16 Easy Cookie Recipes to Make Anytime (2024)

What do these lemon-tahini cookies, pecan-grappa meringues, and crunchy peanut butter cookies have in common? They're all incredibly easy to make! Not only that, but they're all sure to satisfy your cookie craving with flying colors. Want something chewy and chocolaty? Chocolate Brownie Cookies are calling your name. How about sweet, salty, and tangy? Toffee-Apricot Oat Cookies are where it's at. Look no further than these easy cookie recipes when you want all the reward with only a fraction of the fuss.

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Shortbread Cookies

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These crumbly, buttery cookies are a perfect treat with afternoon tea, or with ice cream, fruit, or chocolate for dessert. Personalize them by adding almond extract or citrus zest to the dough when beating the butter.

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Snickerdoodles

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These all-butter snickerdoodles are similar to sugar cookies. They're leavened with baking soda and cream of tartar, which contributes to their chewy texture. The cookies are rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar for their signature flavor.

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Lemon-Tahini Cookies

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The dough for these slice-and-bake cookies can be made and frozen up to three weeks in advance — just let it thaw for 30 minutes first before rolling it in the sesame seeds.

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Giant Chocolate Cookie with Cacao Nibs and Flaky Salt

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The only thing better than a dark cocoa cookie with a hint of chewiness and a generous sprinkle of flaky salt is an impressively oversized one that’s designed to feed a crowd. Cut into wedges, the cookies resemble chocolate shortbread, but these treats — studded with chopped bittersweet chocolate and cacao nibs — are far more indulgent.

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Toffee-Apricot Oat Cookies

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These lacy cookies are studded with tart dried apricot, salty-sweet chunks of toffee, and sweet milk chocolate for the perfect combination of flavors and textures. Be sure to rotate the pans during baking to ensure evenly baked, perfectly crisp-chewy cookies.

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Oatmeal Cookies

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This is the ultimate cookie jar oatmeal cookie, old-fashioned in its simplicity. It's crisp at the edges and chewy in the center, with lots of deep, caramel- y brown sugar notes and the plumpest, juiciest raisins imaginable.

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Lemony Butter Cookies

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Using powdered sugar in the dough in place of granulated sugar gives these lemon buttercookies a deliciously lightcrumb. A simple lemon glaze and sprinkle of lemon zest dress them up almost effortlessly.

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Triple-Ginger Rye Cookies

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Hearty rye flour paired with three types of ginger — powdered, candied, and fresh — lends an earthy, lightly spicy flavor to these delicious cookies.

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Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

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Not only do these four-ingredient peanut butter cookies not require a mixer, but they also don't need flour, making them a great gluten-free option.

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Chocolate Brownie Cookies

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The beauty of this brownie cookie recipe is that you get the virtues of both a brownie and a cookie in one treat — however many you eat. Delightfully rich and chewy on the inside, the cookies boast crisp edges and a generous smattering of chocolate chips that'll surely satisfy your chocolate craving.

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Chocolate Chip-Pecan Cookie Bars

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Bar cookies save you the trouble of portioning out the dough individually. Feel free to swap walnuts or almonds for the pecans, or use half nuts and half dried cranberries for tart, chewy bars.

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Vanilla Crescents

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Incredibly, these light, crispy, and fragrant crescentcookiesrequire only five ingredients to make. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week; dust them with powdered sugar before serving.

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Coconut Macaroons

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These sweet and chewy two-bite macaroons have only five ingredients, not including the delicious bittersweet chocolate drizzle. They're also flourless.

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Spiced Italian Pecan Meringues

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"Don't judge the taste of these cookies by the crags and cracks," says chef Merrin Mae Gray. (Their Italian name isbrutti ma buoni,"ugly but good.") The pecans and potent grappa are unexpectedly elegant, and the crisp outsides and chewy centers make these meringues seriously irresistible.

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Basic Butter Cookie

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Make these soft butter cookies up to a month in advance and store them in your freezer. They can be pulled out and baked a few at a time whenever the cookie mood strikes.

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Dried Cranberry and Chocolate Cookies

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Adding cranberries and rolled oats to buttery chocolate chip cookie dough makes the cookies crunchier and more substantial.

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