58 Thanksgiving Cookies That Are Better Than Pie
Whether you’re serving them in place of pumpkin pie or just next to it, there’s no question that cookies deserve a spot in your Thanksgiving dessert spread. Why? Because they’re just as festive as any other autumnal dessert, not to mention easy to make…and easier to eat five of in one sitting than pie. (Kidding. Kind of.) Here are 58 Thanksgiving cookies—from pumpkin chocolate chip to apple spice thumbprint—we’re grateful for.
RELATED: 24 Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas That Aren’t Pumpkin Pie
1. Giant Brown-Sugar Snickerdoodle Cookies
There’s extra brown sugar in the batter, so these cookies come out of the oven both crackly and chewy, just how we like them. The cinnamon-sugar coating is the cherry on top.
2. Pecan Brittle Bark Cookies
If a pecan pie and a chocolate-chip cookie had a delicious baby, this would be it. Something truly magical happens when the pecan brittle melts into toffee puddles.
3. Easy Cranberry-Pecan Sandwich Cookies
The name says easy, but how easy, you ask? For starters, the cookies themselves require less than ten ingredients. Use store-bought jam to make them even easier.
4. Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Who needs pumpkin pie when you have a platter of these babies? They’re soft on the outside, creamy on the inside and practically melt in your mouth.
5. Oatmeal Cookie Cream Pies
Come for the softly spiced oatmeal cookies, stay for the dreamy vanilla cream filling.
6. Gingerbread Lattice Cookies
Gingerbread houses? Yawn. This year we’re making these intricate (but still easy) lattice cookies instead.
7. Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies
Would you believe that these cookies take 30 minutes from start to finish? Swirl them with whatever autumnal jam suits your fancy. (We’re partial to pumpkin butter.)
8. Vanilla Bean Thumbprint Cookies with Dulce de Leche
Everyone will ooh and ahh when you serve them…just don’t mention that the filling came straight from a can.
9. Caramel-Stuffed Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
Nothing against regular gingerbread, but molten caramel-filled gingerbread is *that much* better.
10. Maple-Pecan Icebox Cookies
The beauty of an icebox cookie is that you can keep the dough in your freezer ahead of time, then slice and bake the day of. (To be filed under “genius.”)
11. Butterscotch Icebox Cookies
We have a soft spot for those butterscotch chips you buy at the store, so naturally we’re eating at least three of these cookies.
12. Gluten-Free Flourless Cocoa Cookies
“No flour, no problem” is our new mantra. Erin McDowell’s cocoa cookies are so fudgy and dense, you won’t even miss it.
13. Eggnog Snickerdoodles
There’s no better way to get ready for the holidays than with cookies that taste like a cup of spicy-sweet eggnog.
14. Chocolate-Peppermint Icebox Cookies
Make the dough ahead of time and bake ’em whenever.
15. Matcha-Cranberry Linzer Cookies
They’re. So. Festive!
16. Brown Butter, Pistachio and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies
If we’re being honest, you had us at “brown butter,” but these shortbread stunners also happen to be simple to make. Don’t skip the flaky salt on top.
17. Molasses Cookies
This won’t be the last time you whip up a batch of these soft, spicy crowd-pleasers. What can we say? We like to start the season early.
18. Cinnamon Spiced Sugar Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting
Our favorite kind of pumpkin patch is packed with cinnamon, nutmeg and a drizzle of brown butter frosting.
19. Apple Cinnamon Spice Whoopie Pies
The key to all that autumnal flavor is to reduce the apple cider to a syrup, then whip it into the spiced buttercream filling. We’re drooling.
20. Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel
They’re the ideal ratio of salty and sweet…and they'll help you avoid your great aunt Sally and her weird cranberry gelatin mold.
21. Cardamom Chocolate Chip Cookies
Truth be told, we can’t think of an occasion when the classic chocolate-chip cookie wouldn’t be appropriate. The cardamom here just kicks it up a notch.
22. Salted Gingersnap Mallomars
You can only get the real ones when it’s cold outside…but now you can make them at home whenever a craving strikes.
23. Spiced Cocoa Polvorones
Call them Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies or snowballs—either way, they’re delicious (and gluten-free).
24. Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
You could eat that stash of pumpkin butter by the spoonful…or you could put it in your cookies. It’s your call.
25. Orange Butter Cookies with Chocolate Ganache
In a world of store-bought Milanos, be a homemade orange-chocolate sandwich cookie.
26. Cranberry Dark Chocolate Biscotti
If you’re not already brewing a fresh pot of tea, you should be. These cuties were made for dunking.
27. Cranberry Coconut Macaroons
Soft, sweet and just tart enough, these morsels check all the right boxes. They’re also gluten-free and totally vegan, a win-win.
28. Healthy Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Salted Maple Frosting
They’re “healthy,” thanks to coconut and almond flours. That means you can acceptably eat half the batch, right? (Thanks, Monique Volz.)
29. Browned Butter Nutella Linzer Cookies
We’ll go weak in the knees for anything that involves browned butter. Ditto for Nutella.
