Desserts

Cookies Through the Decades | 18 Recipes from the 1930s to 2010s

Here at Yankee, we’ve been making Christmas cookies for more than 75 years. We’ve picked our favorite bar, cutout, ball, sandwich, and drop cookies from each decade to bring you an edible history of American holiday baking. The 1930s Gingerbread Puffs The original recipe for “Potato Drop Cookies—Molasses” reflects the economy that home cooks practiced […]

By Amy Traverso|Dec 11 2013| Print icon

Cookies on a plate and chocolate peppermint sandwiches in a box with a tag reading "Merry Merry" on a table.

Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies and Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies

Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Here at Yankee, we’ve been making Christmas cookies for more than 75 years. We’ve picked our favorite bar, cutout, ball, sandwich, and drop cookies from each decade to bring you an edible history of American holiday baking.

The 1930s

Gingerbread Puffs and Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Gingerbread Puffs The original recipe for “Potato Drop Cookies—Molasses” reflects the economy that home cooks practiced during the Great Depression, and we found the actual results to be  a little too cakey and dry. With a few changes, however, these gingerbread puffs now have a soft, moist texture, with the added pleasure of making good use of leftover mashed potatoes. Get the recipe for Gingerbread Puffs. Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies These old-fashioned sugar cookies are based on a 1939 recipe that ran in December. “No old-time Christmas was complete without a fat stone crock packed tight with filled cookies,” it read. “This is an old New Hampshire recipe.” Get the recipe for Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies.

The 1940s

Brownies and cookies in an open vintage-style box on a lace tablecloth with a decorative tag.
Cranberry-Honey Walnut Drops and Chocolate-Date Brownie Bars
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Cranberry-Honey Walnut Drops We updated this recipe with a combination of honey and maple syrup (for flavor) and added lots of chopped cranberries and walnuts for both flavor and texture. Get the recipe for Cranberry-Walnut Drops. Chocolate-Date Brownie Bars These delicious chocolate-date brownie bars won $3—a second-place finish—in Yankee’s June 1949 reader recipe contest. At the time, dates were still a novel and exotic ingredient, having first been grown commercially in the 1920s. Get the recipe for Chocolate-Date Brownie Bars.

The 1950s

Greek Nut Crescents and Split-Second Jam Cookies
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Greek Nut Crescents (Kourabiedes) This recipe for Greek Nut Crescents (kourabiedes) appeared in February 1958 in an article by Duncan MacDonald, then Yankee’s food editor and lifestyle maven. Essentially shortbread with nuts, they’re similar to Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies. You can make them with any nuts you like: hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, or walnuts. These cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days, and they also freeze well. Get the recipe for Greek Nut Crescents. Split-Second Jam Cookies These jam cookies take less than 20 minutes to put together and another 20 minutes to bake. They’re tender and buttery, with great contrast from the tart jam. The recipe first appeared in Yankee about 10 years ago, a submission from reader Johanna Hurwitz, but they date back several decades before that. Get the recipe for Split-Second Jam Cookies.

The 1960s

A baking tray with iced star and heart-shaped cookies, alongside cookie cutters and green sprinkles.
Lemon-Glazed Caraway Cookies and Honeymoon Cookies
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Lemon-Glazed Caraway Cookies This recipe takes us back beyond the 1960s to the very beginning of American cooking. In fact, its roots are in the first cookbook ever published here, a 1796 work called American Cookery, printed in Hartford, Connecticut, by Hudson & Goodwin. The cookies were delicious but a little plain, so we made some adjustments, including a lemon glaze. Now they’re perfect: fragrant, buttery, and just sweet enough. Get the recipe for Lemon-Glazed Caraway Cookies. Honeymoon Cookies In 1960, reader Jane Goyer of West Boylston, Massachusetts, sent us this recipe for her grandmother’s soft sugar cookies, filled with minced apples, nuts, spices, and raisins (we substituted dried cranberries). They’re like tiny apple pies. Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients; these honeymoon cookies are very simple to make. Get the recipe for Honeymoon Cookies.

The 1970s

Cookies and fruit bars with icing on a wooden board, decorative ornaments and a gift box nearby.
Potato-Chip Cookies and Treasure-Chest Bars
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Potato-Chip Cookies Intrigued by their period authenticity (the ’70s are, after all, when the term “junk food” was coined), we gave these potato-chip cookies a try and found that they were not only delicious but fun to serve with a “guess what’s in them?” quiz. They’re worth making at least once, both for their flavor and for the surprise factor. Get the recipe for Potato-Chip Cookies. Treasure-Chest Bars Here’s a fruitcake variation that people actually love: tender frosted bars studded with dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate (that’s the “treasure”). Treasure-chest bars were popular in the ’60s and ’70s, and we published this version of the recipe in November 1978. Get the recipe for Treasure-Chest Bars.

The 1980s

A table with peanut butter bars in a tray, chocolate truffles in a basket, a recipe sheet, scissors, and twine spools.
N0-Bake Chocolate Rum Balls and Congo Bars
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
N0-Bake Chocolate Rum Balls Since 1971, the 40 or so women of the now-famous Wellesley Cookie Exchange have gathered each December to swap dozens of Christmas cookies and recipes. In 1986, we published The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook, compiled and edited by Susan Peery, and the book has become a classic. One bite of these delicious no-bake chocolate rum balls will make you understand why. Get the recipe for N0-Bake Chocolate Rum Balls. Congo Bars If you like soft chocolate-chip cookies, you probably like blondies and Congo bars even better, since the ratio of chewy center to crisp edge is more in your favor. This Congo bars recipe, adapted from the 1986 Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook from former Yankee editor Susan Peery, yields delicious chocolate-chip squares jazzed up with pecans and coconut. Get the recipe for Congo Bars.

