For the chocolate lovers who think vanilla cookies are missing the point. From dramatic black cocoa crinkles and fudgy brownie-style cookies to espresso-spiked treats and homemade Oreo sandwiches, these recipes bring serious chocolate flavor to the holiday cookie plate. Rich, indulgent, and guaranteed to disappear first—because sometimes gingerbread just isn't going to cut it.
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Soft Gingerbread Cookies (Cut-Out Style)
This family heirloom recipe yields soft, chewy gingerbread cookies perfectly spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. The secret to their pillowy texture is the combination of vinegar and baking soda, and a double-chill method ensures perfect cut-outs every time. Ideal for decorating with royal icing made using meringue powder for a safer, professional finish.
Crazy for Crust -
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
This flagship recipe from New York Times best-selling cookbook author Sally McKenney features thick centers with slightly crisp edges and an irresistible buttery vanilla flavor. The clever technique of rolling dough BEFORE chilling makes them easier to work with while maintaining their cut-out shapes perfectly—the ideal flat canvas for royal icing decoration.
Sally's Baking Addiction -
Buttery Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
This intensely buttery classic from cookbook author Sarah Kieffer uses both granulated and confectioners' sugar for perfect texture, plus an egg yolk for color and richness. The slice-and-bake format with sanding sugar coating creates beautifully sparkling edges on each cookie—Sarah's mom is known to smuggle them home and freeze them, eating one every day until they're gone.
The Vanilla Bean Blog -
Red & Green Sugar Cookies
These sparkly little butter cookies are all about simplicity and shine. A quick roll in sanding sugar gives them their signature crunch and festive color, and they bake up with crisp edges and soft centers that disappear fast from any holiday tray. They are also perfect candidates for our naturally colored sanding sugars if you want vibrant, plant-based reds and greens without reaching for artificial dyes.
Sally's Baking Addiction -
Russian Tea Cakes (Snowball Cookies)
This classic recipe from blogger Lindsay Conchar features tender, buttery cookies with toasted pecans, rolled twice in powdered sugar for an irresistible melt-in-your-mouth texture. Using only 6 ingredients (butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, flour, salt, and nuts), these beloved Christmas treats create that signature snowy appearance that makes them a holiday cookie tray essential.
Life Love and Sugar -
Snickerdoodles
This classic snickerdoodle recipe produces soft, chewy, and moist cookies in less than 30 minutes. The butter/shortening combination delivers perfect buttery flavor with tender texture, while cream of tartar provides the signature tangy taste that distinguishes snickerdoodles from plain sugar cookies. The classic cinnamon-sugar coating creates that beloved crackled top.
Tastes Better From Scratch -
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ali Martin's peanut butter blossoms are extra soft and flavorful because she increased the peanut butter and vanilla amounts while replacing traditional shortening with butter. Her smart technique of freezing Hershey's Kisses before pressing them into hot cookies ensures they adhere without melting and losing their iconic shape. The dough balls can be rolled in sparkling sugar for extra festive sparkle.
Gimme Some Oven -
Thumbprint Cookies (Jam-Filled)
These elegant buttery shortbread cookies feature a tender cookie base made with both granulated and brown sugar for extra flavor and tenderness, filled with sweet raspberry jam. The recipe emphasizes using quality thick jam like Bonne Maman for best results, and a 30-minute freezer chill prevents spreading—ensuring perfectly shaped thumbprint indentations with beautiful festive red jam centers.
Two Peas & Their Pod -
Spritz Cookies (Classic Pressed Butter Cookies)
This treasured Swedish family recipe from "Grandma Prudy" creates authentically Scandinavian pressed cookies with only 6 simple ingredients including almond extract for their signature flavor. Made with a cookie press into adorable holiday shapes (trees, wreaths, snowflakes), these melt-in-your-mouth cookies require no chilling and freeze wonderfully. Sparkling sugar can be pressed into the shaped dough before baking for beautiful festive sparkle.
