20+ European Christmas Cookie Recipes (2024)

ByEdyta

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It’s the Holiday season and what a better way to celebrate it than with a cookie in hand. Europeans have plenty of different ways to make delicious cookies. I hope you’ll enjoy this collection of European Christmas Cookie Recipes and make one, two, or more of them for your holiday.

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Now I’ve lived here in NY for the last 14 years and haven’t had the chance to go back to Poland for Christmas yet (I’m hoping that the next year will be the year). In fact, this collection of European cookies makes me want to go there even more. Sipping mulled wine, all bundled up with a delicious cookie in hand, listening to Chrismas carols and enjoying the season is all I’m dreaming of right now.

To put you in a similar mood, I’ll show you how festive beautiful my hometown Wroclaw is during the Christmas season. 20+ European Christmas Cookie Recipes (2)Photo credit In Your Pocket

Without further ado, here’s my compilation of the most popular European cookies

1. 5 Ingredient Butter Vanilla Holiday Cookies are super easy to make. Butter, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla and just 20 minutes…that’s all you’ll need!Their taste reminds me of the butter vanilla cookies you can find in almost every European market during the Christmas season.

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2. Speculoos, also known as Speculaas orDutch Windmill Cookies, is a holiday cookie that is traditionally made for the Feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th) in the Netherlands and Belgium.

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3. Brunkager is a Danish Christmas cookiewith a delicious spiced flavor, and a wonderful crunch. Perfect to add to your cookie plate.

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4. Bulgarian Honey Cookies Medenki Recipe – these soft, spiced cookies, dipped in chocolate will make the perfect sweet treat this holiday season.

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5. These German Marzipan Balls are the easiest Christmas Cookies ever! Vegan, gluten-free and only 2 ingredients needed!

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6. A European spin on a holiday classic! These traditional Polish gingerbread cookies use a sticky sweet substitute instead of the conventional molasses.

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7. Thin and crispy Moravian Molasses cookies. This recipe makes 7-8 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies (or more).

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8. These Pierniczki świąteczne, aka Polish Christmas cookies, are the perfect make-ahead festive treat. They are easy to make, with pantry ingredients and bake in just 8 mins.

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9. These no yeast lemon mini babkas (babeczki) are quick and easy. The recipe for these traditional Polish cakes is from the Wild Honey and Rye cookbook, by Ren Behan.

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10. This krumkake recipe makes light, crispy, delicate, golden wafer cookies that are rolled into a traditional cone shape. These Scandinavian cookies are traditionally flavored with cardamom and vanilla but can be made in many different flavors if you want to experiment.

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11. These simple Danish butter cookies are easy to make with children and brighten up everyone’s holiday.

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12. Medovníky are a deliciously spiced, decorated gingerbread-style cookie flavored with honey, cinnamon, and cloves. These festive cookies are often served at Christmas time in Slovakia and decorated with white icing swirls.

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13. German Pfeffernusse Cookies – A traditional spiced German cookie covered in powdered sugar. The perfect cookie for a Christmas cookie exchange!

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14. Canestrelli is a wonderfully delicious Italian Cookie. It’s an almost shortbread type cookie but with a crunch – fast and easy.

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15. Joulutorttu aretraditional Finnish Christmas Cookies made in the shape of the pinwheel and filled with a delicious prune jam. This recipe makes a big batch of cookies. Bake them for Christmas and freeze any leftovers.

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16. Goro (pronounced go-do) is a thin Norwegian cookie that is cooked on a special goro iron.

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17. Struffoli di Mamma are puffy balls of fried dough which are crispy on the outside, light and airy on the inside. These Italian honey balls (aka Cicerchiata) are then drenched in citrus-scented warm honey and decorated with sprinkles.

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18. Danish aebleskiver are a traditional holiday dish in Scandinavian countries, and they’re sold as street food during the busy holiday shopping season.

