Christmas Cookies
We love making cookies during the holidays. We have our traditional cookies, the ones we learned from our mothers who learned from their mothers; the ones we love year to year. But we also like to try out new recipes every year, too! Here is a list of our favorite family recipes and a couple of new ones. Happy holidays!
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recipes
Fluffy Vanilla Marshmallows
Marshmallows are a great source of gelatin and are super nutrient dense, but also easy to get into your diet (or your kids!). You can do so many different things; different flavors like vanilla or almond, or use them to make s’mores or brown butter rice crispy treats, like we did!
Makes about 64 1-inch cubed marshmallows
ingredients
- 3 tablespoons grass fed unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup cold water, divided
- 1 cup raw honey or maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tablespoon vanilla or ½ of a scraped vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons almond extract
method
Oil bottom and sides of a 8x8 inch pan and dust bottom and sides with confectioners’ sugar or parchment paper.
In bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle gelatin over ½ cup cold water and let stand to soften.
In a large saucepan, mix honey, second ½ cup of cold water, and salt over low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until honey is dissolved. Turn heat to medium and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240° F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stir until gelatin is dissolved.
With stand mixer, beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume; about six minutes if using standing mixer. This might take longer with a hand mixer.
In medium bowl, use clean whisk attachment to beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Sift ¼ cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill uncovered until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert onto a large cutting board. Lifting one corner of inverted pan, loosen marshmallow with fingers and ease onto cutting board. Use a large knife to trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into empty baking pan and roll marshmallows through sugar on all six sides. Shake off excess sugar. Store in airtight container. Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at room temperature about 1 week.
Brown Butter Rice Crispy Treats
These rice crispy treats are a step above the regular stuff - all because of the nuttiness from the brown butter and added sea salt. We even used our homemade marshmallows!
Makes sixteen 2-inch squares
ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
- 10 ounces marshmallows
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 7 cups crispy rice cereal
method
Butter an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides. In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. After melting, it will foam and turn golden; keep an eye on it as it can burn quickly. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Once it smells nutty and is a dark golden brown color, it’s done.
Turn heat to low and stir marshmallows into butter until smooth. Remove pot from the heat and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. Use a piece of greased parchment paper to press firmly and evenly into the edges and corners. Let cool and cut into squares.
Optional: While warm, the kids like to add sprinkles on top. Press down with parchment paper.
Oatmeal Cookies with Candied Pecans + Cranberries
A seasonal twist on the classic oatmeal cookie. We used Smitten Kitchen’s candied nuts recipe and some cranberries to make them festive.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- 1 cup rapadura, firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 cup quick-cooking oats
- 2 cups candied pecans
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
- 4 ounces dried cranberries
method
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment.
Using stand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about three minutes. Stir in eggs, one at a time.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once flour has been incorporated, add the second half. Stir in the oats, pecans, orange zest, and cranberries.
Use a tablespoon to make balls of dough, about the size of a walnut, and bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and transfer to wire rack. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Spicy Gingerbread Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who we ♡! We used fresh ginger instead of ground, some rapadura in place of brown sugar, and some blackstrap molasses. She writes: “Barely adapted from Martha Stewart, who knows a thing or two about gingerbread - This gingerbread is spicy and dark, chewy but sturdy and only a little sweet. If you’re used to more tepid gingerbread men, it will surprise you. If you always found gingerbread a little boring, it will delight you.”
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
ingredients
- 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed rapadura
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup blackstrap molasses
method
Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl with an stand mixer until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about one hour or up to two days.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a ¼ -inch thick. Cut into shapes of your choice, such as snowflakes or gingerbread men. Spread two inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until the cookies firm up again, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
When cool, you can decorate the cookies with icing and sprinkles. When you pipe designs, sprinkle the icing with sanding sugar and let it sit for five minutes before tapping off the excess sugar. Then let the icing set completely at room temperature, which will take an hour or so, depending on how thick it is.
Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container for up to a week.
Swedish Ginger Cookies
These Swedish ginger cookies are so easy and so delicious - we’ve been making them in my family all my life. The bacon fat and blackstrap molasses compliment each other well, and the cardamom and lemon zest bring everything together nicely. And, they’re easy to make with little hands.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
ingredients
- ¾ cup strained bacon fat
- 1 cup sugar, plus more for rolling
- 4 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons meyer lemon zest
method
Heat oven to 350° F. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together bacon fat and sugar. Beat in molasses and egg; mixture might be liquidy. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, spices, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. In two parts, stir flour mixture into fat mixture; combine thoroughly.
Shape dough into walnut-sized balls, roll balls in sugar, and flatten with two fingers on parchment-lined baking sheet about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake for 11 minutes, or until cookies are golden and cracked on top, but still soft. Let cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container, up to 1 week.
Classic Sugar Cookies
We love a basic sugar cookie recipe that tastes good, holds up to decorating but isn’t rock hard to bite into. This is one of our favorites!
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup organic heavy whipping cream
method
In bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour and baking powder; stir into creamed mixture, alternating with the heavy cream. Cover dough and chill at least 2 hours until firm, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼” thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1” apart on prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in preheated oven until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.
Eggnog Fudge
This a fun twist on old favorite - and you can use raw eggnog, like our favorite from Traders Point Creamery or your own homemade!
ingredients
- 2 cups cane sugar
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp butter
- ¾ cup eggnog
- 10 ounces white chocolate, chopped into pieces
- 7 oz marshmallows
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- 1 vanilla bean pod seeds scraped out
method
Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper and grease with butter. Combine sugar, butter and eggnog in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook at a rolling boil, stirring constantly for additional 10 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 235º F.
