The holiday season, with its crisp air and twinkling lights, inherently beckons us into the kitchen. There’s a certain magic in the aroma of freshly baked cookies wafting through your home, promising warmth, comfort, and delightful memories. If you’re eager to fill your cookie jars, gift delectable treats to loved ones, or simply indulge in the joy of festive baking, you’ve landed in the perfect spot!
We’ve meticulously curated a collection of 17 irresistible holiday cookie recipes, hand-picked from the crème de la crème of 2019’s baking bloggers. This isn’t just a list; it’s your ultimate guide to mastering holiday baking, offering a diverse array of flavors and textures to satisfy every craving. From classic comforts to innovative delights, these recipes are designed to make your holiday season exceptionally sweet and effortlessly delicious. Prepare to be inspired, to bake, and to share the joy!
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Your Ultimate Holiday Cookie Countdown: 17 Dazzling Recipes from Top Bloggers!
This holiday season, say goodbye to endless searching for the perfect cookie. We’ve done the heavy lifting, bringing you a curated selection of the absolute best holiday cookie recipes. Each entry features a mouth-watering photograph and a concise summary, making it easy for you to pick your favorites and get baking!
Let’s embark on this delightful journey through our 17 days of holiday cookie recipes collection:
1. Get ready for a showstopper! These Dulce de Leche Stuffed Snickerdoodle Cookies are poised to be the undisputed star of your holiday dessert table. Imagine soft, chewy snickerdoodles, perfectly spiced with cinnamon, revealing a luscious, gooey dulce de leche center with every bite. To make your baking even smoother, consider using this easy Pressure Cooker Dulce de Leche recipe. These cookies offer a delightful twist on a classic, ensuring a memorable treat for all.
2. Few cookies capture the festive spirit quite like Monique’s adorable Santa Cranberry Macarons. These delicate, brightly colored macaron shells, characteristic of perfect holiday treats, are generously filled with a zesty cranberry lime curd. The vibrant colors and balanced flavors of sweet meringue, tart cranberries, and bright lime create an elegant and whimsical cookie that will enchant both children and adults alike. A true masterpiece for holiday celebrations!
3. From the renowned Two Peas & Their Pod, these Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip Cookies are the quintessential chocolate chip cookie for the holidays. They ingeniously combine the comforting chewiness of a classic chocolate chip cookie with the cool, refreshing crunch of peppermint bark. Featuring both white and dark chocolate, these cookies offer a delightful textural contrast and a burst of minty flavor that perfectly encapsulates the festive season, getting everyone ready for holiday cheer.
4. Nothing quite evokes the cozy warmth of the holidays like the rich, nutty notes of brown butter combined with pecans. That’s precisely why these amazing Brown Butter Toffee Cookies from Baker by Nature deserve a prime spot on your baking list. These cookies are generously loaded with crunchy toffee pieces and toasted pecans, enhanced by a subtle hint of cinnamon that beautifully elevates the pecans’ natural nuttiness. They are a symphony of flavors and textures, promising a truly decadent holiday experience.
5. While traditional chocolate chip cookies are always a holiday staple, this year, we’re taking it up a notch with giant Internet Famous Pan Banging Cookies by Sarah Kieffer. These cookies are renowned for their unique texture: beautifully thin and crispy edges, contrasting with a deliciously soft and chewy center. The “pan banging” technique creates captivating ripples, making them as visually appealing as they are delicious. A truly satisfying cookie that proves sometimes bigger and bolder is indeed better for the holidays.
6. No holiday cookie collection would be complete without a contribution from the fabulous Broma Bakery! Sarah’s photography is consistently stunning, and her recipes are celebrated for their clarity and deliciousness. This particular Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookie recipe is an absolute must-try. Rich, deep chocolate cookies studded with chunks of white chocolate and bursts of refreshing peppermint create a harmonious blend of flavors that is both luxurious and festive. It’s a recipe that will undoubtedly earn a permanent place in your holiday baking repertoire.
7. For a crowd-pleasing favorite in any household, look no further than these exquisite White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies with Brown Butter. The secret to their unparalleled flavor lies in the brown butter, which adds a depth of nutty caramelization that perfectly balances the sweetness of premium white chocolate. Crunchy macadamia nuts provide a wonderful texture and buttery richness. When making these, always prioritize the best quality chocolate available – it truly makes all the difference in achieving that gourmet taste.
8. Thumbprint cookies hold a special place in our hearts, and these delightful Mini Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies from Pinch of Yum are no exception. What makes them even more incredible? They can be ready in less than 30 minutes! These small wonders are not only visually appealing with their perfect little chocolate puddles but also incredibly quick and simple to prepare. Ideal for last-minute holiday gatherings or when you need a speedy yet impressive treat.