The Food Charlatan -
Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe from Tieghan Gerard creates the ultimate soft, doughy, chewy chocolate chip cookie dressed up for Christmas with festive red and green M&Ms. The secret ingredient is cornstarch, combined with melted butter and egg yolks, producing an exceptionally soft and chewy texture that stays fresh for up to 10 days. The dough can be refrigerated up to 3 days, making it perfect for unexpected holiday guests.
Half Baked Harvest -
White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
These soft, chewy oatmeal cookies are jam-packed with festive holiday flavors—tart dried cranberries and sweet white chocolate chips. The combination of red berries and white chocolate creates a beautiful Christmas color palette perfect for holiday cookie trays. The recipe produces cookies with a slightly crispy bottom, chewy middle, and soft top that readers consistently praise.
Live Well Bake Often -
Authentic Pfeffernüsse (German Spice Cookies)
This thoroughly authentic German Pfeffernüsse recipe uses traditional ingredients including Lebkuchengewürz (German gingerbread spice blend), white pepper (giving these cookies their distinctive "pepper nut" name), almond meal, and honey. The recipe features the authentic glaze coating method—dipping in powdered sugar icing that hardens to white—which could be enhanced with meringue powder for a more stable, professional finish. Cookies improve in flavor over 2+ weeks, making them ideal for holiday gifting.
The Daring Gourmet
The Ingredients Behind
Holiday Magic
The ingredients that turn good cookies into great ones:
Premium cocoas for rich chocolate flavor and dramatic color
Royal icing essentials that pipe precisely and dry perfectly
Finishing sugars that add color, sparkle, and crunch
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Dark, fudgy brownies and cookies with serious chocolate flavor. Black cocoa turns ordinary chocolate treats into showstoppers—think homemade Oreos, midnight-black chocolate chip cookies, and brownies so rich they need no introduction. These recipes deliver on both color and taste, whether you're batch-baking for a crowd or treating yourself to something indulgent. Perfect for cookie swaps, gift boxes, or the kind of chocolate craving that won't settle for ordinary.
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Black Cocoa Crinkle Cookies
Dramatic black and white crinkles with fudgy Oreo-like centers and a powdered sugar coating. These elegant cookies are dressed up for the holidays with their striking appearance and rich, not-too-sweet chocolate flavor.
The Practical Kitchen -
Black Cocoa Sandwich Cookies
Crispy sugar cookies with authentic Oreo flavor from black cocoa, perfect for cutting into festive shapes. Optional second bake creates extra-crispy texture, with endless filling possibilities from vanilla buttercream to creative variations.
Buttermilk by Sam -
Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies (Peppermint-Dipped)
Fudgy chocolate cookies made with Dutch-process cocoa powder are dipped in silky white chocolate and rolled in crushed candy canes for a stunning festive presentation. The recipe includes cornstarch for ultra-soft, chewy cookies and corn syrup as a secret ingredient for the perfect texture. These are show-stoppers for cookie exchanges.
The First Year -
Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
These cozy cookies capture the essence of a warm mug of hot cocoa, featuring a soft, fudgy chocolate base topped with a perfectly toasted marshmallow half. The broiled marshmallow gets wonderfully gooey with golden edges, and optional Hershey's bar squares can be added for extra chocolate indulgence. A beloved recipe for kids and adults alike.
I Heart Naptime -
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Elegant, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate shortbread featuring dark chocolate chunks and a glistening sanding sugar coating. This recipe uses 100% powdered sugar for the most tender, delicate texture and bakes the cookies in a muffin tin for perfectly round, stackable shapes—ideal for gifting in holiday cookie boxes. The Dutch-process cocoa provides a deep, sophisticated chocolate flavor.
With Spice -
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
The quintessential Christmas cookie with a snowy powdered sugar coating that cracks beautifully as it bakes, revealing a rich, fudgy chocolate interior. This recipe requires no fancy ingredients—just pantry staples—and delivers soft, brownie-like centers that disappear quickly from holiday cookie platters.
Gimme Some Oven -
Coal Cookies (Sandwich Cookies)
Gourmet homemade Oreos with smooth vanilla buttercream filling that taste better than store-bought. These Christmas coal cookies are a fun twist on the classic, making everyone beg to be on the naughty list.
