If you’re planning your holiday parties and cookie boxes, we’ve got the BEST holiday cookie recipes for 2025 right here! This year, bloggers from around the world came together to share 50+ delicious holiday cookies. Whether you’re looking for classic holiday cookies or something more unique, we’ve got all kinds of variations and flavorsfor you here.
(“Surprise,” said absolutely no one. Because cookies, as you can imagine, are always a great idea.)
I’m thrilled to report that this year, we have 50+ new (and updated!) holiday cookie recipes from bloggers around the world.
It’s always so fun to see what my friends create. And it should go without saying that the 2025 holiday season is going to be a big one for those of us who love to bake.
This year, we found a few fun trends among our cookie recipes:
Chocolate reigns supreme! Nearly half of the recipes feature chocolate in some form — from chocolate chips to peppermint-chocolate combinations to chocolate cookie bases and more. If you’re a chocolate lover, this year’s cookie collection has a LOT for you.
Holiday spices are having a moment. Ginger, cinnamon and maple flavors appear throughout the list, giving these cookies that cozy, festive warmth that’s perfect for the season. There’s something here for every spice enthusiast.
Nostalgia meets creativity. Alongside grandma’s traditional recipes and classics we all know and love, you’ll find fun mashups that put a creative spin on familiar flavors.
About this year’s cookies…
There’s so much deliciousness to explore!
Here’s a more in-depth breakdown for you, in case you like geeking out about cookies like I do:
Flavors: All the classic holiday flavors made their appearance on this year’s list —chocolate, peppermint, ginger, cinnamon, maple and eggnog. This year also showcased some more unique flavors, like black sesame, rosemary, apricot and more. The variety ranges from comforting and traditional to more adventurous and unexpected.
Textures: This collection has every texture you could want in a cookie. It just depends on what you like! Soft and cake-like cookies, buttery shortbreads, crunchy biscotti, chewy chocolate chip variations and more. There are also crumbly cookies, sandwich cookies and even no-bake options. Whatever you’re craving, you’ll find it below.
Effort: How much time and energy do you have to bake this holiday season? This year’s recipes range from super simple drop cookies and no-bake treats, which are perfect for those who have a jam-packed schedule, to more involved recipes for those who want to take their time to bake something. Mix and match based on your schedule. You can throw together a few easy ones for everyday snacking (or freeze cookie dough to bake off later!) and save one or two showstoppers for when you really want to impress this season.
Types of cookies: We’ve got all the cookie categories represented here! From drop cookies, no-bake cookies, shaped and rolled cookies, cutouts and more, there’s something for every baking style and skill level.
Whether you’re on the hunt for a new family favorite, sticking with beloved flavors or want to try something completely new and different, this year’s collection of holiday cookies offers plenty of inspiration for every home baker.
In 2011, I decided to share my favorite Christmas cookies… then invited other bloggers to join me. The celebration grew, we changed the name to make it more inclusive, my friend Susannah stepped in to help and the rest is history.
And now, every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes.
This year, we’re raising money in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.
Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers. More than 35 treatments available to kids battling cancer today were stemmed from these grants.
We’d love for you to help us raise money for this cause! You can donate through our fundraising page.
Currently, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO. This means OXO will match every dollar up to $100,000 raised through the end of 2025. So whatever money we raise will automatically double!
Best ways to share cookies:
That depends on you and what you’re into. But during the holiday season, I feel like it’s never a bad idea to share holiday cheer in cookie form.
Here are some occasions you can make and bake ’em to share:
Serve them at a holiday party or Christmas party for your work, your friends or family members, or even at Christmas dinner
Give them as a foodie gift for neighbors, teachers or the cookie lover in your life in a cookie box or a holiday cookie tin.
Bring them to (or host) a cookie swap party, where everyone brings a batch of cookies to share, and everyone gets to take some home.
Leave them out for Santa and his helpers on Christmas Eve.
