There are some very skilled cookie decorators out there creating stunning piped holiday sugar cookies. I’m looking at you @arloscookies, @nm_meiyee, and @constellationinstallation. No matter how hard I practice, I will never reach those heights and I’m ok with that. I am in awe of their talent and love to look at their gorgeous creations.
While I love the look of intricately piped sugar cookies, I find the taste of royal icing too cloying. These raspberry glazed snowflake sugar cookies are the perfect solution for beautiful and delicious sugar cookies. Watch how they come together.
The dough is made with brown sugar, which creates a chewy cookie. All the decorations are done with a wooden cookie stamp from @fancyfoodtools. This is the one I bought.
Not all wooden cookie stamps are created equal. Make sure you buy one that has deep enough grooves, so that when you bake the cookies, and they rise, the design will still be as sharp after baking. Roll the cookies in granulated sugar before stamping. The sugar ensures that the cookies will not stick to the stamp.
The glaze for these cookies is made with icing sugar, lemon juice and freeze dried raspberries. There is no artificial food colouring in them. The freeze dried raspberries must be ground up in a food processor or spice grinder. I like to put the ground berries through a fine mesh sieve, to strain out the seeds.
You want the glaze to be quite thin for dipping.
Once dipped, the glaze will take about an hour to set.
This year’s holiday roundup is probably my prettiest and most delicious ever. I made all my favourites for gifting. Cookies are my love language and I love to share them. I enjoy the entire process of gifting, from baking to sourcing packaging, and designing and choosing the fonts for the labels.
If you’re looking for a one bowl mix and scoop cookie, you’ve landed on the wrong page. But if you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that. I am passionate about beautiful bakes that also taste delicious. Sometimes that requires a bit of work. These are the most beautiful biscotti I have ever baked. They are a powerhouse of pistachio flavour, jammed with both pistachio butter and chopped pistachios.
The inspiration for these biscotti came from the July/August issue of Bake From Scratch Magazine. They did a swirled biscotti filled with Nutella. I’m not a big Nutella fan, so I decided to try it with pistachio butter. Pistachio butter is simply pistachios ground into a paste. Nothing else added. Much like almond butter or natural peanut butter. It’s not readily available at the supermarket, so you’ll need to order it online.
In my first round of testing, I used the biscotti dough recipe from Bake from Scratch, but I found it too dry. I switched to my favourite biscotti dough recipe for round two and the dough was perfect.
These are a bit more work than regular biscotti, because you have to roll the dough out into a rectangle.
When you spread the pistachio butter, be careful to leave a border, or it will ooze out the sides when you roll it up.
Check out this video to see how they come together.
A little etymology for you. The word biscotti is derived from the Latin biscotus, meaning twice baked or cooked. The dough is formed into a log for the first bake. Then the logs are sliced and put back in the oven for a second bake, to finish the baking. Traditionally, most recipes instruct you to turn the biscotti halfway through the baking process. This is so they bake evenly and get crisp on both sides. They are still quite fragile halfway through the baking time, and I inevitably break a few while trying to flip them over.
Here’s a pro tip that will change your biscotti making game. Just position a wire cooling rack on your baking sheet. Then arrange the slices on top of the cooling rack. This way, the heat of the oven can circulate around the biscotti and there is no need to flip the slices.
Not sure if you noticed the stunning shade of green of these slivered pistachios. I have not enhanced them at all with editing. They actually come that way! I ordered them online from Ayoubs. Most shelled pistachios have a skin on them. These have been blanched and that outer skin has been removed to reveal a gorgeous emerald green shade. That requires a great deal of labour, so they are not cheap, but worth it in an application like this. Of course you can also use regular shelled pistachios and it will still taste delicious, but they won’t be as vibrant a green.
At first glance, ginger and caramel may seem like an odd pairing. But one bite of this cookie will convince you that it’s a marriage made in heaven. The sharp bite of ginger is tamed by the sweet creamy caramel.
While we traditionally associate ginger molasses cookies with the winter holiday season, I discovered that they are equally delicious in summer, with a big scoop of salted caramel ice cream sandwiched between two chewy ginger molasses cookies. My favourite ginger molasses cookie recipe comes from my friend Lanie. She calls them Ginger Crinkle Cookies, because they develop beautiful cracks all over the surface as they bake. Ever notice how we covet cracks and crevices in our cookies, but not in our aging skin? Just saying!
I wish I could take credit for the genius idea of stuffing a sea salt caramel into the centre of a ginger cookie. But I must give credit for the inspiration to blogger and cookbook author Ruth Tam. When she posted these cookies on her Instagram page a few weeks ago, I knew I must add them to my holiday cookie list.
Watch the video below to see how these cookies come together.
