Sneak Preview: Sixteen popular Christmas cookies for the holidays are collected here for your consideration. Don’t miss the gingerbread church house at the end.
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What makes a cookie the most popular cookie at your house around the holidays? Is it because…
They remind you of somebody who always made them. (What cookie will you be remembered for?)
Maybe they are part of a tradition you followed as a child. (Is it a tradition worth passing on?)
Perhaps they are too much trouble to make more than once a year. (Cut-out cookies come to mind.)
Whatever it is, there’s always room for another cookie on the tray. Right? Take a look and see what you might like to add to your holiday cookie tradition.
What makes a cookie a popular “Christmas Cookie?”
Do you know what the most popular Christmas cookie is in the United States? According to General Mills, it’s the peanut butter blossom. At least that recipe is visited more than any other, according to them. Interesting. Will you make them this year?
This is my criteria, but each cookie only has to meet one of them:
Look interesting or beautiful on a Christmas cookie tray.
The cookie is decorated with red and/or green colors.
It can be easy, like the Coconut Icebox Cookies, while others are quite a project, like the Gingerbread church house.
Don’t forget about Santa. Do you leave the same cookies every year, or does Santa get the leftovers?
Whether you’re looking for something new or a better version of a familiar cookie, look below.
Recipe Help at Your Fingertips: For questions or suggestions, email Paula at saladinajar.com. If you need help, I’m happy to troubleshoot via email (faster than leaving a comment). Attach pictures and as many details as possible for the best advice.
Peppernuts (Pfeffernusse) Recipe
These crispy bite-size Peppernut cookies are reminiscent of gingerbread. Also known as Pfeffernusse.
Slightly crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, these cookies are filled with Raisin Bran Crunch cereal (or your choice of a flaky cereal), coconut, and pecans.
Greek Yogurt Meyer Lemon Bars: No Grating Required
These Meyer Lemon Bars with Greek yogurt start with a coconut shortbread base underneath a Meyer lemon layer. Greek yogurt makes it creamy. The recipe calls for using the entire lemon (minus seeds)–no grating or squeezing required.
You no longer need to keep tempting cookies in the pantry for unexpected company. These Microwave Brownies are easy enough for kids to mix up and bake.
Whether you call them Lemon Snowdrop Cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, or Powdered Sugar Cookies, this recipe makes a delicious shortbread-type cookie studded with finely chopped pecans and dressed liberally with powdered sugar.
This Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookie recipe combines peanut butter dough with a layer of melted chocolate. Roll the dough into a jellyroll shape before slicing.
If a pecan pie married a shortbread cookie, their offspring might look like these rich and chewy bars with coconut added for chewiness and fabulous flavor.
Parting thoughts: Our favorite Christmas cookies are the Christmas Thumbprints. Santa would be disappointed if he didn’t find them on the plate next to the fireplace on Christmas eve.
Recipe Help at Your Fingertips: For questions or suggestions, email Paula at saladinajar.com. If you need help, I’m happy to troubleshoot via email (faster than leaving a comment). Attach pictures and as many details as possible for the best advice.
Paula Rhodes, owner
As a retired home economist, I created Saladinajar.com to share my belief that you don’t have to be a chef to find joy in creating homemade food worth sharing. Bread machines (used in an unconventional way), homemade yogurt, and quick microwave recipes are my specialty.