The year is winding down, and Christmas is officially over - but I wanted to write a post linking all the cookies I baked for the 2024 holiday season. Maybe bookmark it for ideas for next year? I actually wrote a similar post many years ago (2017) - I can’t believe that was seven years ago. But anyways, I hope you are all soaking up the joys of the season! One of my biggest joys is baking Christmas cookies, and it has become an annual tradition at this point. I don’t feel like it’s officially Christmas until every pyrex is being used to store cookie dough or cookies. 😉
OLD FAVORITES
Funny enough, these three recipes are the same ones included in the 2017 post - tried and true I absolutely promise!
CLASSIC GINGERBREAD - An absolute must every year. I use store-bought (Betty Crocker) white cookie icing because I can never mix the right consistency for homemade icing. This is a PSA that store bought is fine!! This year I also added eyeball sprinkles, and I feel like they added so much whimsy and really brought the gingerbread people and reindeer to life.
OLIVE OIL PEPPERMINT BROWNIE COOKIES - I add peppermint chocolate chips and/or crushed peppermint candies to these (not part of the original recipe) and it satisfies that festive flavor profile of mint and chocolate perfectly. Last year, I also did an orange chocolate version using orange infused olive oil my friend gifted me from Spain and added fresh orange zest - equally seasonal and delicious!
CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHUNK w/ SEA SALT - A classic that I feel like doesn’t typically make the holiday cookie list, but it always makes mine. Brown the butter. Chop up chocolate chunks (so you get varied size pieces). Finish with flake sea salt once they come out of the oven. The best.
NEW THIS YEAR
MATCHA SUGAR COOKIES - This was my first time trying a gluten free recipe, and I think it turned out great. They didn’t taste like they were lacking anything at all, and I’ll definitely be making them again! I believe you could also use regular AP flour. The recipe is also vegan (as written) but I didn’t have apple sauce on hand so used an egg instead. I also didn’t have white sanding sugar, so I used green instead. I also made a batch rolled in granulated sugar and they turned out fine but had a “toasted” appearance. Next time I make them, I will definitely try to get my hands on some white sanding sugar because I think they would be so sparkly and pretty, haha.
RASPBERRY LINZER COOKIES - I had my heart set on trying to make linzer cookies for the first time this year, and I really fell in love with the process. This recipe is vegan and nut free (double win)! I used Country Crock Plant Butter for the first time, and it baked up great. For the filling, I used Bonne Maman raspberry jam (but you could also make your own). This was definitely a project of a cookie, but after getting the hang of it they are quite fun to make and assemble. I’ll be making them again! Maybe for Valentine’s day?
SWEET POTATO PEANUT BUTTER DOG TREATS - I can’t find where I originally got this recipe, but it’s very simple: 1 cup mashed sweet potato, 1 heaping spoonful of xylitol free natural peanut butter, 1 egg, 1.5-2 cups whole wheat flour. Bake at 350 til crispy for 35-40 minutes (flipping halfway through so the bottoms don’t burn). I always feel bad for making the kitchen smell like cookies for a week straight, so this year I made sure to make some special cookies for the dogs (ones they could actually eat). I had fun with it by personalizing them - and they made for great gifts for my friends with dogs too. Stewie and Sparkle absolutely loooooooved them.
NO BAKE
I always like to include a couple no-bake recipes in the line up to give my oven a break but also add more variety. These don’t really have recipes, either, because they’re so simple. I just melt chocolate over a double boiler (or the microwave) and have fun with it. Make sure you temper your chocolate by adding some unmelted pieces after you pull it off the heat so that it can set at room temperature.
DARK CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY PISTACHIO BARK - I love that this feels like a chocolate canvas. It’s so easy and looks so fancy (and the flavor combo is just chef’s kiss). Dark chocolate, dried cranberries, pistachios, white chocolate drizzle, and finish with flake sea salt. The drizzle is my favorite part because when else do you get to go all Jackson Pollock with chocolate?
CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZELS w/ SPRINKLES - I usually do sugar cookies with sprinkles, but they got the ax this year to make room (time) for the linzer cookie addition. I still wanted to have something with sprinkles for color, though - so this was an easy way to do that. :)
And that’s it for this year! See you in 2025! 🎉