There’s no holiday I love as much as I love Christmas. And baking Christmas cookies is such a fun and festive tradition that I look forward to every year. From buttery, nutty shortbread, to drop cookies, to crunchy biscotti dunked in hot coffee, homemade candy and cutout sugar cookies decorated with royal icing, powdered sugar or buttercream, there’s no shortage of sweet treats in our house this time of year. Today I’m sharing more than 100 of my most popular high altitude Christmas cookies and candy recipes. Each of these Christmas cookie recipes is developed for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet, so mountain bakers can bake with confidence this holiday season!
You might also love this buttercream Christmas tree cake tutorial, my Christmas cookie box styling guide, and this gingerbread sheet cake with powdered sugar snowflakes.
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Shortbread Cookies
Hazelnut shortbread cookies have a buttery, crumbly texture and rich hazelnut flavor that’s perfect for the holidays. Enjoy these cookies plain, dipped in your coffee, or topped with a swirl of chocolate hazelnut spread and chopped hazelnuts for a pretty presentation. Tuck a few of these hazelnut cookies into your Christmas cookie boxes for a treat everyone will love.
Maple walnut shortbread is easy to make, with a rich, buttery texture and maple walnut flavor. Cut in pretty wedges, this is a classic cookie to add to your Christmas cookie boxes!
This classic recipe for almond shortbread cookies is easy to make, with a buttery, crumbly texture and delicious almond flavor that’s perfect for a Christmas cookie box, or any time during the holiday season. The cookies look especially pretty sprinkled with sugar and cut in a diamond pattern.
Soft and buttery cranberry pecan shortbread cookies, flecked with dried sweetened cranberries, pecans and candied orange peel, and drizzled with orange icing. The combination of flavors in these delicious cookies is so perfect for Christmas!
These stamped chocolate shortbread cookies are buttery, and not too sweet. They hold their shape perfectly when they bake, so the stamped design is beautifully preserved. And the icing brushed over the cookies while they’re still warm highlights all the gorgeous details of the cookie stamp design.
These chocolate chip toffee shortbread cookies look simple, but their soft, tender texture and buttery flavor make the perfect cookie to nibble with a cup of strong coffee. Mini chocolate chips and toffee bits add texture and crunch to these delicious cookies.
These orange ginger shortbread cookie sticks are drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with crystallized ginger. They’re soft, buttery and not too sweet, and are delicious in a Christmas cookie box for the holidays. And instead of making cookie sticks, you can also roll out the dough to use any shape of cookie cutter that you like.
These stamped snickerdoodle shortbread cookies are crisp around the edges with a chewy center, and just so pretty for the holidays. A shower of cinnamon and sugar on top is the perfect crunchy finish!
These chocolate chunk shortbread cookies with chopped chocolate and espresso powder are drizzled with vanilla icing and sprinkled with more chocolate. The flavors of coffee and dark chocolate pair so nicely in these buttery shortbread cookies, while the icing adds a bit of sweetness to balance the bitter coffee notes.
Sweet and spicy gingerbread shortbread cookie sticks, drizzled with tart lemon icing. These buttery gingerbread shortbread cookies are a wonderful addition to a Christmas cookie box. And they’re perfect for serving with hot coffee or tea anytime during the winter holidays.
Buttery cherry almond shortbread cookies made with toasted almonds, dried sweetened cherries and amaretto liqueur. This is an easy cookie recipe that you can slice and bake, or roll out and cut with cookie cutters.
Homemade pecan sandies are buttery and crumbly like pecan shortbread cookies. These simple cookies may look a little plain, but they’re so flavorful with nutty toasted pecans and a pinch of flaky salt. Make them for the holidays and add them to your Christmas cookie boxes for a treat everyone will love!
Drop Cookies
These high altitude soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies are one of my favorite holiday cookies to bake. The spicy heat of the ginger is so delicious with the sweet molasses and hints of cinnamon and cloves, and the crackled cookie tops look just beautiful.
