Baking cookies and treats during the holiday season is one of the traditions I cherish the most. Nothing is better than putting on an apron, turning up the Christmas music, and baking your day away while the snow falls outside. It warms you up, both literally and figuratively, to bake for friends and family.
Whether you’re baking a single batch of chocolate chip cookies or spending a full 24 hours baking, packaging, and sending cookies to friends around the nation, here are some of my favorite baking tips:
- Room-temperature ingredients make for better cookies. They’ll incorporate better into recipes, and ultimately perform better. Make sure to take out your butter the night before. Thirty minutes before baking, place your eggs in warm water to take the chill off them.
- Preheating your oven isn’t just a silly instruction — if you put cookies into an oven that hasn’t reached the correct temperature, they’ll start spreading before they even start baking.
- The color of your baking sheets matter, believe it or not. Darker baking sheets tend to brown the bottom of the cookies and treats faster, so I like using trays that are aluminium or gold-toned nonstick for delicate cookies. Save darker trays for pizza crusts and roasting vegetables.
- Carryover cooking also matters in baking, so take them out of the oven a few minutes before they appear fully done. This will ensure a better overall product, unless you’re striving for extra crispy cookies.
Over the years, I’ve worked with a variety of brands and products, testing and retesting recipes. When shopping for ingredients, remember that quality always matters. These are my favorite brands for baking: King Arthur Flour (socially responsible and employee-owned), Cabot Creamery butters (owned by farm families throughout New England), and Wholesome! Sweeteners (organic and fair trade), all which can be found in our local Island grocery stores. Now go forth and bake the holidays — ’tis the season!
Dark Chocolate–Dipped Spiced Spritz Cookies
Yield: 2 dozen small cookies
- 2 egg yolks, hard-boiled
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp. cacao nibs
Preheat your oven to 350℉. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Press the egg yolks through a fine-mesh strainer, and in your mixer, cream the egg yolks, butter, and sugar until fully incorporated. Add the flour, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice, but do not over-mix.
Using a cookie press, press the cookies through onto baking tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool while you melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave. Once chocolate is melted and cookies are cool, dip half the cookies, place on newly lined baking tray and sprinkle with cacao nibs. Let set in the fridge for 10 minutes until chocolate hardens.
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
Yield: 2 dozen medium cookies
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 4 strips bacon, chopped and cooked until crisp
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350℉. Whisk together the flour and baking soda and set aside.
Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla extract for 5 minutes. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Dump in dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and chopped bacon (reserve 1 Tbsp. bacon to top cookies). Mix until all ingredients come together and form a homogenous dough.
Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop cookies onto baking tray, top with reserved bacon, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.
Almond Apricot Biscotti
Yield: 30 to 40 biscotti, depending on size
- 3 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- ½ cup dried apricots, chopped
- 3 tsp. half-and-half
- egg wash
Preheat oven to 350℉ and lightly grease a baking tray. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together. Incorporate eggs and mix. Dump in flour, baking powder, chopped apricots, and almonds.
Mix on low speed until the ingredients come together. Add half-and-half to make a more manageable and moist dough.
Form into large log and brush with egg wash. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until only slightly golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes, and slice biscotti log into cookies ¾ in. to 1 in. thick. Arrange sliced cookies on baking sheet and continue to bake for 25 to 30 more minutes, until they feel dry. (I like to flip them over halfway through this second baking). Remove from oven, and let cool completely before storing.
Lavender French Madeleines
Yield: 1 dozen
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1½ tsp. culinary lavender
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup butter, melted
for glaze:
- 4 Tbsp. powdered sugar
- water, to desired consistency
- extra lavender buds
Preheat the oven to 375℉ and butter your madeleine pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, crush the lavender buds into the sugar. Add the vanilla, eggs, and melted butter. Add the liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, and mix by hand until incorporated.
Pour about 2 Tbsp. into each madeleine cup (about ¾ full, no more). Bake until golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Cool all the way while making glaze.
To make glaze, in a small bowl place powdered sugar and add water by the teaspoon until consistency is smooth. Dip cooled madeleines halfway into the glaze and sprinkle with lavender buds. Let set for 30 minutes before serving.
