best christmas cookie recipes for cookie exchange

While we’re all for completely homemade recipes, Christmas is also one of the best holidays to get creative with store-bought options. Another way to add intrigue to your cookie selection is to bake up traditional holiday cookies from around the world, like our Middle Eastern ma’amoul, our Polish kolaczki cream cheese cookies, our Italian cuccidati, or our Mexican polvorones. Looking to bowl people over with unexpected flavor? Try our Santa’s trash cookies, our white chocolate cranberry orange biscotti, our panettone cookies, or our molasses cookies.

Want to add a little whimsy? There’s SO much you can do with a basic sugar cookie, whether you want to add color to the dough itself, like in our Christmas pinwheels, our candy cane cookies, or our checkerboard cookies or on top in the form of royal icing or frosting, like in our snowflake cookies, our tie-dye Christmas tree cookies, our leg lamp cookies, or our Santa cookies (in the shape of the big man’s face). You’re going to want to start with whatever recipes you think are the most classic-like gingerbread cookies, spritz cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies, peanut butter blossoms.-then go wild. When creating this list, we thought of the perfect Christmas cookie box that’s got a little something for everyone in it. Check out our favorite Christmas cookies for ideas-don’t forget to make enough to leave out for Santa and his reindeer too. Whether you’re a master baker looking for a new challenge or a kitchen novice looking for easy recipes, you can get in on the holiday baking fun. Luckily, there are myriad opportunities to try them all out, whether you're making them for a party, to give as gifts, or just to enjoy during a cozy night in at home. We get excited every year to combine our old standbys with creative and innovative recipes to share with friends and family. Spoons – You’ll need spoons to portion out the cookies.We can all agree: One of the BEST parts of the holiday season are all the sweet treats, the most classic of which are Christmas cookies.Rubber spatula – Use this to gently mix the ingredients.Wax paper or parchment paper – To keep the cookies from sticking as they cool and harden, line your baking sheets or wire racks with paper.Baking sheets or wire racks – Use these, lined with parchment or wax paper, to allow the haystack cookies to cool and set.

You could also use a double-boiler to melt the morsels. Double boiler or large microwave-safe mixing bowl – I find it easiest to melt the butterscotch chips in the bowl where I’m making my cookies.You could substitute chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or white chocolate chips, but the butterscotch version is the best, in my opinion. Butterscotch morsels – Find these on the baking aisle near the chocolate chips and other baking morsels.Dry roasted peanuts – Some recipes leave these out, but I like the flavor and crunch dry roasted peanuts add.Crunchy chow mein noodles – Find these on the international aisle in the grocery store with the soy sauce, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and other prepackaged Asian food.To Make Butterscotch Haystacks, You Will Need: Our family prefers the 3-ingredient version. Some haystacks recipes include other add-ins, such as peanut butter, marshmallows or different types of nuts. That’s my kind of holiday baking! Quick, easy and ready to eat in minutes! Heck, you don’t even have to use the stove to melt the butterscotch chips.

These tasty morsels require only three ingredients! And no turning on the oven. Because Chinese chow mein noodles are one of the three ingredients you need to make them, along with butterscotch chips and peanuts.

Best christmas cookie recipes for cookie exchange