These beautiful old fashioned iced oatmeal cookies are a hit with everyone who tastes them. The cookies are so soft and chewy, slightly spicy with a hint of molasses, and dipped in sweet vanilla glaze.
These thick and chewy cranberry almond oatmeal cookies have a hearty oat texture, crunchy almonds, sweet bursts of dried cranberries, brown butter and hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Buttery snowball cookies, full of nutty pecans, with a sweet coating of powdered sugar. These classic Christmas cookies are perfect for a cookie exchange during the holiday season.
An easy, high altitude recipe for chocolate brownie cookies with crisp edges and soft chewy centers. The cookie dough comes together without a mixer, and there’s no chill time required!
If you’re looking for a great recipe for high altitude chocolate chip cookies that are soft and chewy, then look no further! This is a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe developed specifically for high altitude bakers. So no fear of a flat cookie that spreads all over your baking sheet. These cookies are thick and chewy, soft for days after baking, perfectly salty and sweet, and loaded with chocolate chips. And don’t miss these big chocolate chip cookies for two, for a treat you can bake with someone special.
Soft butterscotch cookies, sandwiched together with creamy chocolate ganache filling. They’re great on their own, or you can even mix in some butterscotch chips to add more butterscotch flavor.
Soft and chewy brown sugar pecan cookies, coated in sparkling sugar and spiced with a little cardamom. These are incredibly soft brown sugar cookies that are full of nutty chopped pecans, although you can leave the pecans out for a plain brown sugar cookie, too.
Soft raspberry thumbprint sugar cookies, with a soft and chewy sugar coated cookie and sweet raspberry jam filling. A hint of almond extract in the cookie dough adds a lovely complementary flavor to the raspberry jam, and the cookies stay so incredibly soft for days.
Soft and fluffy sugar cookies, spiced with vanilla bean and cardamom, and topped with a swirl of buttercream. Decorate with red, white and green sprinkles for a festive touch.
Nutty white chocolate chip butterscotch cookies, loaded with pecans, almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts, with both white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips for an irresistibly sweet and salty cookie.
Crispy edges and soft chewy centers make these high altitude date pecan cookies simply irresistible! Date syrup keeps them moist and chewy, while oats and pecans add texture and crunch. Fill them with pecan buttercream for a delicious sandwich cookie.
Thick, soft and chewy snickerdoodles, with a delicious coating of cinnamon and sugar. These make a wonderful holiday cookie. They’re also wonderful with the addition of chocolate chips!
Butter pecan cookies, with nutty browned butter, the rich flavor of brown sugar, a noticeable saltiness, and of course, plenty of pecans. These are the perfect cookie for butter pecan lovers.
An easy recipe for soft and fluffy eggnog cookies, with cardamom, nutmeg and vanilla bean, and frosted with sweet eggnog buttercream. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a few glasses of eggnog sprinkled with nutmeg, and these festive cookies are the perfect treat to use up a little leftover eggnog.
Thick, soft and chewy oatmeal butterscotch cookies, made with brown butter, nutty pecans, sweet butterscotch chips and a hint of cardamom and cinnamon. These oatmeal scotchies have a delicious balance of sweet, salty, nutty and buttery flavors, and they’ll quickly become a family favorite.
Soft and chewy coffee cookies, flavored with espresso powder, and coated in espresso sugar. These cookies are easy to make, with a strong coffee flavor that coffee drinkers will love!
The best marry me cookies with crisp edges and soft chewy centers, loaded with chocolate chips, pecans and toffee bits. If you love soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, this delicious variation on a classic recipe may just become your new favorite.
An easy recipe for soft and chewy chocolate snickerdoodles, coated in cinnamon sugar. This is a no chill recipe, so you’ll have fresh cookies to enjoy in about 30 minutes!
