Holiday Cookies!

Most of us are in high cookie mode – I’m not, but hope to be. Last year, I shared a post that linked to dozens of cookie collections around the internet and I feel like we can never have enough cookie recipes!

We are in the process of indexing Good Morning America’s 25 Days of Cookies. So far we have the following cookies indexed: 

• Cookies and cream stuffed Santa bellies cookies by Taste of Home
• Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies by Snoop Dogg
• Candy cane cookie sandwiches by Alex Guarnaschelli 
• No-bake holiday cornflake cookies by Taste of Home

Online cookie recipes are indexed daily and can be viewed with this search. To further inspire your cookie platter, we reached out and asked our members to share their favorite cookie recipes (original or adapted). Below I have provided you with those recipes including photographs when provided. We will index this list of recipes so that you are able to add them to your bookshelf. Later this week, I will add all the participant’s names into a random draw and send a member a cookie inspired gift! 

Happy Baking!

Glühwein linzer hazelnut cookies by Lora Wiley of Diary of a Mad Hausfrau

• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Bake Time: 10 minutes
• Res/Chill Time: 60 minutes
• Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

For the Glühwein Jelly Filling:

• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1star anise
• 1 inch of a cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 1 package of plain gelatin
• 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the cookie dough:

• 1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup hazelnut flour
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Make the Mulled Wine Jelly Filling:

Heat the red wine in a small saucepan. When the wine has come to a boil, add the star anise, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, lemon and orange zest. Lower the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let the mixture rest for half an hour.

Place the gelatin and 4 tablespoons of cold water in a small dish to dissolve it.

Strain out the spices and pour the spiced wine back into the saucepan.

Over a medium flame, stir in the gelatin, 1/3 cup of white granulated sugar and the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Remove from heat, set aside and let cool completely.

Make the Hazelnut Cookies:

In a separate bowl whisk together the all-purpose and hazelnut flours. Set aside.

Cream together the unsalted butter, white granulated sugar and vanilla sugar or extract.

Beat in the egg until just combined.

Add the flour mixture a bit at a time until just combined.

When dough comes together, pat into a ball, wrap in plastic cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough and use two different sized star cookie cutters to create shapes. Use the larger star cookie to cut out all the cookies. On half of those large stars, use the smaller star cookie to cut a star-shaped opening in the middle of the cookie.

Place on parchment paper. Taking care to place the whole star cookies on one sheet and the cutout cookies on another.

They will have two different baking times which is why you don’t want to combine the shapes on one baking tray.

Bake the solid star cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just start to brown. Bake the cutout star cookies for 6-8 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just start to brown. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assemble the Cookies:

If the mulled wine jelly has hardened too much to make it difficult to spread. slowly warm it up over a very low flame until it softens a bit.

Sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar on a small flat plate.

Use a small pastry knife to spread the mulled wine jelly on the solid star-shaped cookie.

Take a cutout star cookie and flip it upside down onto the plate with the powdered sugar. Rub it on the plate until the underside is covered with powdered sugar.

Shake off the excess and place the cutout, powdered sugar side up, on top of the jelly spread cookie. Repeat until all the cookies have been married.

Place on a serving platter and serve. Lora has a number of cookie recipes on her blog.

 

Jumbo oatmeal raisin cookies by Judy Krist

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. With an electric mixer,cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Add oats, raisins and coconut, beat just until combined.

3. Drop level 1/4 cup measures of dough 1 1/2 inches apart onto baking sheets. (I used parchment paper)

4. Bake until cookies have spread and are golden brown and soft to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 20 large cookies.

 

Old-Fashioned Hermits by Mauria Plouff of Get The Good Stuff

 I’ve a weakness for molasses cookies of all kinds. The best of them are deeply, darkly, delicious; chewy, both sharp and mellow with spices, and will keep for weeks – that is, if I can hide them from my family long enough. I’ve never been able to keep any long enough to test how long they’ll actually last! Hermits are a traditional cookie in New England, with published versions going back to the 1870s. They keep so well that many sailors on clipper ships were sent off on their voyages with a tin of these cookies. Some maintain that hermits improve as they age.

