Ingredient: baking soda

Scandinavian Heart Basket Cookies

Scandinavian Heart Basket Cookies

Every year, my dad’s side of the family celebrates Swedish Christmas, with blood sausage and meatballs and headcheese and all sorts of things I’m not likely to eat any other time of the year. I’ve baked lots of things with nordic flavors like cinnamon, cardamom and white pepper. But this year I wanted to bake up a cookie that really says SWEDISH CHRISTMAS*. I saw some cute peanut butter heart cookies on Pinterest and their criss-crossed fork marks reminded me of the paper heart baskets we made as kids (and I still sometimes make for grown-up time). So I decided to try my hand at a Scandinavian twist on the classic checkerboard cookie. This was the result! To say I’m pleased would be an understatement. I just adore these cookies.

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Chewy Orange Gingerbread Cookies

Chewy Orange Gingerbread Cookies

Crisp at the edges and chewy orange-gingerbread cookies with orange extract and white pepper. These store and ship well, so they’re perfect for gifting!

Sometimes I really want gingerbread but I don’t feel like roll-out cookies or cake. I was pondering this (super serious) problem and decided to try adapting my classic chewy molasses cookies. After all, they both have ginger, molasses, cinnamon and cloves. In fact the only big difference is the nutmeg. I also use orange extract and white pepper in my gingerbread, so I threw that in there too. The result are these chewy orange gingerbread cookies and they are THE BOMB.

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Thin Mint Cookie Recipe

Chewy Thin Mint Cookie Recipe

These cookies are chewy, satisfying version of the much beloved Thin Mint girl scout cookies.  This thin mint cookie recipe is extra chocolatey with a just-right amount of mint, half-dipped in rich dark chocolate.  If you are prone to eating a whole sleeve of the originals, this is the cookie for you.  One or two of these and you’re all set.  Best of all, this recipe couldn’t be easier.  No mixer needed, just a couple of bowls and a fork.  I like adding little green sprinkles to give it a St. Paddy’s Day/Girl Scout vibe, but that’s totally optional. Continue reading “Chewy Thin Mint Cookie Recipe” →

Buttery Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

Buttery Sugar Cookies-Perfect for Rolling Out and Decorating

This is my basic roll-out sugar cookie recipe.  There are a lot of recipes out there for roll-outs.  Some can be baked without chilling.  Some have the soft texture of grocery store sugar cookies.  Some don’t spread even an iota.  But none of those recipes hold a candle to these buttery sugar cookies.  The reason is two-fold:  Flavor and texture.

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Tinsel Tree Mini Cookies

Tinsel Tree Sugar Cookies

I am a sucker for mid-century Christmas crap.  I love the fake trees, gilded barware, and felty stockings.  This year, instead of trying another version of a traditional Christmas tree cookie, I decided to recreate my favorite holiday tree.  The big fake white tinsel tree with giant ball ornaments.  The lack of fullness and the awkward placement of the ornaments just really makes my socks go up and down.

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Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I love homemade peanut butter cookies with the little fork marks on top.  And those puffy ones with the hershey kiss plopped in the center.  Those are the best honestly.  But when I bake I’m always looking for ways to make classic flavors and recipes conform to my rather strict visual standards.  I like things to have a consistent, clean shape and tidy edges.  I especially like to make things one level fancier than is necessary.  These yummy peanut butter sandwich cookies do just that. Continue reading “Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies” →

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

Over the next month I will be on a mission to post every cookie that’s ever been a standard in my Christmas cookie boxes.  I try each year to send a box of cookies to our relatives that we won’t be seeing during the season.  It’s a special tradition for me because deep down, way way deep down, I’m sort of a softy.  And nothing says Merry Christmas From Your Secretly Sentimental (emphasis on mental) Relative like a box of cookies. Continue reading “Eggnog Snickerdoodles” →

Gingerbread Birdhouse Cookies

Gingerbread Birdhouse Cookies

Sometimes I like to overly complicate things.  For instance, I once based an entire dessert around a Caramelized Spruce Syrup that gets brushed onto the cake layers and is made by collecting spruce tips in the spring and tenderly caramelizing them.  Then I coordinated the rest of the cake around an IPA palate, frosted it twice and covered it in gold leaf, oversized gold-plated sprinkles and chocolate work.  I’m low-key like that. Continue reading “Gingerbread Birdhouse Cookies” →

Orange-Cardamom Snowflake Cookies

Orange-Cardamom Snowflake Cookies

These beauties always pop into my mind as I wait for the first snow of the year to fall.  They’re sweet and crisp, crunchy and buttery, with just the right amount of orange and cardamom.  And they are EASY.  My friends like to say, “Oh, maybe for you that’s easy!  Mine wouldn’t look like that.”  But I swear to sweet baby carrots, these are the most straightforward sugar cookies you are ever going to meet.  And because no snowflake is alike, variations and “mistakes” just make them more charming.Orange-Cardamom Snowflake Cookies Continue reading “Orange-Cardamom Snowflake Cookies” →