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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!

easy Christmas Cookies stacked.

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!

  • 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

What are easy cookies that can be made ahead of time?

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.

What is the most popular Christmas cookie?

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!

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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!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies Overhead Easy Chocolate Desserts.

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 without the need to chill the batter!

Chocolate Crackle Cookie with powdered sugar on black surface Easy Chocolate Desserts.
5 from 4 ratings

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are chewy and richly chocolatey. Made from only 4-ingredients in under 20 minutes, they’re devilishly delightful and easy!
Make Easy Chocolate Crinkles!
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies on cooling rack.

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 on cooling rack with perfect fork tine impressions.
5 from 2 ratings

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

My Great-Grandmother’s award winning, Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies are a sweet, traditional peanut butter cookie that is crispy but not dry. Not only is each bite full of peanut butter flavor, but they’ll be ready in less than 20 minutes!
Make Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
Festive Almond Crinkle Cookies arranged on wooden surface easy Christmas 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.

Festive Almond Crinkle Cookies red and green cookies on wood
5 from 3 ratings

Christmas Crinkle Cookies

These Christmas Crinkle Cookies are incredibly soft and chewy. A easy almond crinkle cookie made with cake mix! Whip up a batch of these 5 ingredient cookies in under 20 minutes!
Make Easy Christmas Crinkle Cookies
easy hot toddy molasses cookies on wire rack.

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.

easy hot toddy molasses cookies on wire rack.

Hot Toddy Molasses Cookies

Deliciously soft and chewy hot toddy molasses cookies baked with honey, bourbon, orange zest and warm spices. Perfect for the holidays!
View Recipe
Cherry Pistachio Snowball Cookies Powdered Sugar.

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 Snowball Cookies Beautiful Overhead
4.84 from 6 ratings

Cherry Pistachio Snowballs

Cherry Pistachio Snowballs are a tender butter cookie with maraschino cherries and toasted pistachios inside! The outside is rolled in confectioner’s sugar and red sanding sugar for a fun, festive appearance!
Bake Cherry Pistachio Snowballs

Christmas Cookies in 30 Minutes or Less

These cookies come together in 30 minutes or less with no chilling required! Enjoy crunchy snowball cookies or chewy sugar cookies in less time than it takes to put tinsel on the tree.

Pecan Snowball Cookies stacked cut open.

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.

Easy Christmas cookies, pecan snowball cookies against a black backgorund.
5 from 36 ratings

Classic Snowball Cookies

This Snowball Cookies Recipe makes cookies with a perfect soft, crumbly texture and just the right amount of pecans. Enjoy easy snowball cookies that can be made in under 10 minutes!
Make Easy Snowball Cookies
Chewy Sugar Cookies Stacked close up detail.

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.

one chewy sugar cookie broken in half and stacked.
5 from 50 ratings

Chewy Sugar Cookies

A chewy sugar cookie recipe perfected by a professional pastry chef! This recipe makes perfectly sweet sugar cookies with pantry ingredients. They are soft and chewy inside but still delightfully crunchy outside!
Bake Easy Chewy Sugar Cookies
Peanut Butter Blossoms fresh baked easy Christmas 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 interior detail
5 from 2 ratings

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Soft, chewy peanut butter cookies rolled in sugar and topped with a Hershey kiss. These cookies should be a little crisp on the outside and soft and chewy within.
Bake Classic Peanut Butter Blossoms
Chewy Molasses Cookies stacked.

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.

Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies Perfect Stack
5 from 1 ratings

Grandmas Molasses Cookies

My Grandma’s Chewy Molasses Cookies are chewy sugar cookies flavored with molasses, ginger and cinnamon. They have a crunchy outside and soft, chewy inside!
Bake Chewy Molasses Cookies
cherry cookies stacked baked fresh for easy Christmas 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 stacked baked fresh for easy Christmas cookies.
4.75 from 4 ratings

Cherry Cookies

These cherry cookies are a tangy and soft cream cheese sugar cookie encrusted with crunchy pecans and enhanced with a touch of almond extract and cherry. Distinct and delicious, this is easily your new favorite chewy cookie recipe!
Bake Easy Cherry Cookies!
Molasses Spice Cookies stacked on white lace plate.

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!

sparkling spice cookie.
5 from 1 ratings

Spice Cookies

These easy spice cookies are chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. They have the flavor of gingerbread but with the texture of a chewy sugar cookie.
Bake Molasses Spice Cookies
stack of easy butterscotch brownies.

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!

stacked butterscotch brownies.
4.86 from 21 ratings

Butterscotch Brownies

These Butterscotch Brownies are soft, chewy and incredibly easy! They are made in one bowl in under 30 minutes!
Bake Easy 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.

These easy no bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls are delicious and easy! The perfect addition to an adult holiday dessert spread!

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!

These easy no bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls are delicious and easy! The perfect addition to an adult holiday dessert spread!
4.75 from 4 ratings

No Bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls

These easy No Bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls marry two of my favorite flavors: brandy and gingersnaps. With a heady dose of brandy in every bite, these tasty morsels double as a sweet dessert and an after dinner drink!
View Recipe
chewy almond butter cookies.

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

These easy flourless almond butter cookies are made with just three ingredients (almond butter, egg, sugar) for a chewy, flavorful cookie.
Bake 3 Ingredient Almond Butter Cookies!
Perfectly baked cinnamon sugar 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. 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

A cinnamon sugar cookie broken in half, showing the inside texture.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

These cinnamon sugar cookies taste just like the inside of a cinnamon roll! This recipe makes soft cinnamon cookies with pantry ingredients. Everything you love about a chewy sugar cookie with the warmth and comfort of cinnamon and brown sugar.
View Recipe
An easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge recipe.

