Gwynedd Stuart
Chances are, you’ve been invited to between three and nine cookie swaps so far this season. Why did we normalize making a bunch of work mandatory to attend a holiday party? Anyway, if you are already sick of baking—sorry, Santa!—the best Christmas cookies are on shelves at your grocery store, so you can spend the season zoning out in front of the TV instead of nervously peeking into a 350-degree oven every few minutes.
For this taste test, we rounded up an assortment of the best store bought Christmas cookies—Christmas Oreos, Christmas sugar cookies, Pepperidge Farm Christmas cookies, and more—tasted them head to head, and judged them on flavor and overall festiveness. In general, the best Christmas cookies feel special because you can’t get them all year. You’re going to want to stock up on these before the season is over.
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- Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Baton Wafer Cookies
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Don’t get me started on how hard these tins are to open, but we do like these light, delicate candy cane creme cookies from Trader Joe’s—in fact, these were the only holiday cookies from Trader Joe’s that we actually liked. If you like the flavor of Meltaway Mints (you know, the ones from Hickory Farms?), get a few tins of these to keep in the pantry before they’re gone.
Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s
- Pepperidge Farm Holiday Nog
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You know how I know this is a legit list of the best Christmas cookies? These Pepperidge Farm Christmas cookies are in last place and they’re so good. These are like tender, buttery shortbread cookies but they taste exactly like eggnog. No, really. They have that same sweetness and tang and nutmeg-gy warmth. Unreal—and perfect for dunking in a nice, hot cup of tea.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Overjoyed Cranberry Walnut
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These cranberry walnut cookies were the biggest shocker of the taste test. They’re nice and chewy, and they have a strong citrusy flavor that tastes so good with the berries and nuts (turns out there’s orange oil in the mix). They should call them “Orange Cranberry Walnut” cookies—doesn’t that sound so much better? Anyway, if you shop at an Albertsons-owned grocery store, snag these bad boys.
Credit: Liv Averett / Safeway
- Benton’s Fudge Covered Peppermint Cremes
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What THE HELL happened to the Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s at Trader Joe’s? Our entire panel of taste testers agreed that they taste like the contents of an ashtray. That’s not good! Benton’s Peppermint Creme cookies from Aldi are much better, especially the fudge-covered version. You think they’re going to be too sweet, right? Well if you think of them as a cross between a candy and a cookie, they’re just right. These are the best holiday cookies if you wait all year for your peppermint sandwich cookie fix.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Nestle Toll House Peppermint Cocoa Cookie Dough
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What you get here are individually portioned squares of cocoa cookie dough with red-and-white peppermint chunks embedded in them. The chunks are adorable—they’re square and swirled like starlight mints—but we do wish they were better distributed. They’re a little large, so they can really dominate a bite. Still, we like that they’re not the typical candy cane pieces; they’re soft like white chocolate chips but with a lot of fresh peppermint flavor. The cookie itself has a nice, rich cocoa flavor and it’s very chewy and fudgy, almost like a brownie. They’re great, but they aren’t quite the best Christmas cookies on this list if you’re willing to heat the oven and bake them yourself.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Tate’s Gingersnap Cookies
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Crunchy cookies aren’t for everyone, but Tate’s really does it well. These are just about the butteriest gingersnaps you’ll ever have. The ginger flavor is nice and bright, and the cookies are nice and sandy as you chew—they’re crispy but they’re tender, is how I’ll put it. These are the best holiday cookies if you like ginger cookies but you want something less rigid than your average gingerbread man.
Credit: Liv Averett / Albertsons
- Milano Slices Peppermint
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These Milanos are halfies. They’re topless, as my colleague Jordan Myrick put it. You get the bottom of a Milano, the dark chocolate filling of a Milano, and candy cane pieces sprinkled on the chocolate. They’re so good! Because there’s less cookie, this version of a Milano is more like equal parts cookie and candy. It’s a real treat. These would be so good with a cup of hot chocolate.
Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs
- White Fudge Covered Oreos
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When it comes to Christmas Oreos, there have been some bangers—why oh WHY won’t they bring back Peppermint Bark Oreos??—but this year options are limited. Your choices are Joy! Oreos, which are regular Oreo cookies with wintry embossments and red creme filling, or these seasonal White Fudge Covered Oreos, which are the way to go in my opinion. They are very sweet, but the fudge has some dimension and tastes really good with the cookie—it’s like an even creamier cookies-and-cream cookie experience. If you’re hell bent on buying Oreo Christmas cookies, buy these.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Nestle Toll House Santa’s Cookie Cookie Dough
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This ready-to-bake cookie dough is pretty simple, but it sure is good. Santa’s Cookie, as it’s called, consists of brown butter cookie dough with Toll House morsels and green, white, and red sprinkles. The cookies bake up soft, chewy, and very festive. My colleague Justine Sterling had a bite of cookie with no chocolate and she didn’t even mind because the brown butter cookie itself tastes so good. Plus, Santa deserves freshly baked cookies. He’s probably having a rough year, what with the tariffs and all.
Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs
Holiday Cookies
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Holiday Cookies!
Justine Sterling
Ariana Losch
Danny Palumbo
Jessica Block
Will Morgan
Benton’s Spekulatius Cookies at Aldi’s are actually the best. Buttery, spicy, crispy and crunchy, and so light you could down the whole bag without noticing
Everything is 7.5?