Holiday Cookie Preferences?

Funny thing happened yesterday. One of my wife's co-workers brought cookies to the office. They went with chocolate cookies topped with crushed peppermint.

Truth be told, though, the execution wasn't strong. :(

Moofsalot, how did this turn out? Did you bake and share the cookies yet? I'm genuinely interested.

Ugh, not yet. I forgot XMas was less than a week away. And on top of that, my office had a massive cookie social run by professionals. Most of the cookies were great (chocolate melt and some kind of bourbon caramel swirl cookie were my faves), but I also had a gingerbread cookie that reminded me of how boring they are. Ginger snaps are much more interesting.

To be honest I’m tempted to go the chocolate truffle route. And not just cuz I’d get to showcase all my fancy vanilla extracts, although that would be a bonus. Time is a factor. I’ve got menu planning for XMas, New Year’s Eve dinner and New Year’s Day brunch I need to figure out. I’m so far behind!

I did recently bake a honey coconut lace cookie w/dark chocolate swirls (Pollack-style) that came out well, but was a little too delicate for transporting. I probably need to make some adjustments to the recipe.

Food stress = my favorite kind of stress. And the holidays are all food thoughts, all the time.

Dang, the office stole your thunder. That sucks. How do you feel about cakes? Would probably be easier to bake one cake than dozens of cookies. You could show off a couple of your vanillas via the layers and/or icing and filling.

Oh, plus naked cakes are all the rage, so decorating is minimized to some extent.

Moofsalot, I miss this thread for some reason. Every time I eat a cookie, I think of this thread and whether you've baked more cookies for your co-workers or if the office stole your thunder once again.

How's home baking life going?

Ha- pretty awesome actually! I recently made Bailey's ganache-filled chocolate cupcakes, and made my first batch of swiss meringue buttercream (egg whites, cooked, plus sugar and butter butter butter and more butter, then vanilla) for my daughter's birthday and may never make the butter and powdered sugar kind of frosting ever again.

Tonight I experiment with vegan ice cream making. It's not that vegan things are hard to make, it's that I have to experiment before I find something that I actually like to eat as a non-vegan...

Swiss meringue buttercream is not a simple thing. Congrats on getting that one into your repertoire. Your cupcakes sound like they were delicious. Nice job. Next thing you know, you'll be putting Jabes out of a job. :p

Never- my cupcakes look terrible. His cakes are works of art that are probably also delicious. But I wouldn't know, since he doesn't ship to the U.S. :(

He's SE Asia, right? Almost enough to make you want to take a vacation. :)

THERE'S A WHOLE THREAD ABOUT COOKIES I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?! *Blames self for not looking in the general chat forums more often*

As another huge fan of cookies (and chocolate, always chocolate) I would like to throw in some of my favourite things.

I love combining salty with sweet, like salty crumble with chocolate mousse/vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, or salted caramel fudge. So one time I decided to go for some salted caramel chocolate chip cookies (because that to me just sounds like heaven). Unfortunately they didn't turn out exactly as I'd like so I will be making them again, one day, different recipe.
In the same category I started on making chocolate chip caramelized bacon cookies, but life put an end to it before I could make them...

Another thing I like a lot is lavender, orange or mint with dark chocolate, although balancing the flavours to perfection is always a challenge. Coconut pairs well with milk and white chocolate. Oh and a friend once made cinnamon cookies covered in milk chocolate that were just pure evil in its most seductive form. I'm still debating if I like or dislike chunks of nuts in my cookies, sometimes it elevated the cookie to the next level, other times I wish I could take them out.

As a Dutch person speculaas is indeed what flows through my veins in wintertimes. Starting way before Sinterklaas with an endless craving for "kruidnoten" (basically small round speculaasjes, but a little bit different and nowadays also available covered in chocolate​) and "gevulde speculaas" (sort of a speculaas pie filled with amandelspijs, which is ground almonds with sugar, an egg and some lemon zest. My mom swears it's best cold, but half of it is usually already in my stomach before it has had time to cool). You absolutely can never give me enough of those two. Ever.

A thing I never tried making myself but will buy whenever I encounter a market stall selling them is "stroopwafels". The smell of hot stroop lures you in, hints of the fresh wafels waving through it when you get closer. You buy the largest one they have, feeling the burning heat through the paper when you hold it, carefully to not squeeze out the stroop, and you know "if I take a bite now I'll burn my entire mouth and then some" so you wait, way too short, and take that bite, tears in your eyes from the burn. So worth it...

I don't bake a lot, if I did I'd be three times my size, and usually stay on the simpler side because I bake with my son and for him shapes are more important than flavours. Usually just the simplest of doughs but with some citrus, ginger or speculaaskruiden put in. I agree that flavour > theme. Red velvet anything makes me sad. Everything that looks rustic and home made makes me interested, more than perfect little circles and squares.

And now I want to run to the store and get the ingredients for some summery cookies (like lemongrass ginger flavoured, or with green tea, or, or, or... Let's get the cookbooks!)

