26 Cookies for the Holidays

It’s time! It’s time! It’s time! It’s time to create and consume cookies with impunity! Christmas comes with an automatic, unlimited, infinitely renewable License to Cookie. We must use this privilege. Perhaps even abuse it! Maybe we won’t lose it if we don’t use it, but we certainly will be judged differently if we try to apply for such a decadent license later than January 1.

A perusal of The Archives will leave you with little doubt that my favorite sweets to make over the years have been cookies and bars. As far as I’m concerned, they all qualify as Christmas Cookies, because they’re all cookies, except for the bars, which are pans full of cookies all run together, then cut apart again.

 

Here are 26 favorites of various shapes and flavors. Each is equally welcome on my holiday cookie platter.

Drop cookies are probably the easiest to manage. In most cases, the doughs can be wrapped well and frozen, so you can pull cookie dough out of the freezer to bake fresh cookies just about any time. (I prefer to do this than to freeze baked cookies.) Most of these recipes are some variation on classic chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, and peanut butter cookies.

Gumdrop Cookies

Double Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chai Spice Cashew Butter Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Milk Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies (pictured above)

Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Butter Cups

Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Date Cookies with Cardamom

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Apricot and Almond Cookies with White Chocolate (pictured below)

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies with Black Walnuts

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Other cookies may involve some extra shaping, such as rolling out and cutting, shaping into logs and slicing, or rolling into balls. Most of these also come from doughs that can be frozen.

Mint Chocolate Cookies (made this way or that way; pictured above)

Ginger Molasses Cookies (pictured at top)

Lemon, Lime, and Basil Cookies

Orange Butter Cookies

Sugar Cookies (great with Simple Butter Frosting; pictured above and below)

Finally, here are some brownies and other bars. There’s often a lot less fuss with a pan of bars that you can just whip up, bake off, and cut up to share. These freeze better as bars and aren’t suitable to freeze as doughs/batters. Don’t forget: you can exponentially increase your flavor genius by adding or swapping different fruits, nuts and candies into these easy treats. (I suppose this applies to all of the above as well!)

Cocoa Chocolate Chip Brownies

Fudgy Mint Brownies (pictured above)

Graham Cracker Almond Bars

Maple Date Oatmeal Bars

Oatmeal and Dried Cherry Bars (pictured above)

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Bars

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Blondies

Walnut and White Chocolate Blondies (pictured below)

There are so many ways to exercise your license to cookie, satisfy your sweet tooth, and make your family and friends happy! Get in the kitchen and get your cookie on!

One year ago: 10 Favorites with Fresh Cranberries

Double Espresso Cookies

 

I’ve been sitting on this recipe for quite a while. Not literally, of course. Just in the sense of putting it aside while I told you about zucchini risotto, fruity zucchini bread, and strawberry basil muffins. These cookies are seasonless and could wait until ideas with expiration dates got posted first. I couldn’t wait any longer, though, and while there may be more zucchini and fresh herb recipes to come, let’s make some cookies. With a buzz!

This is a basic chocolate chip cookie dough doctored up with some instant espresso and an extra coffee-chocolate punch from chocolate covered espresso beans. I just stirred the espresso powder in with the flour and stirred the espresso beans in with the chocolate chips. This did add caffeine to my cookies, but if you want the coffee flavor without the kick, you could use decaffeinated instant espresso or coffee, and maybe replace the espresso beans with cacao nibs or more chocolate chips.

I really found this recipe to be a good balance between a coffee-flavored treat and a traditional chocolate chip cookie. Their coffee-ness isn’t overwhelming, doesn’t make the cookies taste bitter, and still allows them to be sweet. That being said, if you want to go more intensely in the coffee direction, you could certainly add more espresso powder to your cookie dough. (Full disclosure: I fully intended to add more than the 1 tablespoon in the recipe below, but that was all I had left. Good thing it worked out!)

As far as the chocolate covered espresso beans go, I found them to be a welcome addition to a cookie. They’re crunchy, where chocolate chips aren’t. In fact, they’re crunchy in a different way than even nuts are, which is kind of a surprise if one is not expecting it. 

Overall, I love this variation in the classic chocolate chip cookie theme! My friends ate a lot of them. Since they seem to love good food, and need a lot of coffee, I’m inclined to believe that these delicious cookies get a crowd-sourced passing grade. They may not be filled with seasonal ingredients, but coffee and chocolate chip cookies are for always and forever, and there’s no point shunning them at any time of the year.

Double Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

This dough can be baked as soon as it is mixed, but I like to chill the dough for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours. This dough also freezes well when wrapped in a freezer-safe bag. Just thaw and portion to bake as usual.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine salt

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

1 ½ (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup chocolate covered espresso beans

1. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Stir together with a whisk or sift to combine well. Set aside.

2. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in another large bowl if you are using a hand-help mixer or a spoon). With the paddle attachment, beat a medium-low speed until the butter is creamy.

3. Scrape the butter down from the sides of the bowl and add the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat at medium-low speed until the butter and sugar are well creamed and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

4. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, beating until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and chocolate covered espresso beans.

5. Cover the dough in a bowl or shape it into a disk and wrap it well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

6. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly grease cookie sheets with either nonstick cooking spray, or a thin film of oil. Portion the dough out in roughly 2-tablespoon scoops about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.

7. Bake at 375 F for about 12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to brown and the cookies appear dry and set on the top.

8. Cool on the pan for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, or freeze the dough to bake later.

Makes 50-60 cookies.

Other recipes like this one: Milk Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies, Espresso Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, Cappuccino Muffins, Cappuccino Coffee Cake with Mocha Crumb Topping

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

As you probably know, I love making cookies and trying new cookie recipes. And this is the best time of year to do it! These Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are the result of my latest successful cookie adventure.

These may not look like Christmas cookies, but as far as I’m concerned, any cookie I make after Thanksgiving is a Christmas cookie. The recipe is a pretty basic, easy-to-execute drop cookie, no more difficult to make than the average oatmeal cookie or chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie. I love all three of those cookie styles, and this one has a little, or maybe a lot, of each, which means they’re totally delicious!

I think you could vary these in many ways to your personal taste. I like the ratio of brown sugar to white sugar, so I probably wouldn’t mess with that, but other flavors could surely be swapped in. You may be able to use a different nut butter, like almond or cashew, or a different chocolate, like milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or bigger chocolate chunks. The chocolate could be left out and perhaps replaced with dried fruit or toffee bits, too.

While I like fancy cookies with swirls and sprinkles and frostings and other embellishments this time of year, I will definitely take a humble-looking but delicious drop cookie on my holiday cookie tray. These are wonderful and worthy, loaded with multiple classic cookie ingredients, and if you need them to look more Christmas-y, feel free to put a pretty bow on them.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Based on a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Baking

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups rolled oats

1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer (or another large bowl if using a hand mixer or stirring by hand) combine the butter and peanut butter. Beat together on medium speed until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk or sift together to combine well.

4. Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the butter mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Stir in the oats on low speed. Stir in the chocolate chips. If necessary, complete the final stirring with a sturdy spoon or rubber spatula.

5. Cover or wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or up to 2 days. If planning to store for a longer time, freeze wrapped dough in a freezer safe bag or container.

6. When ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. Scoop about 2 tablespoons dough for each cookie on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing at least 2 inches apart.

7. Bake at 350 F for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and set in the middle. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies. Store in an airtight container or freeze baked cookies or unbaked dough well-wrapped for up to 3 months.

Other recipes like this one: Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Butter Cups, Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies, Oatmeal Date Cookies with Cardamom, Milk Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies