I’ve gathered 14 Spanish cookies that are easy and packed with personality, the kind you’ll want to make on repeat. If you’re ready to shake up your baking routine and fall in love with something new, you’re in the right place. These treats fill your kitchen with the coziest, most irresistible aromas.
1. Spanish Peanut Cookies
These Spanish peanut cookies are a sweet and salty dream team, loaded with peanuts, coconut flakes, oatmeal, and chocolate chips. It’s like every cookie ingredient I adore got together for one incredible party. Brown sugar brings a deep, almost caramel-like intensity that takes them right over the top.
2. Almendrados (Spanish Almond Cookies)
Almendrados are light, soft almond cookies with a wonderfully chewy bite that reminds me of delicate macarons. You only need four simple ingredients: sugar, eggs, lemon, and almonds.
I’m always amazed at how much flavor comes from such a short list. The trick is whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks, which gives them that airy, tender texture.
3. Alfajores Recipe (Dulce de Leche Cookies)
Alfajores are delicate sandwich cookies made from two tender, melt in your mouth rounds hugging a luscious dulce de leche center. They’re a beloved treat across Spain and all over Latin America, and one bite will show you exactly why. I’m warning you now: once you taste them, there’s no going back.
4. Polvorones de Canele (Cinnamon Cookies)
Polvorones de canele take that famous melt-in-your-mouth polvorón base and give it a cozy cinnamon spin. They’re already fantastic on their own, but the warm spice makes them feel like a cross between buttery shortbread and your favorite snickerdoodle. It’s a glorious flavor mashup.
5. Polvorones
Polvorones might just be the most famous Spanish cookie, and for good reason. They’re sweet, milky, and impossibly tender, practically dissolving into powder the moment you take a bite.
That’s literally the idea: their name comes from “polvo,” the Spanish word for powder. They’re a holiday staple, but you’ll want to make them all the time.
6. Spanish Cacao and Olive Oil Sweet Crackers
These crisp little crackers, also called tortas de aceite, bring together chocolate and olive oil in the most surprising and wonderful way. I know it sounds unusual, but trust me, it absolutely works. They’re sweet, shatteringly crisp, and completely delicious.
7. Marquesas
Marquesas are adorable little cupcake shaped cookies with an insanely soft, moist crumb and a bright lemon perfume. They’re so addictive, stopping at just one is pretty much impossible. And you only need a handful of pantry basics: eggs, sugar, cornstarch, a little lemon juice, and some almonds.
8. Borrachuelo
Borrachuelo takes its name from “borracho,” meaning drunk, because these cookies are happily soaked in wine. The dough itself is a fragrant mix of olive oil, wine, orange, lemon, fennel, and sesame seeds. As if that weren’t enough, they get filled with a sweet pumpkin or sweet potato paste, then finished with a dunk in honey and a snowy coat of powdered sugar.
9. Mantecados
Mantecados are classic Spanish shortbread cookies that usually show up around the holidays, but honestly, I think they belong on your table all year round. The name comes from “manteca,” meaning fat, and that’s exactly what gives them their famously crumbly, melt in your mouth texture. No need for pork fat; good old vegetable shortening works beautifully.
10. Polvorones De Limon
Polvorones de limon are soft, buttery, and crumbly with a sunny burst of lemon zest. That bright citrus really lifts these cookies.
Here’s a fun historical tidbit: many traditional Spanish cookies, like polvorones, were once made with pork fat. The custom dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, when it was used to identify those who didn’t eat pork for religious reasons.
11. Churro Biscotti
Biscotti takes a delicious detour to Spain with this churro-inspired version. The cookies bake up super crisp and get a generous coating of cinnamon sugar. The finishing touch is a bowl of sweet dulce de leche for dunking, and you’re all set.
12. Spanish Churros
Churros are basically Spain’s answer to donuts, and I am completely here for them. They’re crisp on the outside, tender inside, and just right for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. A simple sweet batter gets piped into sticks and fried until deeply golden.
13. Nevaditos (Spanish Powdered Sugar Cookies)
Nevaditos get their name from “nevados,” meaning snow-capped mountains, and one look at these powdered sugar covered beauties tells you exactly why. They’re another traditional Christmas cookie, right up there with polvorones and mantecados. That snowy, sweet coating instantly puts me in a festive mood.
14. Polvorones de Coco
These super soft shortbread cookies are packed with almonds and toasted coconut. And if you haven’t experienced the magic of chocolate and coconut together, this is your sign.
No baking required either! You simply toast the flour, then stir it with milk, sugar, butter, and your flavorings.
