The Best Christmas Cookie Recipes 2024

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I love to bake. You can ask anyone I’m close with: my love language is finding fresh ways to use flour, butter, and sugar.

Whether it’s banana bread, or croissants, biscuits, I’m always thinking about what to whip up next. And luckily, it’s the holiday season — which is the most wonderful time of the year to bake.

First of all, it’s great because you have an excuse to make a bunch of sweets for loved ones…and then you can eat along the way!

It’s also a fantastic bonding activity. This year, I forced my roommate to bake 200 cookies with me for all of our friends in town. Given our limited resources, this took five hours and a bunch of hard work.

But, it brought a ton of joy to everyone’s day. Which is worth the entire grueling process. Since then, my friends are constantly asking me for recipes — a fabulous ego-boost. The best Christmas cookie recipes are now not a secret.

Regardless of your motives, I’d highly recommend using the holiday season as an excuse to spend time with your loved ones. Employ your friends and family and roll up their sleeves — time to get baking!

What You Need To Bake Your Cookies

I think the most important ingredient for baking is patience…Which I lack, unsurprisingly.

I hate the waiting, and honestly by the end I regret my decisions. But the way to avoid baking burnout is to pace yourself and do everything over multiple days.

Prep your dough early and have it chill overnight, that way you can wash up and start fresh in the morning. This will help you find even more of the best Christmas cookie recipes while you wait.

You’ll want the basics: butter, flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and soda, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, brown sugar, ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon, milk, molasses, chocolate chips, and cookie frosting on hand already.

This so you can make any basic holiday cookie. Some of these recipes may call for something special, which we’ll make note later when listing our favorites.

If you need baking accoutrements, here are your essential cookie-baking needs:

Now that we’ve got everything we need, it’s time to tie up our aprons and put on our chef’s hats. This is where the fun begins!

Christmas Cookie Recipes You Simply Must Try

Italian Ricotta Cookies

These mound-shaped cookies are soft like cake, and have a kick of lemon that accentuates the vanilla base. This recipe makes about 60 cookies, but you’ll be surprised how fast they disappear.

Work quickly as you shape these cookies into balls, and flour your hands if the dough starts to sticks to them.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Unexpectedly, this is one of the most popular cookies I made this year. I chose raspberry jam, but it’s truly the dealer’s choice. Simple to make, but a relatively small batch of about 16 cookies…so you may want to consider doubling — or tripling — your ingredients!

Your Classic Sugar Cookies

Flour up your surface and your rolling pin, get out your favorite cookie cutters, and make everyone’s true favorite! This classic that makes everyone happy, plus we get to show our creativity with our decorating skills.

Make Some Gingerbread Men

I didn’t know that gingerbread got its color from molasses until I made these cookies. The more you know! Anyway, a mix of ground ginger, brown sugar, and molasses — and a divine scent says happy holidays! — will float throughout your house…thank me later.