@gearmom what glaze do you put on your anise cookies? Never had glazed ones - might be something to try
My most recent easy favorite is a chocolate cookie (made from brownie batter with a 1/3 cup additional flour to thicken it, rolled into 1.5 inch balls, then slightly flattened, bake for 9-11 minutes, take them out and while they are warm, insert an upside down Hershey caramel kiss, with the tips cut off, and sprinkle with coarse sugar crystals. These are heavenly decadent.
For Christmas cookies, my favorite is now the gingerbread people. Since I volunteer at the Family Resource Center, two years ago I started keeping a list of names of the children of the families who regularly come it. We made 120 gingerbread people and we wrote the names (or nicknames) of 80 kids in red icing in the middle - with several of the leftovers we added a few “Mami” or “Papi” , and the rest we left blank, or added buttons. Four of the high school volunteers helped me with the baking/decorating and then wrapping each in its own treat bag.
The biggest challenge with gingerbread people is keeping the dough chilled, and rolled evenly, so they bake properly. They are a fair amount of work, but it is a really fun activity for a small group to do together.
I love all these ideas! I forgot about toffee – a neighbor used to make it every Christmas and she’d always give us some. First thing I missed when we moved away.
@BunsenBurner – I totally get it – bars are moist and chewy. I would often make chocolate chip bars instead of cookies.
One thing I do with my sugar cookies is use fun shapes. There’s a site called cheap cookie cutter dot com (they’re not cheap lol) and it has all kinds of dog breeds. I bought the Pomeranian cookie cutter in honor of StepD’s dog. Then DD asked if I could get a lab-retriever mix, which was kind of pushing it. And they had a '57 Chevy which is very similar to DH’s vintage T-bird. Nice to mix it up from angels and stars and trees.
@Momma2018, my grandma taught me the bread trick msny years ago. My kids know what is going on, too, if I send them cookies and there is a small piece of bread in with them. 
My D2 loves a cookie called the Ginger Penny (also from Rose’s Christmas Cookies). It is a tiny cookie about the size of a nickel. You pipe the dough in quarter tsp dots and bake.
In addition to cookies, I used to make a ton of chocolate biscotti that I packed in white boxes with big, wire-edge Christmas ribbon bows and a glittery ornament attached for my work team and our closest neighbors. The boxes were so beautiful, it didn’t matter what was in them. I always joked with my friends that should feel free to re-gift if they found themselves in a pinch. Now that we’ve moved and are retired, I’m using that as an excuse to hang up that tradition as it was a bit too much work. Also, like @FallGirl, I don’t think I’ll be baking much this Christmas as we don’t need the calories. Last year, I threw out so much. I’ll probably just make one batch of the molasses cookies for kiddo. Kinda sad, really.
My personal favorite is my mom’s glazed cut-out sugar cookies. She spends so much time decorating them. One Christmas, she used a straw to make a hole in the top of each cookie, and we hung them with ribbon on the tree as ornaments. It was so much fun to ask her if we could “eat an ornament” for dessert.
We make
pecan tassies
pressed butter cookies
toll house cookies
walnut scotchies
Russian tea cakes
Apricot filled
and my new favorite: chocolate malt crackles
There is a bakery near my home which makes mudslide cookies and they are life-altering. I plan to figure out that recipe this year.
My specialty is almond roca (toffee).
My sister-in-law makes the most beautiful AND delicious cookies: cut-out, decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread/molasses cookies. When we moved away I got her recipe - mine taste as good, but never look as perfect as hers do.
I don’t bake at all but my favorite cookie to receive is peanut butter with a Hershey kiss on top. Yum.
@gearmom I think we are talking about the same cookie. We always called them “s” cookies.
I use vanilla instead of anise/anisette in mine.
Viennese crescents, roll out sugar cookies decorated with somewhat racy decorations, molasses-ginger cookies, cardamom shortbreads, bourbon balls
I love crisp cookies!
Oh yum! I love bourbon balls (and rum balls). I think I have to make those this year.
My favorite is Fritule–a Croatian Christmas pastry, which is a small donut with raisins. It’s similar to Italian Zeppole. My H’s favorites–Russian tea cakes and pecan tassies.
I would love a good (and someone said “easy”) date nut bar cookie recipe!
In the bar arena, I usually do baklava, 7-layer and lemon bars. Cookies usually include gingerbread with a buttercream “star” on top, peanut butter w/kisses, similar w/reeses instead of kiss, if I have time the one that @mathmom mentioned, a buttery cinnamon crescent. And don’t forget the frosted sugar cookie - though it’s the one I’d drop in a heartbeat if my family would let me - too many steps!!
My crescent cookies don’t have cinnamon, but the almond refrigerator cookies do. DH makes baklava for many occasions - I don’t think of them as a Christmas cookie because it gets made year round.
Easy Date Nut Bars - don’t even need the mixer but can use one. This one was passed down from my mom.
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil or melted shortening
1 cup chopped dates (I use prechopped)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix together flour baking powder and salt. Beat or wisk egg, add sugar and mix well. Stir in oil, dates and nuts. Add flour mixture mixing well. Spread in greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Cool, cut and roll in powder sugar.
Our Christmas favorites are: peanut butter balls, roll-out sugar cookies (then decorate them), thumbprint cookies, Spritz, no cook fudge (chocolate chips, Eagle Brand milk, vanilla, nuts).
@Singersmom07 Thank you for posting the recipe! Question: Do you roll the cookie into a ball before rolling in powder sugar kind of like a cake ball? I’m confused because it’s spread out & cooked as a bar cookie? Thanks!!!
No, not in a ball but I flip the little squares around in a bowl of powder sugar to coat them.
@Singersmom07 Thank you! I’ll give it a try!
Nutmeg Logs. Got the recipe from a friend years ago and friends and family far and wide beg for them every year now. The problem is I have 0 self control around them.