Traditional Christmas Cookies from Around the World
Almost every country has a Christmas cookie that tastes of December to those who grew up with it. Some are stamped in wooden moulds, some rolled while warm and some wrapped in paper like little gifts, all baked from guarded family recipes. Local ingredients and history shape each one, so a port city with spices bakes differently from a village with olive groves, and a Christmas cookie in one place may belong to a saint’s day in another. Below are eleven of them.
What Christmas Cookies Are Baked Around the World?
The choice of cookies was based on their association with a particular location and holiday celebration rather than popularity during the month of December. Each cookie is listed with the location of its origin, its description, and the reason it belongs to the season. Much like Slotozilla’s guide, where adults can read the full information about mobile casinos on Android before choosing an app, each entry here gives the key facts in one place. A few of the treats in this list are not strictly cookies, and this is made clear in their entries.
Nürnberger Lebkuchen (Germany)
Nuremberg’s spiced gingerbread, flavoured with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, is a Christmas market classic. The finest version, Elisenlebkuchen, has no more than 10% flour and at least 25% nuts, according to the city’s tourism office. Monks baked it as early as the 14th century, and it has held EU protected status since 1996.
Pepparkakor (Sweden)
These thin ginger cookies take their name from pepper, which, along with cardamom and anise, was once common in the dough, as The Local notes. By the 19th century they had become a Christmas favourite. Monastery pharmacies once even sold them as medicine for low spirits.
Krumkake (Norway)
Krumkake is a thin, golden cake baked in a patterned iron and rolled into a cone while hot, often with a hint of cardamom. According to Store norske leksikon, it began as an Easter cake and moved to Christmas after Norway adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1700. Today it is one of the seven traditional Christmas cookies, the sju slag.
Speculaas (The Netherlands)
Speculaas is a firm, spiced cookie pressed into carved wooden moulds in shapes such as windmills, as culinary historian Janny de Moor describes. Strictly, it belongs to Sinterklaas on 5 December, but many families keep it on the table through Christmas. The name may come from the Latin speculum, meaning mirror.
Scottish Shortbread (Scotland)
Made from butter, flour and sugar, shortbread gets its crumbly texture from its high fat content, according to Walker’s Shortbread. Because butter and sugar were once costly, it became a treat for Christmas, Hogmanay and weddings. Mary, Queen of Scots, was reportedly fond of the petticoat-tail shape.
Polvorones de Estepa (Spain)
These crumbly Andalusian sweets combine flour, lard, icing sugar and almonds with cinnamon and lemon or vanilla. Each one is wrapped in paper twisted at both ends, as Foods and Wines from Spain describes. The genuine version comes from the town of Estepa, near Seville, and holds protected geographical indication status.
Ricciarelli di Siena (Italy)
Ricciarelli are soft almond cookies made with almond flour, sugar, egg whites and orange zest, then dusted with powdered sugar, according to Visit Tuscany. Naturally gluten-free, they fill Siena’s bakeries at Christmas alongside panforte. In the 15th century, costly almond paste reserved them for the banquets of lords.
Melomakarona (Greece)
These oval olive oil cookies, flavoured with orange, cinnamon and clove, are soaked in hot honey syrup and topped with walnuts. They are among Greece’s best-known Christmas sweets, as Neos Kosmos explains. Their link to ancient funeral offerings is best read as tradition rather than proven history.
Qagħaq tal-Għasel (Malta)
Maltese honey rings are a pastry rather than a classic cookie, filled with spiced treacle, citrus rind, cloves and aniseed, as SBS Food describes. Despite the name, modern recipes use treacle instead of honey. The rings even appear in an old Maltese carol, Ninu, Ninu tal-Milied.
Kulkuls, or Kidyo (Goa, India)
Kulkuls are crunchy curls of fried dough made with flour, semolina and coconut milk, rolled over a fork and coated in sugar syrup. They belong to kuswar, the Christmas sweet platter Goan Christians share with neighbours and friends, according to Outlook Traveller. Technically, they are fried rather than baked.
Biscochitos (New Mexico, USA)
Biscochitos are crisp anise cookies made with lard and dusted with cinnamon sugar, brought to the region by early Spanish settlers, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State. They appear at Christmas, weddings and baptisms. In 1989, New Mexico became the first US state to name an official state cookie.
What Makes Christmas Cookies Different Around the World?
Local ingredients explain much of the variety: spices came with trade, while olives, almonds and coconuts were used where they grew. A few patterns repeat across the eleven treats:
- Spices such as cinnamon, cloves and cardamom flavour Lebkuchen, pepparkakor, speculaas and melomakarona.
- Nuts are the base of ricciarelli and polvorones and top melomakarona.
- The fat shows the region: butter in shortbread, lard in polvorones and biscochitos, olive oil in melomakarona.
History did the rest, turning former luxuries such as shortbread and ricciarelli into festive treats. Some even changed holidays, like krumkake, which moved from Easter to Christmas.
Why Are Christmas Cookies Such an Important Holiday Tradition?
Baking during Christmas turns the recipe into a memorable moment. A box of Lebkuchen, a plate of melomakarona, or a tray of kuswar is just as much a gift as a cookie, and many of them are baked as gifts to be given to friends, relatives, and visitors. In Goa, giving the tray is more or less part of the greeting ritual.
It has become an enduring tradition only because it is maintained by the community. The Lebkuchen from Nuremberg and Polvorones de Estepa have their recipes legally protected in Europe, and New Mexico legally recognized its biscochito in 1989. However, whether it is by law or by grandma’s custom, the effect is the same.
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