Find festive, unique Christmas cookies at these 6 Phoenix bakeries

Cookies are the ultimate Christmas dessert – perfect for sharing with visitors, swapping with friends, serving on a platter as part of a dessert bar and, of course, for fueling Santa’s busy night of delivering presents.

Whether you like a simply iced sugar cookie or a spicier gingerbread, the options abound. And, if you’re tight on time – or would rather spend the season making merriment outside of the kitchen – these six metro Phoenix bakers have you covered with cookie boxes crafted for the holiday season.

Julia’s Cookies

Local baker Julia Perugini has shown off her holiday baking skills on shows like Food Network’s "Christmas Cookie Challenge" and "Holiday Baking Championship" as well as Magnolia Network’s "Silos Baking Competition." You can learn how to take your cookie decorating to the next level at a class with Perungini on Saturday ($70), where she’ll share techniques like wet-on-wet icing and how to create vibrant colors. The class is recommended for all ages 12 and older. If you can’t make the class, you can still order cookies from Perungini, including her alfajores, or dulce de leche sandwich cookies, on her Etsy shop until Dec. 22.

The Dinersaur

1339 W. Thomas Road

The Dinersaur, an Encanto Village bakery, is offering a sampler box with two dozen cookies for $65. The baked treats include three vanilla-iced oatmeal (make without raisins, The Dinersaur's menu notes), two butterscotch spritz with butterscotch drizzle, two vanilla bean linzers with raspberry jam, two crispy panko snow cookies, two chocolate crinkles, six sesame coins, two glazed lemon-almond snowballs, three gingerbread snowflakes with vanilla icing, one poppyseed snowman with lemony icing and one black cocoa penguin cookie. Boxes may be reserved online and picked up at the shop. The Dinersaur will also have a variety of cookies and baked goods available in the bakery for grab-and-go through Dec. 23.

Valentine

4130 N. Seventh Ave.

Melrose district favorite Valentine will offer a cookie and confection box, featuring 28 sweets for $55. The treats featured in each order are native seed halva; matcha thumbprint cookies with prickly pear jam; puerquitos, or piggie-shaped Mexican piloncillo spiced cookies; langue de chat, a mesquite white chocolate sandwich cookie; mole brownies; pine cone syrup-flavored marshmallows; and pineapple pate de fruit, rolled in sugar and tajin. Boxes can be ordered on Valentine’s website, and will be available for pickup after 11 a.m. on Dec. 23 and 24.

The Art of Shortbread

The Art of Shortbread offers holiday gift packs that range in size, from half a dozen of one flavor to two dozen of up to four flavors ($15 to $53). The Scottsdale baker offers more than a dozen seasonal flavors, including candy cane, apple pie, gingerbread and chocolate orange. The Art of Shortbread also offers gluten-free flavors. Orders can be placed online, or find a selection of the bakery’s shortbread at Cordially, Duck & Decanter, Savale or Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry.

YUM AF Bakery makes gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan treats. For the holidays, YUM has three cookie boxes available, each for $24. The Mini Cookie YUM Box includes bags of bite-sized chocolate chip, chocolate peppermint and gingersnap cookies. The Gingerbread YUM Box features six gingerbread people and tree cookies. The Holiday Variety YUM Box includes one chocolate peppermint, chocolate chip and gingerbread cookie, as well as one red velvet and one s'mores whoopie pie and one hot chocolate cupcake. Orders must be placed online by Dec. 20 and will be available for pick-up on Dec. 23 at Elevate Coffee Co.