The holiday season brings out the best and worst in us. Are we stressed beyond all get-out? Yes. Do we love every minute of it? Also, yes. From attending Christmas sweater-themed parties to watching all the Hallmark Channel movies to baking countless dozens of holiday cookies, we’re maximizing that Christmas cheer at all times.
As for the cookies—made for cookie swaps, church potlucks, household snacking, and Santa’s plate—there is one little cheat: make now, freeze for later. You’ll find that most of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes can be made anywhere from a month to six months before the 25th of December. (Consult this handy how-to guide to the matter.)
Generally, most recipes will be best if baked and then frozen. When baking recipes that require royal icing or other accouterments, leave the cookie decorating until after you’ve defrosted the batch. And as a rule, slice-and-bake cookies do well when freezing the dough logs for later use. Those are the rough guidelines to live by during the cookie-baking season. Here are 33 of our best-ever make-ahead Christmas cookie recipes that freeze well.
Start Your Christmas Baking Early With These Freezable Cookies
Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Snowballs are a cheerful holiday classic. This recipe makes four dozen, which makes it perfect for make-ahead food gifts. After defrosting, you might need to re-roll in powdered sugar.
Jen Causey; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly; Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless
Even if you’re not a fruitcake fan, you’ll love these richly spiced cookies filled with dried fruit and nuts and flavored with rum extract.
Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall
Add an extra festive note to classic butter cookies with cranberry and orange. Freeze the rectangular roll of the dough before thawing it to slice and bake later. For an extra festive touch, use sparkling sugar on top of the cookies.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Make the dough ahead of time, shape into a disc, then wrap tightly and store in the freezer. When you’re in need of a sweet treat, all you have to do is take the dough out of the freezer, roll into balls, and bake to your heart’s content. The high fat content in these buttery shortbread bites make them perfect for freezing.
Will Dickey; Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless; Food Stylist: Ali Ramee
These cookies are airy and crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. This recipe creates a brownie in cookie form. The flourless cookies are gluten-free and filled with chopped pecans and melted chocolate.
Greg Dupree; Prop Stylist: Ginny Branch; Food Stylist: Emily Neighbors Hall
These fun two-toned cookies will brighten up any tin or tray. When freezing these cookies, make sure that they are double wrapped for best results.
Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Priscilla Montiel
It’s hard to resist this bake sale classic, especially when dusted with a little flaky salt. If you are making these ahead and freezing them, add the salt after they have been defrosted, before you are ready to serve them.
Greg Dupree, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer, Prop Stylist: Claire Spollen
Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, these Southern cookies are perfect with a cup of tea. They freeze well too; store in an airtight container up to three months.
Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Rishon Hanners; Prop Stylist: Christina Daley
Whether you call them “sand tarts,” “pecan sandies,” or “Mexican wedding cookies,” these old-fashioned cookies are delicious by any name.
Hector Manuel Sanchez; Prop Styling: Karin Olsen; Food Styling: Kellie Gerber Kelley
You’ll never regret making a batch or two of these boozy confections before the holiday season starts. Bourbon balls are perfect for gift-giving or cookie swaps, and this recipe makes two dozen. You can’t beat a recipe with only four ingredients.
Zoe Denenberg; Prop Styling: Rachel Mulcahy
Nothing says Christmas like a batch of iced snowflake cookies. It’s best to bake these cookies, then freeze them. Leave the icing until after thawing these snowflake sugar cookies.
Betsy McCallen Lovell
Four ingredients? Even more of a reason to whip up and freeze a batch on any autumn afternoon. This recipe is the perfect cookie to have on hand for any unexpected guests or drop-bys.
Katie Strasberg Rousso
These drop cookies are a classic. Customize the dough to your preferences, such as extra chocolate or nuts. These cookies are soft, cake-like, and flavorful.
ANTONIS ACHILLEOS; PROP STYLING: KAY E. CLARKE; FOOD STYLING: EMILY NABORS HALL
This cookie is the combination you never knew you needed. Keep the slice and bake dough frozen until you are ready. After slicing the dough, you need to place the pecans before baking.
Molly Bolton
Browning the butter is key to making the most gift-worthy chocolate chip cookies this Christmas. Before removing it from the stovetop, wait until the butter turns a creamy golden hue. This tip will give your chocolate chip cookies the chewy, crisp texture you want.
Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
Similar to Cowboy Cookies, these treats are chock-full of mix-ins, from crisp rice cereal, to coconut, to chocolate chips. Cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to two months.
Emily Laurae
Cake mix cookies are here to make your life even easier leading up to the holidays, especially this festive red-and-white batch. They’ll look merry and bright in your cookie tin or on a cake stand. Because of the high oil content, these cookies keep well.
Jennifer Causey
These white chocolate and cranberry cookies are perfect for the holidays. Chopped chocolate chunks hold their shape better than chips when baked. Chilling the dough before scooping it will help the dough to be less sticky.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
It doesn’t get much more nostalgic than spritz cookies. Grab your best helpers to form the dough shape with a cookie press, and leave the sprinkling until after defrosted later. This recipe is a perfect activity to keep busy because you can make various shapes, and the dough comes together in about five minutes.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox
Beautifully crackled and pillowy soft, meet your new favorite molasses cookie.
Victor Protasio, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster
Peanut butter and chocolate are the foolproof duos we rely on every Christmas. Many remember making these simple and delicious cookies with Grandma. These cookies are classic for a reason—they’re delicious.
Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall
The other thing better than sprinkles on the outside of cookies is sprinkles on the outside—and inside—of cookies. Have fun decorating these sugar sandwich cookies in your favorite holiday sprinkles. When adding sprinkles to the dough, let it chill for at least eight hours.
Hector Manuel Sanchez
These cookies are loaded with classic Christmas spices, like ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, with holiday flair. This recipe makes four and a half dozen cookies, so there is plenty to share at cookie swaps. Allow cookies to cool on a wire rack.
Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
With a slightly crunchier base than traditional sugar cookies, this shortbread recipe is a great way to practice your artistic skills this holiday season. Make the cookie dough in advance to focus on your decorations. Chill anywhere from two hours to two days.
Iain Bagwell
“No-Bake, “Fudgy,” and “Toffee?” Sounds like a Christmas miracle to us. While these are just as easy to make the night before your Christmas occasion, feel free to make and freeze the delicious bars.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox
Shredded coconut and dried cranberries make this cookie recipe a no-brainer come December. Freeze the dough logs for up to a month before baking. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool and store them in an airtight container.
Photographer: Isaac Nunn, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Ruth Blackburn
Cinnamon and sugar make a tasty pair, and no holiday cookie swap is complete without a plate of these all-time favorites. The key to this recipe is browning the butter. After assembling, remember to chill the dough before scooping out dough balls to bake.
This drop cookie recipe has all of your holiday gift-giving needs covered—it makes five dozen! This classic duo shines in this straightforward recipe. You can have wonderful cookies to share with family and friends in under an hour.
Emily Laurae/Southern Living
It’s extra easy to freeze this unbaked cookie dough, simply freeze the foil-wrapped logs of dough for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake, allow the dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then roll, slice, and bake.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Nothing scary about these Monster Cookies. In fact, they’re loaded with candy-coated chocolate pieces which sounds pretty inviting, if you ask us.
Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist Shell Royster
These cookies start with brownie mix, making them extra easy to mix up and pop in the freezer to bake off later.
For more freezer-friendly meals, check out our easy freezer recipes that reheat beautifully.