The 1990s

Two cooling racks with cookies and a "Home Made" stamp, alongside bakery bags on a pink-tinted wooden surface.
Semi-Retro Chocolate-Chip Cookies and Gluten-Free Pine-Nut Macaroons
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Gluten-Free Pine-Nut Macaroons This gluten-free pine-nut macaroons recipe was first published in a special Yankee holiday baking supplement from the 1990s, and we love how richly they taste of almonds and buttery pine nuts. You just need a little bit of patience to let the cookies sit for 30 minutes before baking—that gives them the coveted crisp exterior and chewy interior. Get the recipe for Gluten-Free Pine-Nut Macaroons Semi-Retro Chocolate-Chip Cookies Remember the 1990s obsession with white chocolate? You’ll find both white and bittersweet chocolate in these classic cookies, and the combination is lovely. This recipe was created by former Yankee food editor Leslie Land, who passed away this past summer and is remembered fondly by many. Of this recipe, she wrote in her signature wry style, “These are old-fashioned in containing chopped chocolate instead of chips, modern in their inclusion of white chocolate. The texture is moist and slightly chewy—if you want crisp, might as well go for the recipe on the bag.” Get the recipe for Semi-Retro Chocolate-Chip Cookies.

The 2000s

A plate of pastries topped with raspberries and a few cookies on a white lace tablecloth with milk jugs in the background.
Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets and Pistachio–Cherry Icebox Cookies
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets A hazelnut shortbread forms the base of these tartlets, which are filled with raspberries and chocolate ganache. Get the recipe for Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets. Pistachio–Cherry Icebox Cookies Pastry chef/teacher Cindy Salvato developed these pistachio-cherry icebox cookies for Yankee in 2004, and they remain a favorite, both for their exceptional flavor and for their festive red-and-green color scheme. Get the recipe for Pistachio–Cherry Icebox Cookies.

The 2010s

Cookies on a plate and chocolate peppermint sandwiches in a box with a tag reading "Merry Merry" on a table.
Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies and Gluten-Free Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies
Photo Credit: Michael Piazza
Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies These delicious Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies are a nod to the current craze for “gourmetified” junk-food classics. In fine bakeries around New England, we now see tongue-in-cheek artisanal interpretations of Oreos, whoopie pies, and Pop-Tarts. Here, we took the Oreo meme a step further, adding crushed candy canes for a little holiday pizzazz. Get the recipe for Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies. Gluten-Free Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies A startling number of people these days are reporting gluten sensitivities, and gluten-free baking has become an important subspecialty for recipe developers. We love the flavor and texture of these tender gluten-free cornmeal-based cookies, and the way the raspberry flavor complements the corn. Get the recipe for Gluten-Free Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies. May all your Christmasses be sweet!

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

More by Amy Traverso

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  1. Hi,

    I’m looking for a recipe for a cookie called Nutmeg Logs. The recipe was published in Yankee Magazine a long time ago. I can’t find my recipe. I can’t tell my family. They would ask me to move out. Can you please help me ?
    Thanks,
    Peg

    Reply

  3. In one of your Christmas issues, in the lates 80’s maybe, you had a wonderful sugar cookie that had coconut and I think lemon extract. I believe the recipe was Nana Chadburnes Santa sugar cookie. The cookies was decorated to look like Santas face using a mitten pattern. I’ve moved a couple of times and have lost the recipe. I’ve tried to duplicate but I would love the original if you could find it. Thanks!

    Reply

  4. I am looking for a recipe for the al-time best ginger cookie. It was in the magazine in the 90’s. One of it’s features was having both powdered ginger and fresh ginger (and NOT candied ginger). It was a recipe from a person who owned an inn or B & B, and served many hundreds of these cookies in her town during the Christmas season. Believe it or not, I think my dog ate this recipe.

    Reply

  5. I, too, am looking for a cookie recipe from the ’90s. It is a Swedish butter cookie in the same article with the best ginger cookies. I have that page, but cannot find the butter cookies. Thank you!

    Reply

  7. Hi,
    I am looking for a Chocolate Crackle Cookie from the Yankee Magazine around 1979 early 80’s. It was with a recipe called Jewel’s Thumb Print Cookie, and I lost the page with the Chocolate Crackle Cookie recipe. Maybe you could find trace it down for me. Much appreciated!!

    Reply

  8. I am looking for a recipe that used to be offered at a local bakery called “Merri Mac Bakery”. I believe the cookies were called fruit bars. They were very delicious and our family loved them however, the Bakery has long closed and I am not sure if the lady that owned it is even still living. Can you offer any assistance?

    Reply

  9. Hey, can anyone tell me where you can find Commodores Cookies from, they were popular in in the 60 t late 70’s. please let me know I want to buy some to let my kids taste them. They were so delicious.

    Reply

  10. I am looking for a recipe for Aunt Maria’s (Aunt Mariah’s) Sugar Cookies. They came in a tin and we’re sold for sure in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I believe the company was from New Hampshire and I think the advertised in Yankee. My Grandma had them mailed to college students and campers and out of state grandchildren.
    Any thoughts?

    Reply

  11. I am looking for a cookie recipe my mother used to make. It had raisins and chocolate chips in it and had a spice taste.

    Reply

  12. My FIL has talked about his grandmother making the best lemon cookies. I have found a lot of lemon cookie recipes but they are sugar cookies. I wish I could find the recipie his grandmother had in the 20s-40s!!

    Reply

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