Me Want Cookies!

November 21, 2019 7:11 PM

I'm looking for tried and true cookie recipes.

So the holiday season is upon us. I'm baking cookies (and other stuff) for our Church bake sale, making cookies for my coworkers, and of course the MeFi cookie exchange.

I saw previous pots, but new stuff is cropping up all the time.

I have my usual repertoire of chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter M&M cookies. I'm looking for some new recipes. I can't afford special flours. Ingredients should be fairly inexpensive.

No dietary restrictions.

Thanks!

posted by kathrynm to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

Nutella rolled cookies is my go to for the holiday. Find your favorite sugar cookie recipe and make it. Then, roll it out to about 9x13 or whatever rectangular-like shape you can manage. Slather that with Nutella.

If you want a cookie with more Nutella layers, roll it along the short edge. If you want less large cookies, roll along the long edge. Wrap in foil and freeze until you're ready to use it.

Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes depending on how chewy you want it.
--
On an unrelated note...
Using browned butter in a cookie recipe is also an absolute game changer!
posted by astapasta24 at 7:28 PM on November 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

https://food52.com/recipes/77735-salty-black-licorice-brownie-cookies

Unique, delicious. Happy baking!
posted by miratime at 7:35 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Rosemary Butter Cookies

SO good. Double the rosemary; Martha doesn't use enough. And they're freezer cookies, so you can keep a roll in your freezer and slice and bake whenever you want fresh cookies!
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:17 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

These double dark chocolate shortbread cookies are excellent (and they're just as good if you use regular cocoa and semisweet chips instead of dark.)

And these chocolate shortbread hearts are even better. I don't use Dutch-process cocoa but I have tried them with regular butter instead of European and found the European really did seem to make them better (and made the dough hold together better.) I don't bother with the melted chocolate or raspberry or with making them in heart shapes.

Other favorites include Smitten Kitchen's brownie roll-out cookies and triple the ginger cookies with melted bittersweet chocolate drizzled on top.
posted by Redstart at 8:22 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Redstart, the chocolate shortbread hearts recipe is membership/paywalled. Any chance you could share the text? They sound amazing!
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:24 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nobody doesn't like a Snickerdoodle. Betty Crocker's right that cream of tartar is the secret ingredient - this is what takes them from "is it a sugar cookie with some cinnamon?" to "I'll take three".
posted by Mizu at 8:24 PM on November 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

NY Times Chocolate Shortbread Hearts

Ingredients

2 cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
½ cup/40 grams unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup/225 grams salted European-style (or cultured) butter (2 sticks), softened
⅔ cup/135 grams granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
6 ounces dark, milk or white chocolate chips, or use some of each (about 1 cup)
⅓ cup freeze-dried raspberries, lightly crushed (optional)

Preparation

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in yolk, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
Once chilled, remove plastic wrap and sandwich dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out into a 1/2-inch-thick slab. Leaving dough between the parchment, place it on a baking sheet or large plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
Heat oven to 325 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Pull dough from refrigerator, and remove parchment from dough. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out as many hearts as possible. Transfer them to the prepared cookie sheets. Reroll the dough scraps and repeat.
Bake cookies for 18 to 23 minutes, until puffed and set, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool completely.
In a heatproof measuring cup, melt chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between.
Dip half of each cooled cookie in melted chocolate, letting the excess drip back into measuring cup. Place back on parchment-lined baking sheets, and sprinkle chocolate with crushed raspberries, if using. Let cool until chocolate is set, then store in an airtight container.
posted by Redstart at 8:32 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I love love love these brown butter coconut cookies from Smitten Kitchen. You will love them too if you love butter and coconut. Careful to not create a brown butter volcano/geyser if you need to add water to make up volume in the browned butter- let it cool a bit first. Not that I know from repeated terrible experience or anything.
posted by charmedimsure at 9:00 PM on November 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

Also, I wish I remembered where the original recipe was from, but these ginger cookies are tremendous- incredibly gingery, slightly crisp outside and soft center. I have never made them and not had someone ask me for the recipe. They keep, travel, and freeze well.