No list could be complete without this chocolate peppermint fudge. It uses sweetened condensed milk and it is easy and foolproof. The more adventurous of you could try my old fashioned fudge recipe too!

An easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge recipe.
5 from 1 ratings

Easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

This Easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge is rich and chocolaty with a smooth, creamy texture! It takes under 20 minutes and Andes peppermint chips bring the holiday cheer!
Make Easy 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 cocoa powder for easy christmas cookie.
5 from 2 ratings

Dark Chocolate Nutella Truffles

Four-ingredient Nutella Truffles are an easy, rolled dark chocolate truffle! It is a fast and simple recipe for flavorful truffles! Make them as an easy dessert or a gift!
Make Easy Nutella Truffles
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies stacked on wooden surface.

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 stacked on wooden surface.
5 from 1 ratings

No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

These 5 ingredient No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies are soft and crunchy and chewy all at the same time! The sweet peanut butter flavor will have you reaching for another!
Make 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 on a dark countertop.
4.99 from 95 ratings

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These are the perfect chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, packed with toasted macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips! This white chocolate macadamia nut cookie recipe details how to make cookies that are thick and chewy every time.
Bake White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
snowman cookies with piped faces.

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

Snowman Snowball Cookies | Entirely Elizabeth

These easy Snowman Snowball Cookies are a cute and fun addition to the Christmas season. They are buttery, soft, and will melt in your mouth!
Make Adorable Snowman Snowballs!

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.

Rum Refrigerator Cookies Delicious Overhead
5 from 3 ratings

Rum Refrigerator Cookies

These easy Rum Refrigerator Cookies are soft, chewy and moist. They are a classic slice and bake cookie with cardamom and citrus notes. I’ve drizzled the top with a simple rum glaze for even more flavor.
Bake Ice Box Cookies
stacked gingerbread crinkle cookies on white plate.

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.

gingerbread crinkle cookies on white plate.

ridiculously soft gingerbread crinkle cookies

These soft gingerbread crinkle cookies are easy to make, full of spiced flavor and coated with sugar. Plus, tips on how to bake the softest-ever cookies!
View Recipe

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!

stack of cranberry crumble bars.

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.

There are few homemade desserts easier than jam bars and these Cranberry Cinnamon Jam Bars are not only easy they pack serious holiday flavor! The cinnamon streusel doubles as both the top and bottom crusts with a gooey, spiced cranberry filling in between.
5 from 1 ratings

Cranberry Cinnamon Jam Bars

In these easy Cranberry Cinnamon Jam Bars the cinnamon streusel doubles as both the top and bottom crusts with a gooey, spiced cranberry filling in between.
Make Cranberry Jam Bars
Seven Layer Bars Stacked.

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.

Featured Image
4.99 from 52 ratings

7 Layer Bars (Magic Bars)

7 Layer Bars aka Magic Bars are a simple yet decadent combination of graham cracker crust, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, sweetened condensed milk, & nuts. The sweetened condensed milk caramelizes on the top and melds the flavors and pulls all the layers together!
Make Easy 7 Layer Bars
Caramelitas stacked.

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.

Caramelita Cookie Bars two stacked with caramel
5 from 1 ratings

Carmelitas

Carmelitas are an easy, chewy bar cookie for serious caramel lovers! An oat cookie crust layered with salted caramel sauce and chocolate chips for a salted caramel chocolate flavor explosion!
Bake Carmelitas
sliced peppermint brownies on parchment.

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.

dark chocolate peppermint mocha brownies

Extra-thick, extra-fudgy, extra-rich peppermint mocha brownies topped with a dark chocolate drizzle.
Make Easy Peppermint 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!

Hi, I’m Chef Lindsey!

I am the baker, recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Chef Lindsey Farr. I believe in delicious homemade food and the power of dessert!

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18 Comments

  1. Linds, you must have knocked yourself out with your Christmas cookie mania! I have to say, I am absolutely loving your photography, girl. So inspiring! Love the festive cookie collection. You made excellent choices. Thanks for all the hard work and for sharing. Meanwhile, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. 🙂 Warmest wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! xo

    1. Ummm you could definitely say that! I’m so, so, so glad you’re back, Stacy! It just hasn’t been the same without you! Wishing you the best in 2015! xox

  2. I loved all your cookies and wish I could have a sample of each of them. New Zealand sounds amazing!!! Have a wonderful trip and holiday with your family!!

  3. I love this roundup, Lindsey! You made the most amazing cookies this season. I’ve pinned them all and need to try them asap! Thanks so much for sharing!

  4. We made it, Lindsey! With your baking prowess and my moral support, we made it. You know how runner’s talk about the “runner’s high”? Well, I am currently operating on a “AHC Cookie high”…and I suspect it’s way better than any runner’s high. We just won’t talk about what happens when I come down off of that high…in fact, let’s just keep making more cookies instead! Tomorrow! I’m looking forward to seeing another one tomorrow…don’t let me down, please. 🙂

    1. Your comments are raising my blood pressure, David! There will be no more cookies for several months…I’ve put my foot down. When are you going to post the kitchen sink cookies you sent me…I want more and I think those would be worth breaking my mini temper tantrum above for.

  5. I’ve really enjoyed your 12 days of christmas cookies! So many great recipes I know I will make next year for sure! Especially loved the Linzer cookies!