The sweetest time of the year is coming up, and as we all know, it simply cannot be Christmas time without cookies!

Fortunately, we have an assortment of great places to take care of that sweet tooth during the holidays, starting with Blackbird Bakery, which has been a regional favorite for 15 years.

Blackbird is a full-service bakery in downtown Bristol that creates all kinds of delicious pastries, donuts, cakes, pies, and cookies. Among the most popular are the Novaks – also known as no bakes (one of Santa’s top choices) – and bachelor buttons. Like many of the local bakeries, you can enjoy a variety of other specialty cookies that change daily or weekly.

Another great cookie spot downtown is Bristol Bagel and Bakery. While bagels are what they’re known for, they also offer up some awesome cookies. Santa’s elves prefer the chocolate chip, while we can’t get enough of the red velvet and cranberry orange.

The Coven Bakery, located on Linden Square Drive (Bristol, Va.), is new to the community but already making quite a splash. The cookies are beyond scrumptious and include popular choices like snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and lots more!

If you love double chocolate chunk cookies, Tip’n the Scale (Pennsylvania Ave, Bristol, Tenn.) is the place for you! While it’s one of the most delicious, there are definitely more to tickle your taste buds, including peanut butter and chocolate chip!

Taste Buds (Pennsylvania Ave., Bristol, Tenn.) also has specialty cookies, as does Bear Necessities (Piedmont Ave, Bristol, Va.). Coming soon to Downtown Bristol is Urban Thistle Bakery, which will specialize in gluten-free and dairy-free cookies and other baked goods.

Bristol is also lucky to have some fantastic chain cookie stores, like Crave (The Pinnacle), Crumbl (Exit 7), and Great American Cookies (The Pinnacle).

Crave’s fresh-baked offerings always include chocolate chip, and there’s a rotating group of other favorites like Campfire S’mores, The Carmelita, The CinnaRoll, and Pecan Pie. Just check their website to see what the current specials are.

Crumbl, like Crave, offers a rotating menu of tantalizingly good cookies, including Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunk, Peach Pie, Churro, Triple Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter Cup.

Great American Cookies is legendary, having originated in 1977. Known for their cookie cakes, the Double Doozies are also tremendously popular, along with Original Chocolate Chip, M&M Cookies, Sugar Cookies, and many others.

Obviously, there’s no shortage of sweet spots to grab a cookie – or 10 – in Bristol during the holidays, so why not celebrate the season by indulging in a little something from every one of them? After all, a balanced diet, aka a cookie in each hand, is the only way to go – especially at Christmas!