When choosing the caramel to stuff into the centre of these cookies, be sure to use a good quality sea salt caramel. The inexpensive square caramel candies they sell in the supermarket do not stay creamy for very long after baking. I have baked these a few times now. The first time I used Sea Salt Caramels from Target. They were pretty good. The second time I made them, I made my own caramels. I used this recipe from Sally. Excellent caramels and if you have a candy thermometer, they are foolproof!
More is not always better, especially in the case of caramel. A small piece in the centre of each cookie will suffice. I speak from experience. With my second batch, I tried to cram in more caramel and I got a gooey mess. The creamy caramel escaped from the confines of the dough and the cookie never really set up properly. The perfect ratio is 48-50 grams of dough (about 2.5 tablespoons or this cookie scoop) to 8 grams of caramel. And yes I measured with a scale. That’s why all my cookies baked evenly.
Once the cookies are scooped, I released them right into the coarse sanding sugar. The cookie scoop makes lovely little ridges on the top of the dough ball, perfect for filling in with the sugar. Don’t be tempted to roll the dough into a smooth tidy ball with your hands. Remember, we want a cracked surface.
When you remove them from the oven, they will be golden brown, but still quite soft. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a good 10-15 minutes to set up before you try to move them.
Today is International Cookie Day. I can think of no better way to celebrate than with a cookie box. It’s hard to choose my favourite cookie. It’s like asking a parent to choose a favourite child. It all depends on the day and mood.
As in nature, no two of my snowflake cookies are exactly the same. I went with a pink and gold colour theme this year. Very glam. Even though we’re still mostly staying home, my cookies are dressed up and ready to party.
I make Chewy Gingerbread and Brown Sugar Snowflakes every year. This year I also added some reindeer to my collection. They are undeniably adorable and so much fun to decorate.
However you’re celebrating International Cookie day at your house, I hope it’s filled with lots of sweetness, butter and sugar.
If you were at the Trader Joe’s on Pico Boulevard, in Santa Monica California, just before Thanksgiving, and heard a woman squealing, I apologize. That was me discovering that the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe Cookies had finally arrived. They only make a short appearance at holiday time, and then they’re gone. I buy several boxes and hoard them in the freezer. No need to hide them from my husband, as he hates mint, but if my daughter finds them, I’m in trouble.
This year I decided to see if I could recreate them myself. I started with Martha’s chocolate cookie wafer recipe. I rolled the dough quite thin using cocoa powder, so it wouldn’t stick, instead of flour so that the dough maintained it’s gorgeous deep chocolate hue., I chilled it, cut out circles and baked it for only about 7 minutes, so that they would be done but still have a bit of chew in the centre when cooled.
Next, onto the filling. I made a simple American buttercream, flavoured it with mint extract and added just a whisper of pink food colouring.
Tempered chocolate has a nice shiny finish and won’t melt in your hand at room temperature. But, it’s totally optional. They will still taste very delicious if you decide to skip this step. I got to pull out my special chocolate dipping fork, from when my girlfriend Marla and I used to make hundreds of truffles every December. I always feel like such a professional when I pull out these seldom used tools.
While the chocolate is still wet, let it rain crushed peppermint candies.
In a statistically significant tasting of two subjects, the verdict on these cookies, was a split decision. I loved them even more than the Trader Joe’s version because the chocolate wafers were a bit chewy in the centre. My daughter preferred the crisper TJ’s cookies.
Sometimes when we’re travelling, my husband and I play this game, where we say what we would decree if we were king of the world. His proclamations usually involve cleaning up garbage at the side of the road, fixing derelict homes, zapping slow drivers off the road and shortening the length of red lights in Florida.
My wishes are a bit less lofty. I would create an ordinance that required all dentist offices to provide a pedicure while you are having your teeth cleaned. Multi-tasking at its finest. I would also command that all meals end with a cookie. I always crave a little something sweet at the end of dinner. Just a little bite, nothing too big. Cookies really are the perfect dessert. I think more restaurants should offer a cookie plate for dessert.
It’s December, so I have happily jumped onto the cookie train, and I intend to keep on rolling until you beg me to stop, or, I gain my annual holiday 5 pounds, whichever comes first.
These are a simple slice and bake cookie, studded with Skor bits and smoked almonds. For fun, I shaped them into a square log, but round cookies are good too. A tip for when you are slicing the logs; give the log a 90 degree turn after each slice, so that one side of the log does not get too squished.
I treated my cookies to a little dip in melted milk chocolate. The mellow flavour of milk chocolate is perfect with the caramel notes of the toffee and the salty smoky almonds.
While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle on some extra crushed smoked almonds for extra crunch.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. I say, it takes a child to build a village. Luckily my daughter was visiting this week to help me create this gingerbread village.
