The holidays call for all kinds of special baked goods, especially cookies.

What makes a Christmas cookie perfect? In all honesty, homemade cookies almost always win – especially if it’s based on an old family recipe, passed down through the generations.

There are exceptions, of course. If you decide to do a Christmas cookie crawl (no, it’s not an official event), here’s a bit of what you can expect in terms of traditional Christmas treats. In Monterey, Alta Bakery will soon start serving its signature gingerbread bears, and Parker-Lusseau’s display cases are always merry this time of year. Sweet Reba’s in Carmel decorates a number of festive cookies.

Paris Bakery has two locations, in Monterey and Seaside. The Monterey location is a spot for traditional Christmas cookies in the shapes of Santa, gingerbread men and a holiday wreath. And that – along with the colorful decorations – is what defines the modern Christmas cookie.

At Sweet Elena’s in Seaside there are cookies in the shape of trees, stars and snowflakes, candy canes and reindeer and snowmen. You can even get cookies cut to resemble the belt on Santa’s red suit.

The Christmas cookie, as we know it, originated from Medieval biscuits, flavored with ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, dried fruits and almonds. It was the Dutch who likely introduced Christmas cookies in the U.S., but the real cookie mania came with the invention of a first biscuit cutter patented in America – in 1875, by Alexander P. Ashbourne. By the 1930s even Santa became a cookie monster, now demanding cookies and milk.