Whether you’re baking them for the kids, wrapping them for gift-giving or making a plate for Santa, you can’t go wrong with any of these treasured recipes, wrestled from our readers’ well-worn recipe boxes.

  • Jane West’s Christmas Biscotti
  • “This biscotti is perfect for gifting because they are not only delicious but so pretty, too. I usually put a couple of pieces in a small plastic bag and tie it off with green and red ribbons. Your friends will love you!”
  • Ingredients:
  • 8 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2½ tsp Goslings Black Seal Rum (I never seem to have vanilla extract)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Directions:
  • Beat butter and sugar together in a mixer.
  • Add eggs one at a time before adding rum.
  • Add dry ingredients and combine.
  • Turn out dough onto surface and make 2–4 logs out of it.
  • Place logs on parchment paper and pat down.
  • At this point you can sprinkle the dough with coarse sugar if you happen to have it. I usually don’t!
  • Bake for 20–25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or until the centre is slightly soft.
  • Let them rest for 45 minutes and then slice on a diagonal. 
  • Put the biscotti back on the baking sheet and bake for another 10–15 minutes until crisp. 
  • Once the biscotti is done baking, melt some chocolate in the microwave and dip one end of the biscotti into the melted chocolate and sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies.
  • Lexi Cox’s Holiday Ginger Snaps
  • “Back in the day spices were expensive—especially in Bermuda, so this old family recipe called for small amounts of spices (1/4 tsp). Nowadays you can be more generous, so I don’t hold back on the cinnamon, ginger and cloves in this recipe. You can easily double the amounts and then I add a dash more of cinnamon. It will smell like Christmas in your kitchen for days!”
  • Ingredients:
  • ¾ cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp each of cinnamon, ginger and cloves
  • Directions:
  • Beat shortening and sugar together.
  • Add eggs and molasses.
  • Add flour and spices.
  • Roll into balls and then into a bowl of sugar.
  • Do not flatten the cookies before baking.
  • Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 10–12 minutes.
  • Karen Pritchard’s Scandinavian Almond Bars
  • “My mom used to make these every year for us at Christmastime. My immediate family lives in Canada but I’ve been in Bermuda now for 14 years. I used to make these cookies before I had kids to feel less homesick and now I make them for my three daughters. It makes me feel like my mom is with me and puts a smile on my daughters’ faces. I hope they continue the tradition as they get older and make these cookies for their kids.”
  • Ingredients:
  • 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup room-temperature butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • Milk
  • ½ cup sliced almonds
  • For the almond icing:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • Milk
  • Directions:
  • Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
  • In a large mixer, beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg and almond extract and beat well.
  • Add flour mixture gradually and beat until dough resembles marzipan or play dough.
  • Divide dough into fourths. Shape each fourth into a 12-inch roll. Place 2 rolls 4–5 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each roll to about 3 inches wide. (I use a straight-sided glass jar to get a smooth surface. I also trim the sides to get a neat edge and cut both ends on the diagonal.) 
  • Repeat with remaining rolls.
  • Brush flattened rolls with milk; sprinkle with almonds.
  • Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12–14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
  • While still warm, cut crosswise at a diagonal into 1-inch strips. (I cut the baked, flattened rolls halfway along on the diagonal, lift them with a spatula onto a cutting board, and continue cutting into diagonal strips with a long sharp knife).
  • Leave to cool before drizzling with almond icing. Allow icing to harden before storing.
  • Directions for the almond icing:
  • Mix powdered icing sugar, almond extract and enough milk (3–4 teaspoons) until you get an icing that is the consistency perfect for drizzling.
  • Aunt Ruby’s Cracker Jack Cookies, submitted by Peter Parker
  • “I obtained this recipe from my Aunt Ruby Simpson just before she died in 1975.  It was then, and remains now, a family favourite.  Crispy, but melt in your mouth, the secret is not to over-mix; instead combine just enough to incorporate all the ingredients but leave the Rice Krispies relatively intact.”
