11 Gift-Worthy Sweets to Give During the Holiday Season

By Jenny Comita
Updated November 21, 2019
Mikkel Vang
From colorful cookies to spicy brittle, everyone will love opening up a box of these desserts.
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Mikkel Vang

There's a lot to enjoy about the holiday season, but one of the best parts of all the festivities is getting to show loved ones—both near and far—that you're thinking of them. And what better way to do that than with some sweet, sparkling cookies? Our batch of heavenly homemade confections runs the gamut of irresistible and arresting flavors, textures, and shapes. Combine them as you like and cause a happy commotion at your cookie swap.

Some of our recipes are open to improvisation. Take our Spiced Cashew-Coconut Brittle for example—you can swap in popcorn and peanuts, dip it in chocolate, or sprinkle it with flaky sea salt. Our amusing Coffee-Meringue Acorns call for pistachios, but feel free to dip them in chopped almonds, toasted walnuts, or pecans instead.

We also have two spectacular variations on a chocolate spice cookie. Chocolate Spice Cookies and Chocolate-Chunk Spice Cookies share the same delicious DNA: ground and fresh ginger, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Pick your path, or make them both—you won't be disappointed.

If you know a loved one who's a fan of old-fashioned fruitcake, they'll be thrilled to take a bite out of Tropical-Fruit Biscotti. A variety of three kinds of dried fruit are folded into the batter for these classic crunchy cookies. On the same scale are these Hazelnut Tricolor Cookies, which are sweetened meringue squares filled with fruit and nuts.

Give the gift of spectacular cookies and other sweets for Christmas this year (and be prepared to share the recipe!).

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Orange-Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Alpha Smoot
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Thumbprint cookies get their delicate crumb from almond flour and confectioners' sugar. Fill their little wells with warm marmalade or the jam of your choice.

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Spiced Cashew Coconut Brittle

Alpha Smoot
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Punctuated with black pepper, cinnamon, and coconut, this cashew brittle shatters lightly when you bite into it. That's all thanks to baking soda, which unleashes tiny air bubbles as it cooks.

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Vanilla-Bean Sugar Cookies

Alpha Smoot
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What would the holidays be without a batch of flavorful, chewy sugar cookies? Shape the dough into a log, coat it in sugar, and then chill, slice, and bake. It doesn't get easier—or more delicious—that that.

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Tropical-Fruit Biscotti

Alpha Smoot
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Stuck in a blizzard but dreaming of the beach? These cookies will take you straight to the tropics. They're studded with dried papaya, spicy candied ginger, and pistachios for a crisp and chewy bite.

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Hazelnut Tricolor Cookies

Alpha Smoot
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An homage to the Italian-American classic, these triple-deckers owe their subtle hues to matcha powder and pulverized freeze-dried raspberries, and their unique flavor to ground hazelnuts.

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Holiday Divinity

Alpha Smoot
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These flawless Christmas confections are a cumulus cloud of meringue full of glacéed cherries, candied citron, and pecans. They look like individual snow mounds peppered with eye-catching warm hues.

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Chocolate Spice Cookies

Alpha Smoot
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Packed with chopped semi-sweet chocolate and rolled in sanding sugar for sweet sparkle, these are a sweet and spicy upgrade to a classic chocolate chip cookie. We have another version laced with cocoa, embossed with a cookie stamp, and brushed with an orange-butter glaze. What could be better than a dash of holidays?

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Cinnamon-Log Slices

ANITA CALERO
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Whimsical and warm, these cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate cookies make a fun and delicious gift. They're like an amped up snickerdoodle and we can't get enough.

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Coffee-Meringue Acorns

ANITA CALERO
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These adorable acorns are easy to create and fun to eat—make a simple meringue, then pipe and bake. After they're cooled, dip them in melted chocolate and pistachios.

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Gingerbread-Cookie Letters to Santa 

Louise Hagger
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Here's a fun take on gingerbread men cookies. Instead of cutting into individual shapes and outfitting with facial features and accessories, cut the dough into large rectangles and pipe royal icing to resemble an envelope.

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Lemony Brown Butter Crinkle Cookies

Stephen Kent Johnson
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Powdered sugar-dusted cookies are a classic during the holidays. Nutty homemade brown butter and tart lemon juice and zest are the special ingredients we didn't know these cookies needed (but they so do).

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