I must confess. I'm a terrible baker. I hate to measure things. I much prefer improvisation in the kitchen to rigid adherance to a recipe. After making bread that could be used as a door stop, I have succumbed to the fact that I just can't bake.
Every year I leave the daunting task of baking Christmas cookies to my daughter who's a wizard with flour, sugar and butter. However, she'll be visiting my parents in Florida after her college semester is over and won't be back until just before Christmas. So, unfortunately this year baking the cookie list is mine to tackle.
It looks like I'm going to have a pretty big crowd at my place Christmas Eve, so I better get baking. I have several tried and true favorites, but as usual, I'm always in search of something new to try. There are so many great cookie recipes out there, it's hard to limit myself, but I was able to narrow it down to twelve kinds. It's like my own 12 Days of Christmas....Cookies. There were several others I wanted to try, but they will just have to wait until next year. I hope I can get to baking all the ones I picked.
I never worry about making too many cookies. They freeze well, so you can enjoy them all winter long. They also make great gifts for the hairdresser, party hostesses, the mailman, and your neighbors. If your time to bake is limited, try sharing recipes amongst your friends and setting up a cookie exchange.
Here are the cookies that made my list this year. A few are tweaks to old favorites; some I'm trying for the first time. Most of them are simple; a few are involved. I make small cookies to enable guests to indulge in several kinds without feeling too guilty.
Peanut Butter Rolo Cups
Photo: BarbaraBakes.com
This is a little twist to the Peanut Butter Blossom cookies where you nestle a miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cup into peanut butter cookie dough in a mini-muffin pan. I discovered a few years ago after buying a mixed bag of individually wrapped Hershey's candies that Rolos are even better than Reese's in this recipe. The gooey caramel, melty chocolate and peanut butter cookie combine into a tasty little morsel of Christmas goodness. I usually cheat and use the pre-packaged peanut butter cookie mix. Like I said, I hate measuring. And you just add an egg, mix in a few tablespoons of water and oil, and voila, cookie dough. It's probably better than I could make from scratch anyway.
I found this recipe online and think I'll add the suggested pecan on top to turn my plain Rolo Cup Cookies into Turtle Peanut Blossom Cookie Cups!
Hungarian Butterhorns
Photo: celtnet.org.uk
These were a staple in my house growing up around Christmas time. The dough is probably the most delicate on the list, and the process of rolling the individual butterhorns is quite tedious, but the work is well-worth it. Buttery. Nutty. Flaky. You can't go wrong with this cookie on your tray.
This recipe is pretty close to my Mom's, except hers calls for 3/4 cup sour cream and 1 cup each of dates, raisins and walnuts for the filling mixture, which gives a nice little chewiness to the cookie. Since I like smaller cookies, I divide the dough into eight portions. Each ball of dough is then rolled out, covered with filling, cut into wedges, rolled up into cookies, and baked.
Bavarian Castle Sugar Cookies
I'm not exactly a patient person, so I usually find cutting, baking and decorating rollout sugar cookies to be too tedious. It might be fun to do when your children are small, but ours are all grown now and our grandchildren live too far away to have a cookie decorating day.
However, when I was in Germany with friends earlier this year, I visited Neuschwanstein for about the 10th time. In the gift shop I found the cutest fairy tale castle cookie cutter that renewed my enthusiasm to make cutout cookies this year. They'll be perfect for this year's Christmas Eve Bavarian Feast. I'll also make a few snowflakes to decorate as well while I'm at it to help set the mood.
Though there's a recipe inside the box, I'll probably just use pre-packaged roll-out sugar cookie dough.
Spritz Cookies
Photo: allrecipes.com
To add a bit of color to the cookie platter, I like to make Spritz cookie trees, wreaths and poinsettias. I add lots of food coloring to get nice vibrant colors. Make sure you invest in a sturdy metal cookie press for the best results. You might need to make a few practice squeezes before you get the cookies just right, but no worries. Just recycle the spent dough and press again!
There are plenty of recipes out there for Spritz cookies, but here's the one I use.
