Christmas Cookies

[Basilgirl]

I've been making Butter Pecan Turtle Cookies that were on a Land O' Lakes butter box since I was about 12 - that makes 30 years. Yikes. I checked their Web site and it's not posted, but a ton of goodlooking cookies are. There's a similar recipe called Butter Toffee Bars that looks good.

Anyway, the turtle cookies are basically a very simple shortbread crust that is pressed into a 13 x 9 pan and baked, topped with whole pecans (Trader Joe's has great pecans at really cheap prices) and a caramel layer, baked again, then topped with chocolate chips. You let the chips get a little melty and then swirl them around.

This year I'm going to try to make my mom's chocolate pretzel cookies (I think they had cinnamon in the dough) and her poinsettia cookies, which are basically a sugar cookie with butterscotch bits and cut up maraschino cherries on top.

[rcarter]

I got my recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti from the Washington Post's Kim O'Donnel. What's Cooking Video Library

[M. Lucia]

This year I am looking forward to making some old favorites:

Rich Roll Sugar Cookies (recipe from 1962 ed. Joy of Cooking)

decorated with royal icing

George's Vanilla Buttercreams

(powdered sugar, butter, vanilla or splash of bourbon, coated in dark choc.)

Molasses-Ginger cookies

"Sugarplums"

Dates stuffed with marzipan

And I'm looking forward to eating the gifts we usually recieve from different friends, like petit fours and lebkuchen

[sequim]

In a couple Saturdays I'm having my annual Christmas cookie baking party at my house. Each of us usually makes two types of cookies, bars, whatever and then we mix plates up to take home. It's a ton of fun, a mess in the kitchen though!

One of the things I'm making this year are those cranberry white chocolate bars talked about up above. They sound delicious and festive looking too. Just trying to get ideas for another one... saw the lemon ball cookie recipe but was wondering how you could frost a ball - seems alittle tricky.

Edited December 3, 2004 by sequim (log)

[Curlz]

I got my recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti from the Washington Post's Kim O'Donnel.  What's Cooking Video Library

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Thanks, RC!

[helenjp]

we don't have a tradition of this frenzied baking

Flossie, you took the words from my mouth! When I moved to Japan, I discovered that not only did people assume that I was American, they assumed that I baked cookies like an American . So I complied....it's hard work baking lots of cakes in a Japanese size oven, anyway.

I bought a book of Christmas baking by Rose Levy Berenbaum, and discovered that under the special finishing touches were a lot of good year-round cookies, too.

Now what do you know, after nearly 15 years, the rarely used cookie recipes of my childhood, plus all my new discoveries, are part of our family tradition.

These days, Christmas cookie baking usually includes some *only SOME* of the following:

* NZ style "brownies", a chocolate drop cookie with peanuts in it (slightly salted Japanese ones go wonderfully with the sweet choc cookie). Thinking of making them in ovals and dipping half in chocolate this year...

* Triple-layer freeze n' bake butter cookie, with choc/coffee/cardamom layers or alternatively lemon/green tea/purple sweet potato layers - makes a pretty marble cake combo too)

* Gingerbread cookies, dough matured for 2 weeks before baking

* Mexican wedding cakes

* Fortune cookies with ridiculous fortunes folded inside a date in the middle.

* Almond shortbreads with a cherry in the middle (for my kids...a recipe from my great aunt), otherwise shortbread made with ground rice and real vanilla seeds, few coffee crystals pressed into the top to dress them up.

* Burnt butter biscuits with rum

*Zimtsterne - cinnamon star cookies with lemon glaze

* Reverse chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips in a cocoa dough, sometimes chips of peppermint candy as well.

* Twist cookies with your favorite citrus rind grated in the dough, and a citrus glaze. Try a passionfruit glaze if you get the chance...or nutmeg in the glaze...

* Snickerdoodles...With the development of this recipe, the US proved its right to nationhood!!

* Dutch pfefernoten or speculaas from my sister's recipes

* Port wine cookies - wine dough manages to be both crisp and smooth, quiet amazing. Roll out or twist to bake.

I like soft sour-cream and lemon cookies, but my family prefer crisp cookies.

Home use only, too fragile to post...thin molasses (moravian) cookies, prune-filled rugelach, Chinese egg-custard tarts.

Things I'd make if I could buy the ingredients here...currant and mint-stuffed flaky pastry circles, malt biscuits with big sticky raisins, passionfruit petticoat tails. Sigh.

[ella]

Oh, this has to be one of the top reasons why Christmas is my favorite time of year: COOKIES!

We always do fairly traditional spritz cookies (if we can resist from eating the dough before baking it) and gingerbread men. But, reading back over this thread, I read of Hazelnut Linzer thumbprints...Wow. Anybody got a recipe?

[andiesenji]

This has long been a favorite with family and friends. It is an old family recipe, brought up to date by me.

