Official Holiday Cookie Thread

[Food Lady]

I've noticed a lot of cookie activity on the board--most of which I've been involved in--and I thought it'd be nice to have a thread where we can corral recipes. I know Raps has a cookie thread, but that one's really for his devotees. So, please contribute your favorites here. Happy baking.

[ralerin]

Good old fashioned chocolate chip for me. I had a recipe for a pressed cookie that was fruit flavored by jello, but can't seem to find it. Same with the mint 3 color cookie. I'll have to unearth my recipe books.

[jedimaster91]

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 cup butter (I use margerine spread, which works fine)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
Your favorite chocolate chips
Shredded coconut

Mix cream cheese, butter, sugars, and vanilla until well blended. Gradually add flour and mix well. Add chocolate chips and coconut as desired. Chill for several hours or over night. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking pan and bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes.


One thing I should mention about these cookies is that they don't flatten out as they bake like typical cookies do. Be sure to flatten them out to the desired shape beforehand.

[MaggieTheCat]

Oh man oh man oh man! I love baking cookies! I have so many recipes! My mom and I always used to bake tons and tons of cookies around the holidays, especially if we were hosting Christmas at their house. In the last few years I'd also started helping a friend of mine make her annual holiday candy, and I've gotten all her recipes, which are awesome. I don't think I should post all the recipes here since there are a LOT of them, but I'll list them and if anyone wants them, just let me know.

Cookies:
Rolled & Cut-Out Sugar Cookies (with White Frosting)
Pecan Logs, aka Mexican Wedding Cakes (basically a short bread cookie with pecans in it, rolled in powdered sugar after they're done baking)
Peanut Butter Kisses (peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss or chocolate peanut butter cup pressed into the center of them after they're done baking)
Spritz (delicate little almond-flavored butter cookies)
Gingersnaps or, this year, my new recipe for Big Soft Molasses Spice Cookies
Peppermint Meringues (haven't actually made these yet but I've always wanted to try them and I want something minty in my cookie collection this year)

Candy:
Chocolate-Covered Cherries
Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Balls
Chocolate-Covered Coconut Balls
Raspberry Truffles
Fudge (We actually just use the Fantasy Fudge recipe on the Marshmallow Creme jar, although I might try adding finely crushed oreos to it this year)
Pretzel Turtles (pretzels + caramel chocolate kisses + pecans/cashews/other nuts)
Cheater's Toffee (saltine crackers + butter/brown sugar mixture + chocolate chips)

Yeah, that's a lot! I'm not doing all of them this year...my husband and I managed to narrow it down to 4 kinds of cookies and 4 kinds of candy. We're going to give most of everything away to our friends/family/his co-workers as Christmas gifts. I actually need to go grocery shopping in the next couple days to get all the ingredients so I can start later this week or by this weekend at least!

[Green_Fairy]

*scampers off to kitchen, returns with cookbook*

The Boy's Gram's Applesauce Raisin Cookies

2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups applesauce
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cloves
2 teaspoons nutmeg
7.5 cups flour
-------------------------
combine first five ingredients and mix.
add remaining ingredients and chill dough overnight.
drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet.
bake at 375 degrees f for 10 minutes.

i know it's a huuuge recipe. apparently gram had 7 kids, so she needed a lot of cookies. i half it. and The Boy hates raisins, so i don't put them in.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My mom makes these things called Choc-Tops every year. (They're not specifically a Christmas cookie but that's when she makes 'em.) I may have posted the recipe last year (or maybe I PMed it to someone who asked for it). I'll have to find it again if anyone wants it.

The cookie part is just flour, brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Bake it in a cookie sheet or glass cake pan (it makes a sheet of cookie about 1/4 inch thick). Then you take a bag of chocolate chips, melt them, and spread on top of the cookie. Top with crushed nuts or sprinkles (the recipe calls for pecans, but I don't eat nuts).

If anyone wants, I'll dig out the measurements and baking times (or get it from my mom).

