12 Best Christmas Cookies for Holiday Baking

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The best Christmas cookies make room for a little variety: something buttery, something chocolatey, a warmly spiced cookie, and a colorful treat that looks right at home on a holiday platter. These 12 JenniferCooks recipes cover Christmas cookie exchanges, family baking afternoons, and a plate of sweets to share with neighbors. You'll find decorated cutouts, spritz cookies, chocolate crinkles, peanut butter blossoms, and a few shortcuts for a busy December. Pick a few favorites that fit your time and equipment, then open each recipe for the full directions. A good cookie tray doesn't need a dozen different baking projects.

Jump to: Decorated cookies · Chocolate favorites · Butter and spice · Bars and no-bake

Decorated Christmas Cookies and Festive Shapes

Cutouts, spritz, and bright green Grinch cookies bring the color to a Christmas cookie tray. Choose cutouts when you want to spend time decorating, spritz when you have a cookie press ready, or cake-mix Grinch cookies for a playful finish with a red candy heart.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms

Chocolate crinkles, chocolate cake-mix blossoms, and peanut butter blossoms give you three different ways to add chocolate to the plate. The crinkle dough needs a long chill, while the two blossom recipes get their chocolate kisses after baking. Allow the candy tops to set before packing.

Old-Fashioned Butter and Spice Cookies

Ginger molasses, vanilla meltaways, and cinnamon-sugar-coated sugar cookies balance the decorated and chocolate cookies with familiar flavors. Choose the molasses cookies for warm spice, meltaways for a delicate vanilla crumb, or the old-fashioned sugar cookies for a crisp bite.

Cookie Bars, Coconut Macaroons, and a No-Bake Option

Coconut macaroons with candied fruit bring classic Christmas color, sugar cookie bars let you bake the dough in one pan, and peanut butter cereal drop cookies keep the oven free. The no-bake recipe still uses the stovetop; plan time for the cookies to cool and set.

How to Build a Christmas Cookie Tray

Choose one decorated cookie, one chocolate cookie, and one butter or spice cookie for a small but varied tray. For example, pair vanilla almond cutouts with chocolate crinkles and ginger molasses cookies. If you'd rather skip decorating, swap in spritz or vanilla meltaways. Add the coconut macaroons when you want another flavor and a little candied-fruit color.

For a cookie exchange, check the host's requested quantity before choosing a recipe. Look at the yield in the original recipe and allow for several batches if needed. Keep a copy of the ingredient list with each variety, especially the peanut butter cookies and recipes with nuts; a mixed tray should never be assumed to suit everyone's dietary needs.

Plan Your Baking Around Chilling and Decorating

Start with the dough that needs the longest rest. The chocolate crinkle recipe calls for at least four hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. Peanut butter blossom dough balls can be prepared and refrigerated up to 48 hours ahead, according to that recipe. Check each cookie's own instructions before deciding when to mix, shape, bake, and decorate.

Read the pan instructions, too. Spritz cookies are pressed onto an ungreased baking sheet, while other recipes call for parchment. Keep each recipe's oven temperature and shaping method with its dough so the trays don't get mixed up during a busy baking afternoon.

Decorate cooled cutouts with my Royal Icing for Cookies. That guide explains outlining and flood consistencies. Leave room in your schedule for the icing to dry thoroughly before you stack or box the cookies.

Which Christmas Cookies Can You Make Ahead?

Peanut butter blossoms and fruit cake coconut macaroons both have freezing instructions in their individual recipes. The blossom recipe allows baked cookies or unbaked dough balls to be frozen for up to two months; the macaroon recipe allows baked macaroons to be frozen for up to three months. Follow the matching recipe for thawing, coating, and baking details.

Avoid giving every cookie the same storage deadline. A dry, unfilled cookie and a frosted bar need different handling. The sugar cookie bars here use cream cheese frosting, so plan a refrigerated storage and transport arrangement for those bars instead of treating them like a tin of plain cookies.

Pack Cookies Without Smudging the Pretty Parts

Let the cookies cool completely and let chocolate tops and icing set before packing. Use a sturdy container and separate layers with parchment. Give delicate meltaways and decorated cutouts enough room that heavier cookies won't crush them. Pack the frosted bars separately, and follow each recipe's storage guidance.

For a platter served at home, arrange the varieties in small groups so guests can see their choices. Keep the recipe names or ingredient lists nearby. Refill the platter as needed instead of piling every cookie into one tall stack.

Christmas Cookie Questions

Which recipe should I choose for decorating?

Choose the vanilla almond sugar cookie cutouts when you want cookies to roll, cut, and ice. Spritz cookies use a press for their shapes; Grinch cookies get their color from the dough and a red heart added after baking.

Are all of these Christmas cookies made from scratch?

No. Grinch cookies use white cake mix, and Chocolate Hershey Kiss Cookies use chocolate cake mix. The collection includes those shortcuts alongside cookies mixed from individual ingredients.

What can I make without using the oven?

The Reeces Pieces drop cookies are the no-bake choice in this collection. They use a cooked syrup mixture on the stovetop, then cool and set after scooping. No-bake does not mean no cooking.

Save a Few Favorites for Your Holiday Baking

Bookmark the recipes you want to try, and join my email list for more recipes from my kitchen. Which cookie always earns a spot on your Christmas tray? Tell me in the comments-I'd love to hear what your family looks forward to each year.