Christmas cookie season is all about spreading love in the form of butter, sugar, and flour. And I know that with the holidays upon us, you may be looking for festive cookie recipes to bake for family and friends.
While I love baking Christmas cookies, I don’t love spending so much time decorating them because they’re just going to get eaten! However, I still want my holiday cookies to be festive. So today I’m sharing 12 of my favorite easy festive Christmas cookie recipes that are also easy to bake!
These easy festive Christmas cookie recipes are ones you can bake with family and friends. The easy festive Christmas cookies on this list would make amazing additions to DIY Holiday Cookie Boxes or for any holiday party!

1. Simple Christmas Shortbread Cookies
These are the most simple and festive holiday cookie you can make! These simple vanilla shortbread cookies are topped with a natural tree sprinkle that make them festive without being over the top, but also so incredibly easy to bake! Grab the recipe for my Simple Christmas Shortbread Cookies.

2. Tree Sugar Cookies
Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a tree! And these Tree Sugar Cookies are the cutest way to celebrate. I love using pastel colors as opposed to strictly red and green for a subtly festive cookie that is absolutely adorable! While these cookies do require a piping bag and tips, you can totally do without and use butter knife instead! But using a piping bag and tips allow these cookies to be incredibly easy and freeform with very little effort or skill.

3. Gingerbread Spritz Cookies
While spritz cookies are usually found in most holiday cookie boxes, these Gingerbread Spritz Cookies are full of even more Christmas cheer.

4. Cinnamon Pecan YiaYia Cookies
If you like snowballs then you’ll love my Cinnamon Pecan YiaYia Cookies. I created this recipe based of my YiaYia’s famous cookies and the addition of cinnamon makes for a cozy cookie that pairs well with hot cocoa, coffee, or tea.

5. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Shortbreads
Taking classic shortbread up a notch for the holidays with these Dark Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread Cookies. A simple vanilla shortbread gets all dressed up with dark chocolate, peppermint, and crushed candy canes.

6. Lemon Ginger Molasses Cookies
This is a step above your standard gingerbread cookie. I add a sweet lemon icing on top of a soft and chewy ginger molasses cookie. These Lemon Ginger Molasses Cookies are sure to be a favorite this holiday season.

7. Hot Chocolate Cookies
Nothing is more cozy than hot chocolate during the holidays. And these Hot Chocolate Cookies are ones you’ll want to nosh on while curled up in front of the fire. They also make an amazing addition to any cookie box.

8. Peppermint Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Probably my favorite of the whole roundup, these Peppermint Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies are sweet, salty, and full of Christmas cheer! I invite you to try this soft and chewy cookie with a heavenly combination that is sure to be a cookie you want to bake year after year.

9. Gingerbread Florentines
Gingerbread is a classic Christmas flavor, but my Florentine cookies are anything but. If you’re unfamiliar with Florentines, they are a thin, crispy, caramely cookie. I like to fill mine with buttercream, these one specifically with gingerbread buttercream. These Gingerbread Florentines will have everyone swooning!

10. Raspberry Thumbprints
Thumbprint cookies are a classic Christmas cookie. My Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies will always remind me of Christmas at my best friends house as a child. Reaching into the pink bakery box her mom always had on the counter leading up to Christmas is a memory I will never forget. These simple but delicious thumbprints will brighten anyone’s day.

11. Holiday Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
Classic chocolate chip cookies get a makeover for the holidays with my Holiday Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies. I use Chinese Five Spice in the buttercream, and this subtle warm spice just wraps you up in a cozy blanket of holiday love.

12. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Nothing is more classic than Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. These rich chocolate cookies are coated in powdered sugar and reminiscent of the first snow of the season. They make an amazing addition to your holiday party dessert table.

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Make sure to check out the post The Best Homemade Apple Pie Recipes, which I’m sure you’ll love too! And, share it with someone who you think may also like it!