Super-Ginger Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses

Sugar

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Mix in
crystallized ginger. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar, shortening and
butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until
blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Cover and refrigerate
at least one hour until well-chilled.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Spoon sugar in
thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 1/4-inch
balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets,
spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 12
minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer to racks and cool. Can
be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
posted by charmedimsure at 9:04 PM on November 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

don't hate me - but martha stewart has a billion icebox cookie recipes and i've yet to have one fail!
posted by megan_magnolia at 1:54 AM on November 22, 2019

This giant chocolate toffee cookie recipe is one of my favorites. Weirdly, if you eat them on the day you bake them, they taste OK but not special. But if you let them sit overnight, they become absolutely delicious. (It's interesting looking at the reviews on Epicurious -- there are a bunch of mediocre reviews from people who I bet ate them right away, and a bunch of ultra enthusiastic reviews from people who probably let them sit overnight.)
posted by yankeefog at 3:44 AM on November 22, 2019

These walnut acorn cookies are super-easy and yet look decoratively festive. They're basically a nutty shortbread cookie that you decorate by dipping one end into melted chocolate and then chopped walnuts so they look like acorns. You can of course swap out the walnuts for other nuts, or for those with nut allergies, leave the nuts out of the cookie entirely and then at the decorating stage, use sprinkles or crushed toffee or something like that.

Makes about 4 dozen

INGREDIENTS

For cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (4 oz)

For decoration

8 oz semisweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (2 oz)

Make cookies:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Mix in flour mixture at low speed, then stir in walnuts.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Form 2 teaspoons dough into an egglike shape resembling an acorn (I find it easy to just press it into a soup spoon lightly). Make "acorns," arranging them 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in batches in middle of oven until undersides are light brown, about 10 minutes.

Transfer to racks to cool.

Decorate cookies: Dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and then in chopped nuts. Place as coated on a baking sheet lined with wax paper to set, about 15 minutes.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:52 AM on November 22, 2019

Dorie Greenspan’s world peace cookies - chocolate sablé with sea salt. I make these all the time and they never fail me. Only trick is to believe the directions when they say to take the cookies out of the oven when they still look too gooey, they will firm.
posted by sallybrown at 5:07 AM on November 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

I absolutely love Smitten Kitchen's espresso-chocolate shortbread recipe. I've tried several of her recipes, and every single one of them has worked as written, which is a rare thing for me. Happy baking!
posted by csox at 6:15 AM on November 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

This just popped up for me today. I haven't made them yet. Slice & bake salted chocolate butter pecan cookies.

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/butter-pecan-cookies/
posted by MichelleinMD at 8:13 AM on November 22, 2019

Here is the story of the infamous (and delicious!) Nieman Marcus cookie. It contains the recipe.
posted by ubiquity at 9:01 AM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

These Chai Eggnog Cookies have become a favorite, both for the ease of prep (recipe uses a bag of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix) and the great seasonal flavor they give. The first year I made these and took them to a holiday potluck, a woman I didn’t know grabbed me by the arm and exclaimed, “These cookies taste like CHRISTMAS!”
posted by little mouth at 9:46 AM on November 22, 2019

I like the confetti cookies from Smitten Kitchen because the dough is made entirely in a food processor and doesn't require being rolled out. You scoop it, roll it in sprinkles and squoosh it flat before baking. You could easily use holiday colored sprinkles or (my preference because they add crunch) nonpareils to make them holiday specific. The resulting cookies are delightfully crunchy.

My other go to is the make, freeze, then slice and bake variety. These Martha Stewart cranberry coins are seasonal and easy to make lots and lots of.
posted by Miss Matheson at 2:27 AM on November 23, 2019

Stella Park's brown butter ricotta cookies are my go to cookie these days. The recipe is really simple and the only ingredient that isn't a pantry item is ricotta cheese. The recipe calls for a (somewhat) lengthy cooling of the browned butter, but I just pour the butter into a metal mixing bowl and nest that bowl into an ice bath. Just stir for a couple minutes and the butter will be at the right temp to continue the recipe.
posted by noneuclidean at 4:23 PM on November 24, 2019

big soft ginger cookies

I don't have a specific recipe but chocolate crinkle cookies/zebra cookies, made right, are like wonderful chocolate explosions very well off-set by the confectioner's sugar. I just am terrible at making them so I rely on other people. Other people tell me the secret is that chilling the dough is non-optional.
posted by Cozybee at 12:24 AM on November 26, 2019

Happy discovery this week: take a chocolate chip cookie recipe, replace the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, and add about 1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon per cup of butterscotch chips. The flavours go incredibly well together.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 3:30 AM on November 26, 2019