Best Holiday Cookies 2017: 14 Delicious Recipes To Make For Santa

Christmas is finally here, and one of the best traditions of the holiday is definitely making cookies to leave out for Santa Claus when he comes to drop off presents to all the good boys and girls.

However, Santa surely gets bored of eating the same cookies at every house all night, so why not change things up and give him a slightly different treat from the usual chocolate chip/basic sugar cookies? Check out these 14 recipes to give everyone’s favorite jolly man in red something new to look forward to.

Anise Pierniki

This recipe, for traditional Polish Christmas cookies, add a touch of anise flavor to the dough for a fun take on the usual Christmas cookie. Complete with a homemade vanilla buttercream frosting and plenty of sprinkles, they’re sure to be a fantastic way to give Santa something new to munch on.

Chocolate Dipped Vanilla Bean Cashew Crescent Cookies

Want to give Santa a whole variety of delicious flavors when he snacks on the cookies? Then this recipe, which combines vanilla, chocolate, cashews, and creamy cashew milk, is the one to try.

Christmas Cookie Pinwheels

Some of the fun of Christmas cookie baking comes from how amazing they look when they’re done. No cookies look quite as festive as these Pinwheels, featuring swirls of red, green and regular dough. To give them an extra special festive twist, add some peppermint extract to the colored dough.

Christmas Sprinkle Cookies

While these are still traditional sugar cookies, they’re incredibly more fun to make. Any cookie that has nearly every square inch covered in festive sprinkles has to be a perfect Christmas treat, right?

Classic Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies can be some of the most beautiful ones at Christmas, with their gorgeous shapes and details. Show Santa you mean it when you tell him you want him to enjoy the cookies by giving him these beautiful creations.

Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Santa likely has a sweet tooth for chocolate, just like most people (and if he doesn’t he can bring them back to Mrs. Claus, who definitely does). Dipping them in white chocolate and putting crushed candy canes on top instead of sprinkles makes them even more festive. It’ll be hard for Santa to pass these up before the night is over.

Gingerbread Men

In all honesty, are there Christmas cookies that are cuter than Gingerbread Men? While these are a classic for the holidays, you can give them plenty of unique characteristics to make them extra special for Santa.

Peppermint Kiss Thumbprint Cookies

If you love Peppermint and think Santa will too, then these cookies are the perfect recipe to try. Not only do they give that cool peppermint kick, but they also feature creamy white chocolate, giving them another dimension of flavor that’s hard to resist.

Pistachio Snowball Cookies

Dreaming of a White Christmas? Well, Santa may not be able to bring you snow, but you can always give him a huge hint that you want it with these cookies, which are made to look just like snowballs.

Shortbread Bites

Shortbread cookies are another true treat during the holidays, and these are the ones that will be perfect when Santa is trying to finish up those last few houses before heading back to the North Pole. They’re perfect when he’s on the go and in need of the quicker cookie to eat.

Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

While making them from scratch is always more fun, if baking isn’t something you find yourself to be particularly good at (or you just don’t have time), try this fun twist on sugar cookies that doesn’t require you to make your own dough. As a bonus, they’ll also be really pretty when they’re finished baking.

Traditional Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Think Santa might enjoy a little fruit in his cookies? Then make him these traditional Raspberry Linzer tarts, which have a deliciously sweet Raspberry center.

White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies

These cookies are sure to be a hit, thanks to the incredible blending of flavors that comes from ginger and white chocolate. The flavors balance each other out in a way that makes them perhaps the best Christmas cookies in the world—so of course, that makes them perfect for Santa.

White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Instead of chocolate chip cookies, which are delicious in their own right, how about giving the recipe a Christmas twist? Replacing regular chocolate chips with white chocolate, and nuts with peppermint makes them truly wonderful.