Saltine Cracker Toffee
Photo: allrecipes.com
These are an absolute all-time addictive favorite that I make every year. The first time I had them was at a friend's house. I couldn't stop eating them. My friend gave me the whole tin to take home and I understood why--she couldn't stop eating them either. My family devoured them within a day or two. I actually forbade her from making them ever again to protect my waistline (a lot of good that did me). But, I did ask for the recipe.
They are so easy to make. In about 15-20 minutes you'll have any entire jelly roll pan full of delicious toffee made with Saltine crackers, of all things! Just break the sheet up into the desired sized pieces and watch them disappear. They're the perfect combination of salty and sweet. You can't just have one!
I found this recipe online the most similar to the one my friend gave me years ago. Since I have several other cookies using pecans, I'll use chopped walnuts on these.
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Photo: PamperedChef.com
Mexican Wedding Cakes, sometimes called Snowball Cookies, are another favorite holiday treat from my childhood. What's even better is that they're surprisingly easy to make and are a big hit on the cookie tray. Using confectioner's sugar in the batter is the key to making them light and fluffy. They absolutely melt in your mouth!
I've seen recipes both with and without nuts. I prefer mine with pecans. I use this recipe from The Pampered Chef.
Egg Nog Cookies
Photo: CookingClassy.com
Who doesn't like Egg Nog during the holidays?
These will be a new addition to the cookie list this year. They seem to be trending this year since I've seen a limited edition mix at the store and several recipes in the cooking magazines. The addition of rum (even thought it's only flavoring) to this cookie has got to be a positive!
I'll be using the Betty Crocker mix, but here's a good looking recipe I found online. The mix didn't come with frosting, so maybe I'll borrow it from the recipe and add it to my cookies.
Black Forest Cookies
Photo: RachaelRaymag.com
These were a huge hit last Christmas, so I'm making them again this year. The chewy dried cherries and dark chocolate bits in these crispy cookie coins are quite delectable.
These came from a small booklet insert in Rachael Ray's magazine that included a base batter recipe that could be altered to create numerous different kinds of cookies. These are icebox cookies, so there is the extra step of rolling the dough into a log and freezing it before slicing and baking the coins. After they're baked, you dip them into melted chocolate.
The link above also includes the recipe for Pistachio-Apricot Cookies, which also sound great!
Cherry Coconut Macaroons
These are my husband's favorite. Macaroons can be pretty sweet, and many recipes call for flour and/or sweetened condensed milk. But, I prefer them be lighter and less sweet. The recipe I use calls for sugar substitute and unsweetened coconut , so they're diabetic friendly. The egg whites are whipped into a merangue before adding the other ingredients, so these macaroons are nice and light and chewy.
If you'd like, you can drizzle them or coat the bottoms with chocolate. They are a super-easy, quick batch of cookies.
Lemon, Lavender & Poppy Seed Cookies
Photo: MyRecipes.com
I found the recipe for these intriguing cookies in this November's Holiday Cookbook Double issue of Cooking Light Magazine. I love lavender. In fact, I just bought a mini lavender "tree" for my kitchen to enjoy its fragrance during the holidays. I love honey lavender ice cream, so incorporating lavender into a tart lemon cookie was the natural next culinary adventure.
We'll see if this one returns to next year's list.
Florentine Cookies
Photo: Chow.com
Florentines, or Lace Cookies, are another all-time favorite of mine. I've never tried making them. I usually buy them from a bakery because I was a witness to my mom's numerous frustrating attempts to make them, but I have yet to find ones as tasty as I remember.
These cookies are like decadent little wafers of almond brittle. The nutty, buttery, lacy cookie melts in your mouth and keeps you coming back for more.
The timing for removing them from the cookie sheet is critical. If you try to remove them when they're too warm, they'll smush. If they're too cool, they'll shatter. We'll see if my attempt using this recipe is any less infuriating.
Minty Cookie Canes
Photo: RachaelRaymag.com
Here's another one from Rachael Ray's 12-Days of Cookie insert booklet from last year. Like this year, there were just too many cookies to try and I opted instead for a mini chocolate-mint sandwich cookie, which were a disappointment.
I like the texture and shape of these, as well as the color. I think they'll make a nice addition to my cookie tray this year.