Fellow cooking/reading enthusiasts, what cookie recipes are you eager to try this holiday season? One of my favorite things to do periodically on this little young thang blog is to share a list of recipes (other people’s, oh yeah) that I am eager to make. Especially when I’m too lazy/busy to actually make them — like here, here, and er, here. Who do I think I am to you, Oprah? Do you really care about my “favorite things”? But I can’t help myself. I love lists. With every bullet point, a possibility on the horizon. I may be sitting here cranking out an article about meat wrapped in lettuce — yeah, that just happened — but making a list of FUTURE projects has the effect of giving the mouse a cookie. You know, it’s a carrot, a motivator, helping me play hardball with this business of putting words to paper in an efficient manner.
My other ulterior motive is to get some inspiration from you, fellow bloggers, and your smorgasbord of baking successes. I’ll have some time next week to get my hands dirty, and I’m feeling the urge to shake things up, having been lately more immersed in the world of food blogging. Will you give me a cookie? Many thanks 🙂 In the meantime, here is a short list of my own suggestions:
Balsamic vinegar fudge cookies from the award-winning blog, Baking Bites are humble drop cookie, nothing decorative going on. But the intensity of fudgy chocolate and cherries enhanced by balsamic vinegar sounds superb to me, giving these cookies special occasion status in my book. I came across them while writing an article on How to Use Balsamic in Baking.
Joy Wilson’s Red Velvet Black and White Cookies are a cute and whimsical nod to the holidays, I think, an understated standout among the sprinkles, crushed peppermint, and over-the-top deliciousness… She decorates hers in black tie, taking a cue from the classic New York black and white cookie.
As long as we’re baking in an imaginary world, these pistachio French macaroons are on my shortlist. Pistachios + egg whites + bright green food coloring, whipped and piped into something sugary, chewy, bite-sized and oh so precious. If that description is over the top, then so be it. Long live the French and their delicate macaroons. Or perhaps you’d like some with your Earl Gray.
A twist on the classic lemon bar — I love it! Here I go, ripping off (I’ll call it promoting) the Smitten Kitchen site with Deb Perelman’s recipe for pink lemonade bars. Raspberries, citrus, powdered sugar — let’s call it a Christmas cookie.
Another nostalgic choice — if I were an Italian grandma — seven-layer cookies. The layering, the colors, the marzipan, these look as festive as Deb Perelman’s recipe looks delicioso.
Links to Recipes
Balsamic Vinegar Fudge Cookies
Red Velvet Black and White Cookies
Pistachio Macaroons
Pink Lemonade Bars
Seven-Layer Cookies
[Photos: “Footprint in Flour,” recoverling’s photostream, “Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies,” Food Librarian’s photostream, “Red Velvet Cookies,” Herr Hans Gruber’s photostream, “pistachio_macaroons,” Greencolander’s photostream, Deb Perelman’s http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/08/pink-lemonade-bars/, per photo guidelines]
Swirl to Coat 