Christmas Cookies-Lovin From the Oven ⋆ Biscuits to Brownies

Holiday Cookie Assortment

As the Christmas season approaches, one of the things I get super excited about is making Christmas cookies! I just can’t help it, I look so forward to this season and revving up my oven in overdrive!

Family Favorites

Peanut Butter Kisses (my husband’s favorite)
Chocolate Krinkle Cookies ( I use to call them chocolate snowflake)
Pecan Tarts (hails from my grandmother, I ate many of these as a kid)
Decorated Sugar Cookie
Jam Thumbprints (my favorite)
Spritz
Linzer
Molasses Krackle (these are new to the list)

Yes, I definitely have some of my favorite traditional recipes I make yearly, listed above and they are tried and true. My family looks forward to them every season. Okay, I admit I do sometimes make a few during the year (maybe the peanut butter kisses for my husband….).

Green and red spritz cookies on a decorated platter — **Holiday Spritz Cookies-one of my favorites**

But each year I always like to try new recipes out for some fun and if they are super fantastic…. they get added to the traditional list for years to come.

Getting Started

I first got my itch for Christmas cookie baking when I lived in Germany as a new bride. My husband bought me a cookie cookbook and I slowly started trying different recipes. I still have the cookbook some 27 years later! Its like a heirloom, a relic of some sorts. Some of the pages have come unbound but its a book I still cherish so much. Every year I love getting it out and just looking through the recipes as it brings back so many “sweet” memories.

Since then, I have expanded my horizons beyond that classic book and have tried many different and fun recipes. Of course, they have to pass the thumbs up from every family member to achieve “family favorite” status.

Collection of Favorites

Last year I was able to adapt some of our family favorites into a collection for a corporate catering company I was working with for a menu of Christmas Cookie assortments-Chef’s Choice.

Some of favorite decorated cut-outs
Decorated sugar cookies, PB kisses, Pecan Tarts, Raspberry Almond Tarts,Thumbprints, Danish Butter, Biscotti, and Molasses Krackle

Cut-outs and Icing

Of course, decorator sugar cookies are some of my favorite to create. The sky is the limit to all the possibilities of creativity here. I like to use a royal icing that contains pasteurized egg whites which is very easy to find in most grocery stores.

Click here for my traditional royal icing for cookie decorations.

However, recently I found a bit of a shortcut and easy to make recipe that gives the most glamorous shine and appeal to the cookies. Its a powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and just a touch of corn syrup that makes for a fabulous icing.

Decorated with the new icing
The new icing gives it a great shine
Special collection that were baked for the Embassies

Gingerbread

Of course every holiday cookie assortment has to have at least some gingerbread cookies in them. Yum, I just love the taste of these cookies. The spices are just wonderful in your mouth and the smell as they are baking truly bring the holidays to your kitchen.

New Ideas

Some new ideas and recipes this year that I tried range from some new cutters to an Italian cookie, and a no bake peanut butter treat. The cutters worked great with a linzer cookie dough that made an indentation for easy filling with jam before baking. I turned the traditional linzer cookie into an open faced version, then dusted with powdered sugar.

No bake PB cups
Italian Jam Filled
Love these new cutters
Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

My kitchen is still going in overdrive and there’s no other place I would rather be. I have family coming in for the holidays and they will be greeted with lots of choices and sweet treats to nibble on. Friends are going to get in on the action too! They might run when they see me to avoid the temptation of extra calories!