These cookies keep very well.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES, Old English style.

2 cups dark brown sugar (Or you can use 1 cup caster sugar and 1/2 cup black treacle (Lyle's) for a more traditional flavor-mix the caster sugar and molasses together and allow to set for a couple of hours before adding to shortening.)

2/3 cup shortening or unsalted butter

shortening for crisper cookies, butter if you like them softer.

3 eggs, extra large

2 cups flour (pastry flour is best or see below in instructions)

plus 1/2 cup flour. see below!

1 tsp. salt (if using Diamond Crystal kosher salt use 1 1/4 teaspoon)

3 tsp. double-acting baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, freshly ground

1/2 tsp. nutmeg, freshly ground

1/2 tsp. cloves, freshly ground

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons rum

1 cup seedless raisins or Sultanas

1 cup pecans, lightly toasted and chopped into 1/4 inch and smaller pieces.

Method:

Cream the shortening, adding 1 cup sugar (or half the sugar/molasses mixture), gradually,

then beat until fluffy.

Beat the eggs just till blended then beat in the remaining sugar or sugar/molasses mixture.

Gradually beat the egg mixture into the shortening/sugar mixture, continue beating until smooth and creamy.

Sift 2 cups of the pastry* flour with baking powder, salt and spices.

(*Or you can substitute half and half all purpose flour and cake flour)

set aside the 1/2 cup of the flour prior to adding salt and spices.

Mix the rum with the milk and add alternately with the flour to the mixture.

Add the fruit and nuts dredged with 2 tablespoons of the remaining flour and blend into the dough.

Add enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough.

Drop by teaspoons on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake in 375 degree oven until golden brown (about 8 to 10 minutes, faster in convection oven).

Cookies made with butter will spread more than cookies made with shortening.

[andiesenji]

This is another which is very popular with friends and family.

When done correctly, with the ingredients as listed - i.e., Dutch process cocoa,

these cookies are both crispy and chewy at the same time.

I have modernized the recipe and made it in a more reasonable size for today. The original made hundreds of cookies.

Cocoa Cookies

The original of this recipe is over 200 years old. It has been made in my family for at least that long.

These cookies are the most intensely flavored chocolate wafer cookies of any I have tasted - We always had them for Christmas and on special occasions when grandma made ice cream. These cookies are excellent keepers if stored in a tightly closed tin. (however the tin has to be in a locked vault or secret hidey-hole, otherwise they disappear like magic) *Please use only "Dutch-process" cocoa the other kind doesn’t work in this recipe.

I recommend the Double Dutch cocoa from King Arthur Flour and often use this mixed half and half with the Black cocoa from the same source.

Unsalted (sweet) butter 1 stick

Sugar 2 cups

cocoa (*Dutch process) 1/2 cup

water 1 tablespoon

salt 1/4 teaspoon

egg 1

vanilla 1 teaspoon

flour (all purpose) 2 cups

baking soda 1 teaspoon

cream butter and sugar, add cocoa, water and salt.

beat the egg and add with vanilla to the mixture.

sift the flour and soda together twice then gradually sift it into the batter, continue beating until flour is completely blended.

Turn out onto plastic wrap, flatten to about 1 inch thick, wrap dough tightly and refrigerate at least overnight.

I find that the flavor deepens as the dough is stored longer in the fridge.

to bake, preheat oven to 350°

Allow dough to come to room temperature.

Dough can be rolled out between 2 sheets of wax paper to less than 1/4 " thickness. Cut into 2 " rounds, dust with powdered sugar (or vanilla sugar) and bake on baking parchment, or on greased baking sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes but watch carefully, some ovens bake quicker than others - in my convection oven, they bake in 7 minutes-maximum, but often are ready at 5 minutes. Using baking parchment is much easier - just slide the paper off the sheet and allow to cool then ease the cookies off the paper - they should be crisp as soon as they cool

Otherwise you have to be very careful removing them from the cookie sheets and the sheets have to be washed and re-greased before the next batch.

Option #1 This is the easiest for novice bakers....

Form dough into a rope 3/4 to 1" (Tootsie-roll size) in diameter. cut into 1" sections, roll into a ball, roll in powdered sugar (or vanilla sugar), place on baking parchment, flatten with bottom of a hobnail glass dipped in powdered sugar or the vanilla sugar,

bake as above.

Option # 2

roll out very thin right on baking parchment. Using a pizza cutter, pie-crust cutter, crimping roller, etc. cut into strips, straight or wavy, or into squares, triangles or diamonds. Slide baking parchment onto a cookie sheed and bake as above. Slide parchment onto a cooling rack. when cookies have cooled enough to touch, roll into cylinders and dust with powdered sugar or let cool and dip one end into melted white chocolate.

These wafers can also be broken up and sprinkled over vanilla ice cream.