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19. Pfeffernusse are a popular cookie in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

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20. Melomakarona Traditional Greek Christmas honey spice cookies are made with olive oil, spices and soaked in a honey syrup.

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21. These homemade jammie dodger biscuits are really easy to make and taste delicious. They’re also known as Linzer cookies, a popular Christmas cookie recipe.

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20+ European Christmas Cookie Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What cookies are from Germany? ›

Here is a great list of traditional german Christmas cookies from germany-insider-facts.com perfect for your sweet tooth.
  • Macaroons.
  • Schwarz-Weiß-Gebäck.
  • Lebkuchen.
  • Spekulatius.
  • Spitzbuben.
  • Springerle.
  • Butter cookies.
  • Aachener Printen.

What is the least popular Christmas cookie? ›

On the naughty list of cookies, Americans gave the lowest win records to anise cookies, which only won 29% of its matchups.

What is the original Christmas cookie? ›

Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from Medieval Europe biscuits, when many modern ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit were introduced into the west.

What is the number one cookie in the world? ›

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co.

What is America's favorite holiday cookie? ›

Among those who can make a single choice, frosted sugar cookies lead the list (32%), with gingerbread (12%) and chocolate chip (11%) rounding out the top three. Snickerdoodles (6%) come in fourth place, followed by butter (4%), peanut butter (4%), and chocolate (4%) tying for fifth.

What is the most popular cookie in Italy? ›

Most Popular Italian Cookies
  • Amaretti. These lovely almond-flavoured biscotti were supposedly first made during the Middle Ages. ...
  • Ricciarelli. ...
  • Baci di dama. ...
  • Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti. ...
  • Savoiardi. ...
  • Canestrelli. ...
  • Biscotti al Cocco. ...
  • Pizzelle.
Oct 22, 2020

What is a cookie called in Europe? ›

In many English-speaking countries outside North America, including the United Kingdom, the most common word for a crisp cookie is "biscuit". The term "cookie" is normally used to describe chewier ones. However, in many regions both terms are used. The container used to store cookies may be called a cookie jar.

What cookies are popular in Belgium? ›

Lotus and its speculoos or Biscoff cookies are a worldwide success. So much so, in fact, that it's the fifth most popular cookie in the world!

Which Christmas cookies last the longest? ›

Shortbread and spritz cookies are longer-lasting cookies, which means they are perfect for holidays when there is some competition on the table. After all, Christmas in many homes is celebrated with a variety of dishes and sweet treats.

What is Santa Claus's favorite cookie? ›

Chocolate Chip cookies

Santa himself lists these as his favorites, and he prefers them soft and gooey with lots of chocolate chips. If you decide to leave these out for him, make sure there's a glass of cold milk nearby!

What is the 1 cookie in the US? ›

The chocolate chip cookie is far and away America's favorite cookie This should come as no surprise to anyone who enjoys the tasty treat. More than 53% of American adults prefer the cookies over the next most popular kind, peanut butter.

What is the most searched Christmas cookie? ›

Italian Christmas Cookies grow as top cookie

Zoom in: Italian Christmas Cookies were the top cookie in 13 states, more than double the six states from 2022, Google Trends curator Katie Seaton told Axios. Seaton said the Italian cookies dominated the East Coast both this year and last year.

What country invented Christmas cookies? ›

The First Christmas Cookies

Those who would like to take credit for the invention of the Christmas cookie will have to arm wrestle the Germans for it. They believe that Weihnachtsplätzchen, a term that refers specifically to cookies and broadly to holiday treats, encompasses the origin of Christmas baking.

What is the cookie in White Christmas? ›

A Cookie is the name given to the digitally replicated consciousness of a human being. Originally appearing in White Christmas, they have been mentioned in several other episodes.

How many cookies are eaten at Christmas? ›

(If we're talking about just the U.S., it's approximated that of the 100 million households, about 1 million are serving sweets to St. Nick.) According to An Idea, If Santa takes two bites of each cookie served around the world, he consumes roughly 336,150,386 cookies.

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