Thanks to ALL of your support over the years, 24 Days of Cookies is now out on Amazon!
Here you will find some fan favorites, some of my favorites, stories, photos, messes, and more!
Christmas Cookies are a love language. This book is has been 20 years in the making, as I started doing this in December of 2004. (Though didn’t make it here for the masses until about 10 years later).
24 Days of Cookies is available on Amazon in hard cover and ebook editions.
These are the best damn sugar cookies you’ll ever have.
What makes me so confident? I’ve had a lot of cookies. I’ve run a cookie blog for 8 years. I’m not exactly the 120 lb. daughter my mother always wanted, and I can tell you, I didn’t get this way eating salads. I’ve conducted sugar cookie research I didn’t even know I was doing, since I was 8 years-old.
As far as Christmas cookies go, they are number 1. Fight me bro. What makes them so good are the combination of both vanilla and almond extracts.
Jessica’s Best Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 c. butter
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cream of tartar
Directions
1. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and extracts. Blend dry ingredients and stir in.
2. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Divide dough in half and roll out. Cut out desired shapes.
3. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.
My little buddy Emmett again helped me with these cookies, since my own kids are large and old and mostly uninterested in cookie decorating these days. Emmett’s dad is one of my very best friends, and has been for 30 years. So when I need an expert kid cookie-decorator, Emmett is my go-to kid.
Emmett did a great job with decorating and saying please and thank yiu and also showing off his reading skills by taking his turn reading Christmas trivia to us.
I made these before Emmett and his chauffeur, I mean Dad, came over, just so we’d have more time to decorate them.
The day Emmett and his dad come over to do Christmas cookies is my favorite cookie day of the year. Maybe we can even do it twice this year. Love this kiddo, and his dad is pretty okay too.
We’re over the halfway point now. Am I sick of cookies yet? I wouldn’t say that. I’m not exactly excited by them, but I’m not dreading them. It also helps that my work told us we could work from home for awhile–since last week–and that means I can make dough at lunch, which definitely helps my motivation!
Today I did another new recipe, though I’ve seen them on Christmas cookie platters since I was an off-key kid singing at a Christmas pageant. I just didn’t know what they were called.
They are so easy, I feel dumb that I’ve never made them before!
1-2-3 Cookies
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cold butter, cubed
1/4 c. Sweetened Condensed Milk
In a mixing bowl rub the flour and butter until it resembles a wet sand like texture.
Add the condensed milk and combine to form a dough. If the dough feels sticky then feel free to add additional tbsp of flour to make it into a cookie dough.
Using a tbsp as the measurement, take out the portion of dough, shape it into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Using the back of your tsp make a well in the center of the cookie dough. Smooth any cracks if any.
Bake in a pre-heated oven of 350 for 8 to 10 mins until the bottom of the cookie is golden brown and the top is pale in color.
Once baked and still warm fill it with condensed milk or whatever filling you want
Let the cookies cool completely and then transfer to an air tight container and store for 1 week at room temperature.
I like condensed milk as much as the next person, but what I remember as a kid was that these were filled with chocolate. I melted some chocolate chips and mixed it with a little sweetened condensed milk and it’s yummy. I also did some with the sweetened condensed milk alone too.
I made these two hours ago, and I think I’m down to five. Kids say the cats like them. I think they might be telling me stories. But then I saw my 25lb cat licking his chops, so maybe they are telling the truth…
I realized I haven’t added as many new cookies to my rotation this year, so I went to the Google machine to look up some more creative Christmas cookies.
I found a list of like 25 Christmas Cookies You HAVE to Make Right Now or You Will Die a Painful Slow Death at the Hands of a Marketing Assistant Whose Job Depends on You Clicking The Link.
I’m in marketing. While that may not have actually been the list’s name, it’s the subtle subtext around it.
So I clicked. (Side note: it’s a shallow life goal to be included on one of these lists someday.)
And that’s where I found today’s beauty. Well, I found it on that list, but then went to the real site.
Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
1/2 c. butter softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2/3 c. cocoa
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla extract
2 t. cherry juice (from maraschino cherry jar)
30–36 jarred maraschino cherries
1/4 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
2 T. sweetened condensed milk
1 T. cherry juice (from maraschino cherry jar)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and both sugars with mixer. Add eggs one at a time and mix in.
Combine flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup dry mixture to butter mixture at a time. Blending after each addition just until combined and scraping side of mixer bowl as needed. Add vanilla and 2 teaspoons cherry juice and mix just until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and refrigerate for 30 minutes
Butter hands and roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Using thumb press small indentation in center of cookie and place maraschino cherry in hole.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk on low. When melted add 1 tablespoon cherry juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies.
I was intrigued by the ingredient list. I like cherries. I like chocolate. I like sweetened condensed milk, and I wanted to see what a recipe was like that called for salt, baking powder, and baking soda all at once, that wasn’t me at 8 years-old “making” my own recipe.
