Arrive December Every year, the New York Times Cooking focuses on something other than… cookies. Cookie week has become a cooking tradition, with special recipes and even more special videos to show off the best our staff and freelancers can offer. grant. The videos below are a collection of past and current Cookie Weeks, each week supposed to be more fun than the last. Watch the videos, then cook and perhaps soon Cookie Week will become a tradition for you too.
WEEK OF CAKES
2022
These are not – we repeat – salty cheese straws. But Melissa Clark used the genius technique of taking store-bought puff pastry and rolling it with toppings (here, shredded coconut) to create a simple cookie with just a few ingredients. ingredients and a beautiful crispy crust.
“This is the cookie that lives on in my memory,” Yewande Komolafe says in the video. A nostalgic sweet-sweet cookie for her, they are sprinkled with bits of Kalamata olives, while rosemary and lemon soften the salty taste. Put them in your cookie box for something particularly complex – a cookie goes well with a cappuccino as well as with a hint of wine.
Genevieve Ko wanted to create a chocolate lava cake in cookie form and we’re so glad she did. These super simple cookies come in three parts that come together very quickly: almond cookie base, chocolate hazelnut spread, and chopped roasted chestnuts on top. They’re perfect, as Genevieve says, for surprise gifts, or really any old-fashioned time.
Formula: Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies
This recipe by Eric Kim is the culmination of all of his Cookie Week lessons. Here, he makes gochujang, Korea’s fermented chutney, into a cookie that closely resembles a snickerdoodle. It sits in the fridge for a very short time – 15 to 20 minutes, so the dough is easier to knead – and then it’s ready to bake and eat. “If you’re the type of person who wants to bake to eat right away,” says Eric, “this is the recipe for you.”
Say it three times quickly: Chocolate! Orange! Pistachios! Shortbread! Sue Li was inspired by the chocolate orange balls of the past that would break into wedge shapes when they hit a table top. This sturdy crusty bread is especially suitable for gifts: Not only is it richly decorated with those colorful additions, but it also gets better with time.
“This cookie works, this cookie is… money”: Sohla El-Waylly, a popular white chocolate macadamia nut cookie lover, brought this classic cookie to the forefront by evaluate several recipes, break down their ingredients into percentages, and take what she likes from each of them. The result is a greasy inside and crispy outside, and a cookie that’s large and speckled with roasted nuts, salt, and vanilla beans.
Tough, textured, moist: These cookies from Vaughn Vreeland have it all. Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and espresso powder are whipped with butter on the stovetop, then combined in a single bowl—no stand mixer required—and baked to create a deliciously spiced cookie. Beautiful tastes like holiday joy.
Formula: Crispy Gingerbread Latte Cookies
WEEK OF CAKES
2021
Add a touch of nostalgia to the mix with these cookies by Eric Kim. The addition of M&Ms gives these their distinctive color and the butter is aged until soft enough to whip which makes them both chewy and easy enough to make in a bowl. Play with M&M’s colors: Pick up holiday-specific candies or cut them up so their bright colors accentuate the dough.
Formula: Cookies
You get a lot of these little cookies from Melissa Clark, and that’s a great thing. If you don’t have a cookie press, don’t worry for a second. Melissa recommends a bag of pastries, or even shaping them by hand. They won’t be as structured, but they’ll still be adorable. Garnish them with whatever you like: sprinkles, colored sugar, even some warm seasoning.
Formula: Almond Spritz Cookies
These cookies by Vaughn Vreeland bring together all the best parts of a marzipan: the chewy edge and the soft filling. Mint extract and toppings are candy bars that double up on holiday flavors and help remove their delightful richness.
Formula: Mint Brownie
Sohla El-Waylly uses a great trick in these recipes, whipping the toffee with sugar, baking soda, and salt and then adding it to the batter. The result is a simple but elegant vanilla buttercream cookie.
Yewande Komolafe does it again! These crackers are mixed with hibiscus flowers and citrus peels, making them delicate and beautiful. Ginger candy and raw sugar even add texture to the dough, so every bite is delicious.
Formula: Hibiscus gingerbread cookies
Yes, these are bars, but that doesn’t make them any less deserving of a spot during Cookie Week. Here, Claire Saffitz combines lemon and mint in what she calls “a dessert for true citrus lovers.” Adding cornstarch makes these more durable, so you can carry them a little easier than most lemon bars.
Formula: Mint lemon bar
Jammy on the inside with a buttery wrap, these twists are inspired by colored chalk (also known as colored chalk) of Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean. Those gorgeous cakes often have a hint of cream cheese in the filling, but here it’s mixed into the dough to create a creamy texture that helps soften the sweet guava dough. Eat them warm when fresh out of the oven, while the wrapper is exceptionally soft and the guava extra supple.
Formula: Twisted guava and cream cheese
WEEK OF CAKES
2020
You know Lofthouse Cookies, those pink-coated, shell-packed cookies found throughout suburban grocery stores? These cookies by Eric Kim take all of their best attributes and add to them, replacing the margarine with butter and cream cheese for more flavor while retaining their signature softness. Eric compares them to the top of a vanilla cupcake. Sign us up.
Chocolate mint lovers, this is your cookie. Sohla El-Waylly makes an 8-inch square short chocolate chip cookie, then coats it in a mint meringue finished with a red swirl and bakes over low, slow heat. The red swirls are optional: Leave them out or swirl with any color you want. After all, it’s your Cookie Week.
Formula: Mint-chocolate bread
“These are deluxe cookies!” Yewande Komolafe said it at the beginning of this video and she’s not wrong. Inspired by Milo, the chocolate malt candy she grew up with in Nigeria, these ganache-covered cookies are topped with a fluffy marshmallow filling. Fine sea salt adds a nice balance, but you can also finish them with gold foil or metallic dust to make them even more luxurious.
This recipe comes from Claire Saffitz’s 2020 cookbook, “Dessert Person.” Pistachio shells leave a nice mottled surface, but if you can buy poached (or scrubbed) pistachios, they will keep those spirals that vibrant green color.
In this recipe, adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s “Rose’s Christmas Cookies,” Melissa Clark fills the rugelach with cherry jam, but you can use whatever you like: traditional apricot or rosemary. , or anything that looks appetizing. Just don’t skip the cardamom sugar. Sprinkle on top for an extra welcome crunch.
Formula: Cherry Rugelach with cardamom
“It tasted like egg wine,” Vaughn Vreeland says of these cookies, a family favorite. He uses rum extract to mimic the alcohol content of eggnog in these tender treats that will taste better over time. Prepare a batch for your next holiday party. They are not only delicious but also very quick and easy.
Formula: Eggnog Snickerdoodles
