Amidst the joyous hustle and bustle of your Christmas endeavors, its comforting to have some warm, decadent cookies waiting for you. Santa isn’t the only one who should get some cookies this year, so here are the top three Christmas cookies awaiting your oven this season.

You can’t go wrong some classic sugar cookies to use for cutouts. The most important thing is to make sure they have an outcome of ooey-gooey deliciousness. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Cup unsalted butter
1 Cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth, at least 3 minutes
Beat in extracts and egg.
In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling
rack.

With a nice tall glass of milk, and a hallmark movie, these cookies will definitely hit the spot.

A staple cookie to the Christmas season are some soft snickerdoodles. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2¾ cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 TB sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs and blend well.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. (Makes about 4 dozen cookies)

You’ll have your friends and family “snickering” over these decadent cookies.

Lastly, these Cranberry, white chocolate chip cookies are sure to put a smile on everyones faces. Just one bite, and you’re in a winter wonderland!

Ingredients
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar & white sugar with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and egg to combine. Lastly, beat in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and pinch of salt until a soft dough has formed. Stir in the cranberries and white chips by hand.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for AT LEAST 1 HOUR. You can chill it overnight if you’d like, but one hour chill time is mandatory to prevent cookies from spreading and to create that light, soft and chewy texture. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone liners or mist lightly with cooking spray. Remove chilled dough from fridge and roll into Tablespoon-sized balls. Place onto the cookie sheets about 1-2″ apart from one another. Bake for approx. 8-10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time to ensure an even cook. Cookies may appear slightly undone, but do not over-bake them! They will continue to set up more as they cool. Allow cookies to set on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes or so before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If you’d like to make them prettier, garnish cookies with additional white chips on top of still-warm cookies before serving.

All three of these delicious cookies are sure to make your holiday merry and bright, and can also be great gifts this season! Happy baking!