Christmas Cookie Recipes Roundup

I’m pretty sure Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without all the Christmas cookie recipes. Ok, that isn’t true because all you really need for Christmas is Jesus, but that’s a whole different post. I’m going to let my stomach do the talking here and say that Christmas needs baking and cookies.

What are the Christmas cookies you remember from your childhood? Which ones does your family love now? I absolutely love the memories that come with the holidays that center on certain recipes. We are going to cover everything here — from the cutout sugar cookies that you frost with the kiddos to the gingerbread men that will be your most favorite Christmas cookie of all time. 

Gingerbread Cookies

I’m over here squealing because gingerbread is my favorite. I mean, is there anything that screams Christmas more than the smell of gingerbread filling the house? Heaven, people! Heaven!

Chewy Gingerbread Man Cookies

This is it. The best. My favorite. It is Christmas the minute these hit my mouth. I guarantee they are going to become your favorite too. They are perfectly spiced and so chewy. And that glaze is everything!

Gingerbread Man Sandwich Cookies

My kids love making these gingerbread sandwich cookies. The cookies are soft and chewy and they are filled with a creamy filling. And the M&Ms buttons are the cutest touch.

Almost 20 years ago, I was handed one of the most delicious cookies I had ever tasted. The Pignoli Cookie is unique in flavor and texture; completely unlike anything I had tasted before.

The restaurant where I first tasted these cookie does not share their recipe; they simply called them Pinon Cookies (a.k.a. Pine Nut Cookies). Crunchy, chewy, sweet and nutty, these cookies are a perfect match for any almond-lover.

Pine Nut Cookies

I spent three years thinking about those cookies and wondering how on earth they were made. Many of the recipes for cookies with pine nuts that I found were merely sugar cookies or shortbread topped with or rolled in pine nuts.

I’m sure those cookies are delicious, but that was not what I was searching for this time. I eventually learned that these pine nut cookies are most commonly known as Italian Pignoli Cookies or Italian Pine Nut Cookies. In New Mexico where I first tried them, they are called Pinon Cookies.

As you can guess, I was beyond excited to share the recipe with you all after I finally found this recipe.

I followed the recipe, tasted one of these cookies, and nearly shrieked out loud with joy. The hunt was over. These Italian Pine Nut Cookies are every bit as delicious as I’d remembered.

The recipe and method below have been very lightly adapted from and with an abundance of thanks to Shockingly Delicious.

Italian Pignoli Cookies

Over the past few years, I have shared these cookies with friends and family countless times, and every single person that tastes them comments on how unique and irresistible they are.

These cookies always bring people back for “just one more”

Palmier Cookies are light, airy, buttery sugar-sprinkled cookies that only require two ingredients. 

Palmiers, Elephant Ears, French Hearts, Palm Leaves: whatever you like to call them, these cookies are in the running for my all-time favorite treat.

Palmiers

I can’t stop grinning tonight as I sit here and write about these flaky, sweet, French cookies. It turns out that I like Palmiers so much, I made a batch for my birthday in lieu of a cake a few years ago.

If that doesn’t say a lot about how much I enjoy these airy cookies, I don’t know what will. Not only are these the simplest cookies I have ever made, but from the very first bite, this became one of my very favorite treats.

What is a Palmier?

I’m introducing you today to the easiest cookie you may ever make. Not only are these cookies incredibly simple to make, but from the very first bite, this became one of my very favorite cookies.

It is almost absurdly simple to make these flaky, sweet, buttery, delicate cookies!

You only need two ingredients to make Palmiers: frozen puff pastry and plain white granulated sugar. Nothing fancy is required, no special tools at all.

Palmier Pastry

Take your puff pastry out of the freezer about half an hour before you want to start making the cookies.

You want it to be soft enough to unfold easily, but not so warm and soft that it sticks together. 30-40 minutes is just about right.

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This is NOT your average chocolate chip cookie. They are hands down the best Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

Calling them the best chocolate chip cookie is a big deal. That is a statement I don’t make lightly, but they are certainly the best I have ever made. When I first came across this recipe named, “I Want to Marry You Cookies.” I laughed, the name reminded me of “Marry Me Chicken”. We’ve been calling these “Marry Me Cookies” for years now.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

When I finally had the chance to make these cookies with his mouthful of cookies my husband declared that yes he would have likely proposed sooner if I had made him these cookies.

There are several variations of this cookie. I finally had the perfect opportunity to try them one weekend while we were at the cabin. Pretty sure this recipe is where the phrase, “Bet you can’t eat just one” came from.

When making these I stayed as close to the original recipe as possible, in an effort to see what the fuss is all about. (As far as I can tell, the source below is the original author of this recipe.)

The thing that sets these cookies apart from every other chocolate chip cookie I’ve made is the melted butter. Such a small thing, but it has an enormous impact on the flavor. The best part of making these? Everything happens in a single pot. Easy cleanup makes this girl very happy.

I feel like I should clarify that these are chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal, a different kind of cookie from these classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. The oatmeal flavor in Marry Me Cookies is very very subtle.

I shared these with a self-proclaimed oatmeal hater years ago and he reluctantly agreed that while he still HATES oatmeal, these cookies are delicious and “the oatmeal doesn’t ruin them.” That’s a WIN, my friends!

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies Chewy

The warm butter is blended together with the sugars and it creates a rich toffee flavor that I have never before tasted in a chocolate chip cookie. The cookies positively melt in your mouth.

I will caution you not to skip the step of chilling the cookie dough before adding the chocolate chips. If you add the chocolate too soon, it will melt into the dough, leaving you with cookies that are tasty, but nothing at all like the original.

This is the BEST second-day cookie I have ever made. They taste phenomenal warm from the oven and they taste even better the next day. I froze several of them to see how they would handle it and they were excellent as soon as they thawed.

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Walnut Cookies are tender buttery sweet cookies with a center of chewy brown sugar, walnut, and sour cream filling.

Walnut Frosties

I have no idea where the name Walnut Frosties originated, but my friend Margaret shared a batch of these cookies with us a while back, and with the very first bite, I asked her if she’d pretty please share the recipe with me.

She was kind enough to do so and now I’m willing to bet that you’re going to love these Walnut Frosties every bit as much as we do!

The cookie is a brown sugar drop type of cookie. The brown sugar and butter combination makes for the perfect cookie base for the nutty filling.

The filling combination of walnuts, sour cream, and brown sugar bakes up into a sweet Brulee-like crust on top of the buttery cookie.

To achieve the perfectly filled cookie use your thumb or the back of a melon baller to create a circular indent in the cookie. Then fill the cookie with the walnut filling. Don’t be afraid to overfill just a bit as it will bake down and fill the indentation nicely.

If your cookies spread too much while baking chances are your butter was too soft when you started. If the dough seems too soft to me I like to bake a test pan with 2-3 cookies on it first to see how much they spread. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or so to firm it up if it spreads too much.

My friend shared that traditionally they make these at Christmas. She had no clue why, it was just what they do. However as delicious as they are I am making them year around!

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