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  7. 8 of Martha's All-Time Favorite Christmas Cookies

8 of Martha's All-Time Favorite Christmas Cookies

By Lynn Andriani Updated October 26, 2022
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Christmas-themed cookies such as Santa, Snowman, Reindeer and Tree

Get out your measuring cups, mixing bowls, cookie cutters, and baking trays, because you'll want to make all of these Christmas cookies—they're Martha's favorites!

These beloved recipes are both traditional and surprising. Of course, at the top of Martha's list are sugar cookies; her buttery recipe is the standard for these classics. Once you've made the dough, you can cut it into any shape you wish, like partridges-in-a-pear-trees, snowmen, reindeer, and Santas. Martha's go-to for decorating is royal icing, which goes on smoothly and then dries wherever you place it, ensuring your cookies will look fantastic (and taste delicious, too).

Of course, our founder doesn't stop at sugar cookies: Her holiday baking adventures include gingerbread cookies, sandwich cookies, icebox cookies, and more—she has a trove of time-honored recipes that she turns to every year. And once you try her favorite cookies, you'll be making these recipes every Christmas, too.

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Sugar Cookies

Christmas-themed cookies such as Santa, Snowman, Reindeer and Tree
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These buttery cookies are best for making cutouts in all kinds of shapes. Martha always turns to royal icing for decorating.

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Gingerbread Snowflakes

gingerbread snowflake cookie
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It just isn't Christmas without gingerbread! Martha likes to make different sizes of snowflakes using this dough type—the ones pictured here are larger, but she makes smaller iterations, as well. She pipes her cookies with royal icing and sprinkles them with fine sanding sugar.

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Noel Nut Balls

holiday handbook 2011 noel nut
Credit: Joseph De Leo
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When she makes these pecan cookies, a Kostyra family favorite, Martha portions the dough into larger balls than her mother's recipe calls for. She prefers them with more nuts and less confectioners' sugar.

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Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

hazelnut sandwich cookies
Credit: Romulo Yanes
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Crisp, buttery hazelnut cookies sandwich apricot or raspberry jam and melted chocolate. The cutouts on the cookies are made with tiny star-shaped cutters.

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Old-Fashioned Lemon Sugar Cookies

old-fashioned lemon sugar cookie
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Martha loves lemon (it's one of her favorite flavors), and everyone will adore these crisp, citrusy cookies come Christmas. To get the crinkly tops, the cookies are sprinkled with sanding sugar, lightly brushed with water, and sprinkled with more sanding sugar before they are baked.

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Chewy Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies

chocolate gingerbread cookies
Credit: Joseph De Leo
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These delicious, rich cookies are made with fresh ginger instead of the usual powdered spice. They have a robust flavor thanks to both semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder; dark-brown sugar and molasses provide that chewy texture.

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Shaped Icebox Cookies

cookies
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Martha has a handy technique for forming logs of cookie dough: She uses a sushi mat, a device usually reserved for forming rolls of rice and fish. Our founder turns to Sicilian pistachios for these cookies, because they have the best color and contrast nicely with dried apricots, cranberries, and other bright dried fruits.

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Brown-Butter Cookies

msl-rustic-desserts-0578-md109262.jpg
Credit: Chris Court
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Here's another simply exquisite cookie. Browned butter—or butter that's been gently cooked until golden brown—seems to enhance anything it's added to, and this holiday treat is no exception.

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    1 of 8 Sugar Cookies
    2 of 8 Gingerbread Snowflakes
    3 of 8 Noel Nut Balls
    4 of 8 Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
    5 of 8 Old-Fashioned Lemon Sugar Cookies
    6 of 8 Chewy Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies
    7 of 8 Shaped Icebox Cookies
    8 of 8 Brown-Butter Cookies

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    8 of Martha's All-Time Favorite Christmas Cookies
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