32 Freezer-Friendly Christmas Cookies to Make Before Things Get Really Crazy—And You Know They Will
Brown Sugar Cookie Stars
Recipe: Brown Sugar Cookie Stars
Have you ever seen a batch of Christmas cookies so sparkly? We thought not. Prep the pretty star-shaped sugar cookies in advance and leave the decorating until after pulled out from the freezer.
Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Recipe: Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Nothing says Christmas like a batch of iced snowflake cookies. These are best baked then frozen, but leave the icing until after thawed.
Cranberry-Orange Butter Cookies
Recipe: Cranberry-Orange Butter Cookies
Add an extra festive note to classic butter cookies with cranberry and orange. Freeze the rectangular roll of the dough before thawing to slice-and-bake later.
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe: Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies
Four ingredients? Even more the reason to whip up and freeze a batch on any autumn afternoon.
Pecan Snowball Cookies
Recipe: Pecan Snowball Cookies
Rolled in powdered sugar, snowballs are a cheerful holiday classic. This recipe makes 4 dozen, which makes it perfect for make-ahead food gifts. After defrosting, you might need to re-roll in powdered sugar.
Fudgy Flourless Chocolate-Pecan Cookies
Recipe: Fudgy Flourless Chocolate-Pecan Cookies
These cookies are airy and crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside, like a brownie in cookie form.
Molasses Crinkles
Recipe: Molasses Crinkles
Loaded with classic Christmas spices, like ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, these cookies are packed with holiday flair.
Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Recipe: Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Everyone's favorite holiday cookie got a chocolatey makeover—and just like that, it got even better. Freeze now and decorated with royal icing and sprinkles later.
Peppermint Pinwheels
Recipe: Peppermint Pinwheels
For a super-festive cookie tin, swap out red and green food coloring in your batches. Either freeze the dough rolls before slicing and baking later, or choose to freeze the already-baked pinwheels.
Toasted Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe: Toasted Oatmeal Cookies
Make a case for oatmeal over chocolate chips with this toasty recipe. It's a game-changer.
Dipped Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
Recipe: Dipped Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
This is the combination you never knew you needed. Leave the chocolate-dipping and pistachio-coating until after you've thawed the frozen shortbread cookies.
Fudgy Pecan Bourbon Balls
Recipe: Fudgy Pecan Bourbon Balls
You'll never regret making a batch or two of these boozy confections before the holiday season starts.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mark our words: Browning the butter is the key step to making the most gift-worthy chocolate chip cookies to dole out this Christmas.
Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
Recipe: Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
Cake mix cookies are here to make your life even easier leading up to the holidays, especially this festive red-and-white batch. They'll look merry and bright in your cookie tin or on a cake stand.
Dark Chocolate-Ginger-Molasses Cookies
Recipe: Dark Chocolate-Ginger-Molasses Cookies
These tasty cookies check off all the boxes for a winning holiday treat: rich, dark chocolate flavor, a slight hint of heat from both crystallized and ground ginger, and the deep smoky sweetness of molasses.
Marble Snickerdoodles
Recipe: Marble Snickerdoodles
Chocolate—it's just the thing to make your classic snickerdoodles a little more dressed up for the occasion.
Fun fact: Southern Living's Editor-in-Chief Sid Evans makes these two-toned snickerdoodles with his daughter each year.
Spritz Cookies
Recipe: Spritz Cookies
It doesn't get much more nostalgic than spritz cookies. Grab your best helpers to form the dough shape with a cookie press, and leave the sprinkling until after defrosted later.
Pecan-Cranberry Shortbread
Recipe: Pecan-Cranberry Shortbread
These shortbread triangles—also cute when shaped with holiday cookie cutters!—are packed with the flavors of the season: cranberry and pecan. Feel free to drizzle with chocolate either before or after freezing; just make sure to let them cool completely before placing them in the freezer.
Chewy Ginger Cookies
Recipe: Chewy Ginger Cookies
Don't let the black pepper scare you off. These chewy cookies (with even more kick from fresh ginger and molasses!) look and taste wonderfully nostalgic.
Toasted Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe: Butterscotch-Toasted Oatmeal Cookies
We're partial to butterscotch chips, but you can sub in chocolate chips or cranberries (or go half-and-half) as you'd like. It's your Christmas cookie batch, after all!
Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
Recipe: Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
Peanut butter and chocolate is the foolproof duo we rely on every Christmas. Many remember making these simple and delicious cookies with Grandma.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Our Test Kitchen's secret for keeping cookies crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside? Adding a bit of corn syrup to the batter. This recipe calls for both mini chocolate chips and chopped mint chocolate.
Spiced Molasses Drops
Recipe: Spiced Molasses Drops
Something about the holiday season just makes molasses cookies seem extra warm and inviting. This deeply-spiced cookie recipe combines brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and light molasses.
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Recipe: Kitchen Sink Cookies
A cookie that packs all sorts of sweet, salty, and indulgent goodness into every bite? That's somehthing we can get behind. Prepare to wow the crowd.
Butterscotch Cookies
Recipe: Butterscotch Cookies
Butterscotch chips give way to caramelized, buttery bites of goodness throughout. These are best baked and then frozen.
Miss Iona's Shortbread Cookies
Recipe: Miss Iona's Shortbread Cookies
Mrs. Iona's paper doll-shaped shortbread, or her "little men" as she calls them, are buttery with a subtle sweetness. Make sure to be prepared with cookie tins or freezer space—because this recipe makes five dozen mini cookies.
No-Bake Fudgy Toffee Bars
Recipe: No-Bake Fudgy Toffee Bars
"No-Bake, "Fudgy," and "Toffee?" Sounds like a Christmas miracle to us. While these are just as easy to make the night before your Christmas occasion, feel free to make and freeze the delicious bars.
Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Cookies
Recipe: Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Cookies
Orange zest and dried cranberries make this cookie recipe a no-brainer come December. Freeze the dough logs for up to a month before baking.
Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Recipe: Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Cinnamon and sugar make a tasty pair, and no holiday cookie swap is complete without a plate of these all-time favorites.
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
This drop cookie recipe has all of your holiday gift-giving needs covered—it makes five dozen!
Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies
Dried tart cherries add a surprising note to classic chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Chef Damaris Phillips shared this sweet recipe with us (the first one she ever wrote!).
Sugar-and-Spice Rugelach Cookies
Recipe: Sugar-and-Spice Rugelach Cookies
Sugar, spice, and everything nice, hm? This old-school recipe is oozing with holiday cheer.
The holiday season brings out the best and worst in us. Are we stressed and twitchy beyond all get-out? Yes. Are we loving every minute of it? Also, yes. From attending Christmas sweater-themed parties to watching all the Hallmark Channel movies to baking countless dozens of holiday cookies, we're maximizing that Christmas cheer at all times. As for the cookies—made for cookie swaps, church potlucks, household snacking, and Santa's plate—there is one little cheat: make now, freeze for later. You'll find that most of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes can be made ahead anywhere from a month to six months before the 25th of December. (Consult this handy how-to guide to the matter!)Generally, most recipes will be best if baked then frozen. When baking recipes that require royal icing or other accouterments, leave the cookie decorating until after you've defrosted the batch. And as a rule, slice-and-bake cookies do well when the dough logs are frozen for later use. Those are the rough guidelines to live by during cookie-baking season!Here are 32 of our best-ever make-ahead Christmas cookie recipes that freeze well.