Scandinavian almond bars. Yum! They're a buttery cookie drizzled in almond icing with sliced almonds pressed on top of them.

Mine is actually more of a Jewish tradition, I think, lol. but I make a yummy rugalah. (sp?)

Noel's

I love Black Walnut cookies (which are incredibly easy to make) and Pecan Puffs.

Anything on a plate in front of me that doesn't have coconut. They are all sooooo good!!!

I made some chocolate truffle cookies that are pretty tasty.

Sugar cookies, cut out with Christmas cookie cutters, and iced. Don't even have the recipe myself.

My kids love Christmas Wreaths (like Rice Krispie treats made with cornflakes and green food coloring).

Gingerbread cookies
Rugelach (apricot)

I'd love it if some could post their recipes. I've got several cookie swaps coming up and not sure what to make.

Pfeffernusse - they are a spicy cookie covered in powdered sugar. I haven't made any from scratch but I love Archway's.

My own favorite cookie recipe is a chocolate cookie made with Andes mints. Yum, yum. Haven't made cookies in a few years but I think I will this year, along with the sugar cookie recipe I got on the Cooking Forum. They are made with cream cheese. Wonderful!

Love them all too well, I fear, but I guess my favorite is fruit-filled spritz.

Those Scandinavian almond bars sure sound good. I guess my favorite are several. One is the iced sugar cookies. Got a sleazeball cousin who does make great sugar cookies. They're so soft & tender and the icing just breaks away with it but they can be stacked high and not mess each other up. I thought I had the recipe at one time but can't find it and won't ask her for it. They're very similar to the store ones that are so common now. One of the names for them is "Lofthouse" cookies. I also like Spritz cookies and what I grew up knowing as "Snowballs" but some call them Mexican Wedding Cookies. Much like a Spritz I guess. They crumble & fall apart and are coated with powdered sugar. And if you don't pop the whole thing in your mouth your chest is covered with powdered sugar. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not! Holy cow, speaking of which, how could I forget Rosettes? Haven't had them in years decades!

My favorite cookie is any cookie that someone else bakes!

Cynic...how do you strike through a word like you did "years."

My favorite is from my mother's old recipe. She called them kiffles. They're little nut rolls made with cream cheese. You spread a filling made from crush walnuts, evaporated milk and brown sugar.

Pfeffernusse, but Archway's are just okay.

MBoston, have you tried Stella Doro's? They're much, much better than Archways. Taste almost home made and I've made them several times. But recently I've discovered the best pfeffernusse and wish I hadn't.....Trader Joe's. Oh my, they are wonderful.

Cynic, too bad you don't live closer. I'm making rosettes the week after next for my Wine and Dine group.

THanks for all the help!

I have an old sugar cookie recipe that has a touch of honey in it. OMY...

My go to cookies every year are scottish shortbread cut out with a a scottie dog cookie cutter with a red or green icing bow. And, chocolate covered pretzels. Always. Last year I made chocolate covered marshmallows. They turned out beautiful. I'd seen them in the bakery dept of Safeway where they were priced at a dollar each, and I said to myself, "self, you could do that!" and I did, and they were every bit as nice as the store ones, and people were quite impressed.

I don't necessarily have a favourite cookie other than my mother's shortbread. She's been gone 10 yrs now & didn't make them for the last 10 yrs of her life. I make about 4 batches every Christmas, only at Christmas. I make a pile of cookies and everyone has their own favourite:
Shortbread
Ginger-Molasses cookies
Peanut Butter Balls
Strawberries
Coconut Peaks
Mud Pies
Haystacks
Yule Log
White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cookies

I make lots of squares too:
Butter Tart Squares as well as Butter Tarts
Cherry Squares
Stained Glass
Date Squares
Rice Krispie Squares
Nanaimo Bars
Skor Bars
Special K Squares

Oh, and the candy/treats:
Carmel Corn
Butterscotch Patties
Peanut Brittle
Poor Man's Turtles
Chocolate Peanut Clusters
White Chocolate Candy with gum drops - got the recipe here last year!

And my son loves Black Forest Trifle so I usually make one of those every year.

Oh my, I go through a lot of sweetened condensed milk in these recipes so if the budget is getting squeezed, I have a recipe that I use to make it as well. It's not quite perfect but it's very close & works well in the recipes.

