If you had to choose 3 cookies to make for the holidays --

[EFerrari]

that would look nice on a dish and contrast with each other, which would you pick?

That's about my budget, dollar and energy wise this year.

I think I'll do the chocolate gingerbread house but can't decide on a combo for the cookie plate. Whaddya think?

This is the chocolate gingerbread recipe I use, btw. The kids like it better than straight gingerbread cookies:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Chocolate-Gingerbread-Men-334306


/oops

[Tesha]

1. walnut crescents would always be my first choice

.. they're heavily coated with powdered sugar and have an interesting shape.
They're also easy to make small, one or two bite cookies often interest people.

with something chocolate covered, perhaps a bar cookie
and maybe the peanut butter kiss cookies

but picking only 3 is impossible for me :dilemma: - right now my dining room table is covered with Christmas baking!

[EFerrari]

4. Walnut crescents sound good. I think I will use those. LIke this?

http://southernfood.about.com/od/buttercookies/r/bl50216f.htm

[Tesha]

8. even better...

Walnut Crescents

1C. butter
1/4C. confectioners sugar
1 1/2 t. water
2 t. vanilla
2C. flour
1C. Chopped nuts
mix and chill
form and bake @350 15 min
roll with warm in conf. sugar
roll again when cool

Except for folks who don't like nuts - everyone loves these... have fun:hi:

[EFerrari]

10. Thanks!

:hi:

[jtrockville]

12. Could you shape this in little balls, or must they be rolled and cut?

[Tesha]

15. you form them in your hands...

pick up a big pinch of dough - like a heaping teaspoon worth - roll quickly between your hands - bend the tapered ends in and set on a sheet.

you're making a crescent shape. working more quickly will keep them colder when they go in the oven and making for a crisper cookie


or they could be little balls like the several different kinds I've seen - but the shape is really attractive on a platter

[EFerrari]

17. Tesha, I made a pan of these last night and they went really quickly

but I think I had them in the oven too long because they broke when I tried to roll them in sugar. So, this batch got sprinkled with sugar instread, still yummy. Do you think they were over baked? They don't brown much so it was hard to tell what "done" was this first time out. :hi:

[Tesha]

23. One of the things that makes these wonderful is...

they melt in your mouth.... I'm going to go eat one right now... mmmm

but the drawback is that they are very delicate -


now that they're done, try sprinkling sugar on a plate, setting them on it and sprinkle some more over the top - that should be fine

[EFerrari]

24. The recipe is so easy and my family loves them.

:)

[jtrockville]

27. Excellent. I'm going to try these tonight or tomorrow.

[Phentex]

2. checkerboards, dipped choc mint cookies, and pinwheels

Sort of a black and white theme with patterns! :)

[EFerrari]

3. Something minty would be nice!

I was thinking about these guys:



http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/ChocolateMintBrownies.html

They're rich but if you cut them smaller, not so big a commitment. :)

[EFerrari]

5. What about raspberry pinwheels?

http://www.recipezaar.com/Raspberry-Pinwheel-Cookies-130353

I don't think I've ever made pinwheels before.

[Phentex]

22. Try it!

They say Christmas to me!

[surrealAmerican]

6. These would be one of them:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spoon-Cookies-233297

They're not easy to make, but they are wonderful.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. We discovered a new recipe this year that will be a standard on our cookie plate from now on.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/deliciously-outrageous-chocolate-cookies

They taste like a rich, fudgy chocolate brownie and are very simple to make. The batter looks way too thin at first, but if you let it set for a few minutes it stiffens up a bit. They would look really pretty dusted with a little powdered sugar. We added walnuts to part of the batter and liked them both ways. You will want to make sure you have some cold milk in the fridge for these.

[EFerrari]

11. Those look dangerous!

:)

[hippywife]

9. When I used to bake for the holiday

I made pizzelles in both anise and chocolate. Very economical because one batch makes many, many. Do you have a pizzelle iron or can you borrow one?

Also I would make my grandma's little nut bon-bon cookies. Also very economical but very tedious to make. It's a cream cheese dough cut into small strips and then baked with a tiny piece of walnut in it. Shaken in powdered sugar when they are cooled. They were my dad's and my husband's favorites.

