10 Classic & Popular Christmas Cookies
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through links on my site, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
Here are 10 classic and popular Christmas cookies that often make a yearly appearance during the holidays.
If you remember your mother baking cookies, you probably recall the sweet scent of sugar and vanilla filling your kitchen.
To me, the scent of baking cookies evokes a cozy, warm place. It’s a hallmark of childhood, with wonderful memories you carry into adulthood.
Maybe you’re continuing this time-honored tradition with your own family. If so, here are classic and popular Christmas cookie recipes to try.
Whipped Shortbread Cookies:
These delicious whipped shortbread cookies require only 4 ingredients. Those ingredients are: butter, confectioner’s sugar, flour, and cornstarch.
You could also add flavorings like vanilla, almond, mint, orange, or lemon to this dough.
Shortbread is delightfully light and buttery.
Fudgy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies:
These cookies are brownie-like with a fudgy center and crunchy edges. If you like brownies, then you will love this cookie.
Eggnog Cookies:
These eggnog cookies are supposed to melt in your mouth. If you like eggnog recipes (and I do!), then you will love eggnog cookies.
Hot Chocolate Cookies:
If you are a fan of hot chocolate, then you will love these hot chocolate cookies! With a tall glass of cold milk, it is the perfect snack.
Chewy Christmas Gingerdoodles:
These soft, chewy gingerdoodle cookies are a cross between gingerbread and a snickerdoodle cookie.
Perfect Cut Out Sugar Cookies:
These sugar cookies are delicious with just a dusting of fine sugar. Add frosting for a really sweet treat!
Classic Snowball Cookies:
Snowball cookies are a longtime holiday favorite. They’re made with simple ingredients and taste both buttery and nutty. They are melt-in-your-mouth good!
Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies:
These double chocolate peppermint cookies are full of dark chocolate with chewy centers.
Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Men:
Gingerbread cookies are made with a perfect blend of spices and molasses. They’re frosted with an easy royal icing.
Holiday Spritz Cookies:
Holiday Spritz Cookies are a favorite at Christmastime. They are light, buttery, and flavorful.
Storing & Freezing Christmas Cookies:
The cookies should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can make most cookies ahead and freeze them until it’s time to cook them.
If the cookies have icing on top, be aware that plastic wrap will stick to it and make it look messy when you remove it.
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. If the cookies have icing, let the icing harden completely. Then add parchment paper (not wax) between the layers. They recommend freezing the cookies before frosting.
According to Pillsbury, drop cookies such as oatmeal, chocolate chip, and cut-out cookies are generally freezer-friendly.
Generally, if properly frozen, unfrosted cookies can be stored for up to 12 months. If cookies are frosted, you can store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Soft cookies will get hard when frozen due to the fats, sugars, and moisture inside them. Homemade cookies don’t include preservatives, so you’ll need to freeze them if you bake them ahead of time.
After thawing, they should return to their original soft and chewy texture.
What Is The Most Popular Christmas Cookie?
In a survey, sugar cookies with frosting were America’s most popular Christmas cookie. It won 21 of 50 states. To see what your state voted for as the most popular Christmas cookie, click here.
According to PR Newswire, 93% of Americans bake cookies during the holiday season. And 61% bake three or more batches between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
That’s a lot of cookies!
Why Do We Leave Milk & Cookies For Santa?
Putting out cookies for Santa is a tradition that began in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Parents were trying to instill a sense of thankfulness in their children. That practice continues today.
Years later, many children still set out cookies and milk for Santa. The roots of this holiday food tradition go back even further, to ancient Norse mythology.
Baking cookies before Christmas is an annual tradition for many families. Christmas cookie baking comes from several older traditions that blended together over time.
Cookies are easy to make in large batches, easy for kids to decorate, and easy to package as gifts for neighbors, teachers, and relatives.
Ah cookies, and that appeals to most everyone!!
These cookies all look delish! Thank you Brenda!
Every single one of those looks delicious! I usually make the frosted sugar cookies and the Scotch shortbread cookies. I usually only make one batch of each, as they are labor intensive, with all the rolling out and cutting into cute shapes. We always get the family together to decorate the frosted sugar cookies. That’s been our tradition over the years.
Every single photo of those different types of cookies looks fabulous and delicious – and so pretty! I’m a sucker for anything chocolate. I’m good at baking brownies of all kinds, but cookies – nope. But I have fond memories of watching my paternal grandma whipping up all kinds of goodies on her old butcher block in a tiny kitchen. She was so experienced she could do a “pinch of this” and a “pinch of that” all from memory, and her food (especially her baking) was always so yummy! The butcher block was small, square, and tall, she would lift me up on a stool where I would sit mesmerized watching every move as she worked her magic. I’m 72. She passed in 1961 when I was just 11 and she was 63, but I still miss her. Christmas especially for me brings back great memories, but also some sad ones.