‘Tis the season for giving, but you may have a hard time parting with these delicious holiday cookies. Happy baking!
Crisp and powdery on the outside, and soft and fudgy in the center: if you can imagine what a brownie would taste like in cookie form, this is it. GET THE RECIPE
These adorable gingerbread people are crisp outside and soft inside — and they taste as good as they look. GET THE RECIPE
If you’re a chocolate and mint person, you’ll love these double chocolate mint cookies. They have the flavor of Thin Mints® but the texture of chunky chocolate chip cookies. GET THE RECIPE
Calling all coconut lovers! These macaroons are delicious plain but even more irresistible dipped in chocolate. And they stay fresh for up to a week, making them ideal for gift giving. GET THE RECIPE
From my upcoming cookbook, Once Upon a Chef, The Cookbook, these ginger spice cookies are a real crowd pleaser. Every year, my daughter and I bake them for her holiday bake sale and every year, they sell like hotcakes. Soft and chewy with a crackled sugar crust, they have just the right balance of spices to please kids and adults alike. GET THE RECIPE
Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, these oatmeal cookies taste just like banana bread. GET THE RECIPE
These Nutty Jam Thumbprints could win a cookie contest on looks alone. The cookie is actually a Mexican Wedding Cake (AKA Russian Tea Cake, Viennese Crescent or Snowball), which makes the perfect shortbread-like base for a dollop of luscious fruit preserves. GET THE RECIPE
My son calls these biscotti “crunchy brownies.” But when you dunk them in coffee, they soften, becoming rich, chocolaty and decadent. They keep for up to a week, making them perfect for gift gifting. GET THE RECIPE
Snickerdoodles are sweet, buttery sugar cookies lightly dusted with cinnamon. With their whimsical name and crackly tops, I don’t know anyone who can resist them! Plus, they make a great family baking project — kids love to form the squishy dough into balls and roll them in cinnamon-sugar. GET THE RECIPE
Light as a cloud, kiss-shaped meringue chocolate chip cookies: You “forget” about them in the oven overnight — letting them cook ever so slowly — resulting in the dreamiest, lightest, most irresistibly simple chocolate chip cookies you could imagine. What’s more, they’re gluten free. No strange substitutions, just naturally that way. GET THE RECIPE
Delicious to eat and fun to make, rugelach (pronounced rug-a-lah) are miniature crescent-rolled pastries posing as cookies. They’re made by rolling a triangle of dough around a sweet filling of fruit, nuts, chocolate or pretty much anything your heart desires. Fresh out of the oven, they’re buttery, crisp and flaky, with a sweet cinnamon scent that will tempt you to eat the entire batch. GET THE RECIPE
Buttery with a thin layer of glaze that adds just the right amount of sweetness, these cookies are as delicious as they are pretty. They’re also a pleasure to make: the dough is easy to work with and the cookies hold their shape perfectly when baked. GET THE RECIPE
If you’ve been searching for the perfect peanut butter cookie, look no further. This recipe, adapted from My Father’s Daughter by Gwyneth Paltrow, is the best I’ve tried. The cookies are thick and soft with a rich peanut butter flavor and almost sandy texture. GET THE RECIPE
These have got to be some of the world’s cutest cookies. They look just like little yo-yos, thus the name, and are popular in Australia. You make them by joining together two buttery shortbread disks with a layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread. Delicious, adorable, and perfect for the holidays! GET THE RECIPE
Imbued with warm autumn spices, these little cookies are cakey on the interior and slightly crisp on the exterior, with a bit of crunch from the raw sugar sprinkled on top. My family flocks to the kitchen as soon as I pull them out of the oven, and the first batch disappears before the second trays are even done. GET THE RECIPE
You can’t eat just one of these adorable little cookies. They’re technically snickerdoodles, but since they taste and look so much like donut holes, my kids have renamed them Donut Hole cookies. GET THE RECIPE
These cookies may look plain but when you bite into them, you discover a buttery and sweet shortbread studded with melted toffee bits and crunchy almonds—they’re just wonderfully good. They’re also incredibly easy to make and keep well, making them the perfect holiday cookie. GET THE RECIPE
Baked in large rounds to resemble the sun and cut into wedges, shortbread is traditionally served in Scotland on winter solstice, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. It’s wonderful with coffee or tea any time of day. GET THE RECIPE