From classic peanut butter to no-bake and holiday cookies, these are the best cookie recipes I make over and over again. 28 tested favorites, all in one place.
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Cookies are my love language. I have been baking them for years for school parties, holiday trays, bake sales, lazy Sundays, and every occasion in between. At this point my family does not even ask what dessert is. They just assume it is cookies, and honestly, they are usually right.
I put this list together because I wanted one place to find every single cookie recipe worth making. Classics that never let you down. Easy cake mix shortcuts for when you need something fast. Stuffed and indulgent ones for when you really want to impress. No-bake options for when the oven is just not happening. There is something here for every mood, every season, and every person at your table.
My Top Tips for Better Cookies Every Time
Watch the clock and pull them early. This is the number one mistake I see, and it applies to every cookie on this list. When the edges look set but the center still looks slightly underdone, they are done. They keep cooking on the hot pan after you pull them out of the oven. If you wait until they look perfect in the oven, they will be overbaked by the time they cool.
Always line your pan with parchment paper. It prevents sticking, helps the bottoms bake evenly, and makes cleanup so much easier. I use it every single time, no exceptions.
Use a cookie scoop. This keeps your cookies the same size so they bake evenly. A scoop also makes the whole process faster and gives you that clean, bakery-style look without any extra effort.
For from-scratch recipes, measure your flour correctly. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a straight edge. Do not scoop directly from the bag — that packs in too much flour and is the reason cookies come out dry and dense. It is a small habit that makes a big difference.
Let them rest on the pan. Once they come out of the oven, leave the cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a rack. They are fragile right out of the oven and need that time to firm up and finish setting.
Classic Cookies
These are the classic cookie recipes that never go out of style. Peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, shortbread, the ones your family has been making for generations and will keep making for generations more. I grew up eating cookies like these, and they are still the ones I reach for when I want something that just feels like home. Simple ingredients, foolproof results, and every single one is soft, chewy, and worth every bite.
1
Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies
These classic peanut butter cookies have a secret ingredient that makes them extra soft and chewy every single time. Made with simple pantry staples in under 30 minutes, they are everything a peanut butter cookie should be.
Buttery, nutty, and absolutely irresistible, these soft cookies are packed with rich pecan flavor in every single bite. They are the kind of cookie that disappears fast at any gathering.
Soft, chewy, and perfectly spiced, these oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic for good reason. Hearty, comforting, and loaded with plump raisins, they taste just like Grandma used to make.
Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread made with just five simple ingredients. These are the cookies that look elegant, taste incredible, and come together with almost zero effort.
These fudgy chocolate cookies are made with a simple sugar cookie mix shortcut and hide TWO gooey Rolo candies inside every single one. Bite into one and find that rich caramel surprise baked right in the center.
If you have never made cake mix cookies, you are about to become a convert. These easy cake mix cookie recipes are the ones I pull out when I need something fast, when the kids want to bake, or when I have a box of mix sitting in the pantry and a serious craving hitting. You only need a handful of ingredients and they come together in minutes, no mixer, no fuss, and nobody will ever guess the secret shortcut.
6
Cake Mix Cookies
Three ingredients and 15 minutes, that is genuinely all you need to make these soft, chewy cake mix cookies. Use any flavor you like and customize with your favorite mix-ins.
Bright, citrusy, and made with a box of lemon cake mix, these easy lemon cookies are ready in minutes and taste like sunshine in every bite. A simple, foolproof recipe that always delivers.
Pretty in pink and packed with white chocolate chips, these soft and chewy strawberry cake mix cookies come together in under 20 minutes. They are the easiest way to get a big burst of strawberry flavor with almost zero effort.
Colorful, fun, and loaded with sprinkles, these rainbow cookies are made from cake mix and come together in minutes. Kids absolutely love making and eating them, and they look incredible on any dessert table.
Festive, soft, and ready in no time thanks to a box of cake mix, these Christmas cookies are perfect for last-minute holiday baking. Swap the sprinkles for any occasion and they work year round.
Just 4 ingredients and one bowl, yellow cake mix, peanut butter, oil, and eggs, and you have soft, chewy peanut butter cookies with that classic crisscross pattern on top. They taste completely homemade and nobody will ever guess how easy they were to make.
These are the cookies you make when you really want to impress someone or when you just want to treat yourself and you are not sorry about it at all. Stuffed cookies, gooey skillet cookies, browned butter, cookie dough brownies, this section is for when a regular cookie is not going to cut it. Every single one is over the top in the best possible way, and they are always the first thing to disappear at any gathering.