Sugar Spun Run -
Lump of Coal Cookies
Fudgy double chocolate cookies shaped like charming coal lumps—the perfect treat for anyone on Santa's naughty list. Inspired by Levain Bakery's thick, craggy cookies with soft gooey centers and dramatic black color.
Plays Well With Butter -
Triple Chocolate Cookies
A chocolate lover's dream featuring three types of chocolate in every bite: milk chocolate, semisweet, and white chocolate chips nestled in a rich Dutch-process cocoa dough. No chill time required, making this perfect for last-minute holiday baking. The contrast of the dark cookie with pops of different chocolate chips creates a stunning visual presentation for cookie exchanges.
A Beautiful Plate -
Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Rich, chewy, and impossibly chocolatey, these cookies use our Modern Mountain Black Cocoa Powder for that signature dark-as-night color and deep flavor. Each warm cookie hides a gooey marshmallow center that bakes into a soft, melty pocket of sweetness. Think campfire nostalgia meets bakery finesse—proof that black cocoa and marshmallows are a match made in cookie heaven.
Modern Mountain Baking Co. -
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
These adorable thumbprints feature chewy, brownie-like chocolate bases filled with silky dark chocolate ganache that achieves the perfect "soft set"—firm enough to stay in place but creamy when you bite in. The recipe suggests decorating with crushed freeze-dried strawberries for festive color or holiday sprinkles. Perfect for baking with kids and creating lasting holiday memories.
Bake With Zoha -
Fudgy Salted Brownie Cookies
These reader-favorite brownie cookies deliver shiny, crackled tops and intensely fudgy centers that look stunning on any holiday cookie platter. Made with high-quality semisweet chocolate (66-70% cacao) and finished with elegant flaky Maldon sea salt, they come together in under 40 minutes with no chill time. The sophisticated flavor profile appeals to chocolate purists.
Tutto Dolci -
Chewy Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Simple, one-bowl chocolate cookies loaded with chocolate chips and topped with crushed candy cane that's sprinkled on immediately after baking for perfect adhesion. Ready in just 30 minutes from start to finish, these chewy, minty cookies taste incredible frozen and dipped in milk like Thin Mints. The recipe went viral for its simplicity and incredible flavor.
Minimalist Baker -
Andes Mint Cookies
These thick, chewy cookies are packed with chopped Andes mints in what the blogger calls her "ideal mint-chocolate-candy-to-dough ratio." The espresso powder is a secret weapon that intensifies the chocolate flavor without any detectable coffee taste. Made with white whole wheat flour for a slightly more nutritious cookie, these are described by reviewers as "soft Thin Mints."
Well Plated -
Chocolate-Dipped Snowball Cookies
These elegant snowball truffles combine the beloved melt-in-your-mouth texture of classic Russian tea cakes with a decadent chocolate coating. The powdered sugar dusted over the chocolate creates a beautiful "snowy" appearance perfect for holiday cookie trays. Called "snowball truffles" because the chocolate coating gives them a truffle-like quality—ideal for Christmas cookie exchanges and gifting.
Crazy for Crust -
Mocha Cookies
Bite-sized soft and chewy espresso chocolate chip cookies rolled in cocoa powder and dusted with powdered sugar for an elegant "snowfall" effect. The recipe creator, a professionally trained chef and cookbook author, describes them as "a delightful Christmas cookie, especially for a more adult group" due to the sophisticated mocha flavor. One batch yields nearly 40 cookies—perfect for holiday entertaining.
Handle the Heat
Where baking meets art—and tastes better than it looks. From royal icing masterpieces and marbled dips to stained glass candy windows and painted watercolor designs, these cookies turn your kitchen into a creative studio. Perfect for gifting, cookie swaps, or just showing off a little, because sometimes you want cookies that make people stop scrolling and start asking questions.
