10 Favorite Cookie Recipes

Cookie Plate. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It's time to fill up the Christmas cookie plate and here are my choices for buttery, sugary baked goodness from the kitchen. Many are tried and true, like my Scottish Shortbread, a recipe given to my mom from a Scottish neighbor. And Mom's Fruitcake Cookies, sure to make anyone a fruitcake believer. A few new cookies have made their way into the repertoire ~ chocolate gingerbread, absolutely lovely to decorate with pristine white icing, and Nutella cookies with cinnamon for the flavors of a Mexican hot chocolate.

1. Mexican hot chocolate cookies made with Nutella and cinnamon.

Mexican hot chocolate cookies made with Nutella. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

2. My Mom's Fruitcake Cookies These are the best ~ chewy and buttery, with your favorite candied fruits.

Fruitcake cookies. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books

 3. Shortbread cookies with candied cherries.

This is my favorite shortbread recipe topped with traffic light-colored candied cherries. Buttery and light.

Shortbread cookies with candied cherries. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 4. Glazed lemon thins Crisp and lemony. This dough can be refrigerated and brought out when you need just a dozen or so cookies.

Glazed lemon thins. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

5. 100 Cookies. That's the name for this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cookie. Oatmeal, coconut and toffee bits make these cookies a sweet, sandy-textured treat.

100 Cookies. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

6. Crispy, sweet date candies. Not really a cookie, but I make them each year and hide them in the back of the fridge to bring out for special friends, or just myself.

Crispy date candies. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books

7. Christmas Cut-Out Cookies . It's a fact that the best-tasting cookies are always the most homemade-looking. Forget trying for food magazine perfection, stir up some bowls of neon-colored icing, get out all the sprinkles and let the kids have fun decorating the cookies.

Christmas cut-out cookies. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

8. Ginger cookies with raspberry jam. My all-time favorite cookie, even above oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip. A soft, spice cookie with a chewy circle of jam, homey and utterly addictive.

Ginger cookies with raspberry jam. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 9. Pecan tassies. These sweet, Southern treats are like mini pecan pies, plunked down in a tender cream cheese pastry. I used macadamias instead of pecans here, but just substitute an equal quantity of rich, Georgia pecans for the nuts for a delicious treat.

Macadamia-rum tassies. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books.

10. Chocolate Gingerbread. A new favorite adapted from Food & Wine magazine ~ spicy gingerbread meets chocolate. They were meant to be together.

Chocolate gingerbread. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I hope you enjoy your holiday baking and perhaps give one or two of these a try. Please let me know your holiday must-bake cookies in the comments below.

Fruitcake Cookies Recipe

Fruitcake cookies. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 I'm not one of those people easily offended by fruitcake. Not a hater. The dense, spicy cake may be an acquired taste, and moderation is certainly a key, but generally I have positive memories of fruitcakes at Christmas. Every December, we would receive a Collins Street Bakery Deluxe fruitcake in its signature red tin, ordered by my grandfather. The cake was stored in the refrigerator and when we had company, it was brought out, sliced very thin and served with my Mom's homemade cookies and eggnog.

Nobody sends me fruitcake anymore, and I guess it's just as well. I do get my candied fruit fix each year when my Mom bakes these fruitcake cookies. These are chewy and tender and so, so good. I've printed the recipe just as it appears in Mom's much-loved copy of a local church cookbook, the 1993 Arbor Heights Cookbook, Vol. II.

Eveleen Lanier's Christmas Cookies
by Brenda Sanders
from 1993 Arbor Heights Cookbook Vol II

by Arbor Heights WMU (Women's Missionary Union)

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped candied fruit - I used glaceed cherries and pineapple (dried cherries and pineapple would work if you don't like candied fruit)
1 (8 ounce) package flaked coconut
8 ounces pecans

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 300.

2. In a large plastic bag, place flour, then chopped candied fruit. Shake to coat. Add coconut and pecans and shake again.

3. With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light-colored and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat again.

4. In a bowl, stir together dry ingredients - baking soda, salt and flour.

5. Gradually mix dry ingredients into batter, until fully incorporated. Add floured fruit and nut mixture, stirring by hand.

6. Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 25 to 30 minutes - low and slow to get that light brown color and chewy texture. Makes 100 cookies. (no kidding).


Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

I created a Pinterest board with my favorite cookie recipes, plus a few others that I want to try. Check it out here. 

And let me know if you're on Pinterest!

Hurry up with the tree already, it's time to bake!

I fly through the holiday decorating, just so that I can get in my kitchen and turn out cookies and cakes and candies and pies to give as Christmas gifts. If you're of the same mind, you may want to check out some recipes that are already posted. I'm writing just as fast as I'm baking so expect more cookie recipes very soon!

• The best cookies in all the world: ginger cookies with strawberry jam.
• 100 cookies, reminds me of a Ranger cookie - sandy and crispy.
• Classic pound cake.
• Roasted almonds, for a savory and sweet snack fix.
• Gingery pineapple scones - bring these to the office for a holiday brunch.
• Fudgy brownies- rich chocolate goodness to get you through holiday stresses.
• Buttermilk chess pie - need an easy dish for the holiday potluck? Just pick up a pie crust at the store (it's ok, I will never tell) and a carton of buttermilk and make the perfect old-fashioned pie.
• And if you have time, make up a batch of my blue ribbon Morning Glory Muffins for a glorious Christmas breakfast - they freeze beautifully!