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If it’s not already clear, Gab and I are a little dessert-obsessed. There’s just something about sharing something sweet that is expressly for the purpose of joy and not nutrition. Chewy, crunchy, buttery, salty, silky, spicy; we love them all. Unsurprisingly, our cookie boxes are the stuff of legends. While we’d love to individually deliver cookie boxes to each and every one of you to thank you for support, that’s not quite possible so we’re sharing the recipes for the cookies we love to bake during this very special and cozy time of year. The Sifted Cookie Sheet (get it?) is a collection of tried and true recipes, a few we’ve adapted, and two original ones from our very own buttery brains. Plus, sweet friend of Sifted Emily Sundberg blessed us with dreamy illustrations of each and every cookie. So read, bake, share (your cookies, your cookie pictures with us, Sifted with your friends and family) and enjoy.
I’m a freak for a lot of things, but my feelings for almond paste are unparalleled. It’s sweet, nutty, chewy, and fun—I love breaking off tiny chunks from the roll and letting then melt in my mouth. It’s the main ingredient in pignoli cookies, an Italian cookie that you can find anywhere you’d find an Italian grandma, especially during the holidays, which means I am obsessed with them. Each toasted marshmallow-colored cookie is rolled in pignoli nuts, which are the creamiest and most buttery nuts. Prove me wrong! When you bite into a pignoli’s (the cookie, not the nut) thin, crunchy shell, it gives way to a center that's somehow even softer, sweeter, and chewier than pure almond paste. They're dense and rich, but that's never stopped me from eating the majority of the tray of them that my grandma gets, and by “gets” I mean buys from Anthony, the owner of the Italian deli she shops at. Dan Pelosi (of vodka sauce fame) has a recipe for them that yields cookies nearly identical to Anthony’s.
MATCHA SWIRL SHORTBREAD a.k.a. CULTURED BUTTER COOKIES
I believe shortbread is the superior holiday cookie. Intensely buttery and decadent, crumbly and tender. From the Walker’s biscuits in their prim tartan packaging to my best friend’s family recipe, which come out irregular in size and texture, like little shards of glass, perfectly imperfectly. No matter how you slice them (literally) shortbread cookies are delicious. These cultured butter cookies from Melissa Clark are essentially shortbread with a fancy name. Spring for the good stuff here; Kerrygold or another cultured, European-style butter. They have a higher fat content than the usual butter we get, and yield a better texture and richer flavor. These cookies are impeccable as written, however for special occasions, I take inspiration from Chris Morocco and ‘zebra stripe’ in some color in the form of matcha powder. I’ll sub 2-3 tablespoons of matcha for the cocoa powder in this recipe, using Melissa’s measurements for everything else. (The recipes are quite similar as is.) This year, for an even more hypnotizing swirl, I used Claire Saffitz’s technique from her new book Dessert Person/this video. You are getting very hungry...
The perfect cookie for anyone whose name starts with a ‘G’. @Gab!!!
For the last three years, I’ve spent Christmas Eve beating together (an ideal-to-me, but concerning-to-most amount of) butter, almond paste, and sugar. I separate the buttery batter into 3 bowls, leave one alone, and add food coloring to the other two. Then I spread it out thin onto separate cookie trays, bake them briefly, let them cool completely, and stack the colorful cookie-cakes up with swipes of tart and seedy raspberry jam in between each layer. I cover the whole thing in plastic wrap, and place a few heavy books (like my beloved Carmine’s cookbook) on top to meld everything together. Then I eat a bowl of pasta with a few (seven) kinds of fish, and go to sleep. In the morning, I pour on melted, but cooled, dark chocolate, and watch it spill over the sides like a waterfall. I let that set outside in the cold, then do the same thing to the bottom, and once both sides are firm, I start slicing them into tiny, fat rectangles that I force feed to my family all day long. This recipe is absolute perfection, though I like subbing half the flour for almond flour because I like the extra almond flour and soft, dense texture it gives them. Also, keep in mind that if you’re cutting these the classic way, a.k.a. into small rectangles and squares, you’ll end up with way more than 35 cookies. That’s a very good thing.
My first attempt; the time I discovered the almond flour hack; my most perfect and least festive batch.
There are two constants on my holiday cookie plates every year for as long as I can remember. Chocolate-peppermint brownies (box mix with a layer of York peppermint patties hidden in the middle) and these cookies. It feels only fitting to include a Martha Stewart recipe in my cookie boxes, even if I do think of this classic SNL sketch every time. I first had them on a cookie platter someone gifted to our family, after which we immediately demanded the recipe. They’ve been a staple ever since. They do feature two things some people believe should never be in a chocolate chip cookie: oatmeal and dried fruit. But hear me out! The dried cherries are the perfect tart antidote to sweet, sticky toffee bits and rich melted chocolate, and the oats just stretch your cookie dough from making 18 or so cookies to about 2 ½-3 dozen cookies instead. And more cookies = better! Holidays are a time of quantity! But also quality because did I mention, these cookies are friggin’ delish?
To me, a cookie plate is not complete without gingerbread. But the store-bought stuff, hard as rocks, and gingery only in color, not flavor, will not do. I want spicy, dark, chewy gingerbread generously laced with spices. This gingerbread recipe has been my go-to for years, perfect for rolling out, baking, and decorating, the dough holds its shape, but has a slight give. I like to decorate them ornately with royal icing, an old habit I learned while working as a cookie decorator in a bakery. Tip: invest in a small tub of meringue powder. It will ensure your frosting dries hard without the worry of using egg whites. When I gift these cookies annually, I always try to include a note that while they make look it, they are not, in fact, too good-looking to eat.
Get you a gingerbread who can do both.
COOKIE BUTTER KISSES
A Sifted original recipe
So you have a friend with a nut allergy? Same. It’s sad, annoying, confusing, and sometimes—like when you can’t remember if you added a spoonful of almond flour to a batch of cookies—terrifying. But one year, because my sad-annoying-confusing-sometimes terrifying friends can’t eat the quintessential Christmas cookie known as peanut butter kisses, I played around with that recipe using a butter they could eat. A butter that’s better than peanut butter, and better than any butter that’s not an actual stick of butter. Cookie butter! Those thick, creamy, spicy swirls of ground up Biscoff cookies help make a dough that’s soft, sweet and dare I say better than the original. Once they’re baked, these cookies are the same color as the classic peanut butter ones, so our sweet, peanut-averse friends don’t have to feel like pariahs. Also, if you make these (which you should) listening to this while doing so is mandatory.
FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COOKIES
A Sifted original recipe
I have long been fixated with the cookie version of Richard Sax’s famous Cloud Cake; meringue-like with a glossy sheen on the top, giving way to a brownie-esque molten, cakey center. Alison Roman’s tiny, salty chocolatey cookies come close, but aren’t quite light enough. These flourless chocolate ones come even closer. My version of these cookies get some seasonal flair in the form of peppermint extract and Andes chocolate mints. They also happen to be flourless, dairy-free, and nut-free without compromising any flavor or decadence. One note: they’re delicate since their structure comes from egg whites instead of gluten, so actually prep your ingredients and read the recipe ahead of time so you can work quickly. And I know it’s tempting to go oven-->mouth with cookies, but just try to let these cool fully before removing from the parchment; do it too early and they may stick.
Tag us @sifted.newsletter on Instagram if you make any (or all!) of the recipes from our cookie sheet.
