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These are 25 Easy Christmas Cookies. They require no special equipment and minimal effort. We’ve included an array of flavors, textures and types so that there will be something for everyone!
This list of 25 easy Christmas cookies is for the last-minute bakers and the busy-bees alike! All of these cookies could be made the night before Christmas or right before that cookie swap! Chef Lindsey has more than 100 Christmas cookie recipes to choose from, so we made that part easy too by picking out only the easiest recipes.
If you want to branch out of your Christmas comfort zone, try some of these traditional Christmas cookies or maybe mix it up with these chocolate Christmas cookies!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love these Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Sorted by time. You don’t have the time to figure out how much time each recipe will take, so we’ve done that for you. This list is organized by the time it takes to make each cookie.
- We let you know if the dough needs to chill. Don’t you hate getting all ready to make a 30 minute cookie recipe and then you read that it needs to chill overnight? Me too. That is why we tell you how long they take and if they need to chill.
- Flavorful & varied. I’ve made sure that we have a large variety of flavors and textures in this list. There are chewy cookies, crunchy cookies and bar cookies. Tender, crumbly, and everything in between.
Frequently Asked Questions
Christmas is a busy time of year and we all need a few easy cookie recipes to bring homemade festive cheer without extra preparation. A few of the easiest Christmas cookies are no bake chocolate brandy balls, Christmas crinkle cookies (made with cake mix), or chewy molasses cookies.
According General Mills, the most popular Christmas cookie in the US is peanut butter blossoms. They have the favorites broken out by State and many are on this easy Christmas cookie list! It is no surprise that America prefers a simple, fast cookie at the busiest time of year. Make your favorite and a few others!
25 Easy Christmas Cookies
Find the easiest Christmas cookies sorted by total time below. There are simple drop cookies made with cake mix like Christmas crinkle cookies alongside made from scratch snowball cookies. Each recipe is by a professional pastry chef and they are sure to delight!
25 Minutes or Less
These easy cookies can be made in under 25 minutes with no chilling necessary! These are the Christmas cookies perfect for last-minute baking or busy humans who still want homemade cookies!
Chewy, soft chocolate crinkle cookies are made with devil’s food cake mix for the easiest cookie you’ll make this year. It is always a favorite and they are made in just 17 minutes from bowl to off the baking sheet. without the need to chill the batter!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
These crunchy old fashioned peanut butter cookies can be ready in 20 minutes! The dough requires no chilling and they bake up perfectly every time. You will love this nostalgic peanut butter cookie just like grandma used to make.
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
Make these easy Christmas crinkle cookies in under 20 minutes with a box of cake mix and a few other pantry staples. I’ve flavored them with almond extract and colored them with red and green food coloring for an extra festive appearance.
Christmas Crinkle Cookies
Soft, chewy and full of flavor, these hot toddy-inspired molasses cookies are flavored with honey, bourbon, orange zest, crystallized ginger, and spices. They are the perfect molasses cookies to accompany that after dinner drink.
Hot Toddy Molasses Cookies
Maraschino cherries and pistachios come together in these unforgettable cherry pistachio snowballs. They are crumbly and tender with tons of flavor. I add red sanding sugar to the powdered sugar so they sparkle and bring all the holiday cheer.
Cherry Pistachio Snowballs
Christmas Cookies in 30 Minutes or Less
These cookies come together in 30 minutes or less, with a no chill cookie dough! Enjoy crunchy snowball cookies or chewy sugar cookies in less time than it takes to put parchment paper on the baking sheet or tinsel on the tree.
This is the best snowball cookies recipe. It is made with toasted pecans, and the cookies are tender, crumbly and lightly sweetened. They will be mixed, baked and cooling in just 28 minutes. Go ahead, taste one fresh from the oven.
Classic Snowball Cookies
This chewy sugar cookie recipe needs no chilling and is ready in just 30 minutes! I usually freeze the dough for an extra thick cookie, but it isn’t necessary. You are going to love these classic sugar cookies. If you’re feeling fancy, you can put some royal icing and sprinkles on top!
Chewy Sugar Cookies
Classic peanut butter blossoms are a cookie staple all year round but they enjoy a certain hype around the holiday. It is probably because they are the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate. You might also love these peanut butter cup cookies, which are similar but with extra peanut butter.
Peanut Butter Blossoms
These chewy molasses cookies are big, soft molasses sugar cookies. The dough is rolled in extra sugar before baking, which makes them a little crunchy on the outside and beautifully glittery! My grandmother’s recipe comes together in just 30 minutes without any need for chilling.
Grandmas Molasses Cookies
These cherry cookies are one of my childhood favorites. They have a chewy almond cookie rolled in chopped pecans and topped with a maraschino cherry! The flavor and texture combination is award winning.
Cherry Cookies
Chewy molasses spice cookies are like molasses crinkle cookie or these gingerbread crinkle cookies. They are soft, chewy and incredibly easy! Just 26 minutes and you have hot cookies fresh from the oven!
