2019 Holiday Cookie Box

Sharing my first ever Holiday Cookie Box with you today, and I know you’ll love this collection of Christmas treats as much as we do! This box has something for everyone from the decadent to the clean eating, and a few dairy-free and grain-free treats too!

This is my last post before Christmas, so I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday season. Thank you so much for visiting and supporting Crumb Top Baking throughout 2019. I love connecting with you here (and on social media) and I’m looking forward to sharing many more recipes with you in 2020. All the best to you and your families!

I normally bake a lot of cookies for Christmas. I used to start in November and make 15-20 different kinds, and keep them stashed in the freezer until the holidays. While I’ve scaled back in recent years, I still like to make about 8-10 different kinds, so I have lots of variety to fill my Christmas cookie tins that I gift to people.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to gift people with cookies this year. While I’ve been baking a lot for the blog, until recently, I hadn’t dedicated much time to baking for others. But this past weekend I was able to carve out some time for a little holiday baking frenzy and managed to make seven different kinds of cookies. And now I’m sharing them with you!

Here’s what’s in my 2019 holiday cookie box:

• Chewy Ginger Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
• Crispy Peanut Butter Balls
• Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cooke Bars
• Cranberry Orange Thumbprint Cookies
• Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
• Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Chai Spice Crumble Bars

It was difficult to narrow it down, but these are some of our favourite cookies, and more importantly, they are perfect for gifting and for holiday cookie exchanges.

A few notes on this cookie box:

• While I’m displaying these cookies in an open box, when I gift them to people, I usually package them in Christmas tins or decorative containers. You can always save the open box for presentation at your holiday dinner table.

• Some of the cookies require refrigeration, so these are not the type of cookies to ship in the mail. They’re meant to be packaged up and hand delivered to someone.

Chewy Ginger Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I first shared these cookies last year as part of my review of Oh Sweet Day! A Celebration Cookbook, and now they are one of the most popular cookie recipes on the blog! These sandwich cookies have an amazing chewy texture with a slightly tart and sweet lemon cream cheese filling that pairs nicely with the ginger spiced cookies.

Crispy Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut butter balls are one of my favourite treats around the holidays, so I had to put a healthier spin on this decadent classic. My version is made without powdered sugar or butter and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. They’re packed with natural peanut butter, raw peanuts and walnuts, and brown rice crispy cereal. They’re also gluten-free, and I made adjustments to the recipe this year to make them vegan.

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

There’s nothing quite like the combo of tart cranberries, sweet orange and dark chocolate for the holidays. If you agree, you’ll love these cranberry chocolate chip cookie bars. They’re packed with fresh cranberries, orange zest and dark chocolate chips. And since they’re made with almond flour, almond butter and coconut oil, they’re also grain-free and dairy-free.

Cranberry Orange Thumbprint Cookies

These thumbprint cookies are another cranberry orange chocolate combo that are in the regular holiday baking rotation. They’re crispy and chewy with a sugary exterior and a flavourful orange cranberry chia seed filling. While not pictured here, I normally finish them off with a drizzle of some melted white or dark chocolate. (I highly recommend the chocolate drizzle!)

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate and peppermint are an iconic duo for the holidays, so these double chocolate peppermint cookies are a must try! They’re soft and chewy with cocoa, dark chocolate chunks, peppermint extract and crushed candy canes. You’ll need to leave at least a few of these for Santa on Christmas Eve to go with his milk or hot cocoa!

Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

While you might not think chocolate chip cookies are a holiday cookie, when you add cookie butter to the mix, they’re perfectly spiced for the season. Cookie butter is made from crushed biscoff biscuits, which are crispy spice cookies that are popular in Europe, particularly around the holidays. So these soft-batch chocolate chip cookies have a hint of cinnamon and ginger, along with toasted coconut and dark chocolate chips. Warm them in the microwave for an extra ooey, gooey treat!

Chocolate Chai Spice Crumble Bars

Chai spice desserts have been my weakness this holiday season. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made this chai spice cake and these chocolate chai spice crumble bars rank high on the list too. I first shared these bars two years ago and recently made a few adjustments to the recipe to make them gluten-free and vegan. They’re made with oats, coconut and warming chai spices, and with a rich and fudgy chocolate filling, they’re simply irresistible!

Here are a few other cookie recipes on my baking list this year:

• Coconut Caramel Bars from Katherine at Love in My Oven

• Molasses Ginger Cookies from Kelsie at Itsy Bitsy Kitchen

• Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Blossoms from Marcie at Flavor the Moments

If you make any of the cookies from my 2019 Holiday Cookie Box, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below!

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Happy Holidays!