Also can be rolled between sheets of baking parchment to make crumbs that can be used to coat cakes that have been smoothly frosted with buttercream or sour cream or even the old faithful "7-minute" frosting.

[claire797]

This has to be the best shortbread ever. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would be even better with browned then re-chilled (a Sherry Yard trick) butter.

Here's the recipe. It's terrific without using browned butter, but if you're up for experimentation, I'd be interested in knowing it works out with browned butter.

The Best Shortbread Ever

1 cup regular salted butter, cold (or melt and brown butter then chill to re-firm)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cup flour

Place cold butter, vanilla and confectioners sugar in food processor. Pulse until creamy. Add cornstarch and flour and pulse until mixture comes together. Transfer to a large bowl and press mixture (it will be very crumbly) together by hand.

Press flat and cut in shapes. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Edited December 5, 2004 by claire797 (log)

[misstenacity]

I'm also putting together my LIST of stuff to make for the holidays, cookies and everything else. I was talking with a friend about peanut butter cookies and she mentioned getting a recipe from her grandmother that was "like peanut butter fudge" and had no flour. The gist was gotten across and I looked up a few other flourless peanut butter cookie recipes online and then tweaked to produce:

ALMOND UNSPARKLE COOKIES (with apologies to Thomas Haas)

(makes just 2 dozen small cookies, so scale up if necessary)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup almond butter (if unsalted, also add 1/2tsp salt)

1/2 t baking soda

1T kirschwasser (cherry brandy....optional, or could use orange extract instead)

2 eggs

Combine everything gently. Chill dough 1 hour in fridge. Preheat oven to 350. Drop cookies 1T at a time onto parchment; bake 7-10 min, use your judgement. 7min for me was VERY soft and chewy. Cool completely before moving them, especially if you underbaked.

Want some good news? Each cookie is 110 calories (half of which is outstanding-for-you almond fat), and tastes like a Haas "sparkle cookie", but not chocolate and not sparkly (since you don't roll in sugar before baking).

One final note - I used half dark brown sugar and half Splenda and they turned out excellently. If you do that they are 95 calories each.

Enjoy!!!

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[miscellanea]

This Christmas I'm somewhat short on time (I'm finally graduating from college next week and have the family coming to celebrate) but I have managed to start on cookies.

My stipulation this year is that none of the cookies require a rolling pin or cookie cutters.

Here's what I'm planning on:

Dorie Greenspans Sables (from the nytimes food special last month. . . perfect texture and taste)

Martha Stewarts Lime Cornmeal Glazed cookies (such a nice change. Plus, I live in Florida)

Regular chocolate chip cookies (for my dad, who loves them. Neimans recipe minus the espresso)

Loaded Oatmeal cookies (with lots of nuts, chocolate chips, and cinnamon chips)

and if I have time. . .

Pierre Hermé's Korova Cookies

Pistachio Honey Turron

Bizcochitos (you MUST use lard if you attempt these. . . there is no gettting around it)

Happy baking,

S

[Fernwood]

Last year I added a cookie I found in the 3rd edition of Joy of Cooking. Sorry I can't recall the name right now (will try to add later), but they are thin, coffee-flavored crisps, made with both espresso powder and Kahlua. They are dead easy, as they are cut from a frozen log of dough, and delicious, but they need aesthetic help. They are flat, brown and boring-looking. As the recipe suggests, I make the log of dough rectangular, so the cookies are oblong, but they badly want some kind of garnish (minimal labor, please!). They don't need frosting, in my opinion, and they're too delicate to support an entire coffee bean apiece. I'm not particularly talented at clever garnishes and decorations; I hope someone else here has a suggestion.

Thanks, Fern

[Curlz]

Last year I added a cookie I found in the 3rd edition of Joy of Cooking.  Sorry I can't recall the name right now (will try to add later), but they are thin, coffee-flavored crisps, made with both espresso powder and Kahlua.  They are dead easy, as they are cut from a frozen log of dough, and delicious, but they need aesthetic help.  They are flat, brown and boring-looking.  As the recipe suggests, I make the log of dough rectangular, so the cookies are oblong, but they badly want some kind of garnish (minimal labor, please!).  They don't need frosting, in my opinion, and they're too delicate to support an entire coffee bean apiece.  I'm not particularly talented at clever garnishes and decorations; I hope someone else here has a suggestion. 

Thanks,  Fern

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I am not, not, NOT a baker, but my first thought is that you could drizzle them with some white chocolate, and if you wanted to, you could flavor the chocolate with cinnamon or even a little bit more Kahlua...

If you can come up with the name, I'd love to know it, as I have JoC and am looking for more easy cookie recipes for this year! Thanks.

[pam claughton]

Does anyone else make Italian Pizzelle cookies? I haven't seen them mentioned yet. These cookies are Christmas in our house. They're the thin, waferlike cookie with a snowflake pattern etched in, have an anise flavor and are dusted with confectioners' sugar. They are very light and just dissolve in your mouth. So good. We eat them for breakfast even.

