This week, I am recapping the new cookie recipes I tried this holiday season in advance of our usual baking bonanza and sharing some of our annual cookie traditions!
The New
I love trying new recipes – and modifying them, of course.
This year, I decided to start testing some new cookie recipes in preparation for my friend’s annual cookie swap (and just because I had the baking bug this year).
There were some successes and a few failures as well.
- Confetti Cookies: These cookies are dangerous. I modified the original recipe by first just swapping the cream cheese and butter listed for vegan options. Then we ate all of the first batch, so I tried the recipe again, doubling it and using the vegan dairy options PLUS reducing the sugar by half. I froze the second batch of dough and will bake it later because I am definitely using this recipe for the cookie swap. My mom loved these so much that she suggested making them for all the holidays and just swapping the sprinkles (red/pink for Valentine’s Day, pastel for Easter, green for St. Patty’s Day, red/white/blue for the Fourth of July…this could become a serious problem).
- Almond Horns: Here was my first “fail.” I attempted to make almond horns for the first time by following the King Arthur recipe and making my own almond paste before preparing the cookie dough itself. I found the piping and applying the sliced almonds a bit tedious, though, and the cookies flattened out a lot. They were nothing like the almond horns that A. introduced me to when we visited a local bakery last year. Still, they tasted delicious. My second attempt, however, was a definite WIN. The second batch only made about 12 cookies and was likely more expensive because I used a store-bought almond paste, but oh man…these were a little bite of heaven. I’ll be adding this to the annual rotation even if I stick to a single batch for my wallet’s sake.
- “Jam Strip Cheesers”: I don’t have a link to this recipe, unfortunately, because I took an ancient recipe that my mom has been making for decades and attempted to veganize it. The cookie is a very simple one – butter, cream cheese, eggs, flour, and baking powder. Instead of making actual strips, we cut out little circles and thumbprint them before adding a dollop of black raspberry preserves (hence my quotation marks around the cookie name). I swapped the dairy options for vegan alternatives (but kept the eggs) and rolled balls of cookie dough instead of doing cut-outs. The cookies came out a bit dry, but the traditional recipe is a little dry too. Unfortunately they also lacked a bit of the tang that the dairy version usually has. That didn’t stop my family from decimating the entire batch in about a week.
- Anginetti: These cookies are always my personal favorite whenever I go to a holiday gathering, and someone in my ex-husband’s family made the best version I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, I never could figure out which family member made them and get the recipe because I only ever encountered the cookies at the annual family reunion (where there were way too many people and I could hardly keep the names straight). I stumbled upon this recipe after a simple Google search, and I was not disappointed by the result. I dipped the cookies in the glaze and used surplus rainbow sprinkles from the confetti cookies, and although I rolled mine a bit too big, these also disappeared in less than a week thanks to the help of a few friends.
- Lemon Ricotta Cookies: I tried this recipe by request since my boss said these were a personal favorite. I brought the batch to work and they were gobbled up. They were tasty, but I wouldn’t say they make my favorites list. I also was a bit annoyed because the glaze-to-cookie proportion didn’t seem right as written; I didn’t measure exactly, but I still made two batches of the glaze and still didn’t have enough to cover all the cookies.
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: Someone brought a version of these cookies to a cookie swap I attended two years ago, and I was obsessed. I love chocolate, and these cookies are the beautiful love child of a brownie and a cookie. I swapped a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend in place of the regular all-purpose flour listed in this recipe with success, brought the cookies to work, and received glowing reviews again. Because I find that gluten-free flour has a slight aftertaste, I bet the cocoa-y goodness would shine through even more in the regular version of this recipe. I will be making this one again
- Eskimo cookies – a new addition this year from one of our Christmas countdown books, A World of Cookies for Santa. Delcious bites of chocolatey-oaty goodness that we will definitely make again.
The cookies disappeared so quickly, I forgot to take pictures of most of them. Woops!
I would never recommend you eat raw cookie dough because that is considered dangerous and all, but a little bird told me that the confetti cookies also taste delicious straight out of the freezer…
The Old
Our tried and true recipes. Some are personal favorites. Some I continue to make because other members of my family love them – and of course because tradition!
- Jam Strip Cheesers (a cream cheese cookie with a dollop of black raspberry jam). We cut them in rounds even though the recipe calls for strips
- Thumbprints – everyone has a version of this, I think, in their holiday repertoire, but ours are decadent walnut coated cookies filled with a black raspberry preserve. So buttery and delicious.
- Peanut butter blossoms. Our version is the best. Hands down.
- “Greek” pinto cookies – I have no idea if this recipe is actually Greek, but it is a classic from my mom’s recipe book
- Butterballs – a version of a snowball or wedding cookie, as I understand it. Melt-in-your-mouth balls of nutty goodness coated in powdered sugar
- Cut-out cookies – not really a standard sugar cookies, these cookies are nonetheless frosted with a simply powdered sugar/milk frosting that we color in various shades using your basic food dyes
- Gingerbread men – another old school recipe that uses vegetable shortening (does anyone even use this anymore?). We frost these at the same time as our basic cut-out cookie
- Snickerdoodles – we have made this cookie most years, but I was having trouble with my mom’s old recipe the last few years. I opted to try a new recipe and I will likely be sticking to this version moving forward!
- Chocolate covered cherryettes – this is an old recipe since it comes from the same recipe book as many of our other long-time favorites, but this was the first year we made it. A simple cookie dough with chopped cherries and nuts mixed in, baked and coated in smooth dark chocolate.
We also made a Filipino cookie recipe from A World of Cookies for Santa that we made last year. I wasn’t a huge fan of the cookie this year and probably won’t make it again next year.
Conclusion
It was really fun this year to branch out from our usual recipes while still sticking to our old traditions. There are some new favorites and a few recipes that I likely won’t attempt again.
I’ve still got the baking bug, so I’ll post again if I add any more keepers to the repertoire!
Oh, and P.S., we decided to add service to our furry friends and made some homemade doggie cookies (AKA treats!). These simple peanut butter, pumpkin and oat dog treats have been a hit with every dog we’ve shared them with.