These oatmeal lace cookies are thin and chewy with crisp, caramelized edges and flavor notes of buttery brown sugar toffee. Enjoy the cookies plain, or drizzle them with melted chocolate!
These chocolate crinkle cookies are rich and fudgy, like a soft, chewy brownie coated in powdered sugar. This is the easiest and best chocolate crinkle cookies recipe for high altitude, that doesn’t even require a mixer!
Coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate are sweet, moist and chewy, and so easy to make! These coconut cookies are made with natural unsweetened coconut and no sweetened condensed milk, making them gluten free as well as dairy free.
An easy recipe for soft and chewy, flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, with no mixer needed and no chill time. In this post, you’ll also find a recipe variation for making classic peanut butter blossoms, a.k.a., peanut butter cookies topped with a chocolate kiss.
Caramel thumbprint cookies, made with soft and chewy gingerbread spiced sugar cookies, rolled in crushed pecans and filled with sweet caramel. This holiday cookie is sweet and spicy, with a buttery, nutty crunch from the pecans, and a creamy caramel center.
These maple walnut oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy oatmeal cookies are loaded with sweet white chocolate chips, nutty walnuts, and a hint of maple, cardamom, ginger and allspice.
Soft and chewy walnut poppy seed cookies, dipped in brown butter icing. These easy high altitude walnut cookies come together quickly with no mixer needed.
Soft and fudgy red velvet chocolate chip cookies, loaded with both dark and white chocolate chips. These easy red velvet cookies come together fast with no chill time and no mixer required!
Soft and chewy almond paste cookies, made with almond flour in the cookie dough, almond paste filling, and sliced almonds sprinkled on top. These cookies are wonderful any time of year, but with the flavors of almond and cardamom, they make a wonderful holiday cookie, too.
Cutout Cookies
Soft, buttery almond flavored snowflake sugar cookies, decorated with fluffy buttercream frosting and sprinkled with sparkling sugar. These delicate cookies make the most beautiful Christmas cookies for the holiday season.
These soft and chewy high altitude gingerbread cookies are subtly spiced so they aren’t too dark and spicy, and are delicious with both royal icing and buttercream frosting. This is a no spread gingerbread cookie recipe, so the shape of your cookies will be perfectly preserved after baking!
These place card cookies are easy to make with no-spread chocolate sugar cookies stamped with the names of your friends, family and loved ones, then glazed with vanilla icing. The embossed cookies look so beautiful placed on each place setting for Christmas, weddings, or any special occasion!
A step-by-step tutorial for the most beautiful Christmas tree cookies with buttercream and snowman cookies. These are so easy to decorate!
These classic high altitude Linzer cookies start with a buttery, soft almond shortbread cookie, filled with homemade bourbon cherry jam, and dusted with powdered sugar. The pretty peek-a-boo cutout in the top cookie reveals the jewel-hued jam inside, with the powdered sugar dusting the cookie like freshly fallen snow. These make a beautiful cookie for Christmas!
Almond sugar cookies, made with both finely chopped almonds and almond extract, and cut into Christmas shapes like bells, trees, snowflakes and candy canes. Instead of decorating these almond cookies with royal icing, a sprinkling of sugar baked on top of the cookies adds a crunchy finish and a beautiful sparkle. This is a Christmas cookie recipe you’ll definitely want to make this holiday season!
Linzer cookies are beautiful holiday cookies made of two buttery almond shortbread cookies that are traditionally filled with sweet jam. But I’ve filled my chocolate hazelnut linzer cookies with creamy Nutella for a delicious twist on this classic Christmas cookie.
Buttercream filled linzer cookies, with a beautiful red sugar cookie dough and vanilla buttercream peeking through the cutout.
My no spread recipe for soft, perfect high altitude chocolate sugar cookies has the most delicious balance of rich dark chocolate, butter and vanilla. They’re not very sweet on their own, so they’re perfect for icing with royal icing or buttercream frosting, without becoming cloyingly sweet. These chocolate sugar cookies also hold their shape beautifully when they’re baked, which is exactly what you want from a perfect cutout cookie recipe.