Thing is, you need to use a pizzelle maker, an electric waffle like machine, to make them. But, they're so easy, and make great gifts.

[snowangel]

I make the Sour Cream Pecan Dreams from Maidda Heatter's first book, and they are the first ones gone, every year.

[snowangel]

Here is our family's favorite cut out recipe:

Aunt Laura's Xmas Cookies:

2 cups of butter, creamed

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs beaten light

1 t. soda dissolved in a tiny amount of very hot H2O

1 cup flour

1+ t nutmeg

Add sugar to creamed butter. Add eggs. Then,m add soda. Follow with flour and nutmeg.

Add enough flour to make a quart.

Stick outside on the back stoop until chilled and roll out with as little flour as possible.

(sic)

Chilling the dough is essential. As it is, this is a very soft dough, and for some reason, the first batch always spreads, so choose that first batch's cookie cutters accordingly. Chilling on the back stoop, assuming that one lives north of the Mason Dixon Line is essential.

I do think that the recipe card, written in spidery fountain pen is almost 100 years old. It is yellowed. It is stained. You bake them in a moderate oven (her first was wood), which I always took to be about 350. It is a good recipe, and the nutmeg just flat makes it. We always do 1/2 with frosting (powdered sugar type) and 1/2 without. I think I like them better without frosting.

And, lastly, the one thing I wanted from Laura's house was her cookie cutter collection. Thanks to her, I have about 100 of them.

[helenjp]

Fernwood, probably other people have some great ideas for you, because I am not the queen of cookies...when I have a soft, fragile cookie, I sometimes press a few sugar crystals (or the "coffee sugar" type) into it before baking. As you might guess, this is a minimum-effort option!

Another option to consider for a shortbread/butter cookie baked at LOW temperature is shreds of candied orange peel for coffee/chocolate, or even a petal or tiny flower (heartsease pansy petals and flowers are handy, also geranium petals) or a sprig of herb (something like a single leaf of chervil) pressed into the center. Brush lightly with eggwhite and water if you want, to stop it drying out or falling off.

Claire797, I find that subbing browned butter for regular butter in shortbread recipes makes the cookies quite hard. You may need more sugar than usual to make them crisp rather than just hard! Alternatively, try some almond powder (ground almonds, whatever you call them) in place of part of the flour for a more tender texture.

[eslamprey]

This year's cookie list includes:

Molasses cookies cut into big fat gingerbread men

Pecan shortbread

Oatmeal raisin

Hermits

Spicy chocolate stars

Filled sugar cookies with orange-fig preserves

Peanut butter brownies

Nanaimo bars.

My friend and I spent the day mixing and baking, and got them done fast.

[techno foodie]

I can't resist joining this discussion. I'm making the following cookies and candy this year (on Monday, to be exact):

Cookies:

Fruit cake cookies (shared on this site)

White chocolate cranberry bars (also shared on this site!)

Coconut-date skillet cookies (an old recipe from my mom)

Peppermint-chocolate chip meringues

Candy/confections:

Chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls

Coconut-pecan balls dipped in white chocolate

Fudge with walnuts

Mahogany butter crunch toffee

Peppermint bark

Thankfully I have a lot of people who will help me eat it! :)

[kthull]

I just finished a cookie exchange. We were supposed to send a dozen cookies to five different people. I couldn't decide, so I chose six different types to make up the dozen (a seventh was Herme's Hazelnut Chocolate Sables from this thread...didn't send those out since I didn't think it would appeal to everyone's palates). I think all of these will also make it to my own holiday table. Not too sure on the wreaths...they were a bit of a pain (tasty though).

Clockwise from bottom left:

- Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

- Pine Nut Tassies

- Chocolate-Pistachio Wreaths

- Caramel Pecan Cookies

- Caramel Nut Acorns

- Cherry Swirls

[Ling]

Your cookies turned out beautifully, kthull. The caramel pecan cookies especially caught my eye--where can I find the recipe?

[kthull]

Your cookies turned out beautifully, kthull. The caramel pecan cookies especially caught my eye--where can I find the recipe?

←

Thanks! Those were from Gourmet magazine last year. You can find the recipe on epicurious.com.

Enjoy.

[viva]

Kevin, are the peanut butter-filled choc cookies out on epicurious as well? I cruised but couldn't find them. They look delicious!

[kthull]

Hi Viva. Those turned out great. Those and the chocolate-pistachio wreaths were both new recipes for me, so I was glad they turned out. The wreaths were tough to pull off, but after having done it once already, I think the next round would be smoother.

Both recipes are in the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Cookies. I received that as a Christmas gift last year and this is the first time I made my way into it. There are a lot of good looking cookies in that book!