Christmas Cookies, Ranked In Order From Worst To Best

Huffpost ^ | 12/3/24 | Julie R. Thomson

[DallasBiff]

We're grateful for any gift we receive -- especially when it's edible. Come the holidays, that happens more and more and it is grand (because it almost always means COOKIES).

While most Christmas cookies are 100 percent awesome, they aren't all created equal. Some are better than others. And actually some, some are just downright bad. We ranked them in order from best to worst because, well, someone had to. If you're planning on doing any holiday baking, this list may be a helpful guide as to which cookies you should bake and which you need to steer clear of -- especially if you're planning on sending any those cookies our way.

[Organic Panic]

Plain old butter cookie. With lots of butter, and butter spread on them.

[combat_boots]

To you and yours, too

[Jane Long]

You can’t go wrong with iced sugar cookies!

Love thumbprints, too.

What is/are Pfefferjeuse?

[Jane Long]

Thank you for posting your beautiful mother’s wonderful recipes.

What a lovely tribute to her loving memory.

Merry Christmas!

[rlmorel]

You are most welcome, and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

[combat_boots]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeffern%C3%BCsse

I still have a memory of an older lady, a scion of the community, dropping ny with a tin of Pfeffernüsse she’d made. Letha was grand.

[combat_boots]

The recipe

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/155182/pfeffernusse-cookies/

[GaltAdonis]

German Pfeffernusse Cookies.

[CarolinaPeach]

Thank you so much for sharing your mother’s recipe and technique. The lovely memories were appreciated as well.

Merry Christmas!

Peach

[clive bitterman]

Toll House cookies, with walnuts or without, to me are the ultimate Christmas cookies. Using the recipe on the back of the yellow-packaged Nestle Semi- Sweet Morsels, I bake between 450 and 500 toll house cookies every December, packaging them up as gifts for relatives, friends and service people who do such a good job for us all year long. I have a simple trick that makes them nearly irresistible - recipients often ask why they, following the same recipe, fail to produce as incredibly delicious cookies as I do. That special trick is this: I never use a mixer. All dough is mixed by hand with the last stages being like mixing mortar that has begun to set. I don’t know why it works, it just does.

I only bake them in December and many of the usual people we send them to always make sure to ask for what they consider their ultimate Christmas gift, expressing fear that for some reason I’ll someday stop making them. But as long as I can do it, I will. For me, they’re the ultimate Christmas Cookie!

[skr]

Thank you, I knew there was another country’s name for it, although the various Pfeffernuse Cookies I’ve tried had some spices in them so they’re a little different in taste compared to the non-spiced ones. All good though!

[MayflowerMadam]

Other than Mom’s sugar cookies, which I never can eat again and nobody can make like her, I like rum balls.

But having just come off a cruise, the thought of pastries of any kind almost makes me gag. Maybe next Christmas...

[Omnivore-Dan]

Reading this made me feel all warm and fuzzy, I can almost smell my own mother’s holiday baking, making my mouth water. Have a very Merry Christmas!

[Omnivore-Dan]

I use the same time tested recipe on the back of the package also, and I use Crisco and extra chips and nuts. I like them thick and crunchy for dunking in milk. Yum.

[dforest]

Wow, my mother used to bake those Wedding Cakes. Even the smell when baking them is so good.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and then a Very Merry Inauguration!

Can’t be too soon.😊

[rlmorel]

Thank you, Omnivore-Dan! And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours...:)

[rlmorel]

As I get older, I enjoy memories of my life even more! You are most welcome, Peach! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!

[VetoBill]

Yes, there is.
It is called a Hermit Cookie.

Actually not bad, much better than a fruit cake because there is more of a crunch. Certainly better than some of the cookies listed in the article.

Not my favorite but gives an acceptable variety to a Christmas celebration.

[rlmorel]

I got a kick out of that meme with raisins! Funny, I had a reverse type of issue the other day. While my wife was visiting a church consignment store, I went across the street to a small store to get a piece of banana bread, which they were known for.

The only banana bread available was with chocolate chips in it, not something I usually eat, but hey, how bad could it be? I sat down on a bench in front of the store and began to eat it.

Now, eating something like banana bread can get a bit messy and difficult depending on how well it stays together, and you can only eat it with your fingers unless you are lucky enough to have a plate and fork.

In a very short time, my fingers were covered with melted chocolate, and of course, I hadn't thought to grab a napkin. Then a piece fell on my jacket and deposited semi-melted pieces of chocolate chip! Gaah! Then, a piece

fell on the bench, also with chips, and when I tried to swipe it off, it just made it a large dark brown smear on the bench! I immediately had visions of some person sitting on that, and getting an unhappy brown stain on their buttocks, which could easily be misconstrued as something else...

I love chocolate, but man, I was not happy eating chocolate in THAT context! Fortunately, I went back in and they had some paper towels and even a bathroom where I could wash off my hands.

[Omnivore-Dan]

Cheers!