12
Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies
A fudgy chocolate cookie wrapped around a soft, creamy peanut butter center that stays perfectly gooey in the middle. The secret is freezing the filling first so you get a clean surprise in every single bite.
A soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie stuffed with graham crackers, chocolate, and gooey marshmallow, all baked together into one insane dessert. These are two of everyone's favorite treats combined into a single, over-the-top cookie.
Browning the butter is the genius hack that takes a simple cookie mix and makes it taste completely homemade. Rich, nutty, and deeply flavorful, these are not your average chocolate chip cookies.
The official recipe straight from Hilton DoubleTree, these thick, gooey chocolate chip cookies have a few unexpected secret ingredients that make them life-changing. Once you make them at home, you will never look at a regular chocolate chip cookie the same way again.
A giant chocolate chip cookie baked in a skillet with crispy edges, a gooey center, and served warm with a scoop of ice cream on top. This is the dessert of dreams and it is easier to make than you think.
Holiday cookies are one of my favorite traditions, and these are the ones that make it onto my tray every single year. Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day — every holiday is better with a cookie, and these are the recipes my family asks for by name. They are festive, fun to make, and most of them are easy enough to do with the kids. Whether you are filling a cookie box or just looking for something to bring to the party, this is where to start.
17
Gingerbread Men Cookies
Soft, chewy, and perfectly spiced with molasses and ginger, these gingerbread men cookies are a classic Christmas tradition. They hold their shape beautifully for decorating and are mild enough that the whole family, including the kids, will love them.
Red and white peppermint doughs twisted together into a festive candy cane shape, these cookies are as beautiful as they are delicious. They take a little extra love but are absolutely worth it for your holiday cookie tray.
A cookie base topped with a Reese's peanut butter cup spider body, candy eyes, and a chocolate drizzle for legs, these Halloween spider cookies are one of the easiest and most viral recipes on the blog. Perfect for classroom parties and kids absolutely love helping make them.
These pretty pink cookie cups are made from sugar cookie mix and hide a Hershey's Hug candy tucked right inside. They are sweet, festive, and one of the easiest Valentine's Day treats you can make.
No bake cookies are my favorite secret weapon, no oven, no waiting, and honestly no one ever suspects how easy they were to make. These no bake cookie recipes are perfect for hot summer days when you do not want to turn on the oven, for last-minute dessert emergencies, or for baking with little ones who want to help in the kitchen. Rich, chewy, and ready in about 30 minutes, what is not to love?
22
No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies
Rich, fudgy, and loaded with chocolate and peanut butter flavor, these no bake cookies come together in one saucepan with no oven required. They set up perfectly every time and are ready to eat in about 30 minutes.
A copycat of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's famous Avalanche Bark in cookie form, made with white chocolate, peanut butter, Rice Krispies, and mini marshmallows, then finished with chocolate chips and a pinch of sea salt on top. No oven needed and they are completely addictive.
Butterscotch chips, peanut butter, chow mein noodles, and peanuts all come together in these classic no bake haystack cookies that are ready in just 15 minutes. Sweet, salty, crunchy, and completely impossible to stop eating.
These are the cookies that are tied to a specific moment in the year, the ones that make you think of spring mornings, summer strawberries, cozy fall afternoons, and everything in between. Lemon blueberry in the spring, pumpkin in the fall, banana bread cookies when you have ripe bananas sitting on the counter, these seasonal cookie recipes are the ones that capture a feeling as much as a flavor. Bake them when the season is right and they will taste even better for it.
25
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
Soft, pillowy cookies loaded with fresh strawberry pieces and stuffed with a creamy two-ingredient cheesecake filling frozen right inside. These are a total showstopper for spring and summer and taste exactly like strawberry cheesecake in cookie form.
Soft cookies bursting with fresh blueberries and bright lemon flavor in every bite, made in just one bowl with no chilling required. These are a fresh and fruity spring favorite that look just as good as they taste.
Only 3 ingredients and 20 minutes stand between you and a batch of these soft, pillowy pumpkin cookies. They come together with a box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin, no butter, no eggs, no fuss.
All the cozy flavors of carrot cake baked into a soft cookie, stuffed with a frozen cream cheese filling that stays perfectly creamy in the center. These are a unique and totally irresistible springtime treat that always gets people asking for the recipe.
Soft, moist, and packed with ripe banana flavor and chocolate chips, these banana bread cookies are the perfect way to use up overripe bananas. They have a cake-like texture and taste like a warm slice of banana bread in every single bite.
