20 Meltaway Cookie Recipes (2024)

Home Recipes Cooking Style Comfort Food

Meltaway cookies literally seem to melt in your mouth. How do they do that? It's simple—no eggs and no baking powder.

Pecan Meltaways

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This sweet, nutty pecan meltaways recipe is a tradition in our house at Christmastime, but the treats are delightful any time of the year. —Alberta McKay, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Lemon Meltaways

Both the cookie and the frosting are spiked with lemon in these melt-in-your-mouth goodies. Your family won't be able to get enough of this lemon butter meltaway cookie recipe. —Mary Houchin, Lebanon, Illinois

Caramel Pecan Shortbread

My grandchildren look for Grandma's "candy bar cookies" every Christmas. I recommend doubling the recipe for these sweet treats because they go so fast. —Dorothy Buiter, Worth, Illinois

Butter Meltaways

Beech Grove, Indiana field editor Sue Call suggests, "Add variety to this recipe by substituting lemon flavoring for the vanilla plus a teaspoon of lemon peel."

Peppermint Meltaways

This recipe for peppermint meltaways is very pretty and festive-looking on a cookie platter. I often cover a plate of these peppermint cookies with red or green plastic wrap and a bright holiday bow in one corner. And yes, they really do melt in your mouth! —Denise Wheeler, Newaygo, Michigan

Buttery 3-Ingredient Shortbread Cookies

With only a few ingredients, these butter shortbread cookies are so simple to prepare. —Pattie Prescott, Manchester, New Hampshire

Mimosa Butter Cookies

You can add many different flavors to butter cookies to make them your own. Try an alternate type of citrus zest, or add an alternate liquid to change things up. —Sara Lark, Raton, New Mexico

Christmas Sandwich Cookies

My mother-in-law gave me the recipe for these lovely melt-in-your-mouth cookies. They're a Christmas tradition at our house. —Elizabeth Klager, St. Catharines, Ontario

Coffee Shortbread

When you need a treat for brunch, bake some of these coffee-flavored shortbreads. The chocolate drizzle is surprisingly easy to do. —Dixie Terry, Goreville, Illinois

Slice 'n' Bake Lemon Gems

Rolled in colorful sprinkles, these melt-in-your-mouth cookies are pretty enough for a party. I make a lot of them for holiday cookie trays. (Complete your cookie tray with Chocolate Pretzel Rings.) —Delores Edgecomb, Atlanta, New York

Shortbread

I live in Missouri, but many of our family recipes come from New Zealand, where I lived as a youngster. I proudly claim a Down Under heritage! These special-occasion cookies bring back warm and sweet memories of my childhood, and I'm going to make sure they're passed on to the next generation in my family—no matter where they live. —A. Swenson, Camdenton, Missouri

Folded Hazelnut Cookies

We first made these cookies when my boys were small, and they would always end up covered in flour and with Nutella on their faces. Such good memories! —Paula Marchesi, Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania

Lemon and rosemary make these luscious treats a sweet surprise for a few friends. —Malorie Harris, Wildomar, California

Chocolate Macadamia Meltaways

I came up with this recipe by accident one day when I wanted to make some cookies. I decided to use some ingredients already in my cupboard, and these were the delicious result. —Barbara Sepcich, Galt, California

Scottish Shortbread Cookies

This simple three-ingredient shortbread cookie recipe makes wonderfully rich, tender cookies. Serve them with fresh berries of the season for a nice, light dessert. You'll get miles of smiles when friends see these at an afternoon tea or a bridal shower. —Marlene Hellickson, Big Bear City, California

Homemade Chocolate Shortbread

This recipe has been in my files for a long time...probably from when I first learned to bake. Any chocolate lover will like these melt-in-your-mouth cookies. I make them year-round with variations. They're even richer with a thin coat of icing or as a sandwich cookie with frosting in the middle. —Sarah Bueckert, Austin, Manitoba

Shortbread Hearts

These flaky cookies melt in your mouth. Dipped in chocolate, they look festive.—Barbara Birk, St. George, Utah

Whipped Shortbread

These whipped shortbread cookies melt in your mouth. Mostly I make them for the holidays, but I'll also prepare them year-round for wedding showers and afternoon teas. —Jane Ficiur, Bow Island, Alberta

Lauren Cahn is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared regularly in The Huffington Post as well as a variety of other publications since 2008 on such topics as life and style, popular culture, law, religion, health, fitness, yoga, entertaining and entertainment. She is also a writer of crime fiction; her first full-length manuscript, The Trust Game, was short-listed for the 2017 CLUE Award for emerging talent in the genre of suspense fiction.