The most perfect high altitude vanilla sugar cookies. With flecks of real vanilla bean, the flavor of these sugar cookies is just incredible, with a delicious balance of sugar, butter and vanilla. They’re soft, not too sweet, and hold their shape beautifully when they bake. These no spread sugar cookies never fail me whenever I want to make a perfectly shaped, cutout sugar cookie.
Soft gingerbread cookies pressed with cookie stamps and glazed with vanilla icing. These pretty stamped gingerbread cookies are the perfect thing to bake for Christmas.
You only need one batch of vanilla sugar cookie dough to make these festive and old fashioned Christmas cookie recipes for candy cane cookies and red and white pinwheel cookies. These pretty holiday cookies are soft and buttery, and you can flavor them with vanilla, almond or peppermint extract. The whole family will love helping to make these!
The best, no spread cutout vanilla sugar cookies, frosted with vanilla buttercream and decorated with cute Christmas sprinkles. It just wouldn’t be the holidays without making a batch of frosted Christmas cookies with sprinkles. And you’ll love the soft texture of these cookies, the rich flavor of butter and vanilla, and the festive, holiday sprinkles on top.
Make the most beautiful homemade salt dough ornaments (not edible) for your Christmas tree with this easy recipe and assorted Christmas cookie stamps. This is a fun and creative project that the whole family can do together!
Chocolate caramel linzer cookies, made with no spread, soft chocolate sugar cookies, dulce de leche caramel filling, and chocolate royal icing. These make a delicious variation on classic linzer cookies, and you’ll love the combination of the sweet dulce de leche with the rich chocolate cookies.
Soft baked dark chocolate sugar cookies, filled with fluffy mint buttercream. These chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies are simple to make, but look so elegant with the piped mint cream filling and a sprinkling of granulated sugar for sparkle. And with the addition of black cocoa powder in the cookies, they taste like mint Oreos.
These chocolate dipped chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies taste like a chocolate peanut butter cup. Soft, cutout chocolate sugar cookies are sandwiched with lightly sweetened peanut butter, then dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with salted peanuts. They’re the perfect combination of rich chocolate cookies, creamy peanut butter and crunchy peanuts.
The cutest gingerbread people cookies, sandwiched together with chocolate filling. Cut a little heart in the top cookies to show the chocolate peeking through.
These Christmas star cookies start with a recipe for no spread, soft vanilla sugar cookies cut in star shapes, frosted with fluffy peppermint buttercream and sprinkled with sparkling sugar. Star sugar cookies are easy to decorate with piped buttercream stars, and they look so beautiful for the holidays!
These Christmas wreath cookies are made from vanilla sugar cookie dough that’s colored green, coated in sparkling sugar and decorated with red chocolate candy bows. This is a fun and easy Christmas cookie recipe that looks beautiful added to a Christmas cookie box.
Learn how to make these striking and elegant striped sugar cookies, using both chocolate and vanilla cookie dough, with today’s photo tutorial. With the same dough and two different methods, you can make striped cutout cookies in any shape, as well as square-shaped striped slice and bake cookies, and even checkerboard cookies.
These raspberry almond linzer cookies are made with buttery almond sugar cookies, sandwiched with raspberry jam and vanilla almond buttercream.
Soft brown sugar cutout cookies, iced with brown butter vanilla icing. These iced brown sugar cookies are so pretty decorated for Christmas, but can be made for any holiday or season. And you don’t even need to use piping bags to ice the cookies, instead using my easy method for dipping the cookies into the icing.
Soft vanilla sugar cookies flavored with fall spices, then iced with vanilla bean icing. These chai spice sugar cookies are warm and cozy, and perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday baking.
Buttery toasted hazelnut Christmas cookies with a shortbread like texture, finished with melted dark chocolate and crunchy toasted hazelnuts. These beautiful cookies make a delicious addition to a Christmas cookie box!