I’m quite fond of Pfeffernüße. If you make it without the icing it’s not all that sweet either. I make them all year round though, so they’re no longer festive for me...

+1 person that enjoys stroopwafels. Very delicious.

I looove lavender flavored desserts. My wedding cake (the one my sister made) was lavender marshmallow fondant with lime curd buttercream. The wedding cake I made was a Mexican spiced chocolate cake (because duh, have to have chocolate!) Lavender with chocolate seems like overkill, but I suppose when layered correctly in a delicate cake that could work.

As for nuts in cookies, I'm not a fan of the crunchiness unless it's specifically a seed and nut cookie, but that may depend on the nut.

I'm a fan of cookies in ice cream and that reminds me that I haven't made my Speculoos-Stroopwafel Ice Cream in many, many years. I'll have to rectify that soon.

I can (and do) talk about baking all day.

The thing I love about the combination of lavender and chocolate is that one flows into the other without overpowering with an explosion of flavour. I always use fresh flowers and first taste chocolate until the lavender takes over. And I do love complicated flavours like that. Absolute superfan of the chocolate thyme ice cream I had at a restaurant.

Speaking of ice cream... I never had stroopwafel ice cream that I actually liked! Most big companies trying to produce it either don't get the flavour right or the stroopwafel "chunks" end up soggy and hugely disappointing. With that in mind, and the fact that I don't have access to a reliable ice cream machine, I never even attempted to make it myself.

*Puts on bitch face* If I am completely honest the whole world is wrong. Pfeffernuße is supposed to be the same thing as kruidnoten, but we also have a completely different thing called pepernoten and I am judging everyone for giving the wrong name to kruidnoten! Same with speculaas and speculoos, COMPLETELY different and if you expect one and get the other it is a sad moment. *Turns back to happy bouncy self, offering everyone a cookie for scaring them*

Oh! And anyone interested in a chewy "cookie" and not afraid of anise should look into taaitaai! Next time I'll talk a bit about oliebollen, because no winter can pass without eating a whole lot of them!

The funny thing is that I actually planted lavender several years ago thinking I'd cook or bake with it one day, but I have yet to do so. Any tips/tricks?

I have not tried any of these baked goods that you've mentioned. Is it worth trying to make them not knowing how they're supposed to taste?

Yeah, I'm not a fan of star anise unless there is 5 spice pork belly involved...

On a semi-related note, does anyone have any good caffeine-free (no chocolate), dairy-free, egg-free cookie recipes? My sister has a ton of allergies and it's getting harder and harder to bake for her. I recognize that this means lots of coconut and peanut butter combinations, but I am ok with this as long as the cookies taste good enough that I want to eat them.

Tip 1. Go into the garden, take one tiny flower, rinse if you think that's needed and put it on your mouth! I think that's the best way of finding out how strong a flavour is and how much or little is needed in an average recipe.
For me, I like to use them just like that in chocolate mousse or crumble. Or even sprinkle them on my vanilla ice cream from time to time.
For cookies I try to remember a day before to pick them so they dry a bit and it's easier to cut them for better distribution(?) through the cookies.

The best way to get to know how the baked goods from.the Netherlands is come here and try them;-)! The internet is filled with a whole lot of different recipes and not all are even close to describing the real thing. We have a spice mix available in every store always called "speculaaskruiden" which, again, has a lot of different recipes on the internet but definitely not all are good. The last problem is that most recipes are in Dutch. I am more than willing to go on a hunt through the wild jungle of internet recipes and find some good ones (perhaps test them) and translate them to English, of you want me to:-)? It may take a while though, super duper busy life is mean!

For the sister cookie suggestions, a few years ago my brother introduced our family to a Hemsley + Hemsley cookbook, which was my first introduction to alternative ingredients for baked goods. I have to be honest and say I snorted and rolled my eyes A LOT at this book, but so far the things I made tasted great! I love the use​ of dates and figs, all different kinds of "flower" and coconut oil instead of butter.
http ://www.hemsleyandhemsley.com/recipes/

Lastly I promised to talk about oliebollen. It's the thing we eat on new year's eve, and weeks before, and at least one day after (it is amazing hangover food). There's a newspaper that publishes a test of the best oliebollenkraam (stall) every year. Best eaten fresh, hot and with an (un)healthy dose of sugar. Some families, like mine, have a special recipe, which are all basically the same except for the ammounts of bonus ingredients, for us apple, succade and sultanas. The secret part of our recipe is we grate the apple and succade so they sort of melt when you fry the oliebol, so no chunks but plenty of flavour! It takes quite some work and even more time, but I love them and haven't ever met a person that DOESN'T love a variety of them...

I feel the need to say thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. Over the past year, for some reason I don't fully grasp, this thread came to my mind a few times and helped improve my mood. Perhaps it was cookies, or maybe it was a genuine building of community. Whatever it was, it was helpful. Thanks y'all.

No one mentioned shortbread cookies. They are me favourites. Well a good peanutbutter cookie is probably my all time favourite.

Food and cookies always brings people together. I am happy to talk baked goods all day if it helps someone else have a better day. :)

Snickerdoodles!