24 Holiday Nut and Spice Cookies You'll Make Every Year

When it’s time to fill those holiday cookie platters, look beyond the sugar cookies, frosted treats and chocolate goodies. We love them all, there’s no denying that, but adding a bit of spice to your dessert life will be a welcome surprise. Warm things up with cinnamon cookies, or quadruple the spices and make Ina's ginger cookies. Marrying nuts and spices is also a fantastic, holiday-worthy idea. Pignoli cookies, topped with pine nuts, are standard at any Italian bakery. But they are the simplest of cookies to make at home, mixed in one bowl and ready in under an hour. Anne adds a pinch of ground cinnamon and a bit of honey to these festive treats, making them even more special.

This gingerbread cookie is super-spicy from the very first bite. Molasses makes it chewy and white sugar rounds out the spices. Cayenne, allspice and a hefty dose of black pepper result in a complex, lingering heat that is surprising and pleasant.

These double-stuffed gingerbread cookies bring bold holiday spice and a creamy filling for a festive twist on a classic treat that’s perfect for cookie swaps and dessert platters.

Cinnamon Stars are a classic German cookie; you'll find them in most every German household as soon as St. Nicholas' Day rolls around. These gluten-free cookies are a cross between a macaroon and a meringue, with a hint of nutty spiciness.

Sandwich vanilla ice cream (or your favorite holiday flavor) with gingersnap cookies for a big bite of dessert.

Cocoa crinkle cookies are made even more delicious with a generous helping of warm baking spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

You can never go wrong with ginger when you're baking holiday treats—especially these cute, wintery cut-outs.

You'll wish every holiday cookie recipe could be as easy to make as these tropical-inspired sweets. They start with store-bought sugar-cookie dough!

These Greek cookies, scented with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves, are traditionally served around Christmas. The dough, made with semolina flour and olive oil, has a tender, crumbly texture. Once baked, the cookies are soaked in an aromatic orange honey syrup which makes them even more delicious. Most recipes for melomakarona don’t call for salt so it's not included here. However, some call for brandy while others just add orange juice. Melomakarona keep well for a long time and can be prepared well in advance of serving. As an added bonus, they just happen to be egg- and dairy-free.

These crisp spiced cookies are irresistible, but even Alton can't pinpoint the reason. "I don't know why I like them so much, but when I start eating them I tend to have a very, very hard time stopping," he admits.

This tropical take on a coconut macaroon has a delicious sweet and salty twist. Chopped macadamia nuts, dried pineapple and white chocolate chips are stirred into the macaroon batter before baking. Press the macaroons flat and bake—the result is a toasty, sweet and chewy thick coconut “cookie”.

Trisha Yearwood’s brown butter honey cookies are rich, nutty and perfectly sweet, making them a warm and cozy addition to your holiday spice cookie lineup.

Pat and Gina love the complex spicy flavor of these gingerbread cookies. They added a little kick in the form of cayenne pepper to classic gingerbread and came up with a new family favorite.