These soft chocolate gingerbread cookies are perfectly spiced for the holidays. They’re a wonderful cutout sugar cookie for decorating with royal icing or buttercream, and make a beautiful addition to a Christmas cookie box.
Danish butter cookies are classic piped shortbread cookies, flavored with vanilla bean. These traditional Danish cookies are delicate and crumbly, with a tender, melt in your mouth texture.
Biscotti
Butter pecan biscotti with brown butter and toasted pecans. They have so much rich, nutty flavor that’s just delicious with a drizzle of sweet white chocolate.
Maple biscotti with crunchy macadamia nuts is easy to make, and perfect for dunking in your coffee or tea. For a sweet and salty finish, I drizzled the biscotti with maple icing and finished them with a sprinkling of chopped macadamia nuts and flaky salt.
Chocolate biscotti made with both chocolate chips and Dutch-processed cocoa powder for a rich chocolate flavor, and each one is spread with swirls of melted dark chocolate.
Simply the best almond biscotti that’s crunchy, nutty and subtly spiced with vanilla and cardamom. You’ll love this classic Italian cookie for a sweet treat with your coffee for breakfast or dessert!
An easy recipe for high altitude ginger walnut biscotti. You’ll love the delicious flavor of these cookies with the nutty, buttery crunch of the walnuts and a hint of spicy ginger. These classic Italian cookies are perfect for dunking in tea or coffee, and they make a wonderful addition to a Christmas cookie box.
Candy
These 4-ingredient white chocolate coconut truffles are coated in dark chocolate with a creamy, white chocolate coconut filling. With the dark chocolate coating and the creamy coconut filling, these white chocolate truffles taste a lot like a Mounds candy bar.
These ruby chocolate truffles only require three ingredients for a small batch of delicious homemade truffles. The filling is a creamy ganache made from ruby chocolate and cream, and the crisp dark chocolate coating is rich and bittersweet to contrast the sweet, fruity filling.
This easy to make white chocolate Oreo cookies and cream bark only requires two ingredients and no special equipment. A delicious no bake treat for a Christmas cookie box!
These soft and fluffy homemade marshmallows are flecked with real vanilla bean seeds. They’re sweet and pillowy, and so much better than store bought marshmallows. Serve these vanilla bean marshmallows with hot chocolate, or toast them for s’mores!
This classic recipe for buttery, crunchy English toffee is loaded with almonds, with a layer of bittersweet chocolate. Whether you call it buttercrunch toffee, almond roca, or almond English toffee, this delicious treat is perfect for holiday gift giving, Christmas cookie boxes and dessert tables.
An easy recipe for homemade trail mix, made with assorted nuts and dried fruit, toasted in coconut oil and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. This addictive and delicious nutty mix is perfect for snacking or gifting!
The most delicious chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, made with edible cookie dough coated in dark chocolate and sprinkled with flaky salt.
Making these soft and chewy salted vanilla caramels every Christmas has become a yearly tradition in my kitchen. They look so beautiful wrapped up in wax paper, and they make wonderful homemade Christmas gifts for friends, family, neighbors and coworkers.
An easy recipe for creamy, dark chocolate truffles, made from just three simple ingredients. You can roll them in cocoa powder, coat them sparkling orange vanilla sugar, or dip them in melted chocolate for a delicious treat!
A high altitude tested recipe for real, old-fashioned fudge, made without sweetened condensed milk, marshmallow fluff or corn syrup. This chocolate fudge is rich, smooth and creamy, and easy to make if you follow my high altitude tips!
Brownies and Bars
An easy high altitude recipe for soft, moist and chewy coffee blondies, flecked with espresso powder for a hint of coffee in every bite. If you’re a coffee lover, then you’ll love these coffee flavored cookie bars that stay soft for days.