My grandmother’s people were sailing folk from Thomaston Maine, and from them comes this version of an amazing, wonderful bar cookie.

• 2 cups + 1 tablespoon (262 g) flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1½ teaspoons ground cloves
• ½ cup (1 stick) + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup (212 g) packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup molasses
• ¾ cup raisins

Sift or sieve the dry ingredients together, to mix them well and to remove any lumps.

Cream the butter and brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl at least twice. Add egg, mix well, then add the molasses, again mixing very well. Add the dry ingredients and raisins, mixing slowly so the flour doesn’t fly all around the kitchen. Stop when the dough comes together and you see no streaks of flour.

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces. With wet hands, shape each piece into a log about 1 1/2″ in diameter, about 12″ long. (Wet hands helps keep the dough from sticking to you)

Wrap the dough logs in waxed paper and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to a week. Unbaked logs may be frozen, double-wrapped, to prevent loss of moisture.

To bake: heat oven to 375˚ and line a cookie sheet with ungreased parchment paper. Put two logs on a single cookie sheet, leaving at least 3 inches between them, as they will spread. Sprinkle the tops of the logs with granulated or turbinado sugar.

Bake 17-18 minutes, until the bars are puffy but still soft in the center. Slide parchment with the bars right onto a cooling rack, then let cool completely. Cut the dough strips crosswise into bars, and store the cookies in an airtight tin.

NOTE:  recipe may be doubled and can be found on Maurita’s blog along with other cookie and bar recipes.

I’m submitting a recipe for a savory cookie that I adapted from a community cookbook compiled by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX, where my mom worked in the 80’s. I always loved when my mom made these cookies. They are quite simple to make but they look and taste pretty sophisticated, especially if you use a pretty cookie cutter to make them. They go well with a cheese/charcuterie platter or as an appetizer, and they are also a unique option for a cookie exchange, as an alternative to sweet cookies. Enjoy!

Green peppercorn cookies by Samantha Gordon Danner

• 2 oz / 57g / 1/3 c chilled vegetable shortening
• 3 7/8 oz / 110 g / 1/2 c / 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 7/8 oz / 82 g / 1/3 c boiling water
• 10 oz / 285g / 2 c All-purpose flour
• 1/8 oz / 4g / 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 2g / 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 2/3 oz / 75g pecorino romano, grated
• 2 2/3 oz / 75g low moisture part-skim mozzarella, grated
• 1/4 cup / 60g / 2oz green peppercorns packed in water, rinsed and drained

Yield: approx. 70 cookies

In bowl of a stand mixer (or a medium mixing bowl if not using stand mixer), combine shortening, butter, and boiling water, and using the whisk attachment on the mixer or with a whisk, whip until creamed.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to the creamed butter-shortening mixture and mix with paddle attachment or spatula until combined. Stir in grated cheese. Form dough into disk and wrap with plastic wrap or wax paper. Let chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours .

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F.

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Evenly sprinkle dough with green peppercorns, then fold dough over the peppercorns to enclose them. Roll dough out again to about 1/4″ thickness. Using a ~1″ diameter round fluted-edge cookie cutter, cut dough into pieces (or use knife to cut into 1″ squares or diamonds if preferred). Combine any scraps and gently re-roll and cut them to yield more cookies. Place on an unlined/ungreased sheet pan (you will need at least two pans, or you can work in batches), and bake in oven for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown.

Our Jane submitted her family’s recipe for Shortbread.

My Scottish grandmother was renowned for her baking and one of the highlights whenever we visited my grandparents was her bringing out the baking tin. Her shortbread was my favorite and I’m so glad I got the recipe from her before she died when I was 17. I inherited her baking bowls which I still use all the time and whenever I make this shortbread (it’s an essential part of Christmas baking) I remember her. This is not a thin, crispy dessert shortbread. It’s a deep bar which is best with a cup of tea (British of course).

