9 Unique Christmas Cookies - Greedy Girl Gourmet

Looking for Unique Christmas Cookies recipes for your Christmas cookies box for kids and adults? From 3-ingredient brown sugar cookies (1 dough, many cookies) to Hazelnut Nutella Cookies and easy Asian Chocolate Cookies ideas, these winter baking ideas will be the highlight of your Friendsmas Celebration or Exchange Xmas Gift Ideas!

5 unique christmas cookies for a gift box exchange with text.

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Nut-tilicious
Brown Sugar
Matcha
Expert Tips
💬 Comments

Fun fact: My Father and Grandfather both worked in a cookie factory. Every summer vacation, I was slaving away in the hot factory, so I definitely feel I know a bit about Asian cookies. (Unfortunately, My Father claims otherwise!)

Nut-tilicious

Black Sesame with Chocolate

Half-eaten black sesame cookie with chocolate.

If it's specifically Chinese cookie recipes you're looking for, click here.

Any leftover black sesame paste can be used in 1 of these black sesame recipes, to make Heukjima Latte or Black Sesame Soup!

Note: Black sesame isn't a nut but it has a very nutty flavor!

Easy Chocolate Black Sesame Cookies (No Mixer)

These easy Chocolate Black Sesame Cookies are delicious but super simple to make in UNDER 30 MINUTES. You simply stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients. (No stand mixer is needed, saving you precious wash-up time!) The nuttiness of the black sesame elevates the chocolate and makes it a more grown-up, not overly sweet cookie, with crisp edges and a soft, cake-like interior.

Click here for the black sesame chocolate cookies.

Close-up of a large, thick chocolate black sesame cookie.

Nutella Cookies

A tray of dry, hard, cracked hazelnut chocolate cookies made with too much flour.

Tip: garnish the top of the cookie with a toasted nut for a great crunch!

3-ingredient Nutella cookies

This delicious easy Nutella cookies only require 3-ingredients and are like a cake in cookie form! They're soft with crisp edges and have the fragrant Nutella hazelnut aroma!

Click here for the hazelnut chocolate cookies.

Close-up of a freshly baked Nutella cookie.

3-ingredient Cookies

Many round almond cookies on a white plate.

3-ingredient Almond Flour Cookies (GF) (DF)

These 3-ingredient Almond Flour Cookies are so easy and delicious, they're life changing! Naturally sweet from the almonds, they're perfect for those who have a sweet tooth! (These bake up into light and chewy cookies with a soft texture, not crispy ones!) (Gluten Free) (Dairy Free)

Click here for the soft almond cookies.

Close-up of a round cookie with a whole almond in the centre.

Walnut Cookies

Chinese Walnut Cookies (Hup Toh Soh)

Also known as He Tao Su, these classic vegetarian cookies are easy to make at home, using store cupboard ingredients, and can be made vegan as well (info below). Crispy, crumbly and fragrant, they go well with coffee or milk tea!

Try these vegetarian walnut cookies!

Chinese Walnut Cookies with Chinese New Year red packets

Peanut Cookies

This is a popular egg-free cookie recipe in Singapore (I use eggs only to wash the cookies but you can skip that and do a milk or oil wash instead.)

Tip: if you can't make your own peanut powder, you can get ground peanuts from the Asian supermarkets. However, there's no substitute for roasting your own nuts- they're so fragrant!

Chinese Peanut cookies

If your friend likes peanut cookies, she'll love these traditional chinese ones- they're so good someone once ordered 22 jars of them in a go! The recipe was developed after baking over 2000 cookies, as can be seen from the different versions shown in the photo!

Check out these old-fashioned Chinese peanut cookies.

12 types of Chinese peanut cookies made from 12 different recipes on a plate

Buttery Almond Cookies

6 American style Chinese walnut cookies on a Peranakan plate.

Similar to fortune cookies, these "Chinese" cookies were actually created by Chinese immigrants in America, and not China!

Use high quality almond extract and almond flour (not almond meal) for extra almond flavor.

P.S. In case you've not guessed, I'm a huge fan of nuts. Hence, I have these sweet and savory nut recipes on Greedygirlgourmet

Chinese Almond Cookies 2023 (Buttery)

These Chinese Almond Cookies are the Asian-American version: they have a sweet, buttery and crisp texture, making them utterly delicious!

Click here for the American Chinese cookies!

Close-up of a hand picking up a Chinese almond cookie.

Brown Sugar

Easy 3-ingredient Brown Sugar Cookies

Buttery, crisp but flaky and not-too-sweet, these deliciously easy 3-ingredient Brown Sugar Cookies are the perfect Holiday Bake for fall and winter! Lots of flavor for very little work, they're the perfect bake for when you're feeling lazy and don't have eggs.

Click here for the easy brown sugar cookie recipe!

Someone dipping a brown sugar cookie into a cup of tea.

Matcha

If you're a green tea fan, here are some some delicious ways to use matcha, such as matcha muffins, that go beyond Starbucks inspired hot matcha latte, and matcha lattes.

Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate

Click here for the festive green cookies.

Green Tea

12 bright green matcha cookies on a wire rack.

Easy Matcha Cookies 抹茶クッキー (4-ingredients)

These delicious and Easy Matcha Cookies 抹茶クッキー (4-ingredients) are a green tea shortbread that is soft and chewy. They have a beautiful green color, taste wonderful and are so easy you can make them perfectly the first time! (Matcha is expensive so I have also added a budget friendly option.)

Click here for the matcha tea cookies.

Matcha cookies with white chocolate on a white plate.

Brown Sugar Christmas cookies with text on them.

Expert Tips

Tip #1: A properly preheated oven needs time- it will take at least 12-15 minutes to get to 350F/ 177C/ 157C fan (give or take depending on the size of the oven.) So remember to add this extra time into your baking schedule!

Which of these Unique Cookie Recipes will be making it into your Friendsmas Cookie Box this year? Tag me on social media (#/@greedygirlgourmet) if you make any of these!