Honestly, my love of baking probably truly stemmed from spending days (and nights) with my mom baking Christmas cookies. I’ll save you the bullsh*t stories, but let’s just say I’m still mad they got rid of creme savers and that I can’t share with you our creme saver sugar cookies.
My favorite part about any holiday is the food, but the winter time is especially fun because of all the unique cookies you can come up with. So here it is, my list of go-to cookie recipes for the holiday season. To keep the post shorter and easier to manage, I’m going to post the flavor/type of cookie with a picture and then link you to the recipe.
Before we get into it, I would like to note that none of these pictures belong to me and the links will take you to the original recipes. I will be creating some holiday recipes soon for you though!
1. BANANA SPLIT
These are my boyfriend’s favorite cookie that I make. Best part? It’s a short cut cake mix recipe! The banana flavor comes from banana pudding mix which also helps keep these cookies soft and chewy. They’re a great unique cookie to add to your list!
Hands down the BEST cookie recipe. The gooey chocolate cookie, the melty peanut butter chips. Absolute perfection. Good luck trying to stop at one… or two…. or five. My recommendation- use Hershey’s special dark as the cocoa powder. It takes these to the next level.
These ones are a little extra work, and they might seem a bit odd for a staple Christmas cookie, but trust me on this one. The extra work is SO worth it. They are so yummy and always a surprise crowd pleaser!
4. THUMBPRINTS
My favorite part about the thumbprint cookies is getting creative with the types of jam/preserves I use. There are endless possibilities. You could even swap for nutella if you wanted!
5. CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO SHORTBREAD
I’m gonna be honest, getting the hazelnuts to stay so pretty on the sides of these is pretty difficult HOWEVER the cookies are absolutely amazing either way. Extra good in your morning coffee or hot cocoa!
Listen, I don’t even like eggnog and I can’t stop eating these when I make them. They are perfectly moist, perfectly Christmas.
I found this one when a friend had a special cookie request, and it quickly moved into my favorite recipe pile. There’s a little bit of almond extract which balances perfectly with the chocolate and strawberry. Also, they use freeze dried strawberries which soften up when cookies. Absolute genius.
A fun twist on an old time favorite. Chunks of apple and applesauce make these cookies almost like bite size apple crisps!
Obviously a classic. I like to keep it old school and go with the Nestle Toll House recipe. Another great chocolate chip cookie recipe is the bakery style chocolate chip cookies from Handle the Heat.
BONUS NON-COOKIE GO TO HOLIDAY RECIPE:
UPSIDE DOWN PEAR GINGERBREAD CAKE
So I found this one last year and I made it THREE times in two weeks after the first time I made it. This is probably the best cake I’ve ever had. I know, I know, pears and gingerbread? Just trust me. This should make it’s way into your every year recipe stash.