I'll be watching this thread for more ideas, as if I don't make enough stuff now!
Linda

I bake cookies every year and this year my plan is to make:

Welsh cookies (a pan-fried cookie popular in the area I grew up)
Spritz trees
snickerdoodles
chocolate chip brownies
South Seas cookies (coconut macaroons with caramel and chocolate)
Gingerbread Men (a less-traditional recipe that uses butterscotch pudding)
Sugar cookies
Milk Chocolate florentines
Chocolate Rum Balls (basically brownies mashed up and mixed with rum and them rolled in colored sugar)
Polish honey cookies (the only new recipe I'm considering since my Dad has mentioned his mother making honey cookies in the past)
caramel and chocolate covered Lorna Doones
caramel and chocolate covered pretzels
(I make homemade caramel and originally I would just cut it and covered the caramels with chocolate but now I prefer using it with the Lorna Doones and small round pretzels)
rice krispie truffles

Things might change. I hardly every end up making exactly what I planned - things get added and deleted to the list as I go. I'm limited in that I don't use nuts or peanuts. Over the years I've started to lean towards more basic flavors that have mass appeal and since these are Christmas cookies I try to add as much festiveness to the trays as I can - I add color and sprinkles to whatever I can.

Fattigmann!!!

Elisabeth

I used to make many different kinds, but the favorites were Spritz and Rosettes. Now I don't do any of the baking that requires me to have to stand for long periods of times. Thankfully my DGD makes me some each year.

One that I ran across several years ago and made were the Christmas Mouse. Don't do those any more either.

{{!gwi}}

Sue

Caroline, nothing to it. I assume you know how to use html for the italics, & bold? Just instead of the i or b tag, you use strike and /strike so it'd look like this:
years and the result would be years

Georgysmom, thanks. Wish I did! LOL But I bought a rosette iron a couple years ago. One of these days I'm going to take a shot at making some. I remember my mother and the neighbor would get together & make rosettes. Oh what a treat! That was holiday time. And one of the best holiday memories. Strange, I don't remember things like gifts and stuff, I remember the things like the turkey (or ham) in the roaster, the dinner rolls hot out of the oven and me with a jar of peanut butter waiting for them! The rosettes. Food... oh well, guess you know my priorities!

I like to give biscotti as gifts. They hold up well/longer in case the receiver is inundated with cookies. Here's a Carnberry Pistachio Biscotti recipe I like. (They turn out red and green for Christmas)!

Here is a link that might be useful: Biscotti

I don't think I have a favorite Christmas cookie, I just like oatmeal cookies with raisins year round, homemade of course.

Sue

Pfeffernusse. I miss the Christmas cookie exchange we had in an office where I worked. Everyone who signed up brought 5 doz. cookies. Each got to take 4 doz. home with them. It was such a nice mixture of homemade cookies. That was 20 years ago and they still do the cookie exchange.

Almond horns, made with almond paste. They are sooo delicious, I only make them once a year because we always manage to eat them up within a day or two.

1 box Almond Paste, grated (I use Odense, I think it's 7 ounces)
3/4 cup confectionary sugar
1 large egg (room temperature), separated
1 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 cup thinly sliced almonds, slightly crushed
4 oz bittersweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS

Line cookie sheet with parchment or foil.
In a food processor or with a mixer combine Almond Paste and sugar. Mix until the texture of fine crumbs. Add egg white and flour, reserving yolk. Mix until dough becomes a smooth paste, it will be slightly sticky.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands roll dough into a 12 inch log. Divide into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls. Roll balls between palms into 3 inch logs, slightly tapered at ends.
Spread almonds on a plate. Beat reserved egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water. Dampen log with beaten yolk. Roll each log in almonds until coated, bending into crescents. Place crescents 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden in color. Cool sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes, and loosen crescents with a spatula. Slide parchment off of sheet and back onto wire rack to finish cooling cookies.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave. Dip cookie ends into melted chocolate. Place back on parchment until chocolate is dry. Layer 'Almond Horns' between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container.

Pumpkin oatmeal with chocolate chips.....yummy!

all of them. they are all so good!

SPRITZ YUMMY!

MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES... YUMMY

Not sure if that's a bad thing or not! Holy cow, speaking of which, how could I forget Rosettes? Haven't had them in years decades!

I made them years ago and still have the irons. When in 3rd or 4th grade someone's mother would make them for our school class.

mother made a sugar cookie which had cream of tartar...had a wonderful flavor...mine is date nut rocks in the joy of cooking...

I like nearly all cookies but my favorite is my own concoction....Oatmeal cookies with raisins and pineapple in them....I drain a can of crushed pineapple and toss it into the batter...gives a nice flavor and helps keep the cookies soft and moist for those of us who are dentally challenged....LOL

Italian Knots, To-Toes, Sicilian Twisted Cookies

I am a sucker for German Gingerbread (Lebkuchen) from Nuernberg. Bought my BIG tin of it for this year already, and it is less than half full by now.

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful: Lebkuchen

My Gingerbread tin for this year is shown at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: my gingerbread tin