What makes a perfect holiday cookie?

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What makes a perfect holiday cookie? On a Sunday afternoon in November, a small team of us shut ourselves away in a commercial kitchen with several hundred cookies, for hours, to determine precisely that.

This year, after eight years on hiatus, the L.A. Times reprised its Holiday Cookie Bake-Off, wherein reader-submitted recipes vie for publication. We received more than 150 recipes for consideration, collecting dozens upon dozens of cookies worth leaving out for Santa. The staff of L.A. Times Food considered the recipes, stories, inspirations and holiday themes to narrow these entries down to around 75 contenders and then further — after days of deliberation — painstakingly whittled them to 25 finalists.

LA Trade Tech baking student Noya Zallan scoops frosting onto what became one of the winning cookies

LA Trade Tech baking student Noya Zallan scoops frosting onto what became one of the winning cookies at L.A. Times Food’s holiday cookie testing.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Then came the day of reckoning. The kitchen at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College whirred to life that Sunday morning, when culinary instructors and students baked through all 25 recipes, dipping cookies into white chocolate, zesting what looked like a grove’s worth of oranges for frosting, and creating a veritable blizzard of finely sifted powdered sugar.

Batches cooled on towers of metal racks, and when ready, the cookies were placed systematically on a grid that spread across two large tables. With the only descriptor a number written on a piece of tape, the Food team and a handful of guest judges had no way of knowing a cookie’s ingredients or provenance. Judges included pastry chefs Ben Sidell, Lara Adekoya and Sherry Yard; author and LATTC instructor Robert Wemischner; Food general manager Laurie Ochoa; deputy Food editor Betty Hallock; senior Food editor Danielle Dorsey; art director Brandon Ly; and me.

This was a blind taste test of 25 cookies, where shortbreads sat beside gingerbreads, which sat beside sugar cookies, which sat beside pecan bars, which sat beside thumbprints. To help make sense of it all, we devised a rubric for scoring across five categories: appearance, aroma, flavor, texture and “holiday vibe.”

While each judge was meant to score silently, occasionally you’d hear preferences discussed: The molasses of one cookie was enjoyable to one, but too prominent or bitter for another; while one judge remarked favorably upon the softness of a cookie, another felt it needed sturdier structure. Not everyone will see eye to eye on the building blocks of a perfect cookie, but what we found were the top 10 best based on our points system.

Two cooks in white chef hats prepare dough at L.A. Times Food's holiday cookie testing on Nov. 9, 2025.

LA Trade Tech baking student Danny Munoz, left, and chef instructor Roslyn Spence preparing dough.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

All 10 incorporated festive flair, be it through cultural significance, traditional flavors such as ginger and cinnamon, a decorative icing or fall-winter produce. And all 10 are deliberate in their styles and steadfast in their flavors; there’s no room for half-committed cookies at the holidays. These cookies — punched up with cardamom or espresso or candied ginger — are as bold as the decorations.

While there might not be a single best answer to what constitutes a perfect holiday cookie, two of our guest judges share their own tips for helping with home baking this season, from prepping to salting.

Ben Sidell, SweetBoy Bakery founder:

“I always say read your recipe three times before you start. The more organized you can be with your prep and really understanding a recipe before you dive in, the better off you’re going to be and the better off the product is going to be.”“Also, everything is intentional, every ingredient is intentional, and it should have a part to play in the recipe. It’s really important that you can taste every ingredient. Whether that’s a spice or a European butter or a mix-in, you want everything to be able to shine, which means don’t overwhelm it.”“I also think resting your dough is super important: giving your dough time to relax so the gluten doesn’t hyper-activate, and you don’t end up with a tough cookie.”“When you’re mixing your ingredients with the final step of the addition of flour, mix until it just comes together, because 30 seconds over, and you have a wildly different cookie than you anticipated — and not in a good way.”

Lara Adekoya, Fleurs et Sel founder:

“Pre-portion everything out before you get started, so when you’re doing the recipe you’re not whipping butter like, ‘Oops, Where are the eggs?’ and then the eggs are cold and they weren’t at room temp.”
Trays of a variety of holiday cookies cool on racks in a commercial kitchen

L.A. Times Food’s holiday cookies cool on the rack during testing.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

“Also, using the highest-quality butter that you can find or afford makes for a better cookie. The better ingredients you put in, the better ingredients you get out, including chocolate, butter, flour, even eggs.” “And don’t forget salt in your recipes always, but also, just sprinkling salt on top of any cookie does not save the recipe. It’s not the solution. Not every cookie needs salt on top.”

Robert Wemischner, author and LATTC instructor:

“Most cookies do better refrigerating before baking. I know the tendency is people want to mix and bake immediately, but I think if people can plan, an overnight chill is not a bad thing. The gluten is relaxing, the moisture is being absorbed and you just get a better final texture.”“I’m a fan of browning butter. In many cookies, that gives another layer of flavor — although it doesn’t work super well if you want to cream a mixture. That works well if you’re going to mix wet and dry [separate ingredients] together; it tends to be a kind of cookie that can be chilled after mixing and then rolling very thin, like wafers or a ginger snap. Brown butter is great with that.”“If people want to put nuts into their cookies, pre-roasting the nuts leads to better flavor. But be careful not to over-brown: They’re going to get a little more browning in flavor in the baking of a cookie. So give it sort of a half-brown — start to get some aromatic quality to it when you’re smelling it in the oven — but don’t go all the way. Then the trick here is to quickly remove them from the baking sheet, dumping them into a bowl or onto a clean surface.”

Sherry Yard, pastry chef and author:

“Always weigh recipes in grams. Scales are super easy to buy and make everything accurate!”“Think about using other flavors beyond vanilla in recipes: I like pulverized fresh teas like Earl Grey in my shortbread. Sprinkle the top of the cookie with a whisper of sea salt — I’m a big fan of smoky sea salt.”“I love adding two to three types of chocolate into chocolate chip cookies. I love adding both milk and bittersweet chocolate to my chocolate ‘chip’ cookies, and go with chunks over chips for oozing pockets and reflective quality. I love to see my reflection in the melted chocolate pool.”“Add instant espresso powder [or ground] anytime you have chocolate.”“Substituting some bread flour will yield a more chewy cookie; substituting 5% of your flour with cornstarch will yield a more tender cookie.”

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Brown Butter Espresso Shortbread

Fiona Zhang created these cookies for a coffee-loving friend’s album release party, but their buttery texture and nutty-coffee flavor feel prime for the holiday season — especially when dipped into white chocolate.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 40 minutes plus chilling time. Makes 12 to 16 cookies.

Brown Butter Espresso Shortbread Cookies by Fiona Zhang