Just to have around and for fun! Cookies are invited to Hanukkah, Thanksgiving and New Year’s, too.
What are the best cookies?
Whether you’re baking the cookies for Santa, your family, friends, neighbors, teachers or anyone else, there are SO many options, thanks to the participants in this year’s Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange! (And our past participants, too — don’t miss recipes from previous years if you want to peruse more recipe inspo.)
We’ve got a little something for everyone!
Do you love…
Classic Christmas cookies or something a little more unique?
Easy cookies or Top Chef-level cookies?
Chewy, crispy or cake-y cookies?
Decorated or plain cookies?
Whatever it is, you’ll definitely find it here… So which is the best? That’s up to you, my friend! We’ve got more than 50+ cookie recipes below for you to peruse, bake and then decide which is the best.
Tell me in the comments what you decide!
Happy baking and happy holidays!
Brownies & Bar Cookies
If it's baked in a bar form, you're sure to find find holiday cookie inspiration in this section!
1
www.simpleandsavory.com
Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle
Similar to classic chocolate chip cookies, but they bake up up thin, crisp, almost like candy. The dough is mixed and spread it in one pan, and baked. No chilling, no cookie scoops, and one pan!
A 7-layer bars recipe that starts with a rich, one-bowl brownie base and finishes with the classic layers everyone loves. It’s an easy, from scratch treat that brings together chocolate, coconut and nuts in a sweet creamy topping for a bar that feels indulgent without extra work.
These Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars are soft, buttery and topped with rich, fluffy cream cheese frosting. They’re festive, easy to customize and perfect for holiday parties or cookie trays.
Any cookie that requires a cookie cutter or a special tool to form it is in the section below. Think: festive sugar cookies, snowflake cookies, spritz cookies and everything in between!
5
www.sugarlovespices.com
Finnish Apricot Jam Pinwheel Cookies
Finnish Apricot Jam Pinwheel Cookies, so pretty, delicious and fun to make. The cream cheese in the dough makes the texture rich and melt-in-your-mouth tender.
These Frosted Sugar Cookies are the kind of easy, dependable recipe that has been passed from one kitchen to the next for decades. The dough comes together in minutes, chills overnight and rolls out beautifully for your favorite cookie cutters. They’re the nostalgic cookies at the center of our family’s Christmas tradition, the ones we’ve made year after year with our kids and now our grandkids, with giggles and sprinkles scattered across the table.
This is a unique take on shortbread, using brown sugar for a buttery, perfectly crumbly and tender shortbread cookie with caramel notes. No chilling necessary, these cookies hold their shape beautifully.
Warm, buttery and beautifully spiced, these homemade German Spice Cookies (Spekulatius Kekse) bring classic holiday flavor to your kitchen with just a handful of simple ingredients.
Nothing says the HOLIDAYS like rosemary and ginger together in a cookie! Not too sweet and bursting with flavor, this twist on a classic shortbread cookie adds savory, herbaceous elements to any cookie table. With a handful of simple ingredients, unique Ginger Rosemary Shortbread is sure to become an unexpected family favorite!
These Christmas tree cookies are buttery, festive and filled with a layer of cranberry or lingonberry jam. Each bite hits that perfect balance of tender cookie and tart jam, and they're finished with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar on top. They’re simple, charming and just what Santa’s cookie plate needs.
These drop cookie recipes are a little easier to make than the cutout cookies (and generally take less time!) Instead of forming them with a cookie cutter and chilling for a portion of time, you drop these cookies onto the baking sheet, and let 'em bake!
13
www.happysimpleliving.com
Hot Chocolate Cookies with Marshmallows
Hot Chocolate Cookies with Marshmallows are the ultimate holiday treat. Soft, chewy chocolate drop cookies taste just like a warm mug of cocoa!
Chocolate Chipless Cookies are soft, chewy and full of the same buttery vanilla flavor as classic chocolate chip cookies… just without the chips! Each cookie is dipped on the bottom in rich melted chocolate, adding the perfect touch of sweetness and indulgence.
