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!
It could be the light texture of the cookie itself. Or the chopped pecans that give it a little crunch. Or it could be the maraschino cherry tucked ever-so-delicately into the top of the buttery orb.
Whatever it is, these delicious Christmas cookies are one of my favorites to make and eat! I haven’t made them in a few years, and now I’m wondering why.
These come from my friend Michele, who shared the recipe with me many years ago.
Swedish Butter Cookies
½ lb. butter or margarine (2 sticks)
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
½ c. sugar
1 egg yolk (save whites to whip)
1 T. half & half
½ t. baking powder
½ c. chopped pecans
1 bottle maraschino cherries
Cream butter, add sugar; add egg yolk then vanilla and mix well. Next, add the flour with the baking powder mixed in. Alternate adding the flour with the half & half. Form dough into little balls the size of a walnut. Whip egg whites stiff. Dip dough balls into whipped egg white and roll in pecans. Place a half of a cherry in the center and push it down lightly. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15-20 min. in a 350 degree oven. Watch them so they don’t over brown. Yum, yum, yum!
The most interesting part of the process to me is the whipped egg whites to dip the cookie balls in. I’m sure it’s to make it stick to the dough, but I’ve always wondered what would happen if I skipped that step.
If you’re looking for a sign to drop $40 on a pizzelle maker, consider this your sign.
Pizzelles are simple, delicious, and gorgeous, and make a beautiful addition to a Christmas cookie platter. But in the time you spend admiring the lace-like pattern of the pizzelle, someone will swoop in and take them all.
I speak from experience.
Almond Pizzelles
4 eggs
1/3 c. + 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. butter
1 T. almond extract
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. amaretto (optional)
1/8 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1 3/4 c. flour
Beat the eggs and sugar for three minutes (at least!) and have it turn a light yellow color
Melt the butter in the microwave. Put a spoonful of the egg-sugar mixture in with the butter and stir. Then pour all of that in the mixing bowl.
Add extracts and amaretto. Mix until blended.
Add salt and baking powder. Mix for 30 seconds.
Add flour 1/2 c. at a time, blending for about 10-15 seconds between half cups. When all the flour is in, mix until just combined.
Plug in your pizzelle maker and once it’s heated, spray with pam or melt a little butter in it.
Scoop 1 T of batter on each bottom pizzelle plates, in the center. If you have a cookie scoop, this will come in handy.
Follow the directions of the pizzelle maker–it should be about 60-90 seconds from closing the maker to your two pizzelles being ready. Remove with a spatula. Cool on wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar.
We love pizzelles around here. I buy them at the grocery store for the kids, and they disappear quickly! My fiancé is half Italian, and I asked if he thought my pizzelles could come close to his grandmother’s.
“There’s no way,” he said.
I believe him. I’m not Italian. I had no Italian Nonna making these cookies for me. I found them in a cookbook 10 years ago, and became an admirer. These weren’t my teething biscuits like they were for my fiancé. (Or so I assume they were.) And sadly, when his grandmother died years ago, he thinks her recipe went with her.
But he did say mine were pretty good, and as an Italian-adjacent, I’ll take whatever compliment I can get in this department.
Sometimes, it’s 11:30 at night and you’ve accidentally had a bottle of red wine. And sometimes, you decide to create your own recipe at that time (and condition). And sometimes, it actually turns out.
That’s how these cookies were born.
(Sometimes, you want to call them Midnight Cookie and dye the batter black, and wake up and decide that perhaps that was one red wine-fueled decision too far. Hey, you can’t win them all.)
Luxardo Cookies
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
6 egg yolks
1 t. cherry extract
1/2 t. almond extract
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cream of tartar
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 T. Luxardo cherry syrup (what the cherries are in)
20 or so Luxardo cherries.
Gold sprinkles
Cream butter and sugar together; add egg yolks.
Add cherry and almond extracts, as well as baking soda and cream of tartar
Mix together.
Add flour a little at a time and mix after each addition.
Add the tablespoon of Luxardo cherry syrup.
Mix one last time.
Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Roll out and cut 1-2″ circles. (I used a cocktail jigger as my cookie cutter!)
Cut Luxardo cherries in half.
Top each cookie disk with half of a Luxardo cherry; top with gold sprinkles.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until cookies are a golden color.
Because of the time of night and…other…situations, I don’t have many pictures of the dough. (I did put it on TikTok, which I’m amazed I did.) I needed a dough to use the six egg yolks that were left over from my meringue fails earlier. I looked online and didn’t see any recipes that looked good, but I saw one that had a similar base, so I gave it a shot.
After I baked them, I knew the flavors were all there, but the presentation needed work.
I tried many different ideas. Whole cherries inside the cookie. Half cherries inside the cookie. Chopped cherries inside the cookie. A frosting made of Luxardo cherry syrup and powdered sugar on top of a cherry-stuffed cookie. And finally, I settled on half a cherry on the cookie, no second dough disk on top, with gold sprinkles.
Honestly, this was the wow factor I was looking for with these Christmas cookies. Or cocktail Christmas cookies, as the only time I use Luxardo cherries are with cocktails.
Luxardo cherries are a pricey indulgence, for sure. But I wanted this to be a bougie cookie. I also tried it with regular maraschino cherries, and it worked just fine, but I use maraschino cherries in many of my Christmas cookies. I wanted to try something different.
I love the way these turned out! I feel like I need to have a glass of champagne with this as it eat it! The dark purple with the gold sprinkles really makes this pop; it’s a shimmery and fun addition to my Christmas cookie platter.
24 Days of Cookies 