Finally I would make small fruit cakes and cut them into bite-sized pieces.

:hi:

[pengillian101]

20. You love to bake, Hippywife. What happened?

When I "used" to bake for the holiday.

Huh? I don't get it. You bake lots.

:pals:

[hippywife]

30. We don't celebrate Christmas here.

I used to come home from work when I was single and spend the evenings making cookies for my whole family according to the recipes of my grandmother. Now I live far away and we have both become agnostic/athiest. So I don't do all the baking at the holiday that I used to do.

[pengillian101]

31. Oh, I got ya.

We don't do much for the holidays either, because we live far from most of our relatives. My family tradition was making lefse and Norwegian cookies and other good stuff. But, it's no fun making them alone; so I don't do it anymore.

Usually a friend will get in on one of those cookie exchanges and share her stuff :-)

[Neecy]

13. Here are some easy ones

I'm doing my major cookie baking next week, but I took this one for a test drive yesterday and they were fast, easy, and pretty much a basic item on a holiday cookie platter. You can also make a lot of them in very little time.

Russian Snowballs: http://thegingercook.blogspot.com/2009/12/russian-snowballs.html

Here's another that I'll be tackling - it's a three step process, but they look so good I've gotta make them.

Caramel Chocolate Macchiato Cookies: http://kitchengirljo.blogspot.com/2009/12/caramel-chocolate-macchiato-cookies.html

[EFerrari]

14. The Chocolate Macchiato cookies are beautiful.

I did the mint brownies tonight, which are also a 3 step but my family really likes them so it's worth it.

[japple]

16. Raspberry Crumble Bars

These are very easy and insanely delicious. They never last long around my house. I've also made them with apricot jam and added a little lemon juice to give a little extra tartness. Would probably be even fancier with a little chocoloate drizzled across the top.

Raspberry Crumble Bars

Ingredients
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut up
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam (preferably seedless)
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9- by 9-inch baking pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the flour and salt and beat just until the dough forms clumps. Don't overmix. Turn out the dough onto a piece of waxed paper. Lightly flour your hands and squeeze the dough into a ball (the warmth of your hands will soften the dough enough to hold it together).
3. Divide the dough into thirds. Crumble one third into a bowl and set it aside. Press the remaining two thirds evenly into the greased pan and bake it on the center oven rack for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the dough are lightly golden. Set the pan on a wire rack. While the dough cools, add the oats and nuts to the reserved dough in the bowl and pinch the ingredients together so that the mixture becomes crumbly.
4. Spread the raspberry jam on the baked shortbread (it's OK if the dough is still warm), then cover the jam with an even layer of the crumb topping. Bake the bars for 20 to 24 minutes, until the top crumbs are golden brown, then set the pan back on the wire cooling rack. While the shortbread is still slightly warm, cut it into 2-1/4-inch squares. Once the bars cool completely (they are very fragile while warm), lift them from the pan with a spatula. Makes 16 bars.

[Sparkly]

18. Plain roll-out butter cookies

When they're well-made (all real butter, baked to slightly toasty), they are the best. They just have a bad rap from being compromised (too thick, undercooked, margarine or Crisco, nasty decorations)...

A walnut here, a cinnamon "red-hot" there, maybe a few sprinkles if one must, and fun shapes with the cookie cutter (stick to two or three for company -- looks more "in-control" of the thing).

I know it's cliche, but they still say "Christmas" to me! (Gingerbread works, too.)

:D

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Christmas without peanut butter kisses is an abomination, so that's one cookie.

Then I'd add the decorated sugar cookies.

And what with me being me, I'd eschew any other cookies and the third thing would be chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

Sugar cookies and peanut butter kisses are really the only two cookies I want at Christmas.

[EFerrari]

25. What are peanut butter kisses?

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

28. These

http://www.andreasrecipes.com/2006/01/01/peanut-butter-kiss-cookies/

[EFerrari]

29. Thanks!

[pengillian101]

21. I would not recommend the banana oatmeal I made today.

Really not a pretty cookie at all. It tasted okay, but had the look of a lump of cooked oatmeal :rofl:

[EFerrari]

26. Oh, no! I'm so sorry!

lol