Ah, December. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, a month filled with food and family and friends and festivity. And, of course, our favorite holiday cookies.
This season, the three classic cookies will make a comeback: spritz, gingerbread and sugar cookies. Consider baking up a batch of tradition for an upcoming cookie exchange or Christmas party. Here’s how:
1. Butter Spritz Cookies (recipe from FoodNetwork.com)
Spritz cookies are tiny, but don’t underestimate their deliciousness. These tasty treats are butter cookies, and they get their shape from a cookie press. And, what’s more, it’s oh-so-easy to bake four dozen of them:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups sifted flour
- Sprinkles for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, add the sugar and the butter. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extracts and mix to incorporate. Sift together the baking powder and the flour. Add the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Using a cookie press, press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets. Top with the sprinkles of your choice. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until firm, but not yet browning.
2. Gingerbread Cookies (recipe from FoodNetwork.com)
Gingerbread is a timeless classic. It gets its flavor from ginger and molasses, two ingredients that set the gingerbread cookie apart from any other holiday dessert. The recipe for these cookies is slightly tedious and difficult, but if you follow the directions carefully, you’ll end up with 12-16 scrumptious cookies:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mild molasses
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Combine butter, sugar, and molasses together in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in increments, and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed together.
Pour the dough out onto the countertop and divide into 4 pieces. Press each piece into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 1 to 2 hours, or up to 3 days.
Adjust the racks to the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper.
Spread 2 large pieces of parchment paper out and very lightly flour them. Place a disk of dough between the parchment sheets and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with the remaining disks of dough. Rework all scraps into balls and re-chill before reusing. Repeat with all the dough.
Cut out cookies and place on the parchment-lined sheet trays with an offset spatula, leaving 1-inch between each cookie. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the sheet tray for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to continue cooling to room temperature before decorating the cookies.
3. Sugar Cookies (recipe from FoodNetwork.com)
Everyone loves a good sugar cookie, especially when the cookies are festively decorated with red and green icing. Like gingerbread cookies, these can be cut out using cookie cutters or simply rolled into dough balls. This particular recipe yields about four dozen 2 ½-inch cookies, but if you decide to use smaller cookie cutters, then you’re sure to have enough cookies to last you the entire month of December:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with an electric mixeron medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Divide dough in half, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Generously flour a clean work surface. (For a nice, even layer of flour, lightly sift flour over the work surface.) Gently roll chilled dough about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter, working quickly enough so dough remains chilled. If dough gets too soft, refrigerate on a lined baking sheet until firm again, about 30 minutes.
Transfer cut cookies to un-greased baking sheets, leaving about 1-inch between cookies. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. Lightly dust off excess flour with a dry pastry brush. (Excess dough can be pressed into a disk, chilled and rerolled.)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies, until the bottoms are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on shape. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool. Decorate as desired