There’s something about baking cookies at Christmas that instantly makes the house feel more festive. Whether you’re filling cookie boxes, planning a holiday party, baking with the kids, or simply keeping something sweet on the counter, a good mix of classics and new favorites always comes in handy.
If you’re already in the holiday baking mood, you might also like my healthy banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, this easy Nutella puff pastry ring, or my creamy no-bake Biscoff cheesecake for an easy Christmas dessert.
From gingerbread men and Grinch cookies to snowflakes, candy canes, Christmas trees, and colorful ornaments, here are 19 festive Christmas cookie recipes worth adding to your holiday baking list.
1. Gingerbread Cookies by Sally’s Baking
These classic gingerbread cookies have soft centers, slightly crisp edges, and plenty of warm holiday flavor from molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Cut them into festive shapes and decorate with icing for a traditional Christmas baking project.
2. Grinch Cookies by Preppy Kitchen
Bright green cookies topped with a tiny red heart make these instantly recognizable as a fun Christmas treat. They have crisp bottoms and soft, cakey centers, while the powdered sugar coating adds a snowy finish that looks especially festive on holiday cookie trays.
3. Snowflake Cookies by Preppy Kitchen
These elegant snowflake sugar cookies bring a beautiful winter look to a Christmas cookie platter. Crisp around the edges and tender in the middle, they’re decorated with blue and white royal icing to create intricate snowy designs that also work beautifully for homemade holiday gifts.
4. Reindeer Cookies by Stephanie’s Sweet Treats
Chocolate cookies turn into adorable Christmas reindeer with chocolate cream cheese frosting and festive decorations. The rich chocolate base gives them plenty of flavor, while the reindeer faces make them especially fun for kids, Christmas parties, holiday baking days, and festive cookie swaps.
5. Santa Face Cookies by In Katrina’s Kitchen
These decorated sugar cookies look just like Santa, complete with his red hat, white beard, rosy face, and little eyes. They require a little decorating time, but the finished cookies make an adorable centerpiece for a Christmas cookie tray or holiday party.
6. Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies by The Recipe Critic
Classic sugar cookies get a full Christmas makeover in this festive recipe. Each cookie is cut into a Christmas tree shape and decorated with green frosting and colorful details, giving you an unmistakably holiday-themed treat that’s perfect for parties, cookie boxes, and family decorating nights.
7. Christmas Lights Cookies by Dessert for Two
These clever sugar cookies are decorated with white icing, a piped black string, and colorful mini M&M’s turned sideways to look like tiny Christmas lights. They’re simple enough to recreate at home but still look playful and festive on a holiday cookie platter.
8. Watercolor Christmas Ornament Cookies by Epicurious
Turn sugar cookies into beautiful edible Christmas ornaments with red and green watercolor-style icing and touches of gold. Ornament-shaped cookie cutters give them an unmistakably festive look, while the painted decoration makes every cookie slightly different and especially pretty for gifting.
9. Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookies by Betty Crocker
These playful cookies turn the classic ugly Christmas sweater tradition into dessert. Sweater-shaped sugar cookies are decorated with colorful icing, candies, sprinkles, and intentionally over-the-top holiday designs, making them a fun choice for Christmas parties, cookie decorating competitions, or family baking nights.
10. Christmas Bell Cookies by The Graceful Baker
These festive bell-shaped sugar cookies are decorated with royal icing and sparkling details for an elegant Christmas look. The classic holiday shape makes them perfect for cookie trays, homemade gifts, or Christmas parties, while the decorative finish adds something different to the collection.
11. Christmas Pinwheel Cookies by Just a Taste
Red and green sugar cookie dough is rolled together to create bold Christmas-colored spirals, then finished with holiday sprinkles around the edges. The pinwheel pattern makes every slice eye-catching, so these are especially good when you want an easy cookie with plenty of festive color.
12. Snowman Cookies by The Toasty Kitchen
These sweet snowman cookies start with cut-out sugar cookie dough before being covered in white chocolate and decorated with colorful scarves and snowman details. Their cheerful winter design makes them perfect for Christmas cookie trays, holiday parties, and baking projects with kids.
13. Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks by Delish
Instead of making a flat Christmas tree, this recipe stacks three sizes of sugar cookies with swirls of green buttercream between them. Festive sprinkles and a tiny star on top turn each stack into a miniature edible Christmas tree that looks impressive on a dessert table.
14. Stained Glass Christmas Cookies by The Seaside Baker
These beautiful Christmas star cookies have colorful candy centers that melt into a stained-glass effect as they bake. The bright red, green, and jewel-toned centers make them especially festive, and they look gorgeous on Christmas cookie trays or packaged as homemade holiday gifts.
15. Candy Cane Cookies by The Kitchn
Red and white cookie dough is twisted together and curved into the unmistakable shape of a Christmas candy cane. The striped design makes these festive without requiring complicated icing, and they bring that traditional red-and-white Christmas color combination straight to the cookie tray.
16. Christmas Spritz Cookies by Drive Me Hungry
A cookie press makes it easy to create a whole collection of Christmas shapes, including trees, snowflakes, and wreaths. Decorated with red, green, and white holiday sprinkles, these buttery cookies add lots of variety and classic Christmas color to a festive cookie box.
17. Gingerbread Star Cookies by Kitchen at Hoskins
Warmly spiced gingerbread dough is cut into large stars, glazed, and finished with festive decorations. The star shape gives these cookies a classic Christmas feel while keeping the decorating simple, making them a pretty option for holiday platters, homemade gifts, or Christmas Eve baking.
18. Snow Globe Cookies by The Kitchn
Slice into these creative cookies and you’ll reveal a tiny snowy Christmas tree decorated with colorful lights inside. The snow globe design makes them much more distinctive than an everyday cookie and gives them exactly the whimsical, festive look you want for Christmas baking.
19. Christmas Cookie Ornaments by Baking Like a Chef
These festive cut-out cookies are made especially for Christmas and can even be turned into edible tree ornaments. Cut them into stars, trees, bells, and other holiday shapes, decorate them with colorful icing and sprinkles, and add a ribbon for an extra festive touch.
Final Thoughts
For me, the best Christmas cookie tray is the one that looks festive before anyone even takes a bite. Mixing gingerbread men, sparkling stars, little Christmas trees, snowflakes, red-and-white candy canes, Santa cookies, and a few playful green treats makes the whole platter feel special.
Choose a few favorites or make a whole assortment for cookie exchanges, Christmas parties, homemade gifts, or a cozy afternoon of holiday baking.
You May Also Like
- Easy Nutella Puff Pastry Ring
- Easy No-Bake Biscoff Cheesecake with Dulce de Leche
- Healthy Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
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