Shout out to Penzey’s once again!
In the interest of time, I’ll tell you. It turned out pretty darn well.
Now, as for that Marketing Assistant whose job I saved (and ultimately did not have to kill me), how about a little gratitude and include me on a cookie list?
If you’ve been with me since the beginning (of the web page), you may remember these from 2013. You know, back when I had no white hair, no teenagers, and no dual masters degrees. I made these after a suggestion at a bar from a Dutch friend. I love that old me went to small-town bars and talked about cookies.
Hell, current me would probably do that too, if I knew more people around here.
Anyway, I digress. I made these only once, and they were phenomenal. They also only made 10 cookies total, which is probably why I haven’t made them again.
This time, I decided to try them again, and maybe make them just a tad smaller. (Just a tad! I know they are supposed to be large!)
Gevulde Koeken
For the dough:
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder (if it’s a smidge under a teaspoon, even better)
1 pinch of salt
1-2 T. of cold water
1 3/4 sticks of butter
For the filling:
1 c. almond paste
2 T. sugar
1 egg white (save the yolk!)
2 T. water
1 t. almond extract
For brushing onto the cookie:
1 egg yolk (that one saved from the egg white above)
1 T milk
Sliced or whole almonds
Mix the dry ingredients and cut the butter into the dough, until it has the consistency of wet sand.
Add a tablespoon of ice cold water and knead the dough into a cohesive whole, making sure all the butter is well mixed in.
Pat into an oval, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while you make the paste.
Now crumble up (or dice up with a knife the almond paste and beat it with the rest of the ingredients until it’s foamy and thick. (If you think it’s too runny, add a tablespoon of flour, but not more.)
Set your oven to 350F and turn it on. Take the dough out of the fridge, cut it in half, and roll one half out, to about 1/8 of an inch and cut out eight rounds. You can use a canning ring, the mouth of a glass, or a biscuit cutter if you have one big enough.
Place one huge heaping teaspoon of the almond filling in the middle of one cookie and then place a second round on top; carefully seal the edges. You can do this with a fork or gently tapping it with your finger.
When all are done, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet or on a silicone mat. Beat the egg yolk with the milk and brush the top of the cookies, then place an almond on top.
Bake for about thirty minutes or until golden.
Cut your butter in cubes first before attempting to “cut in” butter for dough. It makes it a lot easier!
I’m fearing the nightmare of kinetic sand I will have after making these!
Any time I see the term “cut in butter” in a recipe, I think about my friend Jen and how I introduced her to the concept of a pastry cutter. I generally only see this term in biscuits and pie crust, but every once in a while, I see it in a cookie recipe. It’s just a way of making sure your dough will be light and flaky, because there will be butter incorporated into the dry ingredients at the molecular level. Okay, not the molecular level, but at a very small level that makes little pinpoints of butter ooze around flour. Or something like that.
When your dough looks like kinetic sand (and you have a brief, yet strong, urge to yell “Don’t get it on the carpet, kids!”) then it’s the right consistency.
For the filling, I’m not sure who can “crumble” almond paste, but it’s not me. I diced it up like cheese and threw it in my mixer. This stuff smells heavenly, by the way.
Gevulde Koeken filling. Mmmmm.
I didn’t take any pictures of me rolling it out or cutting it, but it’s thin. I generally do my sugar cookies about about 1/4 inch thick. This is half that.
I was able to get a few more than 10 Christmas cookies out of the recipe this time. Not many more, but more than 10. I think I got five.
These are crumbly and flakey, with that yummy filling in the center. If you put one on top of a cup of hot coffee or tea, it will make that filling really melty and good.
I’m sure I say that about a lot of my cookies, but like claiming you don’t have a favorite child, you know in your heart you actually do.
(Calm down kids; I’m kidding.)
I love almond, and these are almond. They are so almond, every time I make them my middle son comes down and says he smells almond, and that hey, did you know that cyanide also smells like almond.
While I considered changing the name of these to Cyanide Butter Cookies, I decided that I’d deal with lawyers and investigations much less if I left the name alone.
Almond Butter Sticks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon (divided)
6 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, separated (white reserved for glazing)
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon coarse sugar for topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the sugar and almond extract; cover and set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
In a large mixing bowl combine 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter and cream cheese. Beat on low until blended. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Add the remaining flour and blend just until the dough starts to come together.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Knead by hand about 25 strokes until the dough is pliable. Roll or press into a 12×12 inch square. Spread with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.
Cut the dough in half and place one half on the prepared cookie sheet, butter side up.
Spoon the sugar mixture to within 1/2-inch of the dough edges all the way around. Place the remaining dough half, butter side down, over the sugar. Press the edges tightly to seal.
Brush the dough with a lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with almonds and coarse sugar.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. It’s best removed from the oven when you think it needs one or two more minutes.
Cool at least 30 minutes.
