By Tisa Conway-Cunningham,
Crispy. Chewy. Chunky. Chocolatey. Cookies. In whatever state, cookies are the dessert that takes hold of you and creates a lasting impression. Think about it. Where were you when you had your first cookie encounter? Was it a simple milk and cookies situation, a special occasion, or was it a sweet, indulgent encounter? What was the moment you fell in love with your favorite cookie?
If you know me, you know that I am a huge lover of cookies. Some may even remember me as, “the girl in the Cookie Monster costume, walkin’ around KSU (Kentucky State University).” IYKYK (if you know, you know). For me, cookies in every capacity — sweet, sour, savory, salty, bitter or umami — tell their own story. It is simply flour + sugar + egg + fat = perfection, but the magic happens every time someone tweaks the recipe just enough to make it pop-in-your-mouth delicious.
Chocolate Chip Cookies. A classic, right. Me, love a good chocolate chip cookie. A buttery, sweet base, engulfed in chocolate morsels of goodness — what is there not to like? The cookie is good on its own but adding milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips adds a certain je ne sais quoi that ups the ante.
Other basic variations can include the addition of butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips and even candy-coated chocolate chips. Adding some salty goodness like nuts, pretzels or Ruffles Original Potato Chips can be a game changer. There is something about the sweet and salty collab that wakes up the taste buds and adds an extra element of texture.
There are sugar cookies, butter cookies and short bread cookies. Each has a buttery base finished with a sweet accent. Sugar cookies are a blank canvas that can come in any shape, size and color imaginable. Decorated with royal icing, sprinkles and other edible accents sugar cookies come to life. The simplicity of a good butter cookie needs no extra effort to be utterly delicious, but they too can be accented with a slight chocolate dip topped with hazelnut, sprinkles or fruity accents.
Short bread cookies are a combination of flour, butter and sugar and lend themselves to be enhanced by sweet and savory accents. Think pecan shortbread, salted rosemary shortbread, rosemary-lemon, cranberry, butterscotch and chocolate. The options are limited by your own imagination and can be the basis of your own cookie masterpiece.
Cinnamon. Vanilla. Almond. Pumpkin. Allspice. Nutmeg. Clove. Maple. Caramel. Apple. Sage. If fall was a flavor, it would be any combination of these flavors along with a melody of other fall accentuates. Think caramel apples, candied sweet potatoes, masala chai, maple bacon and brown butter pecans. These flavors lead us into the holiday season and tiptoe across our holiday feasts.
Equally, all of these flavors can easily be incorporated into a delicious cookie. It’s giving pumpkin spice, apple cider and bourbon maple pecan. It is a myriad of flavors as bold and colorful as the leaves changing outside on the trees. Easily, a holiday treat or gift, cookies can be incorporated into any of our holiday traditions.
Update Santa’s cookie plate
With all of this knowledge of cookies, one must ask a serious question. How do we manage to neglect the one tradition related directly to Santa Claus? Cookies. Think about it. When I was little, it was a Christmas Eve tradition to bake cookies to go on the plate for Santa, to keep fueled on his worldwide gift delivery journey. Nowadays, if Santa even gets a cookie or two, they are more than likely store-bought basic and thoughtless substitutions. It’s a couple sandwich cookies, premade chocolate chip cookies or some premade sugar cookies. Basic. Stale.
Christmas evokes warmth, love, family and tradition. Christmas trees. Lights. Stockings. Candy Canes. Mistletoe. Matching pajamas. Caroling. Growing up, Christmas cookie baking was an essential part of the Christmas Eve checklist. Santa’s cookies would always be a smorgasbord of goodness for Santa to partake in. The Santa Cookie plate was essential. This time in the evening before bed, after dinner, provided a much-needed family quality time break from the hustle and bustle that is Christmas day.
We would make cookie dough, use cookie cutters to cut cookies into fun Christmas and winter shapes, bake them and decorate them in traditional green and red Christmas colors. We picked out the perfect plate, added a glass of cold milk, and let’s not forget the note to let Santa know that the cookies were all for him.
I think this year, on Christmas Eve, would be a beautiful time to bring this tradition back. A planned family bonding time geared toward bringing kids, parents, family, friends and any other guests together for a fun and stress-free activity to partake in. Cue the flour, butter, eggs and sugar, cookie cutters and edible decorations. Remember this is stress-free, so follow these easy steps to plan your near-perfect Santa cookie baking event.
Find your cookie. Are you going for sugar cookies, butter cookies, shortbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies, etc.? Pick your base and find a versatile cookie recipe.
Are you going to use cookie cutters or cut them freehand? Pick your Christmas cookie cutters, shapes or freehand designs.
Think of all of the holiday and seasonal shapes you want included. Have a variety on hand for all to share. Don’t forget edible decorations such as royal icing, sprinkles, edible glitter, sugar, chocolate chips, crushed peppermint candy or edible sugar decorations.
Remember, this is supposed to be fun and stress free, so pick a couple of these options and run with it. If you are a person that wants a lot of options, then it’s fine to get whatever makes you happy. Whatever you choose, make sure there is enough for each person to decorate their special Santa cookie creations.
For small groups, set up a small table with cookie-baking ingredients, decorations and cookie cutters for all to share. For big groups, set up stations and work in small groups to make cookies, bake and share decorations at stations.
Decorations can be distributed throughout the area in bowls, on plates with spoons or small decorating bags for icing.
Above all, have fun. There is no right or wrong way to decorate cookies. Remember, this is for Santa so think about him when decorating his cookie creations. Pick a cookie from each person to go on Santa’s plate and enjoy the rest.
This activity is about bringing the family together, so do not stress about the small things. It’s all about the cookies. Have fun. Have fun. Have fun. Finally, please make sure to pick out a nice plate for Santa’s cookies, write a note for the plate, and please, oh please, do not forget the cold glass of milk.
Easy sugar cookie recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center of the oven. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Using a stand-up or handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar together. Then blend in the vanilla extract and egg.
To the butter mixture, add flour blend in three parts until fully incorporated. Divide the dough into two equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll in 1/4-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes.
Bake cookies on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating them with icing.