  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup butter, soft but not melted
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 2 cups Rice Krispies
  • Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl and mix with fork.
  • Beat eggs lightly and add vanilla. 
  • Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with spatula until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
  • Add Rice Krispies and mix lightly until incorporated.
  • Drop 1½ tbsp rounds onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes until crisp.
  • Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool before enjoying.
  • Carol Sims’s Dream Bars
  • “Dream Bars have always been my favourite Christmas treat. My mom always made them, and the delicious aroma of these yummy treats filled the house while they were baking. It will always remind me of her and Christmas, and so the tradition of making them continues in my home.”
  • Ingredients:
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • Mix these ingredients until mixture is crumbly. Pat into a 9×9-inch pan and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10–15 minutes or until light brown. While the above is in the oven, beat together the following ingredients:
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • Fold in:
  • 1½ cups shredded coconut
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • Directions:
  • Pour mixture over baked crust and return pan to the oven to bake for another 20–25 minutes or until dark brown.
  • Remove pan from oven and allow to cool completely.
  • Cut bars into small squares, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!
  • Jack Durner’s Snowball Cookies
  • “Our family used to make these delightful cookies every year.  They are so light they almost pop when you eat them.”
  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup finely chopped pecans
  • Powdered sugar
  • Directions:
  • In a large bowl beat softened butter. Add sugar and mix till creamy. Add water and vanilla; mix well. Add as much flour as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining flour and pecans.
  • Shape into 1-inch balls or make into logs. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, 1-inch apart.
  • Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit about 20 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.
  • Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
  • Roll cooled balls (or logs) in powdered sugar.
  • Then, let them rest until completely cooled, before rolling them a second time in powdered sugar.
  • Decorate with coloured sugar sprinkles, if you like.
  • Catherine Stewart’s Sugar Cookie Recipe
  • “I have been making this classic cookie recipe for my family every Christmas for the last 5 years. It is not a secret family recipe that has been passed down through the generations, but it is quite simply the most delicious recipe of the quintessential sugar cookie, with its humble beginnings, taken from Pinterest.”
  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp coarse salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar before beating in extracts and egg.
  • In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt and flour.
  • Combine wet and dry ingredients a bit at a time. If dough is a bit too crumbly keep mixing or knead on a floured surface with damp hands.
  • Divide dough into sections to roll out on a floured surface.
  • Cut into desired shapes. Cookies are best on the thicker side, about 1/8-inch to ¼-inch thick.
  • Bake for 8–10 minutes or until cookies have a nice golden colour on the bottom.
  • Let cookies cool completely before decorating.
  • Georgina Ball-Roach’s Famous Ginger Cookies
  • “Besides the wonderful warm notes from the ground cinnamon and ginger, the thing that makes these cookies so special is the chewy bites of crystallised ginger inside.”
  • Ingredients:
  • 4½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 5 tsp good quality ground ginger
  • 1½ tsp good quality ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1½ cups pure butter (not margarine), salted
  • 1¾ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup molasses
  • ½ cup crystallised ginger (chopped into bite-sized pieces—dust them with about a teaspoon of flour to keep the pieces from sticking together) ¾ cups demerara sugar (for rolling)   
  • Directions:
  • Mix flour, ground ginger, cinnamon and baking soda together and set aside.
  • Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and salt and beat until well combined. Add in molasses and mix well.
  • Combine wet ingredients with half of the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the other half of the flour mixture and stir until combined.
  • Add crystallised ginger and stir, making sure the pieces are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
  • Chill dough in the fridge for approximately 15–20 minutes.
  • Using a cookie scoop, place walnut-sized balls on a lined cookie sheet. Cover sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for another 1–2 hours.
  • Before baking, roll each ball in demerara sugar until fully coated and place 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Make sure to work quickly so that the cookie dough is still cold when they go into the oven.
  • Bake on the middle rack at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 12–14 minutes or until cookies puff up and turn a light brown. Cookies should have cracks in the tops.
  • Once done, remove cookies from oven and cool completely.