9 Delicious Christmas Cookie Photos (With Recipes!) (2024)

It's Christmas time. And no matter your faith, you'll probably agree, it's the most delicious cookie time of the year. Here are cookies that you baked and photographed. And if you're so brave as to bake yourself, many have the recipe, too!

Winner: Minted White Chocolate Balls

My mom participates in a "cookie exchange" every year. This is her contribution for 2014. Minted White Chocolate Balls. Super tasty! Shot the pic at the dining room table. Natural light from a skylight. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 ✖ Lens: 12-40mm f2.8 ✖ Focal Length: 32mm ✖ Aperture: f2.8 ✖ Exposure Time: 1/80 sec. ✖ ISO: 200 ✖ Manual Mode, No Flash, Tripod. Processed the RAW file in DXO. »Alan Stock ☺ Tucson, AZ

Minted White Chocolate Balls

Makes: 32 cookies

Hands-on: 30 minutes

Total: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 56 vanilla wafers, crushed (less than an 11 ounce box)
• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 4 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 6 tablespoons peppermint schnapps
• 3 cups white chocolate morsels
• Crushed peppermint candies for coating

1. Stir together first 6 ingredients then shape into 32 balls.

2. Microwave white chocolate in a bowl at high for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave 20 more seconds or until smooth, stirring once.

3. Coat balls in chocolate two at a time. Sprinkle with crushed hard peppermint candies immediately after.

4. Place in parchment paper-lined pan. Chill for 30 minutes or until set.

Alan Stock

Snowmen

I started making cookies as a challenge to myself, it was kind of stupid not knowing how to make cookies. Every year I make a bunch of cookies and I give them away as gifts to friends and family. To me is like a therapy when it comes to decorate the cookies, and I think they taste pretty good. I am not posting the recipe because I took it from internet, you just have to search for "the best rolled sugar cookies recipe" and the glaze I use powder sugar, corn syrup and some kind of flavor and food coloring, you just have to search "sugar cookies glaze". I shot with my Canon 70D 1/125s f2 ISO100

Alecio De Paula

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

Attached is a photo of my Brown Butter Snickerdoodles. After a lot of trial and error shooting on wire racks and decorative kitchen towels, I got the final shot by plating the cookies on a small tea cup saucer, which is much easier to "fill" than a normal full-size plate. The cookies are notably beige, so a rich walnut cutting board worked well as a backdrop.

The photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy S5. It's the best "camera" I own. Thanks very much for your time and consideration!

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ cups flour

1 t baking soda

2 t cream of tartar

½ t cinnamon

½ t salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 ¼ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk

1 t vanilla

1 T plain greek yogurt

For the rolling mixture:

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 t cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2. In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, whisking constantly until foamy and dark brown. Pour into a separate bowl to cool completely.

3. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and greek yogurt.

4. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture to coat. Place on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press down on each ball slightly.

6. Bake for 8-11 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. These took 11 minutes in my oven. Allow cookies to cool for at least 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy!

Amy Markus

Cookie Making Day

Sunday was cookie-making day in our house, so that worked out. By the time we got to the frosted cookies we optimized the decoration phase. Fuji X-M1 with the 35mm lens at f/1.4, 1/160s, ISO 200.

David Lee

Christmas Colors

So I thought I could get my wife to make some Linzer cookies like the ones in the sample so I could photograph them. Since she usually likes making stuff from recipes off the internet I figured it was a win-win....Well it didn't work out how I planned. I guess since I actually asked her to make them for this purpose she decided she didn't feel like going through the trouble because she was going to be making chili....So, behold, I give thee Le Pillsburée Sucre Cookie (or Pillsbury Sugar Cookies) with colored sugar sprinkles. I put the plate of cookies on the counter with some props, in front of the Christmas tree for a Holiday feel. On my Canon T1i I used the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens at f/3.2 so I could get some bokeh yet have some cookies in focus. I didn't want any harsh light so I didn't use the flash & set the shutter speed at 1/30. I can't believe I kept my hand steady enough. ISO is at 400. I used Lightroom to clean it up.

Javier Valencia

Teatime Snack

I really wanted to shoot pfeffernüsse because its big in my family and I love it. However I returned from work to find they had all been eaten. So these became my subject and snack to accompany my tea. Shot with my Rebel T4i with a 40mm.

Gretchen Hargrove

Sweetest Treats

Sugar cookies are the sweetest treats for the holiday season, especially the ones shaped as Christmas trees and bells. The light was shining so perfectly over this cookies from the window that I just had to capture this picture before the sun hides behind the clouds. Taken with a Canon Rebel T5i; ISO - 125, f/4.5, exposure time - 1/100 sec

Wei-Wern Ooi

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Unfortunately, there isn't a grandmother's recipe represented in this photo. Instead, both cookies types start with a Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix. The green cookies have 1/4 teaspoon mint extract, 1 cup mint baking pieces, 1 cup mini chocolate morsels, and 8 drops of green food coloring added. The red(ish) cookies have 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, 1 cup peppermint baking pieces, 1 cup mini chocolate morsels, and 8 drops of red food coloring added. Canon 60D — F/13 — 1/200" — ISO100 — 28mm.

Mike Case

Santa Has No Time For Cookies

Santa is a busy guy and he doesn't always have time to sit and enjoy a snack. It looks like he ate and ran. Taken by available light. (North window light on a rainy morning combined with the light from ceiling fixtures and the tree lights themselves.) I used my trusty Canon 5D with my 28-135 Canon Zoom. Exposure details: ISO 800, 1/4 sec, f.9, aperture priority, on a tripod. PS. Our family won't be baking cookies until a little closer to Christmas so these are store-bought, but delicious.

John Locus

Thanks to everyone who participated and made me very, very hungry in the process. The big images are on flickr.