Christmas cookie season always brings out the best kinds of treats—bright, cozy, and perfect for sharing. This collection rounds up classic favorites and fun festive cookies, from soft and spiced to chocolatey and no-bake options. Whether you’re filling a holiday cookie tray, baking with kids, or gifting something homemade, these Christmas cookie recipes make it easy to bring a little extra sweetness to the season.
1. Snickerdoodle Cookie
This snickerdoodle cookie recipe makes a soft, thick, delicious homemade treat. With a sweet, buttery dough rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking, these old-fashioned made-from-scratch cookies are irresistible!
2. Haystack Cookies
These chocolate haystack cookies are simple to make and rather addictive to eat. Rich chocolate and butterscotch chips coat crunchy chow mein noodles in this no-bake treat that is the perfect cookie.
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Cookies
Sweet, salty, buttery, and chocolatey, these chocolate peanut butter Ritz cookies are the sweet and salty treat you’ve been dreaming of! With just four ingredients and no baking, they’re super-easy and great fun to make.
4. Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers
These Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers are all about contrast: crisp graham crackers under a velvety chocolate shell with just enough vanilla drizzle to keep things interesting. They look far more impressive than the effort involved.
5. Grinch Cookies
If you’re looking for a holiday cookie that stands out, Grinch cookies are a festive must-try. These vibrant green treats have a rich sugar cookie base that hides a smooth chocolate center, creating a delightful surprise in every bite. Topped with a tiny red heart, just like the Grinch himself, these cookies bring a playful touch to holiday parties, cookie swaps, or cozy family gatherings. Simple to make and unforgettable to share, they’ll add a bit of holiday magic to any occasion.
6. Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Christmas pinwheel cookies are a playful and delicious way to celebrate the holiday season. With red and white swirls and bright nonpareil sprinkles, these cookies are simple to make and add a touch of festive fun to your dessert table. The buttery sugar cookie base melts in your mouth, while the pop of color makes them a favorite for cookie exchanges and holiday parties. Whether you’re an experienced baker or just looking for something new, these cookies are a must-try this year.
7. Chocolate Peanut Butter Christmas Trees
Chocolate and peanut butter are the perfect couple, and what better way to celebrate this love than with chocolate peanut butter Christmas trees? These rich and decadent confections are easy to make and oh-so-delicious!
8. Christmas Wreath Cookies
These fun cornflake Christmas wreath cookies are the cutest treat to add to your table this holiday season. Vibrant green and crunchy cornflakes are mixed with melted marshmallows and shaped into a wreath, while cinnamon candies dot the cookies just like holly berries.
9. Grinch Snowball Cookies
If you’re anything like us, holiday baking is one of the highlights of the season. These Grinch Snowball Cookies are sure to bring a little mischievous cheer to your kitchen. They’re perfect for cookie exchanges, serving at holiday gatherings or simply indulging at home. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just getting started, this recipe is festive, easy to follow, and guaranteed to spread some holiday spirit.
10. M&M Christmas Cookies
Whip up a batch of red and green M&M Christmas cookies this holiday season. These bakery-style cookies have soft chewy centers, bursts of rich chocolate chips, and bright festive pops of Christmas colors from everyone’s favorite chocolate candy.
11. Christmas Shortbread Cookies
These melt-in-your-mouth Christmas shortbread cookies bring back so many fond memories of holidays when I was a child. The buttery cookies are perfect for parties or a sweet treat when you’re in the mood for something festive on a cold winter night.
12. Spritz Cookies
Our delightfully buttery spritz cookies are a fancy treat that is easy to make this holiday season. Similar to sugar cookies, these divine, sweet cookies are shaped into intricate designs using a cookie press to produce a beautiful cookie that will melt in your mouth.
13. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Fudgy inside, crisp around the edges, and dusted in a crackly coat of powdered sugar — these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are pure holiday magic (and ridiculously easy). Think: brownie texture, cookie form. We have lemon crinkle and Reese crinkle cookies, too.
14. Thumbprint Cookies
These one-of-a-kind thumbprint cookies are made by indenting the cookie dough before baking and filling it with your choice of topping. Whether you are filling them with jam, chocolate, or caramel, they are sure to be chewy and delicious.
Try the Twix version of thumbprint cookies, too!
15. Church Window Cookies
These church window cookies are magical-looking confections that would be a lovely treat at Christmas time. The pretty pastel miniature marshmallows surrounded by rich chocolate look just like stained glass windows in this no-bake recipe.
Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread brings those classic warm holiday spices to any dessert table. These recipes add cozy flavor and festive charm, making them a favorite choice throughout the Christmas season.
16. Soft Gingerbread Cookies
These simple and delicious soft gingerbread cookies are the best homemade holiday treat to enjoy. The perfect blend of sweet and spicy, this Christmas classic is baked from scratch and then decorated with festive icing and sprinkles.
