My two sisters and I were raised on a steady diet of homemade, Midwestern comfort food dinners cooked with love. Chicken a la King. Lasagna. Chili. And when it was the holiday season, always dessert. My first memory of assisting in the kitchen is actually standing at my mom’s hip, helping her stamp out little sugar cookie stars, holly leaves and trees to bake and — the best part — decorate, to help fill the countless Christmas cookie platters we’d share with each other and our loved ones.

These days, I live 3 hours away from my parents, and jet around the country or the globe several times each month as a freelance food and travel writer. Whether I’m at my own home or am on the road, right after Thanksgiving each year, I start getting a little wistful about those wonderful, flour-dusted baking days … and the sweet rewards. When I do, there’s only one thing to do as soon as I can carve out time to step inside my own kitchen: bake these traditional cookie recipes that have been staples for us (and many others) for generations. Care to join me?

Sweet and spicy gingerbread has been associated with Christmas for more than 200 years. Keep the tradition going with this, 'the perfect gingerbread recipe,' according to a Food Network fan. Robust molasses and cozy seasonal spices like allspice, cloves, ginger and cinnamon pack each crumb with cozy seasonal flavor. Try it for little ginger people or to bake the building blocks for a gingerbread house. 'The dough consistency was great to work with, and the cookies themselves are nice and soft. They have a quick baking time, too — 10 minutes, tops. I will definitely be using this again next year!'

Mom continues to be the craftiest person I know, so each festive season, I try to bake at least one kind of showy sweet like this. These might look like any other spritz recipe that you dispense out of a cookie press. But this cookie dough disguises a delicious secret: brown butter, which lends a lovely nutty note to accent the floral vanilla bean paste in the cookies and the shiny glaze.

After taste testing just one of these cinnamon-sugar cookies, I wondered 'how did I live without you?' How fitting, considering the fact that this is Trisha Yearwood’s recipe. The soft texture and subtle tang (courtesy of cream of tartar) make them one of my mom’s all-time favorites — during December or any month of the year. This makes 4 dozen cookies, so I’ll have plenty of these half butter, half shortening cookies to share with the entire family. Good thing, because one fan says 'these are seriously addictive. Add a glass of milk or a cup of coffee, and I'm in heaven!'

Thumbprint cookies are a fairly new addition to mom’s repertoire, which means that she mastered them after I was regularly part of the baking party. To catch up, I’ve been practicing with this buttery shortbread base that’s ideal for stuffing with ¾ teaspoon of fruit jam or citrus curd. So far, lemon curd and cherry jam have been my favorites. Next, I can’t wait to try this with dollops of apple butter.

You’re just seven ingredients and about 30 minutes away from a big batch (48!) of bakery-quality classic sugar cookies. The key to achieve that delightfully-chewy texture? Our recipe developers and mom agree that it’s crucial to start with softened butter. One home baker tells us, 'I have made these many times and they are always the first sugar cookies to disappear off the plate.'

These crackle-topped cookies are a bit controversial for my parents. Dad swears the molasses and spices overpower all the other sugar, oatmeal and chocolate cookies in the collection. So to keep the peace, ever since I was a little child, mom has stored her gingersnaps in a separate special Christmas-y container that we’ve grown to call the 'gingersnap tub.' In this just-like-mom-made recipe, Damaris Phillips dishes up the exact timing pointers to ensure every batch comes out perfect. That’s 11 to 13 minutes in a preheated oven, by the way.

Growing up, as the advent calendar crept closer to the big day, our cookie collection would sometimes run a bit short. (That’s a testament to how crowd-pleasing the cookies had been, mom and I agreed.) To help bridge the gap and keep the sweet fun going — without a lot of fuss — we’d whip up a no-bake dessert like this chocolate peppermint bark that one five-star reviewer confirms is 'easy and always a hit at holiday parties.' For crunch and to counteract the sweetness of the chocolate, professional chef Danielle Alex invites two brilliant extra guests to the party: salty pretzels and crispy rice cereal.

True, chocolate chip cookies are an anytime treat. But come Christmastime, my spread never feels complete without at least a few of these classics. Don’t tell mom, but I’ve been leaving her recipe card in the box the past couple years, as I’ve grown sweet on these ultra-easy, no-mixer-required CCCs. 'This is actually one of the best recipes I’ve ever made — so simple! No need to cream butter which is such a pain. Just mix a few ingredients, then bam, right in the oven. So good!' While I go off script from her ingredient ratios, I still swear by mom’s strategy of chilling the cookie dough for about 30 minutes before baking. This allows the flour to hydrate, yielding flavor-packed, moist cookies with a soft center.

During my picky eater era, my parents were incredibly clever at finding ways to sneak more nutrition into my favorite meals. (Adult me thanks you for adding frozen peas to my blue box mac, mom!) To tip a cap to that culinary creativity, I look forward to returning the favor this year by gifting mom and dad a tray of this antioxidant-packed 3-ingredient dessert that’s reminiscent of one my paternal grandma passed down to us all. One fan summarizes these clusters perfectly by declaring them 'absolutely delicious, and it’s a bonus that they're nutritious! Everyone I made them for has asked for the recipe! Now I make three times the recipe so I can give some to friends.'