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Nordic Gingerbread Cookies
Spice up your cookie tray with a little Scandinavian charm. These gingerbread cookies are sturdy enough to decorate yet soft enough to eat (no gingerbread brick here!). They’re adorned in an easy powdered sugar icing instead of royal icing, piped in delicate dots to mimic a cozy Nordic sweater pattern. The result? A batch of beautifully rustic cookies that taste as warm and nostalgic as they look.
The Faux Martha -
Christmas Decorated Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
These stunning cookies showcase the classic "outline and flood" royal icing technique, where piped borders create dams before thinned icing fills each section. The recipe features adorable Santa face cookies and vintage red trucks hauling Christmas trees—designs developed from making "thousands" of decorated cookies.
A Farmgirl's Kitchen -
How to Decorate Christmas Cookies: 3 Ways
This comprehensive tutorial teaches three distinct royal icing techniques: marbled icing created by swirling food coloring with a toothpick then dipping cookies face-down; glazed bases with detailed piping and sanding sugar dips; and wet-on-wet designs where colored icing melts beautifully into the base layer.
Style Sweet -
Marbled Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
These stunning cookies feature a cream cheese sugar cookie base as a canvas for mesmerizing marbled royal icing. Three different shades of one color (like lime green, leaf green, and moss green) are drizzled into white icing, swirled with a toothpick, then cookies are dunked face-down to create unique organic patterns on each cookie.
Chelsweets -
Soft Frosted Christmas Cookies
These soft sugar cookies bake up thick, fluffy, and impossibly tender, just like the bakery style everyone reaches for first. The simple vanilla frosting spreads easily and gives you a perfect canvas for sprinkles or sanding sugar. They are dependable crowd-pleasers for parties, cookie exchanges, or anytime the holiday sweet tooth calls.
The Toasty Kitchen -
Swirled Christmas Cookies
Three portions of sugar cookie dough are colored red, green, and white, rolled into thin rectangles, then stacked and rolled into a tight log. The log is coated in Christmas nonpareil sprinkles, chilled, then sliced into rounds revealing a beautiful three-color spiral pattern—the swirl structure itself creates the decoration.
Chelsweets -
Black Cocoa Cut-Out Cookies
These Oreo-dark cookies use a generous full cup of black cocoa powder, creating an intensely colored base that provides dramatic contrast with bright icing decorations. The cookies are decorated with royal icing using piping and flooding techniques for Christmas trees, snowflakes, and festive shapes.
Cooking with Carlee -
Red Truck & Christmas Tree Cookies
These charming vintage red truck cookies hauling fresh-cut Christmas trees bring nostalgic holiday cheer to any cookie platter. These cookies look impressive but follow a straightforward decorating process. Perfect for anyone who wants that "wow, these are adorable" reaction without advanced piping skills.
Sweetly Cakes
What Bakers Say About OurOur Baking Essentials
Product: Natural Green Sanding Sugar (3.7oz)
I tested this out while making some Christmas sugar cookies and they turned out great! The flavor was great and my cookies looked perfectly festive.
Kiersten
December 2, 2025
Product: Dutch Cocoa (8oz)
This cocoa powder is amazing and very high-quality! The brownies I make with it are so rich and fudgy. I will be researching other ways to use this cocoa powder!
Julie
November 19, 2025
Product: Meringue Powder (14oz)
If you’re a home baker or professional decorator, this meringue powder is a must-have. Highly recommend!
Ted
January 24, 2025
Product: Sparkling Sugar (11oz)
I love this sparkling sugar. It has larger, light-catching crystals that really enhance my cookies, much nicer than other "sparkling sugars" I've bought.
Quilter
November 6, 2025
Product: Meringue Powder (14oz)
I've been decorating cookies for 10+ years and trust me, Modern Mountain is HANDS. DOWN. the best meringue powder I’ve ever used.
Liz
March 5, 2025
Product: Black Cocoa (1lb)
It is the best cocoa I have ever used. I make no bakes with it and people rave about how good they are.
Barb M.
October 16, 2025
Product: Black Cocoa (1lb)
This is by far THE BEST cocoa powder! The flavor is rich and decadent.
Marion T.