Fruitcake cookies are a delicious, bite-sized take on the traditional holiday dessert. These chewy cookies are perfectly spiced and packed with fruit and nuts.
A classic soft ginger molasses cookie with some small wholesome swaps to create a little balance, without compromising flavor! Slightly crisped edges, chewy centers and coarse sugar for crunch and sparkle.
Soft, fudgy and full of chocolate flavor, these Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies are studded with chopped Oreos and swirls of cool mint for a festive treat. Melty Andes mints and the crunchy cookie pieces make every bite a little different.
With soft, chewy centers, lightly crisp edges, and that nostalgic crackly vanilla icing on top, Iced Oatmeal Cookies are the classic old-fashioned cookie that disappears faster than you can cool them!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies are the result when classic chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cups meet in the middle. The cookies are thick, soft in the center and absolutely packed with peanut butter chips.
Eggnog Cookies are fluffy, light, and melt in your mouth with every bite. Easy to make and perfectly spiced, this soft cookie tastes just like the beloved holiday beverage and is finished with an eggnog icing drizzle.
Gingerbread cheesecake cookies are a festive holiday cookie made from perfectly spiced and chewy cookies and rich white chocolate cream cheese filling. Think classic gingerbread sandwich cookies but with a silky cheesecake center. Perfect for the holiday season, gifting or adding to your favorite Christmas cookie board, they’re a festive twist on classic gingerbread.
3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies prove that simple is best! With just butter, sugar and flour, these classic cookies come together in minutes with soft, buttery results. Perfect for adding your favorite extras like sprinkles or chocolate chips!
Easy Matcha Strawberry Cookies with Cheesecake Frosting
Matcha Strawberry Cookies are soft, chewy sugar cookies made with earthy matcha, sweet freeze-dried strawberries and a creamy strawberry cheesecake frosting. They combine a bright matcha flavor with bold strawberry sweetness for a café-style cookie that’s easy to make at home. Perfect for matcha lovers!
These dark chocolate pecan cookies are loaded with rich dark chocolate chips and crunchy toasted pecans for seriously delicious results! They’re soft, chewy cookies that have that “bakery quality” look with chocolate and pecans pressed on top right after baking.
Soft Matcha Sandwich Cookies with Cheesecake Filling
Matcha Sandwich Cookies are soft, chewy cookies made with matcha and filled with a silky cheesecake centre that melts in your mouth. These cheesecake cookies combine earthy matcha flavor with a light, tangy filling for the perfect matcha treat. Ideal for matcha lovers, easy to make at home and great for gifting!
Chocolate Chip Nutter Butter Cookies combine two classics into one incredible treat! Soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies get loaded with crushed Nutter Butter cookies for the ultimate flavor and texture combination.
Any cookie that needs your hands to form them are listed below! Generally speaking, you'll roll these cookies with your hands or shape them to form them before you bake them.
34
www.joybileefarm.com
Easy Gluten-Free Biscotti
Make handcrafted gluten-free biscotti that are crunchy, flavorful and perfect with coffee or tea. They're an Italian favorite.
These Danish Butter Cookies are rich, buttery and delicately crisp just like the ones from the iconic blue tin… only better! They are easy to pipe, freezer friendly and perfect for holiday gifting or enjoying fresh from the tray.
Think cosy apple crumble meets a chewy brown-sugar cookie: soft, spiced dough wrapped around a warm apple filling, topped with a crisp buttery crumble and a zingy lemon glaze. They’re easy to whip up, completely vegan and bring all the vibes of a classic apple bake in a fun, handheld cookie.
Red Velvet Cake Cookies begin with a simple box of cake mix, but you’d never know it from the bakery-style results. They come together with hardly any effort, yet bake up soft and delicious and are topped with a gorgeous crinkled finish.
