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But I much prefer cookies.
Daily Record/Sunday News staff members shared their favorite cookies recipes - and the holiday memories that go with them - to help make your season merry and bright.
Cranberry-walnut oatmeal cookies
THESE OATMEAL CONFECTIONS combine cranberries, walnuts and a hint of cinnamon to liven up your holiday cookie plates.
Ingredients
Cooking spray
¾ cup butter shortening
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2¾ cups rolled oats
1 cup dried
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray.
Beat shortening, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Beat into shortening mixture until smooth. Stir in oats, dried cranberries and walnuts.
Place tablespoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
- Recipe from www.tasteofhome.com
Macaroons
MY COLLEGE ROOMMATE and I rented a kitchen and made dozens of batches of macaroons each year before heading home for winter break. In my four Christmases since graduation, I've continued the tradition but no longer rent a kitchen. The fluffy coconut sweets are easy to make and, for me at least, signal that it's time for the holidays to begin.
Ingredients
3 cups shredded coconut
1 teaspoon almond extract
teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine coconut, almond extract and salt and mix in condensed milk to form a paste. Fold in stiffly-beaten egg whites with cream of tartar.
Grease cookie sheets and drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the sheets - about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are browned. Let the cookies cool.
While the macaroons are cooling, melt the milk or dark chocolate. Dip the bottom of the macaroons in chocolate. Place on wax paper to set.
- BRITTANY WILSON, inspired by www.foodnetwork.com
Cottage-cheese fudge cookies
CHRISTMAS COOKIES ARE THE SWEETEST PART OF THE HOLIDAY, and
If you are looking to add to your pile - my favorite recipe is what my family calls Cottage Cheese Fudge Cookies (also known as Crinkle Cookies). They are soft, cakey and full of chocolate deliciousness.
Ingredients
2/3 cup butter or margarine at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Mix butter, sugar, cottage cheese, eggs and vanilla into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a blender and
Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the cottage cheese mixture in the blender and mix well.
Chill dough for 30 to 40 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and coat with powdered sugar. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees 12 minutes or until firm to touch.
- ASHLEY MAY, multiplatform journalist
Sugar cookies
DESPITE BEING SIMPLE, sugar cookies are tasty enough to hold their own this holiday season. But if you would like to spruce up the classic - or if your kids want to lend a hand in the kitchen - decorate the white cookies with colored sugars or icings. For an even more festive feel, sprinkle crushed candy canes, mint-chocolate candies or chocolate chips in the mix, too.
Ingredients
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1½ cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder and set aside In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Then beat in the egg and vanilla. Next, gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand on the cookie sheet for two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
- www.allrecipes.com
Chocolate chip cookies
MY MOM AND I keep trying to find the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but there's just no matching our favorite: The Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.
These are sure to be a holiday crowd pleaser, and no one has to know the recipe came from the back of a chocolate-chip bag. We still keep the same bag from 1989 in between the pages of my mom's cookbook and break it out every time we make them.
Ingredients
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12-ounce package Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- APRIL TROTTER, Smart editor
Grandma's Hungarian lekvar cookies
FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, my family has celebrated Christmas with lekvar cookies. The cookies are simple - only five ingredients- but the flaky, buttery cookies are sure to please almost everyone. If you are put off by prune filling, don't worry, the cookies are versatile. The cream cheese-based dough pairs well with apricot jam and almond-paste fillings, too.
Ingredients
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
8-ounce jar prune jam (lekvar)
1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together cream cheese and butter, then add the flour in small portions by hand.
When the dough begins to take shape, turn over on a lightly-floured surface and add the rest of the flour to form a soft, smooth dough. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Roll the dough out into a ¼-inch thick sheet on a floured surface. Cut into 2-inch by 2-inch squares and fill center with ¼ teaspoon of lekvar (or the filling of your choosing). Pinch together opposite corners of the dough.
Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet for about 15 to 20 minutes until light brown. Keep an eye on the cookies while they are in the oven; they burn quickly.
While still warm, roll in powdered sugar and let cool. Once the cookies are cooled, roll them again in powdered sugar.
- BRITTANY WILSON
Shortbread thumbprints
Ingredients
1½ cups (three sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Jam or jelly of your choosing
Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add vanilla.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and bring everything together with your hands.
Roll shortbread into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with your palm. Make a small indentation in the top of the cookie using your thumb. Spoon about a ¼ teaspoon of jam into the hole. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 10 to 12 minutes of until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown.
- Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
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