Pie gets all the Thanksgiving glory, but a good cookie plate is the quiet MVP: it travels well, it's easy to make ahead, and there's something for the people who don't love pie (they exist!). These are the cookies I reach for all fall, warm and spiced, brown-buttery, nutty, and a couple of fun ones for the kids' table.
At a glance
Warm and spiced
If you want one cookie that tastes like fall, make Taylor Swift's chai sugar cookies, they're soft, buttery, and full of cozy chai spice (and yes, they went viral for a reason). My browned butter oatmeal apple cookies are the other one I make on repeat this time of year: chewy, with little pockets of soft apple and toasty brown butter.
Brown-butter classics
Brown butter is my whole personality in the fall. The best brown butter chocolate chip cookies are exactly what they sound like, deep and toffee-ish, and my Dad's very best browned butter chocolate chip cookies are the family version with a freezer-friendly dough (scoop and freeze now, bake fresh on Thanksgiving). For something a little unexpected, my browned butter cappuccino cookies have a grown-up coffee thing going on that the adults will fight over.
Nutty and chewy
For the cookie-tin crowd, my classic white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are buttery and nostalgic, and my butter walnut cookies are tender, simple, and quietly perfect with coffee. If you want a showstopper, cowboy cookies with salted cereal brittle are loaded, crunchy, and salty-sweet in the best way.
Fun and nostalgic
For the kids' table (or the kid in you), fluffernutter cookies are peanut butter and marshmallow in cookie form, always a hit. Once my new pumpkin cookies and pumpkin snickerdoodles are up I'll add them here too.
Make them ahead (the whole point)
Cookies are the ultimate Thanksgiving make-ahead. Most doughs freeze beautifully: scoop into balls, freeze on a tray, then bag them up and bake straight from frozen (add a minute or two). Or bake a few days ahead and store airtight, most of these keep well for 3 to 4 days. That way the oven stays free for the turkey and pie on the big day.
Want the full holiday lineup?
If you're baking straight through to December, my 12 best holiday cookie recipes has the whole Christmas cookie plan too.
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