Mother’s Day is a great excuse to bake something special, and cookies are one of the easiest ways to show up with something made with love. Skip the store-bought box and make your mom (or wife) something from scratch instead!
I have dozens of cookie recipes on my site, and here I have selected my favorite Mother’s Day cookies, with ideas ranging from light meringues and fruity blossom cookies to rich copycats and Italian classics. I am certain you will find a simple baking recipe for your mom and grandma on my list.
Gina’s Rundown:
Why I love it: I love these cookie recipes because they’re easy to make, beautifully giftable, and guaranteed to bring a little extra sweetness to any celebration.
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
These lemon shortbread cookies are perfect for Mother’s Day tea time! Buttery, crisp, and full of bright citrus flavor with simple pantry ingredients. They come together in about 30 minutes total and use an easy dough that’s pretty foolproof even for beginners.
Get the recipe: Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Strawberry Kiss Cookies
These soft sugar cookies covered in rainbow sprinkles and topped with a Hershey’s strawberry Kiss are the cutest cookies I’ve made. They are chewy, colorful, and delicious with almost no effort.
Get the recipe: Strawberry Kiss Cookies
Ricotta Cookies
These classic Italian cookies are soft and tender thanks to lots of butter, lemon zest, and fresh ricotta in the dough, finished with a light vanilla glaze on top. The flavor is gently sweet and citrusy without being overpowering, and they hold up well for gifting.
Get the recipe: Ricotta Cookies
Key Lime Pie Cookies
Trust me when I say it, anyone can pull off the iconic flavors in these cookies. Soft-baked cookies with key lime juice, fresh zest, and graham cracker crumbs are super easy to bake. A no-brainer for Mother’s Day gift box.
Get the recipe: Key Lime Pie Cookies
Girl Scout Cookies Lemonades Copycat Recipe
Buttery shortbread rounds made with real lemon juice in the dough and a tangy lemon glaze on the bottom, just like the ones straight from the box. If your mom loves crisp, citrusy cookies, this is the recipe to bookmark.
Get the recipe: Girl Scout Cookies Lemonades Copycat Recipe
Cannoli Cookies
In my recipe for cannoli cookies, ricotta and cinnamon go into the dough, then mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios are folded in to create a flavor that lands somewhere between a cannoli filling and a classic chocolate chip cookie. Very elegant Mother’s Day cookie idea for last-minute gifts.
Get the recipe: Cannoli Cookies
Red Velvet Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies
If your mom loves red velvet cake, I have the perfect Mother’s Day cookie idea for you! These beauties made with Red velvet cake mix and only 4 more ingredients. Super easy one-bowl cookie recipe that takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
Get the recipe: Red Velvet Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies
Birthday Cookies
A soft, chewy cookie that tastes exactly like a birthday cake! Made with vanilla base and confetti sprinkles. Make a batch instead of a cake, and mom gets all the birthday excitement without the trouble. Mother’s Day may not be a birthday, but it is a worthy occasion!
Get the recipe: Birthday Cookies
Cotton Candy Cookies
This recipe makes adorable pink and blue pinwheel sugar cookies with cotton candy flavoring in the dough, finished with icing and sparkling sugar on top. They look like a pro baker made them!
Get the recipe: Cotton Candy Cookies
Thumbprint Cookies
These thumbprint cookies are delicious! Buttery shortbread dough, ground walnuts, and a jam filling. Pick your mom’s favorite jam, and these become one of the most personal cookies you can gift someone.
Get the recipe: Thumbprint Cookies
Cookie Monster Cookies
These thick, soft, blue-colored cookies loaded with mini Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chips are the ultimate Cookie Monster Cookies! If mom has a big sweet tooth and a sense of humor, this is the one to make.
Get the recipe: Cookie Monster Cookies
Pink Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
You can make these cute pink cookies with a classic buttery sugar cookie dough and a bit of sprinkles. They are soft and tender! The sprinkles make them look festive without any decorating skills or piping frosting.
Get the recipe: Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies
If you are looking for sweet cookies that are not strawberry-flavored, but your mom does love berries, these cookies are a must. Cream cheese and butter form the base of these soft, chewy cookies, with freeze-dried raspberries (no need to hunt for fresh) and white chocolate chips.
Get the recipe: Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Soft, thick, and chewy cookies with buttery dough, crunchy macadamia nuts, and creamy white chocolate chips throughout. A classic combination that mom will definitely like, and the flavors are quite unique!
Get the recipe: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Cosmic Brownie Cookies
Rich, fudgy chocolate cookies with a crackly top, a chocolate ganache center, and rainbow sprinkle chips on top, just like the Little Debbie cosmic brownies but in cookie form. If mom grew up on those snack cakes, she would love these.
Get the recipe: Cosmic Brownie Cookies
Unicorn Cookies
These cookies are full of color (yellow, teal, bubble-gum pink, and fuchsia), white chocolate chips, and colorful sprinkles. They take a little patience, but the results are worth it!
Get the recipe: Unicorn Cookies
Copycat DoubleTree Hotel Cookies
Thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies made with ground oats for extra chew, a splash of lemon juice for lift, and sea salt flakes on top for that perfect sweet-salty finish – how can anyone say no to this combo?! If the mom in your life is a chocolate chip cookie person, this is the version that will ruin all other recipes for her. Sorry! (but it is worth it!)
Get the recipe: Copycat DoubleTree Hotel Cookies
Vanilla Cool Whip Cookies
Four ingredients total: vanilla cake mix, Cool Whip, an egg, and powdered sugar to roll them in before baking. They come out soft, pillowy, and crinkled with a sweet vanilla flavor that almost everyone loves.
Get the recipe: Vanilla Cool Whip Cookies
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
A classic baked cheesecake is not that easy to whip up at the last minute, or if you’ve never baked before. Here is a shortcut: strawberry cake mix and cream cheese can make these soft, chewy cookies loaded with white chocolate chips. They taste exactly like cheesecake!
Get the recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Just three ingredients and you can make a batch of 24 cookies! It all starts with a box of lemon cake mix. They are soft, citrusy, quick, and a solid pick for Mother’s Day.
Get the recipe: Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Mother’s Day Vanilla Meringue Cookies
Made with just egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract, these light, crisp meringues melt on your tongue and look beautiful piled on a plate or tucked into a gift box. Pipe them into swirls, add a touch of pink food coloring, and they are ready for a Mother’s Day celebration.
Get the recipe: Vanilla Meringue Cookies
Peter Pan Peanut Butter Cookies
These cookies mix crunchy peanut butter with white chocolate chips for a chewy center and crisp edges that hit all the textures. They bake in about 15 minutes, so you get a nostalgic, from-scratch cookie without a big time commitment. Great for filling up the cookie jar for your mom.
Get the recipe: Peter Pan Peanut Butter Cookies
Any of these recipes makes a great Mother’s Day gift on its own, and a tin with two or three of them together is even better!
If you love those – don’t miss these cookies too!
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