Crispy on the exterior, soft on the inside, these beautifully Spiced Maple Cookies are a seasonal delight. The light maple flavor is balanced with both ginger and cardamom, and strikes a beautiful balance. This unique cookie recipe is great for sharing or for baking just because!
Soft, pillowy Italian Christmas cookies made with ricotta cheese and topped with sweet almond glaze and sprinkles! This easy holiday recipe is perfect for cookie exchanges and family gatherings.
Inspired by shortbread, these gluten free maple cookies are crisp, crumbly and topped with a delicious whipped maple cream that is the perfect blend of sweet and creamy. Enjoy fulfilling your maple cravings with these delicious cookies. They're easy enough to get kids involved in the prep and can be made ahead, too.
These Strawberry Crinkle Cookies are covered in powdered sugar for a classic “crinkle” look. They bake up soft and tender, making them perfect for any occasion, including holiday cookie trays, a cookie swap, Valentine’s Day, a bridal or baby shower or any special occasion.
Treat yourself to delicious Almond Crescent Cookies! These lovely powdered sugar-covered cookies are easy to make and have a buttery, nutty flavor that's absolutely irresistible.
Easy dried apple molasses cookies with warm spices and chewy apple bits. This is a simple old-fashioned cookie recipe made with pantry staples. No chilling required!
These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies deliver rich cocoa flavor, melty chocolate chips and a festive peppermint crunch. This is THE holiday cookie you’ll want on repeat all season!
These Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies take your favorite bakery-style cookie and sneak in a rich, creamy cheesecake center. Thick, soft, packed with melty chocolate chips and hiding a sweet surprise, they’re the kind of cookie that actually makes people stop mid-bite.
Aunt Deborah’s Snickerdoodles are the cookies everyone in the family looks forward to baking. They are soft and chewy with the perfect balance of cinnamon sugar coating.
Soft, chewy and covered in snowy powdered sugar, these lemon crinkle cookies bring big citrus brightness with barely any effort. They’re irresistibly tender with those signature crackly tops that everyone loves.
Cherry Kiss Cookies are buttery, cherry-studded shortbread-style cookies topped with a chocolate kiss, and they are exactly as fun as they sound. Pretty pink, easy to make and naturally egg-free, they’re a great option for cookie trays, classroom parties or baking with kids.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies feel familiar but unique for holiday baking. These crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside chocolate ginger cookies are full of warming gingerbread spices and melty chocolate chips. Sweet and decadent, they are perfect for sharing throughout the holiday season and beyond.
Extra-soft, brownie-like cookies wrapped around a cool peppermint cheesecake center, these Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies are the ultimate winter cookie. They’re big, bakery-style and absolutely made for cookie trays, holiday parties and December movie nights.
Like the classic winter drink, but in cookie form, Hot Cocoa Cookies are intensely chocolate-y and filled with gooey marshmallow. These hot chocolate cookies are the perfect companion for a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of milk.
These key lime cookies are tender cookies get topped with a sweet key lime glaze. The perfect combination of bright, tangy citrus flavor and buttery shortbread, these are like eating sunshine in cookie form!
These chewy sugar cookies have a delicious twist – I added some of my favorite fall flavors including molasses, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. These easy to make rolled cookies were a hit at my latest book club and holiday party!
These are cookies that don't need an oven to be made or enjoyed!
54
www.savoryspin.com
Black Sesame Cookies
This black sesame cookie recipe is unique and easy, resulting in delicious, no-bake, naturally gluten-free cookies that call for only FIVE ingredients. These cookies have a soft, dense texture and rich flavor profile.
No-Bake Butterfinger Cookies are a sweet, peanut-buttery treat with a crunchy graham cracker center that are dipped in chocolate. No oven required. Perfect for easy holiday baking, last-minute desserts or anytime you want a decadent cookie with minimal effort.
Easy s’mores rice krispie treats bring together gooey marshmallows, melted chocolate and graham crackers for a fun twist on the classic crisp cereal bar.
Here are our best holiday cookie ideas for this year…
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
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