Remove from heat and immediately stir in chopped white chocolate, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla bean seeds. Stir vigorously until white chocolate is melted. Melt marshmallows with butter until smooth. Add marshmallow creme and stir vigorously until well combined. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle top with nutmeg or holiday spice infused sugar. Cool at room temperature, then cut into squares. Store in containers in refrigerator.
Thumbprint Cookies
These are some of our favorite cookies that we should probably make more than once a year. They’re a little bit more time intensive but worth it!
ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup finely chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup any raspberry preserves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
method
Preheat oven to 300º F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Separate egg, reserving egg white. In stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and egg yolk until fluffy. Add vanilla, flour and salt. Combine well.
Shape dough into balls, roll in egg white, then pecans. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart and dent each cookie with your thumb. Bake for 5 minutes then remove cookies from oven and carefully dent each cookie again. Bake for 8 more minutes until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown.
Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks. Put preserves in each thumbprint. Store in an airtight container.
Snowball Pecan Cookies
These cookies are buttery and flavorful, thanks to the combination of vanilla and almond extract. You can also opt out of rolling the cookies in powdered sugar for a less sweet cookie.
ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup ground pecans
- 2 ½ cups confectioners' sugar, divided
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
method
Beat butter in stand mixer until creamy. Add flour, pecans, ½ cup sugar, salt and extracts. Mix until well combined. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375º F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Shape cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheets. To help the cookies keep their round shape, chill for 30 minutes before baking.
Bake 15 to 18 minutes. When cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes), roll hot cookies in the remaining 2 cups confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
Spritz
Another favorite - a butter cookie, almost a mix of shortbread and sugar cookie. You can add food coloring to the dough to make lovely color. We like a basic cookie press versus an electric cookie press. Decorate with or without sprinkles as you like.
ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- food coloring, if desired
method
Heat oven to 400º F. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Stir in flour, salt, egg, almond extract and a few drops of food color, if desired.
Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with your choice of sprinkles, etc.
Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until set, watching carefully so they do not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
How to make natural food coloring (for icing, or whatever!)
It may come as a surprise but all those super intense, sometimes neon colors you find in the supermarket aren’t there naturally… I know, it’s a shocker. But they make things pretty and fun, especially when you have kids, so here’s some tricks for a healthy alternative to conventional food coloring. It’s easy and cheap, and uses items already in your house. Let the adventure begin!
From Whole Foods interview with Fancypants Baking Co by Paige Schilt: “Natural colors are far more complicated because they come from fruits and vegetables. For example, most of our reds come from beets. Depending on the season, beets can be almost fuchsia or they might be more orange. At this time of year, the beets are more of a fuchsia color. If we’re trying to get a good red for Valentine’s Day cookies, we have to add and blend with an orange color that’s made from annatto or a yellow color that’s made from turmeric.”
For purple food coloring
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 2 teaspoons water
method
Thaw and drain blueberries. In a high-speed blender or food processor, blend the blueberries and water together until smooth. Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the skins from the mix. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings, or batter to impart a purple hue. Add more coloring, if necessary.
For green food coloring
- ½ tsp organic matcha powder
- 1 tbsp hot water
method
Dissolve matcha in hot water, whisking super well before adding to icing.
For yellow food coloring
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
method
In a small saucepan, boil the water and turmeric for 3 to 5 minutes. Allow to fully cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Turmeric can stain, so use a container you don’t mind turning yellow. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings, or batter for starters to impart a yellow hue. Add more coloring, if necessary.
For pink food coloring
- 1 large beet
method
Wash and thoroughly scrub beet. Finely grate over a paper towel or thin, clean dish towel. Be sure to set the towel over a plate so the beet juice doesn't stain your countertops. One beet should yield roughly 3 tbsp of beet juice. Once beet is grated, gently squeeze beet juice into whatever you're coloring. Add more juice, if necessary.
how to make royal icing
ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, divided, plus more if needed
- 2 1/2 ounces egg whites, from 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 ounces heavy cream, plus more if needed (optional; for thinning royal icing, if desired)
method
Measure 4 cups of powdered sugar and place in the bowl of a stand mixer, then add egg whites, water, vanilla, salt, and lemon. Stir with a flexible spatula to form a smooth paste, then set over a gently simmering water bath and stir until paste is about 150°F on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer to stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add remaining ½ cup powdered sugar, and mix at low speed to combine. Increase speed to medium and beat until thick and frosting-like, about 1 minute or until mixing bowl feels cool to the touch.
To thin icing, reduce speed to low, add cream, and continue mixing until smooth. Lift the paddle attachment up. If the icing that drips off melts right back into the bowl of icing, you’re golden. If it doesn’t, add more cream. If it’s super thin and watery, add more confectioners’ sugar
To make powdered sugar at home
Powdered sugar is one of those items that you seem never to have in your pantry when you need it. Typically powdered sugar is made from overly processed white sugar and low grade cornstarch which is used as a anti-caking factor. With this recipe you can avoid low quality ingredients, and its ready in about 30 seconds! No need to ever buy it in the store again. If you plan on keeping some in the pantry you will need to add a starch to prevent clumping. My starches of choice are arrowroot powder or tapioca flour, as they’re both grain-free. You can also use cornstarch. It is best to make in batches avoid adding more than 1.5 cups of sugar to the blender at one time or it wont get fine enough. One cup of most granulated sugars makes 1.5 cups of powdered sugar. But I found coconut sugar to be more of a 1:1 ratio.
ingredients
- 1 cup unrefined cane sugar, raw turbinado sugar, sucanat, maple sugar, coconut sugar, or sugar of choice
- 1 Tbsp starch of choice (optional)
In a blender combine ingredients and blend for 30 seconds. Turn the blender off and let the powdered sugar settle. Transfer the powdered sugar to an airtight storage container.
