Cookie Crazy
Looking for a stellar cookie recipe? Look no further! We enlisted the help of local pastry chefs, who shared recipes for their favorite holiday sweet treats. (Photo Gallery| Printable recipes)
Darlene Jones
Owner of the Suisse Shop
Darlene Jones' longtime Polaris bakery is famous for its authentic European pastries -- think poppy seed kolachys, almond stollen and baked fruit flans. They also make cakes of all kinds -- cupcakes, wedding cakes, cheesecakes, customized cakes and decadent tortes. These bar cookies are an original Swiss recipe, and they're a favorite for Suisse Shop customers, selling out daily. "It's an involved recipe," Jones said. "But worth it."
Princess Bar Cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 sticks unsalted margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cups bread flour
1 3/4 cups coconut
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups seedless raspberry or apricot marmalade
Mix all ingredients except butter, margarine and marmalade until combined. Add butter and margarine; pulse mixer until coarse and crumbly. Do not mix into a dough!
Press half of mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan or jelly roll pan to form a crust. Spread with marmalade. Scatter remaining mixture on top, leaving patches of marmalade exposed; press down lightly.
Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Makes 24 squares.
The Suisse Shop
2119 Polaris Pkwy., Polaris
614-846-5102
Jackie Latif
Owner of Simple Sweets Bakeshop
Jackie Latif bakes up the enticing desserts at Lavash and Sage restaurants in Clintonville, and she opened her own shop, Simple Sweets, this past summer. The store stocks homemade cookies, cakes, pies and brownies made from family recipes-the kind of goodies you'd make yourself if you had the time (and talent). These drop cookies are her grandmother's recipe. Growing up, Latif often baked them the weekend after Thanksgiving, when her family would make dozens of Christmas cookies, candies and fudge. "My mother remembers her mother making these cookies," Latif said, "and we have continued the tradition."
Pineapple Drop Cookies
(Photo: Pineapple Drop Cookies)
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in own juice, drained
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Add pineapple. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Chill dough.
Drop onto greased cookie sheet. The cookies can be iced with tinted frosting or sprinkled with colored sugars. At this point, if you're not going to ice the cookies, sprinkle with red or green sugars.
Bake at 350 F for 8 minutes or until just lightly browned.
If icing, frost with vanilla or cream cheese icing, tinted red or green if desired.
Simple Sweets Bakeshop
2991 N. High St., Clintonville
614-447-9003
Spencer BudrosPastry chef at Pistacia Vera
The German Village "dessert boutique" is home to an array of gorgeous confections, from decadent tortes to delightful Parisian macarons. Spencer Budros is the sweets expert at the shop, which he owns with his sister, Anne Fletcher. If this recipe seems familiar, it's because Pistacia Vera used to sell these molasses treats. They now keep a similar cool-weather-favorite, the Pumpkin Spice cookie, in stock. Budros recommends buying new spices before baking a batch of these (or any holiday) cookies. "Quite often, desserts are made with spices left over from previous years," he said. "The flavor of fresh spices makes a tremendous difference."
Molasses Sugar-Crusted Cookies
(Photo: Molasses Sugar-Crusted Cookies)
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pinch ground clove
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg, plus 1 egg white
1/4 cup molasses
In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour through cloves). In a large mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients (canola oil through molasses). Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. Wrap bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Scoop tablespoon-sized portions onto a lightly floured baking pan; freeze for 30 minutes. Roll each scoop into a small ball and toss in granulated sugar to cover.
Place on nonstick baking pan (leave approximately 2-inch spaces between each scoop). Bake at 375 F for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool at room temperature. Store covered at room temperature. Makes 36 cookies.
PISTACIA VERA
541 S. Third St.,
German Village
614-220-9070
Kristy Yosick
Owner of Yosick's Artisan Chocolates
This small German Village chocolate shop has a display case packed with Belgian and French chocolates, fancy truffles and even Buckeyes. But they also sell baked goods, like cookies, scones and cupcakes-all perfect accompaniments to a cup of coffee, which you can buy there, too. Kristy Yosick, the owner of the certified-Kosher bakery, offered up a recipe perfect for Hanukkah-sugar cookies that can be cut into shapes like Stars of David, menorahs or dreidels. Sprinkle the cutouts with blue sanding sugar to keep with the holiday's color scheme.
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
(Photo:Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies)
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture one cup at a time until dough forms.
Chill dough for three to four hours. Roll out dough on floured surface to a quarter-inch thickness. Cut cookies into desired shapes, then bake at 350 F for 5 minutes. Rotate, and bake 4 more minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Yosick's Artisan Chocolates
539 S. Fifth St.,
German Village
614-223-9575
Geri Peacock
Owner of Cherbourg Bakery
Many people now adhere to gluten-free diets, sometimes because of health issues, but often because going gluten-free is the newest trend, endorsed even by Oprah. The diet requires avoiding wheat, barley or rye, which rules out most breads, pastas and pastries. After Geri Peacock's doctor recommended she go gluten-free, she immediately started trying recipes for decadent desserts that fit into her new diet. "I have always baked; I love the science of it," she said. "After many, many flops, I've come up with a solid menu of treats that are all gluten-free." She now produces her pretty pastries at an industrial kitchen at Ohio State University and sells them at local shops including the Raisin Rack in Westerville, the Bexley Natural Market and Expressly Market Bakery in the North Market.
Gluten-Free Peppermint Snow Cutouts
(Photo: Gluten-Free Peppermint Snow Cookies)
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup organic sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the frosting:
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
Chopped candy canes for "snow"
To make cookies: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In bowl, whisk together flours, salt and baking powder. Set aside. Cream butter, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and beat. Add flour mixture and beat to a smooth consistency.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk and refrigerate for one hour. Remove dough, and on a lightly floured surface (tapioca flour or cornstarch) roll dough to a quarter-inch thickness.
Cut cookies with candy-cane cookie cutter. Transfer them to parchment-lined cookie sheet and place in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Let cool before transferring to wire rack.
To make frosting: With an electric mixer, cream butter until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar, then add vanilla and milk. Beat on high speed until frosting is smooth and light.
To finish: Spread frosting on each cookie. Put Peppermint Snow in a wide/shallow bowl. Immediately after frosting each cookie, turn cookie over and dip in the peppermint snow. Place back on wire rack. Let dry, and store between layers of parchment or wax paper in an airtight container. Cookies will keep several days at room temp or frozen several weeks.
Cherbourg Bakery
614-329-2811