Christmas Cookies: Baking Ordinary Into Extraordinary

We love this time of year when, for a few weeks at least, we get to relax our dietary standards and enjoy a little extra sweetness in our lives.

Whether it’s baking with the kids to fill their time off from school, for a cookie exchange to surprise your friends and family with individualized presents, or to impress Santa on Christmas Eve while he struggles to assemble little George’s bike – cookies become common around many houses during the holidays.

But just because they are ordinary doesn’t mean that they can’t be extraordinary.

We here at GTC love to collaborate during this time, as well. We celebrate our diversity as cooks, each with her own approach and strengths. This year, we set out to find and share some delicious cookie recipes with you.

From all of our houses to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy holiday.

FROM DIXIE

Miss Vetra’s Old-Fashioned Fruitcake Cookies

My grandmother made Christmas cookies and candies beginning the week after Thanksgiving and continuing all the way through December until Christmas Eve. As much as I remember my own joy as the house began to fill with the warm smells of cinnamon and chocolate, I remember the joy of our friends, family, and neighbors as she handed out small tins filled with divinity, gingerbread, frosted sugar cookies, and fruitcake cookies to name a few. The mix would vary from year to year, but these four were always included.

So much of my modern-day adult Christmas celebration is filled with nostalgia and memories from my childhood. Nothing screams nostalgia like Miss Vetra’s Fruitcake cookies filled with those delightful neon-colored candied fruits, winter nuts, and a little booze.

Fruitcake, in general, gets a really bad rap—most people have never had a really good, old-fashioned liquor-soaked fruitcake made by a delightful Methodist grandma.

My grandmother’s cookies embody all of the best things about fruitcake but in cookie form.

Miss Vetra’s Old-Fashioned Fruitcake Cookies

Makes 2 dozen cookies

1⅔ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup Crisco
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, beaten, room temperature
1 TB orange marmalade
1 TB brandy or dark rum
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups candied fruit cake mix
½ cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
24 pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, salt, cloves and baking soda. Set aside.

In large bowl or bowl of stand mixer* bowl cream together butter, Crisco and brown sugar until light and fluffy, roughly 5-7 minutes.

Add in egg, orange marmalade, brandy and vanilla; mix on low until just combined.

Slowly add in flour mixture to creamed butter mixture, one cup at a time on lowest speed until completely incorporated.

Stir in candied fruit mixture and chopped walnuts by hand, using a wooden spoon.

On cookie sheets, drop tablespoons of cookie dough mix in 3 by 4 pattern. Press one pecan half in the center of each cookie.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until cookies are golden brown. Cooking times may vary slightly depending on your oven. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack using a spatula, let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

*I prefer a handheld mixer, but a stand mixer works just fine.

FROM MAGGIE

Chocolate Cookies with Crushed Peppermint

We have arrived at the season of nostalgia, and I am happy to swim in it—especially if it’s filled with sugar and chocolate! The sea salt chocolate cookies at Lucia’s in Linden Hills, where I did my externship in Minneapolis, were one of my favorite things from the bakery. The triple chocolate cake and pumpkin bars were nothing to turn your nose up at either, but we can talk about those another time.

Now that Lucia’s has closed, I have to make the cookies myself. It’s cool, though; they’re easy enough, even for non-bakers like myself! Since it’s the holiday season, I thought I’d mix it up and replace the flaky sea salt topping with crushed peppermint. Just put a few hard peppermint candies or mini candy canes in a freezer-weight zip-top bag and hit ’em a few times with the smooth side of a meat mallet or a heavy rolling pin. Don’t over-crush, though – you wanna see that red and white stripe in the bits of candy topping.

Here’s to reveling in all that nostalgia and eating sweets with abandon! Happy holidays!

Chocolate Cookies with Crushed Peppermint

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Cookies

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 TB unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt (such as Maldon brand)
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Topping

1/4 cup water
3 TB sugar
2 TB crushed hard peppermint candy

Into medium bowl, sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda.

