iMag Slide Show

By: Maris Callahan 

The words “holiday” and “baking” go together as well as the words “peanut butter” and “jelly.” Baking holiday cookies can be stressful if you have a long list of friends, neighbors and colleagues to receive treats. However, if you plan carefully it can be a fun project for families and friends to do together to help find their inner holiday spirit. No matter what holidays you celebrate, cookies will bring a smile to anyone’s face – especially when they’re packed with seasonal flavors like peppermint, almond and cranberries.

These cookies are perfect for grown-ups, but kids with a taste for coffee might like them too. Eaten warm from the oven, they have a soft texture, almost like a fudge brownie but as they cool, they will turn to a more cake-like consistency. 

Ingredients (makes 24 cookies):
1/3 Cup all-purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon baking powder
6 Ounces 99 percent unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarsely (I used Scharffen-Berger)
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1 Packet Starbucks Mocha VIA (or 1 ½ teaspoons finely ground coffee beans)
1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 Teaspoon pure peppermint extract
3/4 Cup Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses, finely chopped

Directions: 
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and prepare with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder.
- Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler and set over gently simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and is smooth. Take extra care to make sure chocolate does not burn.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in a medium bowl, using a hand mixer) combine the eggs, sugar, salt, coffee, vanilla and peppermint and beat on medium for 10 to 12 minutes or until batter is thick and fluffy.
- Reduce speed to low, add the chocolate mixture and mix for two to three minutes, until ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Fold in the peppermint candy and drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the lined baking sheets. Bake for about 10 to12 minutes or until cookies have a glossy finish and begin to crack. 

If you have leftover preserves from your holiday brunch, bake off a batch of simple almond thumbprint cookies, rolled with toasted almonds for extra texture and crunch. These cookies are filled with the perfect amount of festive, tart cherries to balance the cookies' mild sweetness. Bring a batch to your neighbor's house to thank them for picking up your mail last time you took a vacation or package small batches for your kids' teachers - they'll beat apples any day.

Ingredients (makes 24 cookies):
1/2 Cup (or 1 stick) butter
1/3 Cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 Teaspoon almond extract
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup of toasted almonds, finely processed in a food processor
Sour Cherry Preserves (or your favorite flavor)

Directions: 
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray. Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour, add to the butter mixture and mix well, until combined. Let dough chill in the refrigerator for about one hour. 
- Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Roll each ball into the toasted almond mixture and place on baking sheet. Make an indentation with your thumb in the center of each round ball. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown.
- Wait until cookies have completely cooled and fill the center indentations with sour cherry preserves. 

Some holiday cookies are extravagant: decorated with thick layers of royal icing, packed with every kind of chocolate chip imaginable or dripping with caramel sauce. Other cookies are simple. While there is certainly a time and a place for a more grandiose cookie, there are more times and more places where you’ll just want something sweet to nibble with your afternoon cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
2 Sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
8 Ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 Cup granulated white sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups toasted almonds, finely chopped in a food processor
1 Egg yolk, beaten

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until blended. Mix in the sifted flour and chill dough until firm, about 2 hours.
- Combine the sugar, cinnamon and almonds. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead in the sugar, cinnamon and almond mixture.
- Using a pastry cutter (if you don’t have one, use a pizza wheel) into four-inch squares. Roll from one corner to the opposite to shape into small crescents and gently transfer to an un-greased baking sheet.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake until cookies turn golden brown, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

If you can’t decide between baking brownies and baking cookies, settle on a happy medium with rich, satisfying bar cookies that will practically melt in your mouth. Chocolate chip blondies are decadent as it is but the addition of peanut butter and coconut sends these right to the top of the charts.

Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/4 Tsp salt (optional)
1/8 Tsp of baking soda
1 Cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:
- Butter an 8×8 pan.
- Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth. 
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat in egg, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees at for 25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting them.

If it’s too cold for your favorite flavor of ice cream, why not bake it into cookie form? Butter pecan cookies are rich with a crunchy texture and the earthy flavor of pecans that’s practically addictive. You can leave these for Santa and know you’ll be on the nice list for years.

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup chopped pecans
1/2 Cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 Cup sugar, plus more for coating
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 Teaspoon salt
1 Cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about six minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop. 
- With an electric mixer, cream butter for about a minute. Add 1/3 cup sugar and cream until light, about 1 minute more. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.
- Separate dough into12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, three inches apart, on a baking sheet. Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

For more holiday recipes check out iMag's Food Page. 

Maris Callahan is the author of In Good Taste, an avid self-taught home cook, and is widely knowledgeable about all things culinary. She is especially passionate about helping new cooks learn how to prepare healthy, delicious meals and snacks, even when life is busy. When she is not in the kitchen working on her next recipe, Maris works as a marketing professional in Chicago and in her spare time, contributes to several websites including SheKnows.com, Diets In Review and Craft Magazine.