September 22, 2025
Product: Black Cocoa (8oz)
I cannot rave enough about this black cocoa powder! If you're a chocolate lover or a home baker chasing that deep, nostalgic Oreo flavor, this is your holy grail.
Nicole S.
June 24, 2025
These are the cookies that make people ask how you did it—and whether you'll make them again next year. From 3D Christmas trees and edible cookie boxes to watercolor-painted snowflakes and chocolate-tahini linzers, these recipes require a little more time, a little more technique, and deliver a lot more wow. Perfect for cookie swaps where you want to win (or at least tie for first), holiday parties that deserve something special, or just proving to yourself that yes, you can absolutely pull this off.
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Watercolor Snowflake Cookies
This artistic technique involves flooding sugar cookies with smooth white royal icing, then painting with gel food coloring thinned with high-proof clear alcohol (Everclear or clear vanilla extract). The alcohol-based paint creates soft, dreamy watercolor washes in pastel pinks and blues that dry quickly without dissolving the icing base. A white snowflake design is then piped on top.
Glorious Treats -
Decorated 3D Christmas Tree Cookies
Ever seen a cookie double as a holiday centerpiece? These 3D Christmas tree cookies stack crisp cut-outs into an edible evergreen forest. Each “tree” is iced snow-white and dusted with sparkling sugar for extra magic. Both kids and grown-ups will be starry-eyed when you unveil this showstopper – it’s a popular classic design made new with snowflake cookie layers and festive shimmer.
Haniela's -
Chocolate Snowman Cookies
Build a batch of these adorable chocolate snowmen and watch everyone melt. Three sizes of rich cocoa cookies are frosted and stacked to create each smiley snowman, complete with little mango “carrot” noses and licorice button details. The cookies themselves are deeply chocolaty and not too sweet, making the perfect base for a swoon-worthy winter treat that’s almost too cute to eat…almost!
Tara Teaspoon -
Chocolate-Tahini Linzer Cookies
These Linzers take the classic holiday cutout and give it a richer, more nuanced flavor with cocoa and tahini. The dough stays tender, the edges stay clean, and the finished cookies look striking once filled and dusted. They bring a grown-up balance of sweet and nutty that fits right into any Christmas cookie lineup.
Bon Appétit -
Stained Glass Window Cookies
These buttery sugar cookies feature jewel-toned "windows" created by cutting festive shapes, removing smaller centers, then filling with crushed Jolly Rancher candies that melt during baking into gorgeous translucent stained glass panels. The cookies are brushed with egg white and topped with coarse sugar before baking for an elegant, frosty finish.
Sally's Baking Addiction -
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Attention chocoholics: this is the Christmas cookie of your dreams. These dark chocolate thumbprints get their bold flavor from Dutch cocoa and are filled with a velvety chocolate ganache center that’s chef’s kiss perfection. They bake up ultra-rich, brownie-level fudgy, with a soft chew that melts in your mouth. Top them off with a sprinkle of festive nonpareils and watch them disappear from the cookie platter.
In Bloom Bakery -
Christmas Present Cookie Boxes
Talk about the whole package! These crafty sugar cookies assemble into miniature gift boxes that you can fill with candies or other treats. Each cookie box is decorated like a Christmas present, lid and all – from ribbon details to sprinkle “bows.” The best part? After giving out these edible gifts, you get to eat the box too. It’s a delightful baking project that delivers on both presentation and taste.
Sugar Hero -
Raspberry Linzer Cookies
A Christmas classic that’s equal parts elegant and delicious. These tender shortbread Linzer cookies are sandwiched with ruby-red raspberry jam and dusted with a flurry of powdered sugar snow. They definitely make a statement with their peekaboo cut-out centers (we love the little tree shape!). Buttery, fruity, and oh-so pretty, they’re a must-bake for any holiday cookie spread.
