Volume 1, No. 43: Cookie Extravaganza!

In which I'm still breaking rules!

Dec 17, 2021

Greetings, book and treat people! If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a little while, you know how much I love winter. You also probably now that this is what December looks like in my house:

A sunlit kitchen island full of trays of cookies. There are small marzipan pears, a tray of cocoa alphabet cookies, two cooling racks full of small almonds cookies, an empty tray, and a log of sliced unbaked cookies with a knife on a cutting board.

I’m taking the next three weeks off from newsletter writing to revel in cookies, go on some long and (hopefully) snowy walks, and rest. Thank you all so much for making the first year of Books & Bakes such a great one! If you haven’t filled out the reader survey yet, you still can.

For this last newsletter of 2021, I’m going all in with the cookie love. Read on for snippets about some of my favorite baking cookbooks, the cookies I make from them every year, and some fun tips for making your own cookie boxes.

Next week, I’ll be giving away a limited number of boxes in exchange for donations to the Trans Alyssum Seeker Support Network and the Indigenous Women Rising abortion fund. I’ll post on Instagram when boxes become available, so follow along if you want to snag one!

This is a long one with lots of pictures, so you’ll have to click through to read it all.

The Books

Every year, I go through all of my cookbooks, along with a handful of blogs and my recipe folder, to make a preliminary list of the cookies I might make for Cookie Extravaganza. Then I sort those possibilities into categories—spice cookies, chocolate cookies, bars, jam filled cookies, buttery cookies, sandwich cookies, etc. The real fun is narrowing down that massive list (this year it was 120 recipes) to something more manageable. (I’m making 85ish kinds this year.)

Each year I end up with a mix of new cookies and old favorites. I make some recipes year after year after year, but I always try a lot of new ones, too. Some of those become new standbys.

Instead of giving you a few full recipes, I’m going to tell you about some of the cookbooks I use every year, and highlight my favorite cookies from each. I hope it inspires you to treat yourself to a new cookbook, or check one of these out from the library!

Wherever possible, I’ve linked to recipes that are available online.

Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

If you’re only going to add one cookie cookbook to your collection, make it this one. Dorie Greenspan is a delight, and so is this book. First of all: so many recipes! Second: they are all so different! Some cookie cookbooks seem to riff on one theme, but this one has a little bit of everything. There’s a whole chapter on savory cookies! She also gives storage tips for every single recipe—if they freeze well, whether to freeze them baked or unbaked, etc. It is SO USEFUL. So many recipes leave out this vital information. I love this book unconditionally.

Rose Hibiscus Shortbread Fans: Buttery, not too sweet, and super fun to decorate! I usually top mine with a combo of dried hibiscus, pistachio, crushed freeze-dried raspberries, sparkling sugar, and sometimes finely chopped candied lemon peel.

Two rows of triangle shaped shortbread cookies on a metal cooling rack. They are topped with white frosting, and a colorful mix of decorations: crumbled pistachio, dried hibiscus leaves, sparkling sugar, and freeze-dried raspberry powder.

Honey & Tea Jammers: Buttery cookie, tasty jam, crumbly spiced streusel. Dorie’s Cookies includes several variations on the jammer, and I’ve made three of them: these ones, classic jammers, and mulled wine jammers. They are all divine.

Three rows of round cookies on a metal cooking rack. The cookies have a crumbly streusel topping, and the centers are filled with raspberry jam, which is glistening and bubbly from being in the oven.

Leckerli: Classic Swiss Christmas cookies made with honey, candied citrus peel, and spices. They are delightful chewy with a crackly top from the sugar glaze. They also last forever, which makes them a great candidate for mailing. I’ve used a lot of leckerli recipes over the years, but this one is my favorite.

Many rows of small rectangular bars on a metal cooling rack. They’re golden brown, with little cracks and dimples on their tops, and a shiny glaze.