Shortbread

• 16 ounces of all-purpose flour
• 8 ounces ground rice or rice flour
• 16 ounces of butter, softened
• 8 ounces superfine sugar

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix flours together. Cream butter and sugar then gradually add flours. Press into shallow 10 x 14 inch tin. Prick all over with a fork. Bake in oven for about an hour or until a pale biscuit color.

Ricotta jam cookies with vanilla drizzle and pistachio sugar by Jessica Montalvo

Cookies:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 16 tablespoons butter
• 3 eggs
• Zest of ½ medium orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (substitution: 1 teaspoon vanilla)
• 15 ounce container Ricotta cheese
• 4 ounces sour cream
• 4 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup raspberry jelly (or your favorite jelly)

Drizzle:

• 1 ½ cups confectionery sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk (additional may be needed to thin drizzle to proper consistency)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• ¼ cup pistachios
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, followed by extract(s), zest, sour cream, and ricotta.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda, and add in two portions to wet ingredients, beating together until just incorporated. When completely combined, add ¼ cup jelly by spoonfuls over the batter and gently fold into the batter with two to three strokes.

Chill batter in the fridge for at least two hours.

Scoop chilled batter by the teaspoon onto the lined baking sheets and bake until slightly golden brown on the bottom and around the edges, approximately 15 minutes.

While dough is chilling, prepare the drizzle by thoroughly whisking the drizzle ingredients together, adding more milk as necessary to achieve a drizzling consistency.

To make the topping, pulse the pistachios and sugar together in a coffee grinder or food processor.

Allow the cookies to cool completely before drizzling with icing and topping with a sprinkle of the pistachio sugar.

Chewy ginger spice cookies by Dana Banovetz

The warm spices of ginger and cinnamon feel like the holidays to me. These cookies are very ginger forward with a warming spiciness and although they are thin like gingersnaps they stay chewy.

• 2 ½ cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespons butter
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (works best if grated from frozen)
• 2 eggs
• ½ cups sugar

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

Melt butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Continue to cook on medium-low, whisking or swirling the pan occasionally until the butter just begins to brown about 3-5 minutes.

Transfer browned butter to a bowl and whisk in ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Allow to cool for a couple minutes.

Whisk in brown sugar, molasses and fresh ginger. Whisk in both eggs. Stir in flour mixture just until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour until firm and chilled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment.

Use a 2 teaspoon (small) cookie scoop to portion cookies and roll into balls with your hands. Roll balls in sugar until coated. Place on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes (or 8 minute if using convection). Until cookies appear set and cracks appear. Cookies may start to darken on the outer edges.

Allow cookies to cool 2-3 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Store in tightly covered container.

Kris Kringles by Lori Joyal

Dough:

• 2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, and then add to butter mixture until fully combined. Cover and chill 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a floured surface, roll out portions of the dough to 1/8″ thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Reroll scraps but take care not to reroll too many times as it will make those cookies tough. Bake one sheet of cookies at a time, in the middle of the oven, for 6-8 minutes or until pale golden. Cool on wire racks before icing.

NOTE: if you prefer thicker cookies, roll dough to 1/4″ thick. Baking time may increase just a bit as well.

NOTE: I keep any cookies that are “on deck”, cut and ready for the oven, on a cookie sheet and then keep the sheet in the fridge until the oven is free. I find that if the dough gets too warm the cookies spread too much and lose their shape.

Icing/Decorations:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk or half and half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• food coloring if desired
• decorations as desired: colored sugar, sprinkles, dragees, coconut, etc.

Combine icing ingredients. If mixture feels too loose, add more powdered sugar. If it feels too stiff, add more milk/half and half. Once it is the consistency you prefer, spread on cooled cookies and decorate as desired.

Makes anywhere from 4-9 dozen cookies, depending on how think you roll the dough and how big the cookie cutters are.

