Tried and true cookie recipes

[meleyna]

Just looking for some new cookie recipes for this year's holiday cookie platters. What are your favorite tried and true recipes? What cookie *makes* your holiday?

[Katie Nell]

This is one of my most favorite Home Cooking threads, in general... there are a TON of holiday cookie recipes on it!! http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/335732 I posted my favorite in that thread, Martha Stewart's Cream Heart (any shape) Sandwich Cookies.

[mpjmph]

The only must-have cookies for holidays in my family are ginger cookies using the recipe from Stratford Hall, VA. Years ago (actually decades ago now, which makes me feel old) that family went to Stratford Hall in early December. It started snowing on the drive up, there were several inches on the ground by the time we arrived and there were no other visitors. The staff/actors in the kitchen gave us fresh ginger cookies and hot cider during our unplanned private tour. My mom bough a copy of the recipe (typed on a half sheet of paper) for 25 cents and the cookies have been a holiday staple ever since.

I didn't expect the recipe to be available online, but it is! http://www.recipezaar.com/55374

When I make them I use butter instead of margarine, and usually don't roll the dough balls in sugar. The final product is crispy when hot out of the oven but get soft/chewy once cooled. They absolutely melt in your mouth. They freeze well, so I'll make a full batch at Thanksgiving and freeze half to use at Christmas.

[rabaja]

Those sound like a perfect addition to my repertoire, than you for posting the link!
Do you freeze the baked cookies themselves or the dough so you can bake them off in December and smell them all over again?

[coney with everything]

Rugelach--the cream cheese dough is incredibly easy to work with. I use Rose Beranbaum's recipe

I also like Kourabeides, which are little crescent shaped cookies similar to the Mexican wedding cake cookies, with a bit of brandy in them. Makes a very short cookie, hence a bit fragile. I think the recipe I use came from the Ann Arbor News about 25-30 years ago!

This year in honor of my mom who died in June, I think I will make her cutout cookies which aren't anything spectacular but she made them every year while she had kids at home.

[rabaja]

This is what I generally make every year:
Chocolate Crinkle cookies
Thumbprint cookies with walnuts or pecans
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Pinolate -a really delicious pinenut cookie
Almond Biscotti with anise and lemon zest
Happy to give any recipes, the pinolate one comes up on here if you do a search.
Thinking about what to add in this year, so thanks for this post. Those World Peace cookies sure do sound good.

[aletnes]

My "must haves" are Krumkake and Rosettes, both scandinavian cookies, and both requiring special equipment (one is pressed and looks like a very thin, lacy ice cream cone, and one is made by dipping a shaped iron into thin batter, then deep frying).

Other more modern additions include florentines (always a huge hit) and always something with lots of ginger!

[Querencia]

This recipe is a winner because it's a roll-and-cut-out cookie that doesn't make a mess and isn't exhausting to make. In a saucepan put 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup dark Karo syrup, 1 tablespoon ginger, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp cloves. Bring to boil to melt everything. Remove from burner. Add 1 cup real butter. Stir occasionally until butter melts. Mix in 4 cups flour and 1 1/2 tsps baking powder. Form into 4 rolls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. When you want to use some, bring dough to room temperature and work with hands like Play-Dough then roll very thin directly on ungreased cookie sheet. Cut out with cookie cutters and remove the extra for re-use. Bake 7 minutes at 375*. Remove immediately with spatula. You can make just a few as needed; this doesn't have to be an all-day thing and there's no flour on the floor.

[mochi mochi]

Pecan Tassies, Lemon Delights, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Almond Biscotti, Currant Slice Cookies, Chocolate Rads, Sugar Cookies, Shortbread, Oreo Truffles, Hazelnut Crisps, Gingersnaps, my list is growing.

[SaraASR]

My mom and I always make the same three cookies for the holidays from Betty Crocker's Cookie Book. Russian Teacakes, Candy Cane, and Thumbprint Cookies. They are all very different from one another but equally as festive. Enjoy.

[janniecooks]

Biscotti have become the tradition at our home since I first made them after reading the recipes in a December 1992 issue of Gourmet magazine; they were published in an article written by Carol Field, "Food for Holiday Giving--Biscotti". The cappuccino biscotti and the raisin almond biscotti are tied for our very favorite, with the orange almond a very close second. The first link has a photo of the cappuccino biscotti; none of these cookies have any added fat beyond the eggs used, which makes for a lovely and very crunchy (hard even) texture. Try these cookies, you will love them.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/biscotti/CappuccinoBiscotti.html

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Biscotti%20di%20greve%20(italian%20orange%20almond%20biscotti)

http://www.psgrill.net/Food/Recipes/D...

[ipsedixit]

Nestle's Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies.

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes...

[girlwonder88]

These luscious, candy-like ginger cookies are my favorite: http://familyslowfood.blogspot.com/2006/12/insanely-fabulous-over-top-ginger_01.html

And then, Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies http://familyslowfood.blogspot.com/20... are always a hit.

[todao]

Wow!!! You must trying to get me killed. My wife is the cookie baker in our family and she keeps her cookie recipes under lock and key. I know she'd kill me if I posted one of her recipes.