Christmas cookie

Gingerbread has existed in some form since sugars and spices were brought back to Europe, from soldiers in the Crusades. However, it was not until Queen Victoria and Prince Albert included it with a variety of other German Christmas traditions that the gingerbread cookies became primarily associated with Christmas.[3] Gingerbread cookies are also traditional in Alsace.

Two batches of pfeffernüsse: sugar-coated in bowl, cocoa-coated in box.

Bredele are Christmas cookies in Alsatian cuisine of France.

A traditional cookie which dates from the Middle ages in Norway, Fattigmann cookies are deep fried in unsalted fat.[4]

Kerstkransjes are traditional Christmas cookies from the Netherlands. They are round with a hole in the middle. The most usual type uses almond chips as decoration.

Five cone shaped krumkaker

Krumkaker are traditional cookies from Norway. They were originally baked over open fires using decorative irons; however modern cooks use electric or stovetop irons to bake these wafer-thin biscuits. Krumkaker owe their name, which means "bent cake" or "twisted cake", to the fact that they are wrapped in a cone shape.

Pepparkakor are crisp, thin gingersnap biscuits from Sweden, traditionally cut out in flower and heart shapes.[4]

Pfeffernüsse originate in Scandinavia and date from medieval times when spices were used exclusively in holiday baking.[4]

Repostería is a Mexican type of shortbread-like cookie that is lightly baked and dipped into a cinnamon sugar blend until the cinnamon sugar surrounds the cookie.[5] These are often served with coffee or hot spiced Mexican chocolate.

Sandbakelse and tins

Sandbakelse are sugar cookies from nineteenth century Norway. The dough is pressed into tins, and then baked in an oven.

Springerle have been traditional Christmas cookies in south Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg) and Austria for centuries. They are anise-flavored cookies made from an egg-flour-sugar dough. They are usually made in simple shapes, such as rectangles or circles.

A traditional Austrian springerle

After shaping, they usually have a picture or design pressed into the soft dough with specially carved rolling pins or presses. After they are baked, the designs are sometimes colored if the intention is to use the cookies as decorations.[6]

Also called Amish sugar cookies or Nazareth sugar cookies, the modern sugar cookie was created by the Moravians, who settled in the Nazareth area from Germany during the mid-18th century. Pennsylvania adopted the Nazareth sugar cookie as the official state cookie in 2001.[6]