Holiday Cookie Preferences?

OK so this is totally random, but what kind of cookies do peeps like to eat during the holidays? I want to put together a platter/box for my office, but I have learned that my taste is very different from the average person's as I hate super sweet desserts. So what type of cookies do you like, and what type of cookies do you associate with the holidays?

Sugar cookies for the holidays, definitely!

I am a big fan of cookies. When it comes to cookies that fit a particular event or situation, you should remember that taste still trumps everything else. Always choose a plain cookie that taste great over one that is mediocre but fits some theme. However, in many cases, you can have both taste and theme in a single cookie.

The real challenge here is, who is making the cookies? Are you just buying some already made from the grocery? Are you buying from a local baker? Are you baking these cookies yourself? If baking yourself, how comfortable are you with more complex recipes?

The elephant in the room for holiday cookies would have to be gingerbread. Doing gingerbread justice is not easy, but if you get it right, then everyone will rave how they are perfect for the occasion. Also cutout and decoration give plenty of customization to appease any religion's events this time of year.

Naatkinson is correct on the sugar cookie suggestion. They are simple, and yet they are an expectation during Christmas season. However, many people that bake their own sugar cookies have no idea what is a great tasting sugar cookie. They usually focus on the look and end up with flavorless dough. As someone that doesn't favor overly sweet dishes, then I suggest you focus on creating a great sugar cookie dough and just use sprinkles as a topping instead of the traditional iced where you flood the icing on top.

Another great option would be macarons. If you are ok with more complex techniques, the meringue based cookie has many customization options and decoration possibilities that make it a great choice for any holiday, especially Christmas. A side benefit is that most bakeries can do a decent macaron and have likely already customized for the holiday.

Last year around this time, my wife made a great raspberry jam thumbprint cookie with a white chocolate drizzle on top. The base was a sugar cookie, but the red of the jam and the white of the drizzle made them feel very festive. And the taste was terrific - can't go wrong with raspberry and white chocolate.

There are other out of the box options, too. Crushed peppermint chocolate cookies, red velvet cake cookies with white and green icing/sprinkles, fruitcake cookies, etc.

Personally, my favorite has always been chocolate chip. Though considered the most basic and plain of cookies, I believe that it's the best cookie flavor when done correctly. Any cookie platter MUST include chocolate chip cookies based on the broad appeal to almost everyone. It is the thing everyone imagines when they encounter the word "cookie" after all.

Whatever you go with, I'm sure people will enjoy them so long as you put your heart into it. After all, people really do appreciate the gesture and effort that sharing cookies entails. Best of luck with your endeavor, and let us know how it goes.

Ah yes, I should mention that I am an avid baker, so I will be baking everything myself, which is why I’m planning now so I can schedule the bakeathon accordingly. My focus is usually on taste and texture. If it were up to me I’d go for the more complex flavor profiles (let’s just say I made 4 different types of vanilla extract for baking purposes because why not?) but most people seem to prefer plain when given the option, or maybe I’m misreading the room.

I do like gingerbread cookies. Hmmmmm.

I should also mention that I’m terrible at decorating as I lack the patience and steady hand. I basically make fabulous, but ugly desserts. Most people who don’t even bake make rolled cookies like it’s nothing, but I struggle with those. They end up lopsided. Which isn’t to say I’m not willing to try. I just need lots more patience and practice!

I figure I need 4-5 types of cookies? Or more?

I don't know whether I should be impressed or concerned by your ten part thesis on the perfect holiday cookie.

I am getting so hungry reading this thread.

:: Bows down to Linus's cookie knowledge ::

We gotta get Jabes in on this thread too.

For us in the netherlands we have speculaas at christmas, its a great cookie/bisquit to dunk in hot chocolade milk, or just hot milk, or tea.
I have no idea if you have this in teh USA so i put the wiki link in here. and im expecting pictures of your baking exploits

I couldn't have said it any better than Linus, and that's even with my chef's jacket and toque on! :-D

There's really no accounting for individual preferences, but for me personally:
1. Just gimme chocolate chip! Chewy, not crisp.
2. Not a fan of gingerbread, but AM a fan of frost ginger cookies.
3. Not a fan of the sugar cookies either, but my recipe rules!
4. I laugh at anything "Red Velvet" that isn't an actual Red Velvet Cake.
5. If you're looking for a little out of the box (though you've probably already tried these), I make an oatmeal cookie with grated zucchini. And a cookie that contains ketchup and chopped dried tomatoes. XD
6. OMG SPECULAAS!!!! Yes, please!
7. Chocolate Chip. Did I mention Chocolate Chip?

Good luck with the cookie platter, Moofs! I'll PM you where to mail mine. :-D

Having read through this thread I think I must be pretty boring; I had no idea there were so many cookie options! But, for what it's worth, anything with chocolate is good. And I love vanilla cookies, so hopefully your four different versions of vanilla extract won't go to waste.

It's not just a cookie thing. I have a slight personality flaw of over explaining. My wife hates it.

You sound like my kind of baker. :) Seriously, though, people do prefer smaller number of options and simplicity in making evaluations, in general. There's an entire psychological approach to decision making because of this. This combined with the fact that most people are averse to actually trying something new means that your simpler and recognizable cookies will likely be most popular when you share them...assuming it wasn't because they were all bad and the simpler and recognizable cookies weren't just least bad.

Four different cookies actually may be too many types. You are probably better off sticking to three. Three is a number that just feels subconsciously right when making choices. My suggestion, then, is to go with Chocolate Chip, Christmas themed macarons (peppermint, milk chocolate/marshmallow, etc), and one of either gingerbread/gingersnap/sugar cookie with simple holiday shapes and green/red sprinkles or edible glitter.

