Sunday, December 23
Saturday, December 22
Friday, December 21
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thekitchn.com
Less hassle than building a 3-D gingerbread house, and arguably more delicious.
Thursday, December 20
Wednesday, December 19
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bonappetit.com
These bright red, buttery bars will definitely steal the show at any cookie swap.
Tuesday, December 18
Monday, December 17
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gourmet.com
You can make an piping bag for the icing swirls by snipping the corner off a zip-lock bag. Get more great cookie decorating tips here.
Sunday, December 16
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marthastewart.com
You could use any kind of jam with these, but apricot is a great combo with the almond dough.
Saturday, December 15
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20somethingcupcakes.com
These traditional Italian layered cookies take a little doing, but they're very worth it.
Friday, December 14
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whiteonricecouple.com
The pretty snowflake design is made with a stencil and powdered sugar.
Thursday, December 13
here's the recipe!
Salty Caramel and Brown Butter Sandwich Cookies
Recipe for BuzzFeed by Ashley Rodriguez
makes 3 dozen sandwich cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extra
coarse salt (such as Maldon or Fleur de sel) to top the cookies
PREPARATION
To brown the butter simply melt in a sauce pan. Let the butter come to a boil. The milk solids will foam up and as they do watch for them to turn golden. If you have a dark pan you will need to swirl the butter carefully and maybe spoon some on to a white plate to notice the color. You will notice a gentle nutty smell wafting from the pan as the solids in the butter start to caramelize. As soon as you see deep golden bits at the bottom of the pan turn off the heat. The butter will continue to brown even as the heat is off so do not let the butter get too dark. Pour the butter into a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until cool.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk together well. Add the sugars to the cooled browned butter and beat until combined. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350*F
Form rough teaspoon size balls of dough. If the dough starts to crumble as you form it simply press firmly together until it holds. Roll into a ball then flatten to about ¼” thickness.
Line cookies on a parchment lined sheet trays and top with a fine sprinkling coarse salt.
Bake for 10 minutes, until set and slightly deeper in color. Cool completely on a rack before filling with caramel.
Caramel Filling for Cookie Sandwiches
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup cream
Combine the sugar, honey, and salt with a couple of tablespoons of water in a large sauce pan. Gently stir everything together making sure everything is mixed well.
Place over medium high heat and cover with a lid for the first 5 minutes of cooking. The condensation that forms under the lid will help wash down the sides of the pan helping to prevent the caramel from crystallizing.
Cook the sugar until it is deep amber in color. At this point carefully add the cream and butter. Cook this mixture until it reaches 240*F on a candy thermometer.
Carefully pour the hot caramel in a bowl and set aside to cool.
To fill the cookies use about ½ teaspoon caramel filling and place on the backside of one of the cookies. Gently top with another cookie and press together until the caramel meets the edge.
Wednesday, December 12
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marthastewart.com
These are nice and light if you're suffering from holiday butter overload.
Tuesday, December 11
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bonappetit.com
These buttery wonders come from cookie wizard/baking guru Dorie Greenspan, so you know they're gonna be good.
Monday, December 10
Sunday, December 9
here's the recipe!
Lemon-Rosemary Pine Nut Cookies
Recipe for BuzzFeed by Ashley Rodriguez
makes 3 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole raw almonds
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1⁄2 cup pine nuts
PREPARATION
Toast the almonds in a 350*F oven for 10-15 minutes until golden in color. Let cool.
Turn down the oven to 300*F. Combine almonds, granulated sugar, salt, lemon zest, and rosemary in a food processor and process until ground, about 2 minutes.
Add confectioners' sugar and egg whites, and process until well combined.
You can either spoon ½ tablespoon size mounds on a sheet tray with parchment or if you’d prefer a more uniform shape, pipe out the cookies using a piping bag fitted with a ½” round tip. Pipe mounds that have a 1 ½” diameter.
Top unbaked cookies with pine nuts then bake in an oven until set and just golden, about 20-25 minutes.
Let cool before serving.
Saturday, December 8
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theviewfromthegreatisland.blogspot.com
You can make these almond spice cookies (perfect for gifting) in any shape if you don't have a snowflake cookie cutter.
Friday, December 7
Thursday, December 6
here's the recipe!
Dark Chocolate-Candy Cane Christmas Shortbread
Recipe for BuzzFeed by Ashley Rodriguez
makes 2 9” rounds of shortbread that can be cut into 8 or 16 wedges
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, soft
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup cornstarch
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
⅛ teaspoon peppermint extract
¼ cup chopped candy canes
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 325*F
Line two 9” round cake pans with parchment then butter the parchment and the sides of the pan.
In a stand-mixer cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Add the extracts then mix well.
On low speed add the flour, salt and cornstarch and mix until combined. Finish mixing with a spatula to make sure everything is well incorporated.
Place half of the dough in both 9” pans and press into an even layer.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until the edges are golden and the shortbread has set.
Let cool in the pan.
Run a knife around the exterior of the shortbread then carefully flip out onto a clean surface.
In a microwave safe bowl place 1 cup chocolate chips (I use bittersweet) along with 2 tablespoons butter. Melt in 30 second intervals. Stir well after each heating. It shouldn’t take more than 2 or 3 times in the microwave.
Stir in an ⅛ teaspoon peppermint extract then add roughly half of the chocolate to one of the cooled shortbread rounds.
Spread the chocolate to ¼” of the shortbread edge then top with crushed candy cane.
Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to set up. Cut the shortbread with a very sharp or serrated knife.
Wednesday, December 5
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joythebaker.com
These are pretty great by themselves but even better when you tie an adorable bow around them.
Tuesday, December 4
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bhg.com
These crispy little guys are ideal to make way ahead of time; freeze the dough and you can slice and bake in an hour of need.
Monday, December 3
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marthastewart.com
This is a good basic Christmas cookie recipe to use for making whatever crazy shapes your heart desires.
Sunday, December 2
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notwithoutsalt.com
You can make these into tiny sandwiches with honey-mascarpone cream or just appreciate them for their inherent gingery charms.
Saturday, December 1
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bonappetit.com
You can use any shape cookie cutters for these jammy cuties, as long as you have a big and a small version. Linzer cats? Linzer dreidels? GO CRAZY.
Before you get baking, read these super-helpful tips for how to make perfect Christmas cookies.
Non-cookie bonus: check out these ideas for 33 Clever And Adorable DIY Advent Calendars.