Payard Cookies by François Payard

This is the only other all-cookie cookbook I own. I don’t love it nearly as much as Dorie’s Cookies. It’s been a bit more hit or miss for me—I’ve tried a few recipes from it that have been flops. But it also has some of my absolute all-time favorite, must-have cookies. It’s definitely got a mood, very classically French (though there are also sections on Italian cookies). When I like a recipe from this book, I really like it. And I appreciate just how butter and almond-centric it is.

Christmas Balls: Little domes of almondy goodness. They’re made with almond paste and studded with candied citrus and dried cranberries, although you could put whatever you want in them! I usually add chunks of marzipan for an extra almond kick. They’re another great keeper.

Closeup of many small round cookies, coated in powdered sugar, with uneven cracks all over their tops.

Raspberry Lunettes: This cookbook has a bunch of recipes for filled jam cookies. These are my favorite. It’s a simple and delicious buttery cookie filled with the tasty jam of your choice. The fun shapes make it seem extra fancy, but it’s really not.

Many rows of teardrop shaped sandwich cookies. Each cookie has two round holes cut out of it, through which you can see the jam filling. Half are filled with a deep red raspberry jam; the other half with golden apricot jam.

Genuis Desserts by Kristen Miglore

This is a collection put out by Food 52 that contains recipes from lots of chefs, bakers, food people, etc. There are a lot of recipes I love in this one, like this amazing pistachio millionaire’s shortbread with coriander butterscotch, which for some reason I don’t have a picture of. I like the mix of styles in this book. I’ve made great biscotti from it, as well as simple jam thumbprints and great vegan chocolate chip cookies.

Pains D’Amande: These are so simple and so tasty: crunchy, nutty, and a little bit caramely from the browned butter. And they make such pretty packages!

Several small bundles of thin rectangular cookies tied up with red and white baker’s twine sit on a stone counter.

Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

This is for sure one of my favorite cookbooks. The cookie section isn’t even that long, but all of them are so good. I always have trouble choosing new ones to try each year, because I can’t bear to let go of any of my favorites! There’s also a confectionary section at the end that has a recipe for the best chocolate pianoforte. And my favorite brownies come from this cookbook, too.

Gevulde Speculaas: When people ask me what my favorite cookie is that I make for Cookie Extravaganza (an impossible question) this is always my answer. It’s this softly spiced dough wrapped around the most magical almond and citrus filling.

12 golden brown cookies, long oblong strips, sit on a cutting board on top of a green tablecloth. Each cookie has two almonds on top, and they are scrunched up next to each other; they’ve been cut from one large bake into twelve pieces.

Gingerbread Tiles with Rum Butter Glaze: First, these are some of the most delicious gingerbread cookies I’ve ever had. Second, they’re so pretty, and all it takes is an engraved rolling pin!

A closeup of six square gingerbread cookies. Each cookie is imprinted with a pattern of leaves, flowers, and vines. They’re glazed with a semi-transparent white glaze, so the pattern is visible underneath.

Amaretti with Honey and Orange Blossom: These were one of the first cookies I made for Cookie Extravaganza, and I’ve just kept making them. They’re just slightly sweet, very almondy, super chewy, and they last forever.

Several rows of small cylindrical, log-shaped cookies sit on a metal cooling rack. They have flaked almonds pressed into them and are coated in powdered sugar.

Chocolate O Cookies: I’ve made a few chocolate sandwich cookies in my day, including homemade Oreos (tasty), but tase are my favorite. They are so rich and decadent.

Many chocolate O cookies sit on a sheet of parchment paper waiting to be sandwiched. There are alternating rows of plain round chocolate cookies, and plain round chocolate cookies topped with a dollop of chocolate ganache.

Bakeland by Marit Hovland

I’ll be honest: I bought this one for the pretty pictures. If you like crafting, painting, or bakes that feature fancy decorations, you’ll love this cookbook. Hovland breaks everything down into steps, and so far all the recipes I’ve tried are quite easy to follow. There are a bunch of macaron recipes in here I haven’t tried yet, and lots of fun cookies and cakes with seasonal and nature-inspired decorations (maple leaf cookies, birch bark cookies, gingerbread pine cones).

Pistachio Marzipan Pears: These are so fun! And they’re also so easy to make. You basically just grind up pistachios with sugar and egg white and shape them into these adorable little pears.