Are you a pastry chef? I think you might become my new favorite person here. :) Also, your point #1 - truth.

I'm not a red velvet fan. It's basically chocolate cake died red. Yet people love it. I silently laugh at those people. But I've seen more people starting to gravitate toward cake cookies lately. And anything with "cake" in the title gets the red velvet treatment at some point.

On point #7 - we would probably get along well over chocolate chip cookies and some cold milk. :)

Think of cookies not as a food. Think of them as a canvas for pastry chef artists to deliver something beautiful and delicious for your palate. Cookies can be an excellent vehicle to deliver countless dessert flavor combinations to your tastebuds. Combined with textures and decorative work, some cookies are truly a masterpiece to behold.

Not seeing that doesn't make you boring, though. It does mean that you are missing out on life in some small way, though. :p

I'm also worried now that people will begin to read all of my posts in a familiar voice from a furry blue muppet monster. Lol

You might need to put that as your avatar.

I'm very tempted to take admin privileges and make that so.

Hi! Yep, I've been a pastry chef for about 7 years.

Yeah I hear you about the whole Red Velvet thing. Chefs tend to be a condescending lot (I try not to be!), but give the people what they want anyway. My Red Velvet Cake will knock your socks off.

Here, cookies and milk for everyone! :-)

Pastry chef! Please tell me you live in Central Texas. I want to come try your desserts.

Edit - dang it, you're GMT+8

For me it's always been two different cookies that sum up this time of year:

Sugar cookies with orange citrus icing
Peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss on top.

Since we're in it, yah, I too like simple cookies with citrus flavors mixed in. Over the last few years, I've come to love peanut butter flavoring a ton. I'll never say no to chocolate, and something chocolate + peppermint definitely says holidays to me (I once had a hot chocolate cookie with crushed peppermint mixed in, and damn was it amazing).

Jan Hagel
Chocolate Crinkles
Gingersnaps
Anginetti
Mantecados

Also fancy little tins to put cookies in... (Tape the recipe in the lid)

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!

One of our Halloween traditions is to make what we call down here in the swamp "whoopie pie cookies" (a cake-style "cookie" with frosting). They are crazy fun to decorate. Here are a few we did this year:




And this weekend my little sister (age 7) made some shortbread cookies and decorated them all by herself.



They were really tasty!

Those look great!

Snickerdoodles and butter cookies

These are adorable! And your little sister is great at decorating - these swirls are fancy! :D
We don't celebrate Halloween where I live, and there're not many holiday-themed cookies in general. But I love me apple charlotte cake for autumn days! ;D

I wish Halloween was more of a thing where I live. It is celebrated but not that much...

This is a lovely thread, and it's high time I started thinking about the holiday cookies I'm going to make this year. My go-tos are:

Chocolate and vanilla pinwheel sablés
GF chocolate crinkles with peppermint
Ginger snaps
Sugar cookies

But I got my hands on my great-grandma's butter cookie recipe, so I want to give that a shot this year.

...I'm not quite sure what you're implying here (do people celebrate succulents? they should), but it's actually kinda true. My birthday is just before Halloween. :P

Pumpkin Chocolate chip!

it's a russian reversal... but I guess in Russia, they reverse you

...I missed the reference, oops. XD (Huh, I always wondered where this came from.)

To not offtop completely, I love chewy almond biscuits! Not for holidays, just always. XD

Ginger and moleasses cookies

Yeah, I used to bake snickerdoodles and take them to work at Christmas time and I'm an old man. That was about 12 years ago last time I did it. I love cookies way too much. I tend to buy a box of supersize jumbo chocolate chunk cookies at the grocery store at least once a month. No wonder I can't see to type here any more. They really mess with my diabetes.

Molasses or chocolate chip. Usually winners. Sprinkle some sprinkles on 'em to make 'em festive.

Jabes! Moofs! I need a sugar cookie recipe that I can trust. Not the hard type that gets flooded with icing. I need a sugar cookie that stands alone with no icing or anything. And please, no snickerdoodles. No cinnamon. I need to bake a sugar cookie that our family ends up loving more than my wife's chocolate chip cookies this Christmas. >:) Yes, yes perfect holiday spirit, I know.

Whoops, just seeing this now so probably too late for the holidays but hey, maybe this year! I am no sugar cookie expert, but this is the super easy recipe (found from the internet) I use with my kids. I eat unfrosted ones:

Ingredients:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 4 minutes. Add the egg and mix until combined. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, using the plastic to help shape the dough into a disk. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes, up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

5. Lightly flour a kitchen surface, place the dough disk on top and lightly flour the dough. Using a rolling pin, gently pound the dough to a ½-inch thickness, then roll to a generous ⅛-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to punch out shapes and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet. Gather the scraps into a bowl and roll them out up to 2 times more, chilling if the dough becomes too sticky. Bake until the bottoms and edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes, then remove and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Wait until the cookies are completely cool to frost as desired.

Thanks. We made gumbo for the relatives his holiday, so no cookie competition after all. I'm still getting ammo for next holiday cookie battle, though. I have to give my wife a run for her money. :D

Oh gosh, I'm sorry I missed this! I was away from GP over the holidays and just now got back. For what it's worth, here is my go-to sugar cookie recipe.

170g butter
150g sugar
250g all-purpose flour
1 pc egg
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves

Thanks Jabes. I'll give it a shot along with Moofs recipe. :)

I know you said no cinnamon though.

I can always tweak depending on the taste. Just around where I live everyone thinks that sugar cookies equals snickerdoodle.