23 Slice-and-Bake Cookies to Keep Stashed at All Times
Technically, cookies made with cookie cutters are slice-and-bake cookies, right? Those recipes call for cutting the dough (with a special tool and into a more complex shape than a circle or rectangle, sure, but it’s still a one-punch “snip”) and then putting the pieces into a hot oven. Even if it’s technically true, though, we decided to omit recipes that require cookie cutters from this list of slice-and-bake cookies. We want to keep things simple, so for all that you see below, a sharp knife will do.
Also, they’re all make-ahead cookies. That means the prep time is already handled; the only things you need to be concerned with day-of are when to preheat the oven and what the cook time is. And how many cookies you’ll eat.
TL; DR: Make slice-and-bake cookies, win the day—for you and for everyone else, too.
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Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Jesse Szewczyk, prop styling by Hazel Zavala and Caroline Newton
Chile-Cheese Cookies
A savory pick for the first of our slice-and-bake cookies? Yes. Be sure not to call them crackers: these cheesy, buttery cookies aren’t a vehicle for something else. They’re the main event.
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Kelsey McClellan
Honey-Vanilla Sablé Cookie Dough
This seemingly simple cookie hides big flavors: vanilla (beans, not vanilla extract), a good amount of honey, and a whisper of ground cardamom. We love them just like this, but the same dough can transform into pistachio thumbprints, which multiple staffers proclaim their all-time favorite holiday cookie.