Toffee bars by Nancy Gruber

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 8-10 oz semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• Finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Use a large ungreased jelly roll pan. Preheat oven to 275.

Mix butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, flour & salt together until well blended and crumbly. Using fingers, press dough into pan. Smooth the surface of the dough & try to get as even a thickness as possible.

Bake for one hour.

Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate morsels. Wait a few minutes, then spread melted chocolate over the entire surface. (If necessary, place pan back in oven for a short while to melt chocolate.) Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press lightly into chocolate. While still warm, cut into smallish squares, rectangles or triangles. Leave in the pan until completely cool. Firm chocolate by placing pan in freezer or frig for a bit. Remove from pan & store in airtight containers.

Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on the size cut.

 

Cinnamon caramel swirl bar by John Lamonica

Servings: 48

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 package caramel candy (14 ounces) Kraft caramels unwrapped
• 1/4 cup milk
• 6 ounces chocolate chips

Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

Blend together brown sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and pecans in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture and mix well. Set aside 1 cup of this batter.

Spread remaining batter into a 13×9-inch baking pan lined with parchment. Bake 15 minutes or until firm.

Melt caramels and milk in a bowl over simmering water (bain marie). Cool 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour over baked layer in pan, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edges.

Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over caramel.

Drop reserved batter by spoonsfull over caramel/chocolate chip layer. Cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until center is set

Cool in pan on wire rack

Cut 6 x 8 for nice bite size pieces

Store in an air tight container. If layering; put waxed paper between each layer to prevent sticking together

Butter tart squares by Barb Copeland 

Crust

• 1 cup cold cubed unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons of icing sugar
• 2 cups of flour

Filling

Line a 9 x 13 pan with sprayed tin foil. In a bowl using a pastry blender/cutter cut butter into icing sugar and flour until small pea size lumps form. Press down into pan. Bake at 350′ for 10 mins. Remove from oven and make filling.

Melt butter, whisk in brown sugar, eggs,vanilla and white vinegar. Spread over crust and bake 20-25 minutes until the top is set and a bit loose, Let sit 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Optional: You may add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts if you prefer.

Lemon ginger and beet cheesecake cookies by E Duell

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar (can also be made with slightly less)
• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon of squeezable minced ginger
• ~ 2 tablespoons of pureed beet / beet juice, or to taste (this is mainly used to naturally color and for the illusion that these are healthy)

Preheat oven to 350˚F

Whisk together sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, butter, lemon peel, vanilla, ginger, and pureed beet in a large bowl until combined.

Beat in the egg and then add the flour until combined.

The dough should be relatively easy to roll between your hands without being overly sticky.

Scoop onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for roughly 10 minutes.

Fudgy-peanut butter fudge filled cookies by Jenny Hartin (lower left in photo above)

Dough:

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 16 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate 
• 2 cups chopped toasted walnuts
• 2 cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 4 tablespoons of peanut butter
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the dough: in a mixer, beat together the shortening and brown sugar. Add the milk and the egg, and beat until combined. Add the salt, baking powder, vanilla and flour. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined.

Remove dough from bowl, cut in half. Roll each half of dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Peel waxed paper off the bottom of 1 of the layers and place it in a greased 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Press dough with hands into the corners of the pan, trimming any pieces that come over the sides. Peel off the waxed paper from the other side.

Meanwhile, stir all the filling ingredients together. Evenly pour fudge filling on top of first layer in pan. Remove waxed paper from 1 side of top dough layer and place that side over filling. Then remove waxed paper from the top side. Bake until top is brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 4 to 5 hours or even overnight. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into serving pieces.

English ginger cookies by Darcie Boschee

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups (9 ounces) ap flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, molasses, sugar and egg together in medium bowl or bowl of standing mixer. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add to creamed mixture. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in additional granulated sugar (coarse sugar works great here). Place on ungreased cookie sheet (parchment is fine). Bake until tops crack on top (6-8 minutes).