Hi friends!
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is starting this holiday week off on a joyful foot—sitting around fires, singing Christmas songs, wrapping presents… you know the drill. I’m celebrating Christmas with my family in St. Louis, where I’m hunkering down for the holidays. It’s very I’ll Be Home for Christmas vibes over here.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been celebrating Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving. With so much having gone wrong this year, it felt like we deserved a little extra joy and jolly throughout the month. That meant watching a lot of Christmas movies (watch Happiest Season, not Last Christmas), decorating the house top-to-bottom with garland and lights, and eating so. many. cookies.
So for this week’s newsletter, I won’t be sharing the typical “perfect” Christmas meal— even though I’m pretty sure we’re making pizzas for Christmas, and that’s as close to perfect as it gets. Instead, we’re sharing some of the Christmas cookies that’s gotten my roommates and I through this long, cold, dark af month.
You’ll be getting a cookie recipe from each of us— Caitlin, Anna and yours truly— as well as a few extra that make the top of our lists.
But before we get into recipes, let’s take a second to appreciate Christmas cookies. Out of everything COVID-19 has stolen from us, I was so relieved that the tradition of gifting a random assortment of cookies was protected. Sure, the formal exchange was cut out this year, but did anyone like that part anyway? No. We all know that the best part was taking your lil cookie goodie bag home, dumping it out on the counter and doing mental-math to figure out which cookie you’re eating first— and which will likely sit at the bottom of the bag until January.
Our household was lucky enough to be gifted two cookie goodie bags this year— both of which were immediately devoured. There were chocolate ones, ones covered in powdered sugar and sprinkles, gooey ones and cracker-like ones— you name it, and it was in one of these cookie bags. And isn’t that the best part of Christmas cookies? Anything can be a Christmas cookie!
And while there are some traditional ones that come to mind (gingerbread, thumbprints and the worst ones — freakin’ cornflake wreaths), we are going to share our favorite cookie recipes— regardless of the time of year. Because if any of these are included in a Christmas cookie bag, we’re happy.
Let’s start with Caitlin’s favorite— Snickerdoodles.
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
For the cinnamon-sugar mixture, you’ll need:
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
Before we jump in, one important note about cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is a dry, acidic powder that makes snickerdoodle cookies tangy and chewy. The powder essentially prevents the sugar in the dough from crystalizing into crunchy-bits— so if you’re thinking about skipping this ingredient, don’t. It’s important. You also use cream of tartar in meringues and angel food cake.
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 5-7 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Something we learned from Milk Bar’s episode of The Chef Show is that creaming your butter is the most important stage of baking cookies, so don’t be shy about letting that puppy run. You want the butter and sugar to be completely combined and fluffy before adding your other ingredients.
Tip: To see if it’s ready, take a bit of the butter mixture in between your thumb and pointer finger, and rub together. If you can still feel pieces of granulated sugar, continue to mix on medium-high speed.
Once the butter and sugar are creamed, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla extract. Stir on medium-high for another 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and whisk to combine. In increments, add the dry mixture to the stand mixer bowl. Pulse at low-speed until combined. Add some more of the dry ingredients. Pulse. Add. Pulse. Add. Pulse.
Continue this until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, stir together the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
After 30 minutes of chilling, roll the dough into small balls until round and smooth. We like to use cookie scoops like these. Drop the dough-round into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat well.
Place the cinnamon-sugar-coated dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Our next cookie is perfect for a cookie decorating party— when those are allowed again. For maximum joy, make these with the little ones in your family like Anna did. She decorated these with her gorgeous nieces Lydia and Caroline, and well, needless to say, they’re the cutest cookie decorators I’ve ever seen.
For Anna’s Decorated Sugar Cookies, you’ll need:
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
For the Royal Icing, you’ll need:
2 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
2 ⅔ cups powdered sugar
Gel paste icing colors
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Follow the tips provided in the snickerdoodle recipe.
Once combined, add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and pulse on low speed. Once the flour is absorbed, add the remaining flour and mix until combined. Be sure not to overmix at this stage, and scrape down the slides and bottom of the bowl every so often.
To roll out the dough, start with about ¼ of the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface. To prevent stickage, also flour your rolling pin.
Roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut using whatever cookie cutters you like. If your cutters are sticking, dip into flour before punching into the dough.
Trick: The cookie cutters is where the fun begins. Buy some funny ones from a small Etsy business, stick with the classics like these or just do what we did, which was borrow them from your amazingly generous neighbor/ coworker (hi Krysten!)
