Holiday Cookie Lineup - 7 EASY Recipes

'Tis the season of baking! Most of us will be baking in the next two weeks, be it for parties, our own holidays or new year celebrations.  Since I plan on being occupied with my own fun over the next few weeks, I thought I'd do one of those fantastic cheater posts where I review my favorite holiday-friendly cookie recipes in case you are making some last minute dessert menu decisions. The best part about my list is that they are all SUPER easy, so if you have one of those, "OH CRAP, I FORGOT TO GET A GIFT FOR SO-AND-SO," moments, you can quickly whip up a batch of cookies and act like you planned it that way all along.

Have a cookie that should be on this list? I'm not fancy enough for a linkey, but leave a comment with a link to your favorite, easy, cookie and let's all share!

Drop Sugar Cookies

This recipe is a favorite from my childhood that I recently made as holiday treats for my co-workers. They are quick and easy and very unique. They are soft, light and cakey. I'm told that they taste like old-school Archway soft sugar cookies, but, having grown up in a household that did not believe in store bought cookies, I'll have to take other people's word for it. These are fun because you can add some food coloring to make them festive for a special occasion, and also because THEY ARE DELICIOUS.

This recipe originates from my great grandmother and, other than adding some food coloring, I never alter it. It makes a lot of cookies, so you could easily cut it in half, but, why would you want LESS deliciousness???? :-)

Gingerbread Ninjas (or Ninjabread Men)

Last summer, I bought ninja shaped cookies cutters. I have since been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to be gingerbread season so I could make the coveted ninja-bread-men. As in, gingerbread men shaped like ninjas. If you are not ridiculously excited right now, then I just have to say it-- we can't be friends. But, I guess I'll also state that this recipe does not exclusively work for ninja shaped cookies, and if you wanted to make non-ninja gingerbread men (or ladies), then I suppose that would be acceptable.

To ice these, I used royal icing for the first time. Since I was a first-timer, I used Wilton's recipe. I found I needed to add 3-4 more tablespoons of water than it called for in order to make it pipe-able, and also that it dries so candy-like that it fell off the cookies very easily. However, it piped on well and made for good detailed decoration. Anyone with royal/detailed icing tips, I'll gladly take them!!