Three small pistachio marzipan pears sit on a wooden counter. They have slivered almonds sticking out of their tops to represent the pear’s stem, and a whole almond pointing out an an angle right below, to represent a leaf.

Cinnamon Swirl Cookies: These cookies are buttery cinnamon joy. The original recipe suggests tempering chocolate and then coating the edges of the cookie in it, to make them look like tree rings. I’ve never bothered.

A huge pile of small round cookies with a spiral pattern of golden cookie and dark cinnamon filling.

Tartine and Tartine Book No. 3 by Chad Robertson and Elisabeth M Prueitt

I bought both of these for the non-cookie recipes. Tartine Book No. 3 is an amazing primer on sourdough bread, and Tartine has tons of delicious recipes for tarts, cakes, and pastries. But it turns out they’re great for cookies, too! I’ve found some absolute gems in both of these books.

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies: I’ve written before about how much I love chocolate and rye. This is the cookie that started it all. My beloved local bakery makes a cookie similar to this one, and while I still buy those ones sometimes, it’s nice to be able to recreate them at home.

A closeup of several round, crinkly, slightly mounded chocolate cookies They are somewhat unevenly shaped, with lots of wrinkles and cracks, and big flakes of salt visible on top.

Linzer Cookies: The recipe in Tartine is actually for Linzer torte, which I’ve never made. But they also give instructions for turning it into a cookie, and…well, it’s a classic for a reason.

Two rows of star-shaped Linzer cookies on a wooden counter. They are coated in powder sugar, and each one has a small star-shaped opening through which the jam filling is visible. Between the two rows of cookies, the counter is covered in powdered sugar, showing the star-shaped outlines of where the cookies were.

Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss

Friends, I own and love a lot of cookbooks. But this one holds a special place in my heart. The very first recipe I shared in this newsletter was based on something from this book. It’s such a warm cookbook. I don’t know how else to describe it. And it is perfect for Cookie Extravaganza. There’s a whole section on traditional German Christmas cookies, and there are so many, and they are all SO GOOD. I’ve been steadily baking my way through them all. I haven’t quite finished yet, because every time I try a new one, I want to make it again the next year. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Lebkuchen: This classic German gingerbread cookie rests for up to two months before being baked. It’s a special cookie.

Three trays of round, heart, and star-shaped Lebkuchen, each with an almond in the center, sit on one side of a table. On the other side is a red tablecloth, with a round candleholder holing red advent candles, a small vase of winterberry, and three small beeswax candles in glass jars.

Spekulatis: The snowflakes I make on these with royal icing are not traditional! But that’s part of the fun of Cookie Extravaganza: reinventing old classics wit your own traditions. These cookies are a beautiful blend of spices wit a lovely snap.

Many round golden brown cookies sit on a metal cooling rack. They are intricately decorated in white icing with different snowflake patterns.

Raspberry Hazelnut Macaroons: Once again, no one told me to drizzle these chewy macaroons with chocolate, but they sure are tasty that way. These cookies are really easy and they’re great keepers.

Many pale round cookies sit on a metal cooling rack. They have small dollops of raspberry jam in their centers, and are drizzled with zigzagging lines of chocolate ganache.

Pastry Love & Flour by Joanne Chang

I own (and love) all of Joanne Chang’s cookbooks. She is such a delight. Pastry Love has lots of great cookie recipes, and I especially enjoy the chapter on candies. I have yet to make the vanilla marshmallows, but I’ve made several of her caramel recipes, meringue kisses, toffee, and probably some other amazing treats I’m forgetting. Flour has my go-to brioche recipe, which I’ve turned into everything from cinnamon buns to savory sweet potato rolls over the years.

Chocolate Almond Caramels: I used to be afraid of making caramels, but, with the help of this recipe (and a a few others) I’ve gotten over it! I like to make a mix each year, and these chocolate ones are a favorite.

