There’s nothing quite as delicious as the smell of cookies baking in the oven. Personally, I love oat cookies, preferably with a few chocolate chips thrown in. Other people love shortbread cookies. And other people just love cake. That’s okay too!

For Christmas, I love giving edible gifts to my friends and family. This year especially, we’ve all become a little more familiar with our kitchens. We have a few more weeks left of lockdown 2.0 in Ireland and I recommend that you master these four cookie recipes now to ensure you’ve got them down to a fine art ahead of the big day on December 25th.

Dark Chocolate Oaties

These are my absolute faves. The oats give these cookies a super nutty texture and makes these the perfect cookies for dunking. The almond flavour is warming and comforting and the smell is out of this world. These cookies look really well when tied up in a rustic fashion with brown paper and string to give them a beautiful homemade look that is full of love for the person receiving the gift.

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

At Christmas I always have a Terry’s Chocolate Orange. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without one, in my opinion. These cookies capture my love of orange chocolate and are perfect for gifting. If you’re unsure about someone’s liking for orange chocolate, you could swap out for milk, dark, white or mint chocolate.

Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies when down a treat with my housemate, earning me the coveted title of “best housemate” – woohoo! The key here is to not skimp on the chocolate topping. It really is the finishing touch that brings these milk chocolate chunk cookies to a new level. I think these cookies look lovely packaged into a patterned biscuit tin for gifting.

Lemon & Coconut Cookies

These cookies, I think, are for the more adventurous person in your life. People can be skeptical of adding fruit flavour to cookies but I think it is a game changer. The lemon and coconut will bring a little tropical feel to the Christmas table. You could swap out the lemon for chocolate chips here too, chocolate and coconut is always a winner.

Christmas 2020 is certainly going to be different than in previous years. However, it’s not going to stop us enjoying treats and maybe this year we’ll have time to make more home-baked treats ourselves. If there are any recipes you would like to see me sharing, send me a note via the contact form or on Instagram @thebakingnutritionist.