Other than that, I'm a chocolate chip girl.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I always make chocolate chip cookies for the holidays.

I think I'm also going to make gingerbread cookies. The dough will come pre-packaged from the Grocery Store of Awesome. Honestly, it's enough of an effort making the chocolate chip cookies.

[42_42_42]

Well, I'm not done w/ my baking. Far from it actually. But thus far I have made:

2 batches of gingerbread cookies (will be deco'ing them tomorrow)
4 batches of sugar cookies (will be deco'ing them tomorrow)
1 batch of cream cheese candy cane cookies (have 1 more batch of dough in freezer, will bake rest of thos next week probably)
2 batches of Danish wedding cookies
3 batches of pecan tassies
2 batches of mini mincemeat tarts (w/ my homemade mince that I canned just before Thanksgiving)
5 batches of fruitcake
1 batch of lemon hard candy and 1 batch of apple hard candy

Still left to do:
at least 1 more batch of hard candy (pomegranate), will do more next week if time permits
2 more batches of Danish wedding cookies
1 batch of fudge this week and 2 next week
1 batch of fleur de sel caramels this week and 2 next week
2 batches of chocolate gingerbread
2 batches of pumpkin pound cake
orange cardamom cookies
chocolate sugar cookies
rainbow cookies
thumbprint trios (apricot, raspberry and blackberry)
marshmallows
popcorn balls
Chex mix
chocolate peppermint squares
almond-pistachio checkerboards

Ugh, we're headed up to NC from GA on Thursday and won't be back until Mon night, so I've got to finish as much as possible before then so I have stuff to share w/ my family up there.

Plus I have an order from a lawyer friend of mine for cookies she's sending out that's due on Wed, but that's done, but will use up most of the cream cheese candy canes I've made. And she's ordering more stuff for next week for her Christmas day dessert.

Then I have to finish stuff for baskets to give as presents.

I don't plan on sleeping much btwn now and Thurs (I'll sleep in the car while hubby drives).

I have to finish wrapping presents and sewing a stocking and a hundred other things, too. I really shouldn't be on here, but I needed a break!

[Bella_Vixen]

Escape Artist, that sounds good. Hook me up.

[Ree]

Well, I'm not done w/ my baking. Far from it actually. But thus far I have made:

Damned over achievers making us lazy sods look bad.

I got exhausted just reading all that you've accomplished so far, let alone what you have left to do.

WOW. Colour me impressed and very jealous.

[trailerparkmedic]

For my office and the boyfriend's office, I made Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies. The chocolate candy cane cookies came out a bit dry, and the others aren't really christmasy, but they were gooood.

[Zellie Crescent]

Sarah's oatmeal cookies

1 cup soft butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups flour
3 cups oats

Mix all ingredients, but add the oats last or it'll just get really lumpy.
Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
It makes around 3 dozen cookies.

[ArcticChicken]

If my experiment with making maple sugar goes well I will be making maple butterscotch cookies, following the tollhouse cookies recipe, substituting maple sugar for white sugar and butterscotch chips for chocolate.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Escape Artist, that sounds good. Hook me up.

Choc-Top Cookies

Cream together:
2 cups flour
2 sticks butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Spread on jelly roll pan, smoothing dough to all corners.
Bake at 300 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.
Cover with semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 bag) as soon as you take it from oven and smooth over dough with a spatula as they melt.
Cover with chopped nuts (my mom uses pecans) or sprinkles.
Cool in refrigerator and slice into 2-inch squares when chocolate sets. (You'll need a sharp knife; you might want to let the pan sit out of the fridge for a bit and soften up.)

Keep refrigerated; they get pretty soft if you leave them out.

You can use other chips, too. My mom has made them with white chocolate and butterscotch chips. It just occurred to me that swirling two different kinds together sounds yummy, too.

[MaggieTheCat]

BE, those sound exactly like the toffee bars that my grandma used to make around the holidays. I was just thinking of making some myself, actually.