Hi Reader,

Is there anything that says "holidays" more than a kitchen counter covered in flour and cooling racks filled with cookies? After years of testing (and taste-testing), we've pulled together 23 of our absolute favorite holiday cookie recipes.

What Makes The Cut?

Great holiday cookies are beautiful, flavorful, sturdy enough to ship, and not so fussy you need a culinary degree. Nearly all of these can be made ahead and frozen (except the delicate meringues), so you can spread the baking across weeks instead of one marathon session.

Cookies With Stories

These Italian walnut shortbread cookies? Made in Aida's family for four generations. The French madeleines? Elegant but surprisingly simple. And those Mexican wedding cookies (also called Russian tea cakes or polvorones)? Buttery, nutty, and rolled in powdered sugar... basically edible snow globes.

When Time's Tight

Some weeks, even rolling dough feels like too much. That's when chocolate cornflake clusters save the day. Three ingredients, 30 minutes, done. For make-ahead magic, toasted coconut orange icebox cookies let you freeze dough for a month, then slice and bake on demand.

The Full Lineup

The complete collection includes hazelnut chocolate linzers, ginger spice molasses cookies, gluten-free cacao nib rochers, traditional Italian zaletti and torta sbrisolona, plus peppermint options for seasonal flavor lovers.

Planning to mail cookies? Most ship beautifully when wrapped in parchment and cushioned properly. Just skip the lace cookies and meringues.

Browse all the holiday cookie recipes here and start planning your baking lineup.

And if all this talk of Italian cookies has you dreaming of where they came from? We'd love to help you taste these traditions at their source, from Florence's pastry shops to Sicily's bakeries. Let's chat about your Italian adventure.