Cut the pastry in half lengthwise and then into 1/2 to 1 inch strips crosswise.
Store in an airtight container.
How my favorite cookies develops from nothing to something amazing.
I also like these because they have a bunch of almonds on top, and that throws kids off. Right now, I have three teenagers, and they are not allowed to eat my cookies without permission because they basically unhinge their jaw and swallow without chewing. Mom’s cookies deserve to be enjoyed and savored, not swallowed whole.
My point here is that they can have these cookies, but they don’t want them. Why? “Because there are nuts on the top.” I don’t point out that most of the cookies they like have nuts in them, because why change an outcome I benefit from. They don’t know what they’re missing and that’s fine by me!
I also know that I’ll be making these again before Christmas because someone has eaten most of my supply. ::sheepishly raises hand::
After my humiliating defeat in the world off egg whites last week, I knew I had to pull myself together and remind myself (and all of you) that I do know how to do this.
I’ve been making these so long, I decided it’s okay to change the name. In the beginning, they were supposed to be snowflakes or wreaths, and let’s just say my piping skills weren’t quite developed yet. But stars. Stars I could do. One plop. Hard to screw up.
I was hoping the same could be said for these. Fingers crossed!
Meringue Stars
4 egg whites
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. almod extract
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. cream of tartar
sanding sugar
Cover baking sheets with parchment/wax paper.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add powdered sugar, almond extract, cinnamon, and cream of tartar; beat until very stiff.
Spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a start tip. Plop stars on to wax/parchment paper. Decorate with sanding sugar
Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Yeah, that’s the way meringue is supposed to be.
My pride is restored.
The best and most surprising part of this recipe is the cinnamon. It’s subtle, and sets it apart from the rest of the Christmas cookies on the platter. Shout out to Penzey’s Spices, btw. I love that place.
After filling the pastry bag, start plopping away. You can really make any shape you like, but like I said earlier, I found stars to be the most simple. I broke out my gold sanding sugar and had the Christmas cookies looking pretty darn festive.
When they are dry, put them in an airtight container and hide them from your kids. These are my kids’ favorites!
Today, I’d like to examine an existential question, almost as old as life itself:
Is a Rice Krispie Treat a cookie?
I ponder that, because I think it’s only a short jump from Rice Krispie Treat to other cereal and marshmallow-based desserts. Like Cornflake Wreaths.
I’m choosing to believe that any concoction made of grain, kept together by melted marshmallows, is indeed a cookie.
Like most superficially-done research, my conclusions directly benefit myself.
Cornflake Wreaths
1/3 c. butter
4 c. mini marshmallows
green food coloring
6 c. cornflakes
red cinnamon candies
Put cornflakes in a large bowl.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Once it is melted, add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
Stir in green food coloring.
Pour butter-marshmallow mixture into the cornflakes, stirring until they are well-coated
Lay down wax paper or parchment paper; spoon mounds of the mixture on the wax/parchment paper.
Wash your hands and dry them well. Then grease them with butter or kitchen spray.
Shape those mounds into wreaths; top with red cinnamon candies.
Let set for half an hour before taking them off the wax/parchment paper.
A couple things here–make sure you have that stove on low heat. Last year, I didn’t and made brown butter cornflake wreaths, and they tasted burned. Also, make sure you spray your hands. I speak from experience here too.
My mom made these in the 80s. I think about everyone’s mom made these in the 80s. Sometimes, that little piece of nostalgia on a Christmas cookie tray can take you back to the simpler days of He-Man, Popples, and unironically-ugly Christmas sweaters.
The new generation seems to like them a bunch too.
I have three kids–two sons and a daughter. And with having three kids, it means that someone, ultimately, has to be the middle child.
Around here, that’s Casey.
He’s 16 and over 6 feet tall, and has been able to destroy a bag a groceries faster than anyone I’ve ever known, since about birth.
Casey asked me to make chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. I generally don’t like to make chocolate chip cookies as Christmas cookies because, to me, they aren’t that Christmas-y.
And then Casey texted me a recipe from one of his friends.
I wasn’t kidding.
So after a week of him begging, I finally gave in. But I had a plan to make these more Christmas-y.
Since I only had a list of ingredients and no directions, I had to improvise.
Casey’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 c. melted butter
1/3 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
2 3/4 c. chocolate chips
Cream together melted butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.
Add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix again.
Fold in chocolate chips
Drop by rounded spoonfuls on a baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.
Like I said, I had a plan to make these worthy of a Christmas cookie platter.
After I added the egg, but before I added the vanilla, I split the batch in (roughly) half and dyed each bowl with food coloring.
To this I added the rest of my ingredients, split in half.
It kinda looked like I was cooking a muppet.
What great Christmas cookies. I’m so glad I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies.
Although, I’m skeptical at how long they will last. Casey’s already had a few and they came out of the over an hour ago.
24 Days of Cookies 