The best ever high altitude fudge brownies with a shiny, crackly top, that stay soft and moist for days! Dutch-processed cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate gives these brownies rich and complex chocolate flavor that’s not too sweet. So throw out those boxed brownie mixes and get ready to make the most incredible fudge brownies you’ve ever tasted!
The most delicious high altitude cream cheese swirl brownies, made with rich and fudgy brownies swirled with creamy vanilla cheesecake. I based today’s recipe on my classic fudge brownies, which are fantastic on their own. But when you swirl brownie batter with creamy cheesecake, you get a dessert that’s on another level of deliciousness.
These soft and moist high altitude maple sugar cookie bars are studded with chopped hazelnuts, and frosted with a rich brown butter maple hazelnut frosting. They’re incredibly soft and chewy, and so addictive you won’t be able to eat just one. Top these maple blondies with a scoop of ice cream for a deliciously decadent dessert.
These easy to make pecan pie bars have a sweet, gooey pecan pie filling and nutty brown butter shortbread crust for a treat no one can resist. These are basically like pecan pie, but with a simpler, press-in-the-pan shortbread crust, so the recipe comes together quickly. Your house will smell incredible while these are baking!
Nothing says Christmas to me like almond pastry, and these buttery almond crumb bars with almond paste filling are everything I want in an almond dessert. The shortbread base is rich and cookie-like, and a simple filling of sweet almond paste delivers the most delicious almond flavor. Topped off with crumble topping, they’re simply irresistible.
My cranberry crumb bars have a buttery shortbread crust and crumble topping, filled with cranberry sauce and sweet almond paste, and they are just so good. Sometimes I make extra cranberry sauce, just to make sure I have enough left to make a batch of these delicious crumb bars. These need to be on your holiday baking list!
Soft, moist and chewy apple blondies, made with dried apple slices scattered throughout the cookie bars, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. These apple cookie bars are easy to make, and perfect for a fall weekend after apple picking and pumpkin carving!
These blondies with ganache and toffee are the ultimate treat for cookie bar lovers. The blondies are quick and easy to make, with a soft, moist and chewy texture. Creamy dark chocolate ganache is spread over the blondies, then topped with crunchy toffee bits, mini chocolate chips and flaky salt.
The best chocolate chip blondies that stay soft and chewy for days, with no mixer needed. These easy to make chocolate chip cookie bars are a treat the whole family will love!
Almond amaretto bars with layers of buttery shortbread, moist almond cake, and sweet amaretto icing topped with crunchy almonds. These soft almond bars are full of delicious almond flavor in every bite!
Easy to make, old fashioned, chewy oatmeal date bars, with a buttery oatmeal crumble crust and topping, filled with sweet dates.
These caramel pecan shortbread bars have a crumbly and buttery shortbread cookie base, spread with creamy dulce de leche caramel, and topped with toasted pecans, coconut and flaky salt.
Peppermint blondies make a delicious treat for the holidays! These peppermint sugar cookie bars are soft, moist and chewy, frosted with fluffy peppermint buttercream and topped with crushed candy canes and peppermint candy.
Soft, moist and cakey gingerbread bars, flavored with molasses and warm spices, and frosted with sweet maple icing. These iced gingerbread bars are an easy holiday dessert to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Moist and chewy oatmeal cream pie bars made with browned butter and a hint of spice, frosted with vanilla icing and sprinkled with candied ginger. These taste just like oatmeal cream pies, only so much better!
These easy snickerdoodle blondies are dense, thick, soft and chewy, with a classic snickerdoodle cookie flavor and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. If you love snickerdoodles, but don’t want to fuss with scooping balls of dough for individual cookies, you’ll love how quickly these snickerdoodle cookie bars come together.
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I’m a snob of Christmas Cookies, and have found your recepies to be top-shelf! Thank you and we look forward to passing on the word of your great works!
Your cookie recipes come out perfectly for me every time. Thank you!
I’m so glad! 🙂