10 Editor-Loved Cookies to Bake When You Want Guaranteed Crowd-Pleasers

These cookies capture everything we love about baking in December.

By
Genevieve Yam
Genevieve Yam headshot
Genevieve Yam
Senior Editor
After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Genevieve cooked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Per Se. Prior to joining Serious Eats, she was an editor at Epicurious. She grew up between Toronto and Hong Kong and is a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two cats.
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Published December 15, 2025
Tray of chocolate sandwich cookies topped with crushed peppermint

Serious Eats / Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Styling: Claire Spollen

What is December if not a month-long excuse to bake as many cookies as possible for your friends, family, and yourself? There are many classics to choose from: gingerbread, peanut butter blossoms, and snickerdoodles galore. The question is: Which will you choose? Are you a fan of jammy cookies? Maybe spiced ones? Or is chocolate and peanut butter more your speed? If you're like our editors, you're probably looking forward to baking up a storm. 

For a complete list of the very best holiday cookies, I polled the staff on their go-to cookie recipes to make this time of year. You'll find comforting classics, including oatmeal raisin cookies, as well as festive sweets, like chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies. So make sure you get that holiday cookie swap on your calendar ASAP, because you're going to need a lot of help eating all the cookies you're about to make.

Love these recipes? With MyRecipes—your personal home for recipes—easily save and organize your favorites, plus thousands more, in one convenient place.

  • Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

    oatmeal raisin cookies stacked up on top of each other, and one cookie leaning on the stack. 2 glasses of milk in back and a red swirl background wall.

    Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

    “I’m one of those weird people who will take an oatmeal raising cookie over a chocolate chip any day. And, to be honest, I’d take it over most other cookies too. The chewy texture, lightly spiced and buttery aroma, and substantive presence of oats and raisins just scratches the itch.” - Daniel Gritzer, editorial director

  • Tahini Thumbprint Cookies

    Thumbprint cookies with seeds and jam filling on red wrapping paper

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

    “I love the rich nuttiness of tahini and think pairing the sesame spread with sweet, tangy raspberry jam is such a smart move. I’m excited to make these for all my friends and family!” - Genevieve Yam, senior editor

  • Lacy Brown Butter and Ricotta Cookies

    20180129-ricotta-cookies-vicky-wasik-11
    Vicky Wasik

    “I talk about these cookies as much as possible. They’re ridiculously good and easy to make and are perfectly chewy and nutty. They also strike the ideal balance of sweet and salty.” - Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm, associate editorial director

  • Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies Recipe

    20161207-mexican-wedding-cookies-vicky-wasik-12.jpg
    Vicky Wasik

    “The “melt in your mouth” quality of these cookies is beyond compare. They’re so tender! Plus, they look like little snowballs. What could be more festive than that?” - Rochelle Bilow, editor

    Continue to 5 of 10 below

  • Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

    Tray of chocolate sandwich cookies topped with crushed peppermint

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Styling: Claire Spollen

    “I adore peppermint, so these sweet little sandwich cookies are at the very top of my list. Peppermint pieces get folded into the frosting and sprinkled on top for extra crunch. There’s even a little bit of peppermint extract in the chocolate cookie, which is thoughtfully developed to yield a crisp break that won’t squish all the filling out. Win, win, win.” - Ashlee Redger, staff writer

  • Italian Rainbow Cookies

    Italian Rainbow Cookies

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    “First, I have to say I second Rochelle’s pick: I make the Mexican wedding cookies every year, and every year they’re a sleeper hit that’s gone in a rain of crumbs. Okay, moving on to my pick: Italian rainbow cookies. They’re stunning, I love almond paste, and living in Rhode Island (which has a very vibrant Italian-American scene), they’re pretty much a requirement for any cookie platter or else you’ll be called a real mortadella.” - Grace Kelly, senior editor

  • Banana Cookies

    Overhead view of banana cookies

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    “I love how these cookies capture the deep, rich banana flavor of really good banana bread, but in chewy cookie form. I’m excited to bake a batch that’s just right for dunking into a cold glass of milk.” - Laila Ibrahim, associate culinary editor

  • Millionaire's Shortbread

    Side view of millionaires shortbread

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "My holiday pick is Genevieve’s millionaire shortbread—the ultimate celebration cookie. With a buttery base, a chewy butterscotch center, and a crisp chocolate top, it hits every texture note I want in a cookie." - Leah Colins, senior culinary editor

    Continue to 9 of 10 below

  • Lemon Sugar Cookies

    Plate of lemon sugar cookies on a yellow textile on top of yellow and white tiles.

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    “There’s a lemon tree in the yard in my family house in Louisiana, so lemony desserts just say ‘family vacation’ to me. This lemon sugar cookie recipe employs both lemon juice and zest for a treat that looks and tastes bright as can be. These would be great for any holiday party, and they’re a nice break from the sea of chocolate (not that there’s anything wrong with a sea of chocolate—that’s a sea I’d be happy to swim in).” - Megan O. Steintrager, associate editorial director

  • Air-Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies

    A closeup of hands holding a chocolate chip cookie with other cookies visible on a plate in the background

    Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

    “My family is small, and we’re not big dessert people. But Leah’s air-fryer chocolate chip cookies look perfect and take just 10 minutes to make, which is the exact amount of time I want to spend baking during a holiday break.” - Amanda Suarez, associate visuals director

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