The Best Christmas Cookies & Candy Recipes

These are the best Christmas cookies & candy recipes - Classic, simple & easy homemade recipes for a cookie exchange and ideas for a nice platter or party tray. Some are no bake, and some use cake mix.

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One of my Christmas season goals is to make special holiday treats with Gracie at least twice.

Every year, we make some holiday treats and package them up to distribute to our neighbors. It's a little token of good will, and everyone loves some extra Christmas cookies.

I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but the most raved about cookie we've shared the last couple of years was actually a pre-made dough from the dairy case of the grocery store.

The horrors! The horrors!

I always get a little anxious when someone asks for the recipe, but really, there's no shame in buying pre-made cookie dough. It tastes good or else they wouldn't sell it, and the fact is that my babe and I still went to the trouble of going to the store, selecting the dough, and baking it in our home. We still put time and effort into the process, even if the recipe wasn't an old family favorite.

2-year-old Grace likes to use a mini scoop to portion out the cookies onto the cookie sheet, and that is a great way to get her involved in the process. (Here are 10 tips for getting small children involved in the kitchen!)

While using pre-made dough is a definite time saver, and it also negates the impact of my lack of family cookie recipes, using it dough also cuts out a lot of the fun of cooking with Grace. I like to let her try to crack eggs, even if it ends up making a big mess. I like measuring together, teaching her about fractions. I like letting her stir the dough and pour ingredients into our KitchenAid mixer. I like doing all that stuff together. I don't even mind helping her to clean up her messes because we are working side by side. I'm helping her, and she's helping me. It's fun for both of us.

The Best Christmas Cookie & Candy recipes

• Double Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies - Obviously, the Christmas version of this recipe does not contain candy corn, but it's still a great recipe. We'll replace the candy corn with something else; I'm thinking Christmas M&Ms.
• Peanut Butter Marshmallow Fudge - This would be cut into squares of course.
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls - I love this recipe which is sometimes called Peanut Butter Buckeyes. It's a little more complicated than some of the others on the page, because you have to make the peanut butter filling and then dip the balls in melted chocolate, but it is worth the trouble because the finished candy is so darn good.
• Christmas Crack - I got this recipe from my friend, Carol, and the candy it makes is gone in a flash. The recipe is easy and the candy is amazing.
• Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies - This recipe is based on my candy corn recipe above, but instead of candies, it uses pecans. Just like the original, the cookies are so very delicious, but they are laced with nuts which are always a big win in my book.
• Oreo balls - This is not my personal recipe, but Grace and I have made it dozens of times, and it is possibly the best recipe on the list. Actually, I don't know why I've never posted it on my own blog since it's a favorite of ours, but every other food blogger on the internet has posted it, so why recreate the wheel? It uses only 2 ingredients to make the balls and a third to dip in melted chocolate. These could not be easier, and they are always a big hit. In fact, we have to make a double or triple batch if we're intending to take them to a party or something because so many get eaten while they're cooling. Love love love this recipe.
• Cake mix crinkle cookies - This is the original recipe that Grace and I have used for years. It calls for strawberry cake mix, but we have used red velvet, orange, chocolate fudge, and other flavors. It has only 4 ingredients, and the cookies are delicious.

So that's it. Combine the recipes above with some pre-made cookie dough from the dairy case of the grocery store, and you have our complete repertoire of holiday baked goods.