Use an offset spatula, like this one, to lift the cut-out cookies from the remaining dough, and place on the prepared cookie tray. Make sure to dust off any lingering flour so that it doesn’t burn on your cookies.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. The cookies will be done when they are barely golden brown around the edges.
Allow the cookies to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack.
While your cookies cool, you can start making your icing. To make the Royal Icing, place the meringue powder and water in a large mixing bowl, and whip with the whisk attachment of a stand mixer until foamy, about 3 minutes.
Once frothy, add the powdered sugar and whip on medium speed until very stiff peaks form. If you’re wondering what a stiff peak looks like, check out this visual guide from The Kitchn.
At this point, separate the icing into smaller bowls to make specific colors. I suggest keeping a large portion white, but if you want colorful, trippy cookies, you do you.
Once the icing is divided, add your gel paste icing colors. We like these.
Stir until color is completely combined. If you need to thin the icing out, add a drop or two of water until you reach your desired consistency.
And then you’re ready to decorate! We kept it pretty simple considering Anna was baking with her baby nieces, but if you want to go all out with piping bags and get Instagram-famous, freaking go for it. I won’t lie and say that we don’t get sucked into watching video-after-video of cookie decorating. How could we not?
And lastly, we have my favorite cookie — Alison Roman’s Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread. If you follow this newsletter, than you shouldn’t be surprised by my choice.
These cookies are infamous. Originally premiered in Roman’s first cookbook, Dining In, the cookies went viral. They can be found in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food Network… you get it.
And they’re famous for a reason— cause they’re fucking good. They master the richness you want from a classic chocolate chip with the buttery-ness of a traditional shortbread. Oh, and it’s topped with big, flaky salt and rolled in demerara sugar. What more could a girl want?
These cookies are easy to make, and even more— they keep in the freezer. Do yourself a favor and make the dough, and stick it in your freezer for the next time you need a midnight cookie snack.
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 ¼ sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½ inch pieces
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped into chunks — we used pre-chunked chocolate like these — do not use chips, this is not the place for your basic ass chips
1 large egg, beaten
Demerara or turbinado sugar — like this
Flaky sea salt — this is your excuse to buy Maldon Sea Salt— just do it
Start by lining two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the granulated sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla extract on medium-high until light and fluffy. Again, you can’t overdo it here.
Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour into the stand mixer bowl. Once combined, add the chocolate chunks and mix until combined. Alison recommends kneading the dough with your hands to make sure the flour is completely incorporated.
Divide the dough in half, placing each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over so that it covers the dough— this will make sure your hands don’t get super sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a log shape, rolling it on the counter to help smooth it out. Each log should be around 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. Chill until firm, or about 2 hours.
After the dough has chilled, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Brush the outside of the logs with the beaten egg and roll in the demerara or turbinado sugar. This will make the edges crisp and sweet.
Using a serrated knife, carefully slice each log into ½ inch-thick rounds. If the cookies start to break or fall apart, just press them back together. Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart, and sprinkle with the flaky salt. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown, 12-15 minutes. Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or your mouth.
And because this is a time of giving, we’re giving you more than just these three kick-ass cookie recipes. Here’s some of our other all-time favorite cookie recipes—
Sally’s Baking Addiction’s Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies
Butternut Bakery’s Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Bon Appetit’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Kitchn’s Coconut Macaroons
TuttiDolci’s Salted Brownie Cookies
Bon Appetit’s Best Peanut Butter Cookies
NYT’s Perfect Black and White Cookies
For what’s giving me life this week, it was safely getting back to St. Louis for the holidays. One argument at a McDonald’s, too many folks without masks, an entire Over My Dead Body podcast and 12 hours later, we made it. Greta did amazing in the car… honestly, better than I did.
Speaking of doggies, Greta and her neighbor Ralph have been bringing us so much joy these last few weeks. Anytime we need a moment of levity, we crack open the kitchen window, and Ralph jumps into the house, ready to play with his friend. They become a complete tornado of chaos, but it’s a nice distraction from all the other things going on in our world.
Our Christmas roomie brunch also comes in as a peak for the week. We made a whole spread of breakfast foods— pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits— the list goes on and on. And we opened these cute-ass flamingo Christmas crackers, which to my surprise was not filled with saltines or ritz crackers. No, they were filled with little trinkets and goodies that made us adult women feel like kids again.
And of course, there was finishing the cheese board puzzle, receiving these killer Omsom sauces and maybe drinking a little too much before going our separate ways for the holidays. Check out that jumbo margarita from My Neighbor Felix. That one hurt the morning after.
Wish I was with you,
Maddie