We had a lot of fun putting this together. We started with a big batch of my favourite thick and chewy gingerbread dough, from Cook’s Illustrated. I cut some of the dough into houses using these cookie cutters. Instead of piping the doors and windows, I discovered these stencils. You do not require any special skills to use them. They are so simple and the results are quite dramatic.
A few tips for stenciling success:
Practice a few times on parchment paper, so you don’t waste cookies.
Your royal icing should be the consistency of toothpaste.
A small offset spatula makes the job a bit easier than a regular knife. Put the icing on the bottom-side of the spatula.
Use one hand to hold the stencil in place and the other hand to gently spread icing. I found it easiest to start in centre and work my way to one end, then switch and do the other half.
Scrape off excess icing, but don’t scrape it clean. Just a thin coat is enough.
Try not to let stencil lift while applying icing. If you mess it up, remember that mistakes still taste good.
Wash stencil between cookies. Just place wet stencil on towel and pat dry. Be gentle with stencil.
For the snowflakes, I used these cookie cutters. I wanted an assortment of sizes and shapes, as no two snowflakes are alike in nature! If you want to hang your snowflakes, be sure to put a hole in them before baking. I used the small end of a size 3 piping tip. We piped simple decorations on these cookies and sprinkled on coarse sanding sugar while they were still wet.
We filled a wooden box with” snow” (coarse sanding sugar) and used spice jars to support the houses. I trimmed some of them to have varying heights.
To hang the snowflakes I built two towers from my oxo good grips containers. Then I duct taped three wooden dowels across the top of the containers. We threaded the snowflake cookies with fishing wire and hung them. The tricky part was getting the snowflakes to all face front with their pretty icing side. My daughter turned them the right way and I was behing the camera ready to hit the shutter as soon as she moved her hands. We were almost successful. I photoshopped out the fishing wire in editing.
We decided to try making it snow. It made a huge mess but we got the shot!
If you’ve ever tried the joy that is cookie butter, then you know the flavour of a Speculoos cookie. Speculoos (or sometimes spelled speculaas) is a Belgian cookie. Imagine a gingersnap on steroids. Bolder and much more aggressive than typical gingersnaps, Speculoos cookies are brimming with dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper, ginger, and cardamom.
Of course, you can buy ready made Speculoos cookies, so why would you want to make your own? Um, giant townhouse speculoos cookie snow globe! Need I say more? Can you imagine a more adorable holiday centerpiece?When I started researching for this post, I emailed my Belgian friend Brigitte to ask her for her mom’s authentic Speculoos cookie recipe. I figured every Belgian grandmother has her favourite recipe and I’d use that as my starting point. Apparently, her mom has a speculoos cheesecake recipe, a speculoos ice cream recipe, but no speculoos cookie recipe. She never saw the need to make her own. So, I turned to the King Arthur baking website and found a promising recipe. Brigitte helped me make them. While they were good, Brigitte said that they really didn’t taste like the speculoos cookies she ate growing up.
I tinkered with the recipe and came up with my own version. While they’re not exactly like the storebought, they are very delicious!As soon as the dough is made I divide it into 2 pieces and roll each half between 2 sheets of parchment paper, to a 1/4 inch thickness. Then I freeze the dough for about 30 minutes before cutting it into shapes. So much easier to roll soft dough.The townhouse cookie cutters are from coppergifts.comI also made a batch of my favourite Thick and Chewy Gingerbread dough to create some trees for my landscape.
I suppose the last thing anyone needs 3 days before Christmas is another holiday cookie blog post or cookie recipe. I am sure that by now you have all put up and decorated your tree, bought and wrapped your gifts and mailed your holiday cards. All your desserts are baked and wrapped well, tucked away in the freezer for the weekend. I know that some of you keeners have even set the table for the big feast on the 25th!
If you’re all set for the holidays, then just put your feet up, enjoy the photos and file this recipe away for mid-January, when your resolve to stay away from butter and sugar crumbles like a… well, like a peanut butter cookie! If you are scrambling for some last minute cookies to share, this one is perfect. The dough comes together very quickly. Julia Moskin over at New York Times Cooking created these cookies. She was trying to recreate the beloved peanut butter cookie from City Bakery in Manhattan. These cookies are far from the typical peanut butter cookie you may be familiar with.
Made with unsalted peanut butter, cultured butter and brown sugar, they amp up the traditional peanut butter cookie. The texture is crunchy on the outside and sandy and crumbly in the middle. They just melt in your mouth. They are topped with a combo of coarse sea salt and coarse sanding sugar for that perfect sweet-salt balance. Leave these cookies nice and round. No need to flatten and cross hatch with a fork.