Pina Bresciani
Not technically cookies, but they absolutely belong on the holiday dessert table—especially when you need to feed a crowd without rolling, cutting, and decorating 60 individual cookies. From fudgy peppermint mocha brownies and eggnog-frosted gingerbread bars to Starbucks-inspired cranberry bliss and red velvet cheesecake swirls, these bars bring all the festive flavor with way less fuss. Just bake, slice, and watch them disappear from the platter. Perfect for potlucks, parties, or when you want homemade holiday treats without spending your entire Saturday in the kitchen.
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Fudgy Peppermint Mocha Brownies
Ultra-fudgy and utterly festive, these peppermint mocha brownies marry rich Dutch cocoa and a touch of espresso for a deep chocolate base bursting with holiday flavor. Each dense, chewy square is infused with cool peppermint and topped with drizzles of dark chocolate and crunchy candy cane bits, creating a brownie that’s like your favorite seasonal latte in dessert form. One bite of the decadent mocha frosting and minty sprinkle on top and you’ll know you’ve found the Christmas brownie to make your season bright.
Modern Farmhouse Eats -
Gingerbread Brownies with Eggnog Frosting
Chewy gingerbread meets fudgy brownie in this spiced-up holiday mashup, topped with a cloud of silky eggnog cream cheese frosting. The luscious frosting is spiked with real eggnog and nutmeg, mellowing the gingerbread’s zing into sweet, creamy perfection, These bars deliver all the comfort of a gingerbread cookie and the decadence of a brownie in one treat – guaranteed to be a “must make” for your holiday cookie platter.
Carlsbad Cravings -
Chocolate Snowman Cookies
A little spice makes everything nice in these Mexican hot chocolate brownies. The batter is enriched with warming cinnamon and a whisper of cayenne, creating a deep cocoa flavor with a subtle kick. Baked until fudgy in the center, each brownie is then crowned with a layer of silky chocolate ganache and a pile of toasty marshmallows – think of your favorite hot cocoa, but in an indulgent bar form.
Handle the Heat -
"Cosmic” Christmas Tree Brownies
These adorable tree-shaped brownies are a playful upgrade of the viral cosmic brownie – and they scream Christmas! A super-rich, fudgy chocolate brownie base is cut into triangles and topped with green-tinted white chocolate ganache. Decorated with rainbow candy “lights,” each bite delivers nostalgia and yumminess in equal measure. Easy to cut and perfect for cookie platters, these brownie trees will spruce up any holiday dessert spread (no piping skills required!).
Design Eat Repeat -
White Chocolate Peppermint Blondies
Buttery, chewy, and topped with festive crunch, these white chocolate peppermint blondies taste just like the holidays. The blondie base is studded with white chocolate chips and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes, giving you pockets of creamy sweetness and peppermint in each bite. Slathered on top is a fluffy peppermint buttercream frosting, finished with more crushed candy cane “confetti” for a pretty red-green pop.
Butter & Baggage -
Eggnog Sugar Cookie Bars
Two times the eggnog makes these frosted sugar cookie bars a must-bake for any eggnog lover. Soft and buttery with a tender crumb, the cookie bar base is flavored with real eggnog and nutmeg, then spread with a generous layer of eggnog-spiked buttercream. They’re simpler than rolling out traditional sugar cookies (hooray for no cutting or chilling!) but deliver all the festive flavor and creamy frosting you crave.
Inside BruCrew Life -
Cranberry Bliss Bars
A spot-on copycat of the Starbucks favorite, these Cranberry Bliss Bars are pure holiday joy. The base is a moist brown sugar blondie loaded with white chocolate chunks, chewy dried cranberries, and a kiss of orange zest. On top goes a luxurious blanket of tangy cream cheese frosting studded with more cranberries and a white chocolate drizzle. They’re blissfully flavorful – sweet, tart, and creamy – and as pretty as they are delicious.
i am baker -
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
Vibrant red swirls make these brownies a stunning addition to any holiday dessert platter. They combine the best of three worlds – rich chocolatey brownies, tangy cream cheese cheesecake, and the classic flavor of red velvet – in every bite. The brownies are decadently fudgy (thanks to cocoa powder and butter), while the sweet cheesecake ribbon baked on top adds creamy contrast both in taste and eye-catching appearance.
Pretty Simple Sweet