9. Indulge intelligently this holiday season with these deceptively healthy and utterly delicious “Wanna Be” Cookie-dough Chocolate Balls. These treats are a clever disguise, offering all the satisfying flavor of cookie dough without the guilt. Crafted with wholesome ingredients like peanut butter, oats, dates, and cacao nibs (a fantastic alternative to chocolate chips), they strike the perfect balance of soft, crunchy, and salty. We promise these irresistible bites won’t last long!
10. Elevate your snickerdoodle game with these must-try Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies. These unique cookies are infused with the warm, aromatic flavors of chai using Spice Tree Organics’ Chai Confection Blend. This 100% organic blend allows you to effortlessly introduce exotic spice notes into all your baked goods. Spice Tree Organics, a company dedicated to health-conscious consumers, ensures their products are pure, free from sugar, salt, preservatives, toxins, irritants, fumigants, or fillers. These cookies are a delightful and wholesome addition to your holiday repertoire.
11. For those maintaining clean eating habits or catering to dietary restrictions during the holidays, these exquisite Tahini Sesame Seed Cookies are an absolute revelation. They are not only naturally gluten-free and vegan but also incredibly flavorful, offering a rich, nutty depth from the tahini complemented by the subtle crunch of sesame seeds. Show your family and friends with gluten allergies that you’ve thoughtfully remembered them by baking these beautiful, wholesome treats. They’re a testament to how delicious healthy baking can be!
12. Apples often take center stage during the fall and early winter months, making these delicious Cinnamon Spiced Apple Oatmeal Cookies a perfect choice to embrace the seasonal theme. They are wonderfully simple to prepare and yield a somewhat small batch (around 12 cookies), which is ideal for ensuring fresh cookies every time a craving strikes. No more stale leftovers! Enjoy the comforting flavors of apple and cinnamon in a soft, chewy oatmeal cookie.
13. For many, the holidays are synonymous with shortbread – and the more unique, the better! That’s why these incredible Brown Butter, Pistachio and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies from How Sweet Eats are utterly drool-worthy. The nutty aroma of brown butter, the vibrant green of crunchy pistachios, and generous chunks of rich chocolate elevate traditional shortbread to an entirely new level of sophistication. These cookies are perfect for gifting or serving alongside a warm cup of coffee or tea.
14. We haven’t forgotten our gluten-free friends! If tahini isn’t quite your preference, these adorable Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Sugar Cookies are an absolute holiday delight. Perfect for cutting into festive shapes, decorating with colorful icing, and enjoying with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. These cookies ensure that everyone, regardless of dietary needs, can partake in the joy of decorating and savoring classic holiday sugar cookies.
15. Embrace the whimsical and wonderfully eclectic with these famous Santa’s Trash Cookies from Delish. Far from being actual “trash,” these cookies are a brilliant way to use up those leftover holiday candies, pretzels, potato chips, and other delightful odds and ends from your pantry. The result is an amazing medley of sweet, salty, and crunchy textures that makes for a surprisingly harmonious and incredibly fun cookie. They are an adventurous baker’s dream and a crowd-pleaser for sure!
16. When it comes to capturing the essence of the holidays, few things do it better than a delightful Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookie. This particular recipe stands out as one of our absolute favorites in this entire collection. It masterfully combines the hearty chewiness of oatmeal, the tart burst of cranberries, and the creamy sweetness of white chocolate. It’s a comforting, beautifully balanced cookie that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly festive. Indeed, we saved one of the best for near the very end!
17. Concluding our magnificent holiday cookie countdown is this iconic and utterly charming Christmas Lights Sugar Cookie. You simply cannot go wrong with these festive beauties! Classic sugar cookies are transformed into miniature works of art, decorated to resemble colorful strings of Christmas lights. They are guaranteed to bring wide smiles to the faces of both the little ones at your holiday party and the adults who appreciate a touch of sweet nostalgia. A perfect way to light up any festive gathering!
We hope this expansive collection of holiday cookie recipes has inspired your festive baking this season. From rich chocolate to zesty fruit, and classic comfort to modern twists, these 17 cookies represent some of the most delightful creations from talented bloggers. Each recipe offers a unique flavor and baking experience, perfect for adding variety to your holiday dessert spread, gifting to friends and family, or simply enjoying with a warm beverage by the fire.
Don’t let these incredible recipes get lost! Make sure to save and pin this ultimate guide for later, keeping this handy list of holiday baking inspiration at your fingertips throughout the festive season and beyond. We encourage you to try a few, or even all 17, and discover new family favorites. Happy baking!
We’d love to hear from you! Once you’ve had a chance to bake some of these festive delights, please share in the comments below which recipes you tried out and which ones stole your heart the most. Your feedback helps us continue to bring you the best culinary content!