Recipes Desserts Cookies 12 Holiday Cookies to Make This Season By Food & Wine Editors Updated on December 2, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Justin Walker Whether you're a fan of chocolate, sugar cookies, shortbread, or meringues, you'll want to make a few of these fancy Christmas cookies to round out your holiday menus and have on-hand for snacking and gifting. You'll be hard-pressed to decide which ones to bake first, from S’mores Linzer Cookies to Triple Chocolate–Peppermint Cookies. Here are the best Christmas cookie recipes for holiday parties and gatherings. 01 of 12 Milk Punch Cornmeal Cookies Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Thom Driver These sweet, buttery drop cookies are topped with a blanket of bourbon-spiked white chocolate ganache, paying homage to the timeless milk punch cocktail. A combination of almond flour and cornmeal provides a light, sandy texture and a sweet, buttery flavor. Showered with freshly grated nutmeg for a touch of warmth, the ganache topping hardens into a smooth shell, locking in moisture for the ultimate gift-giving treat. Get the Recipe 02 of 12 Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies © Ditte Isager These marvelous Christmas cookies combine chocolate with spicy gingerbread. "I was tired of basic gingerbread," says Matt Lewis of Brooklyn’s Baked about why he created these cookies. The answer is clear: "My connection to chocolate is really deep," he says. An added benefit of these cookies is that the supple dough is very easy to work with. Get the Recipe 03 of 12 Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless Classic sugar cookies get the gluten-free treatment. The cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond extract in this recipe provide a nice hint of spice. But letting the dough rest overnight to better hydrate the flour is the secret to the cookies' tender texture. We suggest topping them with a classic vanilla-scented icing and sparkling sugar to make them fit the occasion. Get the Recipe 04 of 12 Spiced Gingerbread Cookies © Christina Holmes Baker Julianne Jones’ wonderfully zingy gingerbread cookies have a tender and cakey texture, yet they’re sturdy enough to decorate. As an alternative to the icing here, you can sprinkle the tops of the cookies with demerara sugar (a coarse, raw cane sugar) before baking for a nice crunch. Get the Recipe 05 of 12 S’mores Linzer Cookies Greg DuPree Linzer cookies are descendants of the linzer torte, named for the Austrian city of Linz. Swapping graham flour and hazelnut meal for a portion of the all-purpose flour and almond meal gives these linzer-inspired cookies the flavor of s’mores. Get the Recipe 06 of 12 Chocolate Pretzel Crinkle Cookies Greg DuPree Chocolate crinkle cookies are often more cloying than satisfying. By substituting the flour with Glutino pretzels, this version of the holiday staple is not only gluten-free but also perfectly salty-sweet with the best-ever chewy center. Get the Recipe 07 of 12 Triple Chocolate–Peppermint Cookies Justin Walker The peppermint bark in these cookies is simple to make and adds a beautiful pop of color and flavor in each cookie, though store-bought bark will work well here, too. Get the Recipe 08 of 12 Tortellini Dolci al Forno (Emilian Fruit-Stuffed Christmas Cookies) Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Not to be confused with the pasta of the same name, these classic Emilian Christmas cookies are made from a tender, flaky dough filled with a sweet-tart trio of fruit: cherry preserves, rich saba (cooked-down grape must), and candied citron. Get the Recipe 09 of 12 Cranberry Moscow Mule Gingersnaps Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Thom Driver With freshly grated ginger, ginger syrup, and ground dried ginger, cookbook author Vallery Lomas’ drop cookies pack a punch. Speckled with lime zest and vodka-plumped dried cranberries, the namesake Moscow mule cocktail is well represented in these soft and cakey cookies. Get the Recipe 10 of 12 Vanilla–Brown Butter Sablé Cookies Johhny Miller Pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz loves simple vanilla cookies like these. Vanilla, a notoriously difficult ingredient to grow and source, really shines in this recipe, making the quality especially important. To efficiently seed a vanilla bean, use a paring knife to split the bean in half lengthwise, then use the full edge of the knife to scrape the seeds from the cut sides. Get the Recipe 11 of 12 Gluten-Free Cacao Nib Meringues Justin Walker Made with chocolate, cacao nibs, and cocoa powder, these intensely flavored meringues have a delicate, crispy exterior with a soft, chewy, marshmallow-like interior. Get the Recipe 12 of 12 Brown Butter-Cardamom Spitzbuben Photo by Jenny Huang / Food Styling by Tyna Hoang / Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka German for "cheeky boys," these Bavarian cookies will be the star of your holiday cookie platter. Brown butter and cardamom make this simple cookie into a fragrant treat. Take the time to freshly grind the cardamom — its robust, citrusy flavor is worth it. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit