28 Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes to Bake With Your Family
*This post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate policy here.
Every December I bake way more Christmas cookies than any family needs, which is exactly how this list grew so long! You’ll find easy recipes for beginners, decorating projects to do with the kids, and a few flavors you don’t see on every cookie tray, like green pistachio cookies and frosted eggnog. It also includes my cutout sugar cookies, a recipe I’ve tested over and over so they hold their shape and don’t spread in the oven.
Our Favorite Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes To Make
Building a cookie tray? Grab one classic, something colorful, and something chocolate so there’s a little of everything.
1. Cutout Sugar Cookies
These cutout sugar cookies are the recipe I’ve tested over and over, and they hold their shape so your stars still look like stars. Set out the icing and sprinkles and let everyone decorate their own Christmas cookies. I make these for our Girl Scout troop to decorate every year, and the girls have a blast.
2. Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies
Red and white dough twisted into little candy cane cookies with a buttery peppermint flavor. Kids love the twisting part, even if a few end up looking like pretzels.
3. Santa’s Favorite M&M Pudding Cookies
Pudding mix keeps these M&M cookies extra soft, and the candy adds a little crunch in every bite. Use red and green M&Ms and they’re ready for Santa’s plate on Christmas Eve.
4. Fluffy Snickerdoodles
These snickerdoodles bake up thick and soft and get rolled in plenty of cinnamon sugar. They’re an easy holiday cookie, and your whole kitchen smells like Christmas while they bake.
5. Maraschino Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Maraschino cherries add little pops of red to a chewy chocolate chip cookie, so they look festive on your Christmas cookie tray without any decorating.
6. Christmas Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
All the sugar cookie flavor without rolling or cutting a thing. These sugar cookie bars bake in one pan, get a layer of frosting and sprinkles, and you just slice and serve.
7. Raspberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Buttery thumbprint cookies with a little pocket of raspberry jam in the middle. That bright red center makes them a pretty pick for any holiday cookie tray. My friend who doesn’t like chocolate always gets especially excited when I make these cookies!
8. Green Pistachio Pudding Cookies
Pistachio pudding mix turns these cookies a fun shade of green and keeps them soft and chewy. White chocolate chips and pistachios on top make them look right at home with your Christmas cookies.
9. White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies
Tart cranberries and sweet white chocolate chips are a classic holiday combo for a reason. These cranberry cookies are easy to bake and that red and white looks so pretty at a cookie exchange.
10. Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies
These little green meringue trees are crisp on the outside and melt in your mouth. They look fancy, but it’s mostly egg whites, sugar, and a piping bag.
11. Buttery Toffee Cookies with Chocolate Chips
These toffee cookies are loaded with toffee bits and chocolate chips, so you get a little crunch and a lot of chocolate in every bite. A great one to add to your holiday baking list.
12. Christmas Grinch Thumbprint Cookies
Bright green Grinch cookies with a little red heart on top, a nod to his heart growing three sizes. A fun Christmas cookie to bake while the movie’s on.
13. Soft Lemon Cookies
Not every holiday cookie has to be chocolate or peppermint. These soft lemon cookies with a sweet glaze are a bright change of pace on a tray full of rich treats, and they melt on your tongue!
14. Reindeer Oreos
Oreos dipped in chocolate and turned into reindeer with chocolate antlers and candy noses. It’s a no-bake Christmas treat, so it’s a great project to hand off to the kids.
15. Cherry Blossom Cookies
Soft cherry cookies topped with a chocolate kiss. Their pink color really stands out next to all the browns and greens on a Christmas cookie platter.
16. Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Peanut butter cookies loaded with Reese’s Pieces and peanut butter chips. A little sweet, a little salty, and a good pick for the peanut butter lovers on your holiday list.
17. Frosted Eggnog Sugar Cookies
All the cozy flavor of eggnog in a soft sugar cookie with creamy frosting on top. These eggnog cookies are a fun one to bake as soon as eggnog shows up in the dairy aisle.
18. Molasses Cookies
Chewy, warmly spiced molasses cookies that taste like the holidays. If you love oatmeal cream pies, this is basically the cookie part on its own.
19. Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies
Rich chocolate thumbprint cookies topped with crunchy peppermint pieces. If chocolate and peppermint is your favorite holiday combo, start here.
20. Stained Glass Sugar Cookies
Buttery sugar cookies with colorful candy centers that look just like stained glass. Kids love picking the colors, and they make a sweet homemade Christmas gift.
21. Orange Cranberry Cookies
Orange and tart cranberries with a sweet glaze on top. These orange cranberry cookies taste fresh and bright, which is a nice break from all the chocolate.
22. Christmas Cornflake Wreath Cookies
Cornflakes coated in green, shaped into little wreaths, and dotted with red. These no-bake Christmas wreath cookies are easy for kids to help shape.
23. Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Fudgy like a brownie but in cookie form. These flourless chocolate cookies are naturally gluten-free, so they’re a good one to have on the tray when guests need it.
24. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies packed with oats and raisins. They taste like the cookies grandma always kept in the cookie jar at Christmas.
25. Peanut Butter Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
Chocolate, peanut butter, and oats come together on the stove, no oven needed. These no-bake cookies are great when you need a last-minute treat for the cookie exchange.
26. Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
A little instant pudding mix keeps these chocolate chip cookies extra soft. I like swapping in chocolate peppermint chips around the holidays for a festive twist.
27. Cornflake Cookie No-Bake
Crunchy, sweet, and made without turning on the oven. These no-bake cornflake cookies are handy when your oven is already full of other holiday baking.
28. M&M Cookie Bars
A big pan of chewy cookie bars loaded with M&Ms. Use red and green ones and you’ve got an easy Christmas dessert that feeds a crowd.