30. Peanut Butter Stuffed Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies
It’s tough to improve a peanut-butter-chocolate-sandwich cookie, but the pumpkin-shaped cutters are doing it.
31. Cranberry Bliss Cookies
These sure beat anything red, jiggling and shaped like a can.
32. Maple Cinnamon Star Cookies
You don’t have to dust them with edible glitter, but it’s Thanksgiving. What better day to go all out?
33. Vanilla Cherry Chocolate Cookies
When the theme of the evening is over-indulgence, it’s nice to have something tart to balance everything out. We owe you one, dried sour cherries.
34. Vanilla Bean Icebox Cookies
In our not-so-humble opinion, vanilla is a highly underrated flavor. Serve these with a side of, yep, vanilla ice cream.
35. Pecan Pie Cookies with Butter Pecan Frosting
Our favorite flavor of pie just got a festive, fancy upgrade. You can cut them into whatever shape you want. (We’re doing turkeys, in case you were wondering.)
36. Pistachio Icebox Cookies
Slice and bake right before the guests arrive. (Is that a candle? No, it’s just these freshly baked cookies.)
37. Pumpkin, Cranberry and Pecan Cookies
Pumpkin, pecan and cranberry pie walk into a bar, and the rest is history.
38. Winter Shortbread Cookies
Carlene Thomas’s buttery shortbread cookies are spiked with rosemary and cranberry, so they’ll fit right in next to your turkey and stuffing. Seriously—they’re savory enough you could serve them with the dinner.
39. Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Permission to eat these for breakfast granted. (Psst: They only take 30 minutes to make.)
40. Caramel Apple Spice Thumbprints
If you could capture the flavor of the season in a single cookie recipe, this would be it. For super-consistent thumbprints, use the handle of a wooden spoon instead of your fingers.
41. Crème Br?lée Cookies
They feel fancy enough for a fete, but they’re also pretty foolproof. The base is a classic sugar cookie recipe, and the frosting is just cream cheese—easy peasy.
42. Pumpkin Pecan Mexican Wedding Cookies
Melt-in-your-mouth tender, these cookies are like an itty-bitty pumpkin pie in each bite. If you use coconut butter, you can even make them vegan.
43. Oatmeal Cranberry Sandwich Cookies with White Chocolate Cream Filling
The cranberries add a pop of color to these sweet sandwich cookies. The best part? It’s a two-cookie-in-one deal. Thanks, Maria Lichty.
44. Flourless Candied Ginger Molasses Cookies
They’re just as chewy and spicy as your grandma’s traditional recipe, but minus the refined sugar and flour.
RELATED: The 40 Best Thanksgiving Dressing and Stuffing Recipes You Haven’t Tried Before
45. Nutella Sandwich Cookies
They’re like magical airy clouds.
46. Milk Bar’s Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Put a new spin on an old classic by adding big chunks of sea salt to your chocolate chip cookies. Heidi Larsen shared Milk Bar’s recipe for the famed treats with us.
47. Minneapolis Blackout Cookies
Jesse Reilly puts her own spin on blackout cookies with a recipe that includes bittersweet chocolate chunks, cocoa powder and caramelized white chocolate.
48. Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Dip
Not technically a cookie, per se, but who can say no to cookie dough...as a dip?
49. Rocky Road Cookies
Ice cream lovers, rejoice: You can make these chocolate cookies in just 30 minutes (and top them with rocky road ice cream, of course).
50. Copycat Pirouette Cookies
There’s no need to buy a premade gift basket just for the can of Pirouettes. Stefani Pollack gives us the perfect at-home recipe for the cylindrical cookies, including a tasty Nutella filling.
51. Glazed Doughnut Cookies
What’s better than a doughnut and a cookie? A doughnut cookie. It’s got all the cinnamon-sugar flavors and sprinkle-topped icing without that whole fried-in-a-vat-of-oil thing.
52. Chai Tea Wedding Cookies
We love whipping up a quick batch of wedding cookies—the powdered sugar is everything. If that’s your jam too, try Jane Ko’s chai tea version.
53. Miso Sesame Shortbread Cookies
Why do these sesame shortbread cookies taste so amazing? Jodi Moreno will tell you it’s because she added umami with two tablespoons of sweet white miso.
54. Boozy Chocolate Chip Cookies
As long as kids aren’t involved, pass around Gaby Dalkin’s Kahlúa-infused chocolate-chip cookies.
55. Oreo White Chocolate Pudding Peppermint Cookies
Chunks of Oreo and peppermint candy adorn these pudding-based cookies from Maria Lichty.
56. ALMOND BUTTER SHORTBREAD COOKIES
If cookies are all about crunch for you, have them plain. But we promise the almond butter buttercream won't disappoint.
57. Heart Thumbprint Cookies
Sweeten up your Thanksgiving table with these berry-filled thumbprint cookies.
58. Sweet Potato Sugar Cookies with Marshmallow Topping
If you, like us, are convinced that the sweet potato casserole Great-Aunt Sally serves every Thanksgiving is more of a dessert than a side dish, then these sweet potato sugar cookies with marshmallow topping are for you.