17. Gingerbread Men Cookies
Every holiday season, I always start celebrating by making spiced gingerbread men cookies because you can’t have a holiday party without these festive treats. They are easy to make, and it’s so much fun to decorate them with icing.
The recipe also makes a super cute accompaniment to our gingerbread cocktail. Make mini gingerbread men to put on the cup or serve a full-sized gingerbread man alongside.
18. Gingerbread Cookies
In our family, we make these old-fashioned gingerbread cookies every Christmas. A handful of ingredients form a deliciously spiced dough that’s perfect for cutting into fun shapes, baking, and decorating during the holiday season.
Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are timeless holiday staples thanks to their buttery flavor and simple, festive style. These recipes are perfect for adding color, creativity, and a little sweetness to your Christmas baking lineup.
19. Christmas Sugar Cookies
These easy Christmas sugar cookies are the perfect balance of buttery richness and light sweetness, creating a melt-in-your-mouth experience with every bite. While simple in appearance, the depth of flavor from adding cream cheese makes them far from ordinary.
If you’d like to make these cookies without using butter, try this recipe for No Butter Sugar Cookies.
20. Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies
These festive and easy Christmas sugar cookies are a quick holiday classic that is fun to bake and eat! A simple homemade sugar cookie dough is cut into iconic shapes and then decorated with delicious frosting and topped with colorful sprinkles.
Peppermint Christmas Cookies
These cheerful peppermint treats bring cool, minty flavor to your holiday baking lineup. They’re fun to make, eye-catching on any cookie tray, and a great way to add a festive pop of color and crunch to your Christmas spread.
21. Peppermint Shortbread Cookies
Peppermint shortbread cookies are the ultimate holiday treat, combining the buttery richness of traditional shortbread with a festive peppermint twist. This recipe is straightforward yet elegant, creating cookies that are both visually appealing and deliciously satisfying. Every bite is a blend of crisp texture and minty freshness, making these cookies a favorite to share and enjoy.
22. Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Cookies
These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies taste exactly like the perfect Christmas cookie should: deep, fudgy chocolate with a cool peppermint twist. The edges are lightly crisp, the centers stay brownie-like, and every bite hits that perfect “chocolate first, peppermint second” balance.
No Bake Christmas Cookies
These quick and festive no-bake cookies come together without turning on the oven, making them perfect for busy holiday baking days. They’re simple, sweet, and always a welcome addition to any Christmas dessert spread.
23. Chocolate No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
When your sweet tooth strikes and you don’t feel like turning on the oven, these No Bake Cookies come to the rescue. With a rich, fudgy chocolate-peanut butter flavor and chewy oatmeal texture, they’re a nostalgic treat that’s just as satisfying now as it was when you first tried them as a kid. If you need a sweet win in under 20 minutes, this classic recipe delivers.
24. Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
If you’re anything like me, you love a sweet treat that requires zero oven time and comes together in minutes. They’re chewy, rich, and packed with peanut butter flavor, with the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Made in minutes – no mixers, no dough chilling, and definitely no baking required.
Christmas Cookies with Hershey’s Kiss
These festive cookies take the classic Hershey’s Kiss treat and give it a cozy holiday spin. They’re simple, pretty on any Christmas cookie tray, and always a hit thanks to that signature chocolate center that makes them impossible to resist.
25. Peanut Butter Blossoms
These Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies are everything we love about old-fashioned baking—simple, nostalgic, and seriously delicious. This recipe delivers soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, rolled in sugar for a little sparkle, then topped with a Hershey kiss.
26. Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
Candy cane kiss cookies are a sweet, minty, and festive treat. The crispy texture of crushed candy canes provides the perfect balance with the chewy cookie dough and the creaminess of Hershey’s candy cane kisses.
27. Chocolate Kiss Cookies
During the holiday season, these chocolate kiss cookies are sure to be a favorite sweet treat. Soft chocolate sugar cookies rolled in sparkly sugar and topped with a Hershey’s Kiss will be every chocolate lover’s dream.
28. Gingerbread Kiss Cookies
Gingerbread kiss cookies are everything people love about December baking: warm spices, soft cookie centers, crackly edges and Hershey’s Hugs melting slowly into the top. If you’re looking for that classic Christmas color, try our Cherry Kiss Cookies instead.
29. Coconut Blossoms
Coconut blossoms are a delightful treat that is sweet and tropical at the same time. The cookies have a satisfying crunchy texture, topped with a decadent Hershey kiss that brings the perfect contrast to the toasted coconut cookie.
Try our coconut snowballs for a hybrid of this cookie and the next one in this list.
30. Snowball Kisses
Snowball kisses have a decadent Hershey’s Kiss surprise in the middle, the perfect special treat for your loves. Once they take a bite of these soft, buttery cookies, they will find a sweet chocolate center in this decadent delicacy.
