Your Best Cookies: Holiday Cookies from Our Community

User ballhpa dressed up peanut butter cookies by adding candies to the batter, then decorating the candies to look like Christmas trees or other season-inspired decor. Using decorators gel makes the decorating a quick and easy activity for families.

See the Recipe: Holiday Peanut Butter Blossoms

"Soft caramels are wrapped around butterscotch flavored cookie dough and sprinkled with sea salt for a soft, sweet and salty cookie," says cookie creator LBBakes.

See the Recipe: Sea Salted Caramel Cookies

This bar cookie recipe, from EleanorCook, offers the best of caramel and chocolate goodness. It's perfect for a holiday buffet, but can be enjoyed all year long.

See the Recipe: Caramel Nutella Crumb Bars

This festive cookie, submitted by user katiemia, comes together quickly thanks to two boxed cookie mixes. For family fun, get the kids involved in the stirring.

See the Recipe: Holiday Jumbos

If you like a little spice with your chocolate, then you'll love this lightly spiced cookies. Their perfect bite-sized portion makes them ideal for holiday dessert buffets or food gifts for friends and neighbors.

See the Recipe: Italian Chocolate Pepper Cookies

User maglover12 writes, "Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and nothing is more seasonally appropriate than pumpkin! With spicy notes, a cake-like texture, and a vanilla-spiked glaze, these cookies evoke thoughts of autumn."

See the Recipe: Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

User SheriCastle writes, "These cookies are extremely simple. They require no mixer, no rolling, and no cutting—just right for little helping hands. Made from pantry staples, a batch of these cookies comes together in a jiffy when the family needs a quick sweet treat or no-mess baking project. As a bonus, these cookies are gluten-free. Little ones might prefer their cookies plain, but grown-ups will appreciate the bittersweet chocolate glaze that lends a sophisticated edge to a simple cookie."

See the Recipe: Peanut Butter Brickle Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

"This is a very easy peanut butter cookie with dark chocolate chips and it has very few ingredients. Chocolate and peanut butter what a great combination," writes community contributor CathyTedder.

See the Recipe: Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thumbprints are a classic holiday cookies. User Jillybean5036 suggests making the indent on the warm cookie by using a spoon.

See the Recipe: Holiday Thumbprint Cookies

This bite-sized cookie, submittes by caseymypup, uses lemon extract to add bold flavor to traditional cookie ingredients. The simple icing recipe included on the recipe page also uses lemon extract, giving the cookie a double-dose of citrus flavor.

See the Recipe: Lemon Italian Cookies

User bakerhi writes, "I made these up based off of the standard nestle chocolate chip cookie recipe, but added an earthy twist to them to eat during the big bad Hurricane Irene. Marshmallows for clouds, oats, chips and chocolate for debris, and nutella for some stormy color."

See the Recipe: Hurricookies

"As a registered dietitian, I have decided there's no reason to make apologies for my sweet tooth. If I know how to do one thing well, it's balance my need and hunger for healthy, whole foods with those dishes that are meant as a special, calorie-filled indulgence. These thin, crispy cookies are the perfect choice," writes cookie contributor and community member reganmiller.

See the Recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Crisps

Homecookhealthy submitted this ooey-gooey recipe writing, "Chocolate Brownies – the staple for every cookout, picnic and family get-together. These always leave my family asking for more and I don’t mind seconds with all the good for you ingredients. Who knew healthy could taste so good." Look for xylitol in health food stores or specialty grocery stores.

See the Recipe: Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free Brownies

User Sage123 writes, "It's Christmas time and our family enjoys a great cookie. The only thing is we only eat healthy gluten free and sugar free products. This cookie idea came to mind thinking back over my childhood. My mother loved to make Christmas cookies and the thumbprint cookie was one of my favorites. Now I can share this super healthy version that tastes even better than the original - I promise."

See the Recipe: Coconut Almond Thumbprint Cookies