Spice Cookies
These butterscotch brownies are an old fashioned recipe for blondies. They are chewy and sweet. You can make them in one bowl in under 30 minutes!
Butterscotch Brownies
Under 20 Minutes plus chilling
These recipes can be made in under 20 minutes between the mixing and the baking, but do require a few hours of chilling for the perfect texture! A little planning and you’ll have freshly baked (or no bake) Christmas cookies ready for Santa. So get out a large bowl, stand mixer (or electric mixer), whisk, some teaspoons and tablespoons, and we’re ready to go!
No, you don’t need a cookie press, or anything extravagant.
No bake gingersnap brandy balls are as easy as stirring a few ingredients together and making balls. They do need a few hours to chill to firm up, and I have found that they improve over time. Not that many were left to test this theory after my husband tasted them!
No Bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls
3 ingredients are all you need to make these easy flourless almond butter cookies. The dough comes together in one bowl in under 5 minutes but they do need a 15 minute freeze before baking.
Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
Dark brown sugar and just the right amount of cinnamon give these soft cinnamon sugar cookies the very best chewy texture and rich, molasses-infused flavor. Judging from the over 250 cookie recipes on this blog, you can imagine cookies are in our house a lot. (Always fresh in an airtight container!) But, it’s rare that I bake a cookie and my husband sheepishly asks, “Lindsey, when’s the next time you’ll make those?” Ladies and gents, these cinnamon sugar cookies are it!
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
No list could be complete without this chocolate peppermint fudge. It uses sweetened condensed milk, mint candies, and it is easy and foolproof. The more adventurous of you could try my old fashioned fudge recipe too!
Easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge
Everyone will love these Nutella truffles. They are made with a simple ganache and A LOT of Nutella! I have rolled them in powdered sugar and cocoa powder but you could also enrobe (dip) them in chocolate like my chocolate bourbon truffles.
Dark Chocolate Nutella Truffles
These no bake peanut butter cookies are another old-fashioned favorite. 5 ingredients and 20 minutes of work are all it will take to make these easy treats. While you’re not turning on the oven, why don’t you try these no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies too!
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
Christmas Cookies in under 35 minutes plus a little chilling
These recipes can be made in under 35 minutes between the mixing and the baking, but do require a few hours of chilling for the perfect texture! None require more than 2 hours of additional time. Spike that hot chocolate and let’s get baking!
These chewy white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies are going to be the best you’ve ever had {unless you’ve already tried them in my bakery}. You are going to be blown away by the soft, chewy texture and perfect flavor.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
These adorable snowball snowman cookies are pecan snowball cookies but dressed up for the holidays! You will love the tender, moist snowball cookie and your guests will fall for the sweet little snowman faces.
Snowman Snowball Cookies | Entirely Elizabeth
These ice box cookies are flavored with cardamom, citrus and almonds. There is a simple rum glaze drizzled over the top which is as beautiful as it is delicious. You are going to fall in love with these easy slice & bake cookies with tons of flavor. So take the butter out of the fridge to get it to room temperature, and get started!
Rum Refrigerator Cookies
You must try these gingerbread crinkle cookies. They are soft chewy and have everything you love about gingerbread cookies without any of the time or labor! No rolling and cutting here. Just drop, toss in powdered sugar, and bake. 30 minutes plus an hour to chill in the refrigerator and you’ll have fantastic gingerbread crinkles.
ridiculously soft gingerbread crinkle cookies
Easy Christmas Bar Cookie Recipes
These easy bar cookies require very little hands-on time, but a little more time to bake. It’s just the nature of cookie bars! They are still fantastic and incredibly easy cookies to make. I love to pick a few of different varieties to give guest and my family options!
The same cinnamon brown sugar dough is use as both the base and the crumble on top of these easy cranberry jam bars. They are soft, tender and incredibly flavorful.
Cranberry Cinnamon Jam Bars
Classic 7 layer bars are a staple in my house for Christmas. They are easy, flavorful and fun to make! Layers of graham cracker crust, butterscotch and chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut make for the perfect bite.
7 Layer Bars (Magic Bars)
These chewy carmelitas are an easy bar cookie that uses the same oat crust for the top and bottom! There are layers of salted caramel sauce and chocolate chips which perfectly compliment the brown sugar oat streusel. They’re like thick chocolate chip cookies, but leveled up!
Carmelitas
These easy chocolate peppermint brownies have peppermint extract in the batter and crushed peppermint candies over top an easy chocolate drizzle. They have all the peppermint flavor you want in chewy, rich chocolate brownies. Don’t forget to add a little sea salt on top!
dark chocolate peppermint mocha brownies
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed easy Christmas cookies. You might also enjoy the best Christmas cookie recipes, Christmas dessert recipes or peruse all our Christmas cookie recipes!
These cookies all look amazing. I love the variety you have and your pictures showcase them beautifully. I wish my photos looked as good as yours!
Thanks, Shelby! You are so sweet! I promise you my photos started off beyond embarrassing! I’ve really worked to improve them over the past year and a half. 🙂