Four silver tins of homemade caramels sit on a table. Each tin holds a different kind of caramel, all wrapped individually in wax paper. In front of the tins is a ball of red and white twine, scissors, a stack of small gift bags, and a stack of small brown gift tags.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses: Honestly meringues are not my favorite treat to eat. They are usually too sweet for me. But I love making them, and I love giving them away. These ones are especially nice because the peppermint cuts through some of the sweetness.

Three round silver tins full of small, teardrop-shaped, red and white swirled meringues.

And More!

The above is just a small selection of some of my favorite cookbooks. I also frequently turn to The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook & Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman, Baking at Republique by Margarita Manzke, and Soframiz by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick. And I’m a huge fan of the Bake From Scratch annual cookie issues, which I buy every year.

The Bake: A Perfect Cookie Box

You, too, can throw yourself a Cookie Extravaganza! Here are a few tips.

Choose your cookies wisely.

You obviously do not have to do what I do. But you can still make some super tasty and impressive cookie boxes! The joy of a good cookie box is in the variety. So whether you pick two, three, six, or ten kinds, make them different. When I sold boxes, I made sure each one had a spice cookie, a chocolate cookie, a bar of some kind, something fruity or jam-filled, a sandwich cookie, a buttery cookie, and something unusual or unique. It’s also nice to include a mixture of textures and shapes.

If I were making a simple box from the recipes I shared above, I might bake chocolate O cookies, lebkuchen, amaretti with honey and orange, honey and tea jammers, and rose hibiscus shortbread fans.

A closeup of many small square cookie boxes in tight rows. Each box contains the same cookies, a mix of round shortbreads, crescent shaped cookies, rings coated in powdered sugar, square chocolate cookies, rugelach, and others.

Use your freezer!

Even if you aren’t baking 20 or 50 or 80 kinds of cookies, the freezer is your friend! So many doughs freeze beautifully! You can make your doughs in early December, and then just pull them out of the freeze to bake right before you assemble and mail your boxes. People always ask me how I can bake so many cookies every December, and this is the answer: I use the hell out of my freezer.

Fun fact: you can freeze cookie dough in so many different ways! I always freeze rolled out sheets of dough, logs, preformed balls of drop cookies, precut shaped cookies, thumbprint cookies with the depression in the middle already formed, and specially-shaped cookies (like rugelach).

View into a full freezer. Three shelves hold many doughs in the above forms: a stack of rolled out sheets of dough, many dough logs, ziplock of cut out cookies, dough balls, rugelach, and thumbprint cookies.

Think outside the box.

My aunts often make a super tasty fruit and nut plate for dessert on Christmas Eve. It’s has a lovely mix of items: chocolate covered nuts, candied ginger, dried fruits, salted nuts, pieces of chocolate, etc. Amisha from the Jam Lab makes an incredible Diwali Box every year, and I am always in awe of it. She includes so many kinds of confections, savory snacks, and different kinds of treats.

This is the kind creativity I like to bring to my cookie boxes. Sure, they’re mostly cookies. But it’s also super fun to make candied citrus peel! Or spiced nuts! Maybe you’re not super into baking. You can still put together a fun box full of whatever treats you do like making.

Four plates of candied peel—Meyer lemon, lemon, orange, and blood orange—sit on a wooden table. There are also two small clear gift bags partially filled with peel, and a big stack of unfilled gift bags.

Enjoy your bakes.

During baking season, I have teatime every day. I eat lots and lots and lots of cookies. I made extravagant plates with many different kinds and savor them slowly. I light candles and take my time. It’s the best part of Cookie Extravaganza.

A teatime scene. The table is covered with a red tablecloth. A Swedish advent candle holder is lit, as are several smaller beeswax candles in small glass cups. There is a blue ceramic mug next to a plate that holds five cookies of different shapes and colors.

And that’s a wrap on the first year of Books & Bakes! Thanks so much to all of you for reading. It means the world. If you enjoy my work, and want to support it further, you can subscribe right here.

I’m wishing you all a beautiful December. I hope the last weeks of the year are filled with the people and places that bring you joy. I’ll be back with more book recs and tasty recipes on January 12th.

Books & Bakes