and 190 degrees Celsius. Lower temperatures (160C) are used for shortbread to prevent browning while developing texture. Remove all cookies when they look slightly underdone — they continue baking on the hot tray for 3 to 5 minutes after removal.
How do you store holiday cookies to keep them fresh?
Store at room temperature in an airtight container, separating layers with parchment paper. Most cookies keep 5 to 7 days. Shortbread keeps up to 2 weeks. Cookies can be frozen unbaked (form and freeze, bake from frozen adding 2 to 3 minutes) or fully baked for up to 3 months.
How do you make holiday cookies in advance?
Most cookie doughs can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated, or 3 months ahead and frozen. Baked plain cookies (without icing) freeze well for up to 3 months and taste freshly baked after 30 minutes at room temperature.
What is the most common holiday cookie baking mistake?
Overbaking. Cookies continue cooking on the hot tray after removal from the oven. Remove them when the edges are set but centres look slightly underdone. The second most common mistake is using cold butter rather than room-temperature butter in recipes that call for creaming, which prevents the proper aeration of the butter-sugar mixture.
What is the easiest holiday cookie to make?
3-ingredient peanut butter cookies (peanut butter, sugar, egg): 10 minutes prep, 10 minutes bake, no chilling required. Classic butter cookies with simple icing are the easiest decorated option. Shortbread is the easiest to make well consistently.
How do you make decorated sugar cookies with royal icing?
Royal icing: whisk 250g icing sugar with 2 tablespoons pasteurised egg white and 1 teaspoon lemon juice until stiff peaks form. Add water to thin for flooding (should flow slowly when drizzled). Outline cookies with stiff icing, flood with thinned icing, allow to set 2 hours before adding detail. Gel food colouring produces vivid colours without thinning the icing.
Bake More Than You Think You Need
Holiday cookies disappear faster than expected. They are consumed at the baking session, given to neighbours, requested by people who hear about them, and eaten from the tin before they reach the intended recipient. Double all batches. Freeze extras. You will not regret it.
Fill your holiday season with homemade treats everyone will love. Follow WritoryBuzz for festive recipes, baking inspiration, seasonal desserts, and easy cooking tips to make every celebration more delicious.