Place butter in bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium speed 2 to 4 minutes, until very soft. Add brown sugar, the 1/4 cup sugar, the 1/2 tsp salt and vanilla. Beat 2 to 4 minutes longer on medium speed, until creamy.

Add flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until incorporated. Dn not overmix. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in chopped chocolate.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Divide dough in half; place one half of dough on another piece of parchment paper. Using paper to keep dough from sticking, roll each half of the dough into a 12-inch log. Roll up each log and place in freezer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 325°F. Line two half sheet pans (18x13-inch rimmed baking sheets) with parchment paper. In small saucepan, make the simple syrup: combine water and 3 remaining TB sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 2 to 4 minutes, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Working with a sharp chef knife or bench scraper, slice each log into 24 rounds, reshaping dough as necessary. Place cookies in 4 by 6 pattern on pans, leaving 1 inch between each.

Bake 12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Transfer pans to cooling racks and let cool at least 5 minutes.

Use pastry brush to "paint" cookies with the simple syrup, then sprinkle with crushed hard peppermint candy*.

* You can top the cookies with 2 TB flaky sea salt instead of the peppermint candy.

FROM MARY MARGARET

My husband’s greatest weakness is chocolate chip cookies, so I’m always sure to have these around on Christmas Eve for “Santa.” Here, I’ve tweaked the classic Toll House cookie recipe to include a few of his favorite things, including dark chocolate, craisins, and rolled oats.

Santa’s Favorite Cookies

Makes 8 dozen cookies

½ cup craisins
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 TB vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
2 cups rolled oats
1 package dark chocolate chips or chunks (12oz)
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cover craisins in hot water to plump.

In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

Sift flour into medium bowl; add salt. In small bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add flour mixture and dissolved baking soda to the mixture in stand mixer; mix on low speed until just combined. Add rolled oats, chocolate chips, drained craisins and pecans. Mix on low speed until incorporated

Place tablespoons of dough on prepared cookie sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart. Bake in batches for 12 minutes. Remove while warm and cool on racks.

FROM DEE

As a person with nut allergies, I bake tons of cookies and treats that I never get to eat! Back in our active-duty days, the holidays were always an exciting blend of cultures and traditions. European friends introduced me to Linzer cookies. They were absolutely beautiful, and I was so sad that I couldn’t taste them because they were made with ground almonds or almond flour.

So, I went looking for an alternative and found this recipe from Cathy Roma at whatshouldimakefor.com. Problem solved! The lemon zest can be doubled, and the raspberry and lemon are a match made in Heaven, and the two acids complement the rich buttery flavor of these cookies perfectly. I have also used apricot preserves just for another color on a cookie tray. Raspberry is traditional, but making your own traditions can be wonderful, too. This is a low-yield cookie (2 dozen completed cookies), but they are worth every minute of effort. Happy Holidays!

FROM CAM

I am not much of a baker of sweet things. I can churn out rolls and loaves of bread, but my Kitchenaid must think it queer when I attach the flat beater and crank it up to make a batch of cookies. I love a good commercial gingersnap, so for this Christmas baking project, I chose the beloved, crispy and spicy cookie that so many people love. I found a great recipe from King Arthur flour.

I love the flavors here. The balance of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves is spot on. The ginger range is from 1 - 2 teaspoons, and I chose the more conservative 1 teaspoon, and it was plenty. I used solid vegetable shortening, as the recipe did not specify, and while the cookies came together, the batter was crumbly. I was worried it would impact the final product, but alas, they turned out perfectly moist. And I don't have any real baking tools - like a cookie scoop - but getting them to the 1-inch ball size wasn't difficult. You roll the balls in cinnamon sugar, and they flatten out when you cook them. I love, too, that you can choose between a softer cookie with a crispy exterior or the more common crisp-throughout version just by adding 2 minutes to the bake time.

So, for some great flavor bang from what seems to be almost a no-fail recipe, give this one a try. And Merry Christmas!